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Wii

No Hendrix DLC on Wii Guitar Hero

by Neal Ronaghan - November 16, 2008, 1:00 pm EST
Total comments: 25 Source: Activision

Activision says that some artists only want to release their songs as track packs. Jimi Hendrix is one of those artists.

With the onslaught of Guitar Hero: World Tour downloadable content announcements for Wii ranging from Oasis to the Killers and the Quantum of Solace theme, it was strange to see the recent Jimi Hendrix three-pack announcement with no mention of a Wii release. The pack, featuring "If 6 was 9", "Little Wing", and a live version of "Fire", recently hit Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

When reached for comment, Activision said:

Due to technical or licensing restrictions, the DLC offerings will not be the same for every console platform. For example, certain artists prefer to keep the integrity of the track pack rather than releasing singles and the Wii’s infrastructure only allows us the ability to release single songs as DLC.


We are very excited to be the first third-party publisher to bring a library of playable DLC songs to the Nintendo Wii platform. Vicarious Visions has pioneered with Nintendo a seamless way to download, store and access songs via SD Card. The development team is committed to offering Wii fans worldwide as much variety of DLC as possible on a

regular basis.


This statement raises even more questions. Why can't Wii have track packs? Why don't certain musicians and their representatives allow single song downloads? We're still looking for answers, but at least for now, Wii owners will be missing out on the chance to jam on these Jimi Hendrix songs.

Talkback

Flames_of_chaosLukasz Balicki, Staff AlumnusNovember 16, 2008

Wii can have track packs, Nintendo's Policy is not to have the same content twice on their servers meaning no track packs and no singles if they both contain the same thing in them. Samba De Amigo only has track packs.

ThePermNovember 16, 2008

confirmed: wii worst system ever

Flames, that's a good point about Samba.  I guess maybe the SD card system that VV developed for Guitar Hero could have some limitation that won't allow track packs.

nickmitchNovember 16, 2008

Nintendo needs to get on this, so I can get my Hendrix on.

King of TwitchNovember 16, 2008

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/tabs/jimi_hendrix_tabs.htm

Flames_of_chaosLukasz Balicki, Staff AlumnusNovember 16, 2008

Quote from: Jonnyboy117

Flames, that's a good point about Samba.  I guess maybe the SD card system that VV developed for Guitar Hero could have some limitation that won't allow track packs.

Doubt that's the case Jon since all a trackpack is just more than 1 song contained in a file, the game would recognize that each song is separate.  From what I can tell and that I read VV set aside some space probably in the save file or something as cache space so that the loading a song off a SD card is seamless. If there was a "limitation" it would probably have to be that it would have to pull up the whole file from the SD card.
I have a feeling it's just an excuse that Nintendo will not allow duplicates of files on it's Wii shop server but the thing is because the Hendrix estate mandated that only a trackpack BUT the thing is THERE IS NO DUPLICATES because the singles won't exist because of the special condition of the Hendrix estate.

But as a whole there shouldn't be this limitation because the Wii version of Rock Band 2 will have the same 20 free songs that the PS3 and 360 will have with a special download code on the back of the game manual. When I downloaded the 20 free song pack on 360 it was 570MB.

ATimsonNovember 16, 2008

Quote from: Flames_of_chaos

Wii can have track packs, Nintendo's Policy is not to have the same content twice on their servers meaning no track packs and no singles if they both contain the same thing in them.

That can't be true, as My Life as a King has some content (like the race unlocks) available both independently and in a bundle.

DAaaMan64November 16, 2008

Quote from: ATimson

Quote from: Flames_of_chaos

Wii can have track packs, Nintendo's Policy is not to have the same content twice on their servers meaning no track packs and no singles if they both contain the same thing in them.

That can't be true, as My Life as a King has some content (like the race unlocks) available both independently and in a bundle.

Those are just unlock codes though.

Flames_of_chaosLukasz Balicki, Staff AlumnusNovember 16, 2008

Quote from: ATimson

Quote from: Flames_of_chaos

Wii can have track packs, Nintendo's Policy is not to have the same content twice on their servers meaning no track packs and no singles if they both contain the same thing in them.

That can't be true, as My Life as a King has some content (like the race unlocks) available both independently and in a bundle.

I know that, my guess is Square did a smart thing after purchasing the bundle it downloaded each file that belongs in the bundle and it marks each individual file that belongs as purchased, my guess is Activision or VV went the lazy route and didn't try to program that in.

Quote from: DAaaMan64

Quote from: ATimson

Quote from: Flames_of_chaos

Wii can have track packs, Nintendo's Policy is not to have the same content twice on their servers meaning no track packs and no singles if they both contain the same thing in them.

That can't be true, as My Life as a King has some content (like the race unlocks) available both independently and in a bundle.

Those are just unlock codes though.

Not really  DLC in FFCC were about 1 - 10 blocks so not all of them are unlock codes.  It's harder to tell on Wii because 1 block can equal up to 128KB. A unlock code on PS3 or 360 is usually 108KB.

MorariNovember 16, 2008

Confirmed: The Wii doesn't and won't have any DLC worth getting.

I still have hope for the Smashing Pumpkins, I guess...

blackfootstepsNovember 16, 2008

Haha the Hendrix estate wants to maintain the 'integrity' of the track pack? What about a track pack is so full of integrity that it can't be separated? It's not like Hendrix played 3 song sets, what a load of BS. The tracks were originally culled from a live performance anyway. And they don't realise that Jimi Hendrix released singles from his records? Don't worry about the integrity of a record but no-one touch the track pack.

that Baby guyNovember 16, 2008

I can't see sense in this article.  How many songs does Hendrix have in the game, anyways?  I remember only one, but I haven't unlocked everything.  If he's only got the one... Wow.

