Comparing Rock Band Wii drums with current drum kit

Posted Jun 11th 2008 5:00PM by David Hinkle
Filed under: News, Peripherals, Screens

For those of you still down with Rock Band for the Wii, despite its lack of DLC, you'll be interested to know that IGN recently took the Wii drum kit for a spin. Apparently, when Rock Band first released on the PS3 and Xbox 360, some folks were having trouble with the bass pedal (among other things), so a revision to the hardware was initiated. With the Wii drum kit, all of those changes are already in effect.

IGN says it best, though: "If you have the option, buy Rock Band for any console that's not the Wii, as you'll get the same drums (in black) and have access to downloadable content." Seriously, the Wii version isn't going to be that good, but if it's your only option, we wish you the best in rocking out and cross our fingers that Rock Band 2 isn't as lacking in the features department when it hits retail shelves.

Gallery: Rock Band

Tags: drum-kit, drums, ea, electronic-arts, harmonix, rock-band

Related Headlines

Rock Band 2 getting full albums from several bands (9 days ago - 10 Comments)
Rock Band makes it to Australia, forgets luggage (59 days ago - 6 Comments)
Full Rock Band 2 track list with difficulty ratings (11 days ago - 4 Comments)
Guys, Rock Band 2 might not be totally gimped (32 days ago - 25 Comments)
Rumor: Australian retailers pass on Rock Band (23 days ago - 4 Comments)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

6-11-2008 @ 5:52PM

Sonic_13 said...

I'm not planning on getting Rock Band (and never was), so I suppose this really doesn't matter, but....

What really bothers me about this game is not so much the fact that there is no online or DLC (both of which could have easily been added, as both are fully supported by Nintendo), but rather the lame excuses Harmonix put forth about why they couldn't add such features.

6-11-2008 @ 6:14PM

Metayoshi said...

The folks at Harmonix make good points though. The average of each downloadable song in Rock Band is around 30 MB, while the Wii only has 512 MB of storage space shared by any WiiWare, Virtual Console games, and game saves that you have. It's truly the stubborn folks at Nintendo's fault, who claim that a Hard Drive for the Wii is pointless and say that using an SD card or just deleting your WiiWare/VC games is the way to go.

6-11-2008 @ 6:54PM

Sonic_13 said...

There is no reason why Harmonix couldn't have utilized the SD card slot. Plenty of other games utilize the SD slot.

For example, I use the SD card slot to play MP3s while racing in Excite Truck. I encode my music at a very high quality too, so these aren't small files yet the music still loads instantly. There is just no reason why Harmonix couldn't have done something similar.

Nintendo needs to look at opening up the SD card slot rather than releasing a hard drive. A hard drive would simply be overkill on Wii. A 2gig SD card would provide 16,000 blocks of free space, more than enough to download everything in the Wii Shop Channel several times. It would also be the cheapest option.

6-11-2008 @ 7:12PM

goboColossus (LIVE, PSN - gobopop) said...

I finally deleted my Rock Band DLC on my Xbox 360 HDD. 3.4 GB. (Getting Elite, rather re download than transfer the same massive ammount fragmented data)

I don't think a 2 GB SD card would cut it. Plus for game content that needs to be accessed on the fly, it's read speeds just wouldn't cut it. Nintendo needs an external HDD / SSD for the Wii for any game to allow for massive expanded content options. To believe otherwise would make you a tool, stop being a tool... We NEED Mass External Storage!

6-11-2008 @ 6:10PM

Manolo Sanchez said...

The man on top of me speaka da truff

6-12-2008 @ 12:30AM

Patrick said...

I am actually planning to get Rock Band tomorrow :D. And I am taking IGN's advice (although I was going to do this any way) and get the 360 version. Wii is cool and all, but when I can get a choice of DLC and better graphics (graphics aren't that big of a deal, but if I have a choice), and the 360 is cheaper at Sam's since the Wii one is JUST coming out. I mean I don't see an advantage at buying the Wii one at all. If all you have is a Wii, get it for Wii, but not if you have a choice. But ya I expected this, I didn't think they were going to make it any better at all. Hell I'm surprised that they made the drums white.

Add your comments

Your comments:

Remember me

E-Mail me when someone replies to this comment

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.

When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.

To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.

Name	Date
Defendin de Penguin	Sep 5
NHL 2K9	Sep 8
Star Wars: Force Unleashed	Sep 16
Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility	Sep 16
DDR Hottest Party 2	Sept. 16
Wario Land: Shake It!	Sept. 22
LEGO Batman	Sept. 23
Samba de Amigo	Sept. 23
SimCity Creator	Sept. 23
de Blob	Sept. 23
Lost in Blue: Shipwrecked	Sept. 23
We Cheer	Sept. 30
Game Reviews (WiiWare and Retail)

Title	More
P/CP: Clone Wars	P/CP
Born for Wii: Sam and Max	Born for Wii
Review: Mario Super Sluggers	Reviews
Games for your day off	Top Five
In the Batter's Box	It's-a Mario World
All Features »

Pennsylvania man assaulted by brass knuckles over PS3 All That Remains is this week's Rock Band DLC White Knight Story Japanese release date still unannounced	Warlock glyphs in Beta build 8905 Shaman glyphs in Beta build 8905 Warrior glyphs and talent changes in Beta build 8905
X3F TV -- XBLA in Brief: Gin Rummy, Shred Nebula, Pirates vs Ninjas Dodgeball All That Remains is new Rock Band DLC Video: the story behind Tomb Raider: Underworld	Microsoft 'can't say' whether they'll beat Nintendo Unfortunately-named new WiiWare puzzler announced Punch your way to fitness in Shape Boxing Wii de Enjoy Diet
Impressive homebrew gives Renegade Kid a run for their money Club Nintendo bestows Game & Watch Collection 2 upon faithful Japanese fans Point/Counterpoint: Time for a price cut?	Neverland Card Battles debut trailer is J-Poppy Disgaea plaformer starring Prinny arriving on November 20th in Japan Valhalla Knights 2 cuts into North America Oct. 1
Leaked Warhammer 40K action-shooter footage heads to YouTube Far Cry 2 gets final release date and Collector's Editon Most id Software games on Steam are 50 percent off this weekend	Jack Nicklaus Thinks the Americans Will Win The Ryder Cup 'Easily' LPGA Backs Down From English-Only Policy Sarah Palin Will Be A Great VP Because, Um, She Doesn't Play Golf?

Nintendo Wii Fanboy