Well, we finally know the answer to a question that's been floating around since before the Wii version of Rock Band was confirmed: when it came to the Wii edition, what took so long, fellas? After all, Nintendo's console not only sells lots, but it's also a hit with the social gaming crowd, who'd surely lap up Rock Band.
The answer is a familiar one, because like so many other developers and publishers before it, Harmonix failed to anticipate just how popular this Wii thing was going to be. GameDaily grilled Harmonix VP of Product Development Greg LoPiccolo on this, who manfully admitted that "when we made the initial decisions about where to place our resources, [the success of the Wii] wasn't as clear as it became in retrospect and really for us, it was simply a matter of resources." Or, to put it another way: Harmonix likes money.
LoPiccolo also confessed that Harmonix had been reluctant to hand over the development reins of the Wii version to a different company, and that the studio "wasn't comfortable handing much of the core off to others, because we wanted to make sure that it was everything we wanted it to be." Whether Wii Rock Band is everything we want it to be is still up for debate.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-16-2008 @ 5:28PM
raptorspike said...
Funny, I'm a big fan of a number of sports teams. I don't tear them down when talking to people. they essentially did that, but from a programming standpoint. they say they're big fans of the Wii, but they hand us a big steaming pile
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4-16-2008 @ 5:30PM
jughead789 said...
Yea, yea, yea, you thought the wii wouldnt make you money but now you see how popular it is and how well games like guitar hero have sold on it so you have given control to another development company to make a quick sh*tty ps2 port to cash in. F*ck off Harmonix. Some of us waited a long time for this game an this is wat you give us. We are not amuuused.
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4-16-2008 @ 5:37PM
Curtis the Claw:XBL - supapaypamawio said...
amuuused isn't a word.
4-16-2008 @ 5:38PM
Mr Khan said...
Aye, if you like Wii so much, develop something worthwhile and don't feed us excuses
Yes, we all know about the hardware limitations, we're not blind or stupid. You want that DLC money? Find a workaround
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4-16-2008 @ 5:54PM
Matt B said...
Yeah, it was obvious they didn't think the Wii was worth it. Then they saw how much Activision was making with GH3, and they said "OOOOOOO MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY, MOOOONNNAAAAY"
Oh and I love how they were so concerned about letting another company develop the Wii version because they didn't want it to suck, then they version they developed completely sucked (Lack of Wiimote usage, no GH3 guitar support, no online play, no DLC). Ugh. Screw you Harmonix and screw Rock Band. I'll be buying Guitar Hero: Aerosmith to support a company who actually cares about the Wii version (Wiimote support and online play).
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4-16-2008 @ 6:02PM
Avoli said...
Any harsh words about this crap, I fully support.
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4-18-2008 @ 5:41PM
Ghen said...
++vote for the truth.
4-16-2008 @ 7:00PM
Chris said...
Harmonix, STFU. hm, I like money too and i'm better off saving the money that could have been spent towards a non-crippled wii rock band, but instead you decide to make it a flaming piece of monkey-shit so i'll keep my money thank-you-very-much.
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4-16-2008 @ 7:29PM
raptorspike said...
Anyone considered sending nasty emails expressing our distain to Harmonix and Pi Studios? I do that whenever news that pisses me off comes out. I just sent one about my response to this BS press release
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4-16-2008 @ 9:15PM
DBuck_Eye said...
Harmonix: Wait, what?! The Wii is successful?!? Quick! To the Bandwagon!
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4-16-2008 @ 10:19PM
Roto13 said...
"LoPiccolo also confessed that Harmonix had been reluctant to hand over the development reins of the Wii version to a different company, and that the studio "wasn't comfortable handing much of the core off to others, because we wanted to make sure that it was everything we wanted it to be.""
Rarely do I read something that makes me want to bitchslap an entire company.
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4-17-2008 @ 12:23AM
clif said...
The sad thing is Harmonix could've tried a lot harder to make a good port.
I clearly understand that there is four instruments and they maybe co-op online couldn't be done on that scale. But the wii can do two instruments.
Even drum battle couldn't have been that hard to have online like in the 360 or PS3 versions.
Lastly, Harmonix isn't small company anymore. They have MTV and EA two huge companies one that is backed by viacom too. So, therefore they could've pressured nintendo into making a hard-drive for rock band.
They could've been heroes in the wii world. But now they are getting crapped on. I still love harmonix by they could've tried harder.
Everybody knows that Pi Studios and Harmonix/EA/MTV "Games" half assed it.
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4-17-2008 @ 11:02AM
BrotherNick said...
I could honestly not care about the DLC, but to give a port of the ps2 version for 10 dollars more is shady, and I'm not buying till it gets to 100.
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4-18-2008 @ 5:42PM
Ghen said...
I'm not buying it until they rename it GH4