MorariNovember 17, 2008

"The Wind Cries Mary" and "Purple Haze" are both in the game if I recall. Unfortunately, the live version of Purple Haze is quite a bit less enthralling than the album version. The changed lyrics and random mumbling don't help it at all. :(

DAaaMan64November 17, 2008

"The Wind Cries Mary" isn't a very Guitar Hero song.

PaleMike Gamin, Contributing EditorNovember 17, 2008

I almost wonder if it's because the system that VV set up with the buffer of memory and then copying to an SD card only has enough buffer for a single song or something....

But even then, it seems like they could have done something on the software side to purchase the rights to download all three songs in one pop, and then download each song individually.

All in all, this sounds like spin to cover up either a poor design choice or lack of budget to take the system a step farther....


My question is, what gives with requiring a track back from Hendrix's record label?  That's a pretty freaking lame stance to be in as well....

I think we should just blame everyone involved =P

nickmitchNovember 17, 2008

I've already contributed my personal opinions to this thread, but I just wanted to add:
This shit is bullshit.

SpinnzillaNovember 17, 2008

**** this ****.

ugh.

I'm with Pale, it sounds like there are multiple parties to blame here.  It's a real shame, and I always thought the Hendrix DLC was one of the more compelling arguments for GHWT over RB2.

BranDonk KongNovember 17, 2008

It doesn't make any sense - even if you download a track pack it still treats each song as a single song in the game. For example in Rock Band I downloaded the Metallica track pack, and while purchase history won't show that I bought each song, but rather just the pack, I can still choose to delete only 1 song if I want to. VV/Activision just need to sort this out, ASAP. They're screwing a lot of people here.

This is why my 360 version of Rock Band gets more love than my Wii version of GH:WT.

For me, Guitar Hero doesn't have much on Rock Band...

UncleBobRichard Cook, Guest ContributorNovember 17, 2008

Quote from: Flames_of_chaos

Nintendo's Policy is not to have the same content twice on their servers meaning no track packs and no singles if they both contain the same thing in them.

This doesn't make sense since the Hendrix tracks would *only* be on the server as track packs.

EasyCureNovember 17, 2008

Quote from: Zap

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/tabs/jimi_hendrix_tabs.htm

LMFAO

I was about to do the same damn thing, awesome.

Ian SaneNovember 17, 2008

Well so much for the Wii having the best version of Guitar Hero: World Tour.  I still haven't been able to find the game and well this puts Rock Band 2 more in consideration for me.  It does afterall support the GH3 guitar I already have.  But it probalby will be compromised too.

The sad thing is what I REALLY should consider is getting an Xbox 360 for my music game needs.  The Wii is pretty much completely f*cking useless for any game not made by Nintendo.  You either don't get the game at all or it's compromised.

I blame Activision, I blame the Hendrix estate and I blame Nintendo.  The fact that the Wii always gets screwed like this and happens to have by far the stupidest model for DLC and storage and by far has the weakest hardware puts a lot of the blame on Nintendo.  This isn't directly their fault but this sh!t just keeps happening and they designed the hardware and all the limitations that came with it.

If Nintendo ever acknowledged third parties as anything more than competition then maybe I wouldn't be so hard on them.  But they don't see to care at all about these problems.  Meanwhile regarding third party games Microsoft tries to get exclusive Xbox 360 content and limited exclusivity and that all the instruments are compatible with all the games.  Nintendo doesn't do that sort of stuff at all.  All they seem to care about is if I buy their console and their games.  Whether I'm actually satisfied with the Wii and have a wide variety of good games to pick from is of no concern.

Flames_of_chaosLukasz Balicki, Staff AlumnusNovember 17, 2008

Quote from: Ian

Well so much for the Wii having the best version of Guitar Hero: World Tour.  I still haven't been able to find the game and well this puts Rock Band 2 more in consideration for me.  It does afterall support the GH3 guitar I already have.  But it probalby will be compromised too.

The sad thing is what I REALLY should consider is getting an Xbox 360 for my music game needs.  The Wii is pretty much completely f*cking useless for any game not made by Nintendo.  You either don't get the game at all or it's compromised.

I blame Activision, I blame the Hendrix estate and I blame Nintendo.  The fact that the Wii always gets screwed like this and happens to have by far the stupidest model for DLC and storage and by far has the weakest hardware puts a lot of the blame on Nintendo.  This isn't directly their fault but this sh!t just keeps happening and they designed the hardware and all the limitations that came with it.

If Nintendo ever acknowledged third parties as anything more than competition then maybe I wouldn't be so hard on them.  But they don't see to care at all about these problems.  Meanwhile regarding third party games Microsoft tries to get exclusive Xbox 360 content and limited exclusivity and that all the instruments are compatible with all the games.  Nintendo doesn't do that sort of stuff at all.  All they seem to care about is if I buy their console and their games.  Whether I'm actually satisfied with the Wii and have a wide variety of good games to pick from is of no concern.

GH guitars are compromised when you play it on Rock Band because they don't have the little special effects switch that Rock Band guitars have. I'm a minority but I prefer the rockband instruments since it looks more legit than the GH guitars.

The irony is this generation Wii has the most music games you got Guitar Hero, Rock Band, DDR, Karaoke Revolution, your crappy disney music games, Taiko Drummaster (in Japan), Wii Music, Samba De Amigo, Helix, Rock Revolution and so forth.

Also Ian when you get Rock Band 2 on Wii I recommend you pick up a SD card because of the 20 free song DLC.

UltimatePartyBearNovember 18, 2008

It's a good thing I don't care for Jimmy Hendrix's music, but I can't help but wonder if anyone else will be so foolish.  I'm pretty sure "integrity of the track pack" really means "ability to sell some songs for a higher price by bundling them with songs that wouldn't sell on their own," so I'm sure it will happen.

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