Activision will continue feeding your unhealthy Guitar Hero World Tour addiction with more DLC throughout December, and it looks like Wii owners will be getting all of it this time.
Along with three songs each from The Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana, and The Eagles, a further three tracks from the "Reggae Rock Track Pack" will be offered for the price of nothing. The rest, as usual, will be 200 Wii Points apiece. The full list is below, and videos of all twelve (yes) are past the break:
Posted Nov 17th 2008 12:45PM by JC Fletcher Filed under: News
Activision made a statement over the weekend about the nature of their Guitar Hero: World Tour "track pack" downloads and what it means for the Wii version. Pressure from two outside parties has constrained the DLC catalog, unfortunately. Some labels or artists will only give Activision the rights to distribute track packs, with individual sale of the contained songs prohibited. And for some reason, according to the statement, "the Wii's infrastructure only allows us the ability to release single songs as DLC."
That means that some artists will have to be excluded from the Wii's DLC offerings entirely. Like, for example, Jimi Hendrix. Because of these restrictions, none of the Jimi Hendrix tracks from the PS3/Xbox 360 set will be available. So it won't just be the limits of your ability that keep you from playing Hendrix songs.
Activision will shortly be serving up another three Guitar Hero: World Tour tracks for download. This latest batch is from The Killers, who should really cheer up a bit, considering they're international rock stars with their music in a Guitar Hero game. Smile, you ungrateful sods!
"Human" and "Losing Touch" are both from the band's new album Day & Age, and are joined by "Mr. Brightside," an older Killers track and one that everybody under 85 is probably familiar with. These will be made available from November 25th, and like previous tracks, will cost 200 Wii Points each. Videos of all three follow the break.
We've been waiting for the third installment of SBCG4AP for a little while now, jonesing for a new episode after thoroughlyenjoying the first two. For myself, this third episode is my favorite, as the combination of a "band off," and what I found to be the best writing in the series so far, have come together and dropped hot, delicious gaming action all over my face. Grab your leopard print pants and Squealin' Larry Limozeen Microphone and head past the break for the full review. Well all right!
Will the first round of downloadable content for Guitar Hero World Tour leave you convulsing and writhing around your living room, in the manner of the youths in the footage above (1:04)? Possibly, but hopefully you'll be a bit more coordinated, and a little less chemically assisted.
As you may have already guessed, a trio of Jimi Hendrix tracks will kickstart the Wii's great Guitar HeroDLC adventure on November 13th. "If 6 was 9," "Little Wing," and a live version of "Fire" will all be available for 200 Nintendo Points each. A week later, on November 20th, we'll be getting three tracks from Jack White's other band, The Raconteurs: "Salute Your Solution," "Hold Up," and "Consoler of the Lonely" will also be going for 200 Points apiece.
Hendrix: awesome. The Raconteurs: don't know anything about them. If you're as desperately out of touch with modern music as this blogger, you can get more in touch past the break.
Update: Uh oh: re-reading the press release, there seems to be a good chance Wii owners won't be getting the Hendrix tracks -- thanks, Moleculo!
Posted Oct 22nd 2008 9:50AM by JC Fletcher Filed under: News
Harmonix has released the list of twenty free downloadable songs available to Rock Band 2 owners as an incentive not to buy the game used a nice free bonus. It looks a lot like any other free compilation we've encountered: a bunch of stuff we've never heard of. The band with which we're most familiar is Dealership, which includes Game Girl Advance founder and 1up alum Jane Pinckard. The rest are just some names that sound like plausible band names.
The tracks will be available for download in the other versions of Rock Band 2 on November 4, but they won't be downloadable on Wii until some time in December. Mostly because there won't be any Rock Band 2 through which to download them until then. The list of songs that we totally can't complain about because they're free is after the break.
Go Nintendo reader Marcoboy spied this screenshot ... somewhere on Guitar Hero World Tour's official site, and immediately sparked panic over the Wii version's DLC. According to this solitary image, the full version of Metallica album Death Magnetic will be available to PS3 and Xbox 360 owners, but only three separate tracks are listed for the Wii. The full record contains ten tracks.
This could mean one of a few things:
The missing seven songs might just be tucked away in another menu, in which case everything is fine and we can all get on with our lives.
Alternatively, it means we do only get three songs from Death Magnetic, but this is a one-off case, and every track from other albums is available for download.
The worst case scenario? We'll only be getting selected singles from all of Guitar Hero World Tour's albums, rather than the full records.
We honestly don't know, but we dearly hope it isn't the latter. Can somebody hold us?
Capcom has sent out screens of this week's available Mega Man 9 DLC, including the new Special Stage and the two Hard Modes. We don't know if these screens originate from Hard or Expert Mode, but whatever version of the game this is, it is ridiculous. It's making us nervous just to look at it.
There are also new screens from the super-cool Endless Mode included with the last round of DLC, as well as a character portrait for Fake Man, which seems to confirm that it is the police robot and not ... who we thought it might be. Who knows? Capcom could still be misleading us.
Mega Man 9 producer Hironobu Takeshita may have revealed the new Robot Master at the end of next week's downloadable Special Stage, or ... he may not have. "His name is Fake Man. He appears on the special stage available in downloadable content." Takeshita offers a vague hint about his identity, but the need for hinting is seemingly obviated by the picture of what might be Fake Man, posted right under this statement in his GameSpot interview. It's the robot cop (not RoboCop) who Wily used to capture Dr. Light.
However, something about the name "Fake Man" -- not to mention one or two hints given in-game -- makes us think that picture is leading us away from the true identity of the boss. We're willing to drop 100 points next week to find out.
With the release of Rock Band 2 for the Wii approaching, a flood of information about the game is finally making its way to the eyes and ears of would-be rockers. Yesterday, we heard about all of the awesome DLC we'll have access to and now we've got something for those of you who picked up Guitar Hero III for the Wii.
Posting on the Harmonix boards, one of the developers confirmed that the guitar used in Guitar Hero III for the Wii will be fully compatible with Rock Band 2. So, for those of you who prefer rocking out with a wireless plastic axe, as opposed to the one that comes with the full Rock Band bundle, you're in luck.
No word has been said about Guitar Hero World Tour's guitar and Rock Band 2, but seeing as how Harmonix wants to "encourage the interoperability of instruments between platforms," we're thinking it just might be.
Posted Oct 15th 2008 9:00AM by JC Fletcher Filed under: News
We've heard denials, denials of denials, and redacted denials; and, most recently, we've had indirect confirmations. We were all pretty sure by now that the Wii version of Rock Band 2 will actually have the online features found in the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions, and that EA is actually selling Wii owners a whole game this time ... but it is nice to have some reassurance.
Said reassurance comes in the form of an IGN hands-on, in which Mark Bozon specifically states what is in the game and what is different. What compromises do exist are delightfully minor, like the loss of the tattoo and logo editors. Head-to-head online play is there, and online coop World Tour mode is there. Battle of the Bands daily challenges are downloadable.
The biggest news is that all of the DLC tracks from Rock Band, which were not available for download through the first Wii game, will be updated and made available for download in Rock Band 2. And as for the storage issue: it's about what you'd expect. Songs can be saved to SD, but must be copied over to the Wii's memory for play. Allow us at this point to express the extremely unpopular opinion of whatever.
It would appear that High Voltage made a pretty penny or two from their last WiiWare release, Gyrostarr, as the company has announced they're working on a new game for WiiWare. Titled High Voltage Hot Rod Show, this game will be hitting WiiWare this fall and features a "unique stunt system" that gives players "multiple ways to build boost." The game will utilize the company's Quantum 3engine technology and has support for up to 4 players via local split-screen, features 5 racers, and has 6 different tracks.
After checking out the trailer above, be sure to hit up our gallery below, which has screens from the game, as well as some promo art and wallpapers!
The first two downloadable content updates for Mega Man 9 are officially available today. The first, Endless Attack Mode, offers a new, never-ending endurance-style level, for 300 Wii Points. The second, more widely discussed update, adds a playable Proto Man to the game, for 200 points. Proto Man can slide and charge his weapon (though the blast isn't as large as a fully-charged Mega Buster), and he has a shield that blocks shots while jumping, but he also has double the recoil and takes double the damage of Mega Man. Furthermore, he can't use the Shop and he has no story of his own.
Most importantly -- and about which we are the most pleased -- the Proto Man whistle plays at the beginning of every life or every level. You can read more about the details of the Proto Man DLC here, or, of course, you could go download it! Just look in the "Downloadable Content" area of the game instead of somewhere in the Wii Shop. You wouldn't want to feel as stupid as we did.
Posted Oct 1st 2008 12:43PM by JC Fletcher Filed under: News
This is about as direct a confirmation of downloadable content in the Wii version of Rock Band 2 as we're going to see. Even better, hey, free songs! The official Rock Band 2 site has started taking registrations for a set of 20 free downloadable bonus tracks, accessed by entering a code found on the instruction manual. Xbox 360 fans have been aware of this offer for a couple of weeks due to their, well, earlier access to instruction manuals. We didn't dare get our hopes up about any downloadable music, much less a bundle of free songs.
But the registration clearly says "Anyone who has purchased Rock Band 2 for the Xbox 360, PS3, or Wii is eligible to receive 20 additional DLC tracks, free of charge, coming soon"! Huzzah!
Ugh, I'm so sick with the obsession over Mega Man 9. WE GET IT, IT'S A RETRO GAME. WHOOPEE. No, seriously, I'm sick of my own obsession with it. I still haven't picked up Wario Land: Shake It!, de Blob, or NHL 2K9. That's mainly because I've spent every waking moment enjoying the blue bomber's latest outing. My Wii Fit board is scolding me for its lack of use, my girlfriend is feeling neglected, and apparently my judgment is slipping. But there's something about the game that just won't let go of me. The thing should be illegal for its extremely addictive nature, right next to heroin and Harvest Cheddar Sun Chips.
I usually fall behind on discussing recent games, as I like to take awhile to fully absorb and process the arts and entertainment before I comment on it. But I think my Wii's play log will testify that I've made myself quite familiar with the title. The main quest is conquered, the event challenges are being slowly but steadily checked off the list, and I'm trying my best to climb the leaderboards of the time attack levels. Without any further ego-stroking, here's the top five things we love about Mega Man 9. Then we won't talk about it for a few weeks. Promise! ... maybe.
The Top 5 is a weekly feature that provides us with a forum to share our opinions on various aspects of the video game culture, and provides you with a forum to tell us how wrong we are. To further voice your opinions, submit a vote in the Wii Fanboy Poll, and take part in the daily discussions of Wii Warm Up.
Activision will continue feeding your unhealthy Guitar Hero World Tour addiction with more DLC throughout December, and it looks like Wii owners will be getting all of it this time.
