If the Wii doesn't have any means of getting and storing all the songs that are available for download, at all, that is incredibly lame. There are a huge amount of those (very tempted to get the full Doolittle by the Pixies).

So...where's all the stuff that the Wii does do well? Is it just a straight port with less features?

In the other versions of Rock Band you engage Overdrive (this same as Guitar Hero's "Star Power": a brief period of a points-multiplier and freedom from penalties on mistakes) by tilting the guitar upwards, rockstarlike. (I myself just give it a violent rockstarlike shake to trip the sensor.)

Theoretically the Wii version should be able to take that mechanic somewhere entirely new, no? You could be rated on your moves in addition to your playing. Did they not go anywhere with that concept?

And are the Wii peripherals any better than the other platforms? I ended up hating the wired Stratocaster that came with it (the non-click strum bar just kills it) and went with a pair of wireless ones for Guitar Hero.

Graphically, that looks pretty much the same, but it's hard to see in the video.

... actually learning to play the guitar? That way you may have a sense of actual achievement then the phony instant gratification of syncing to a game.

I am paralized by the awsomeness of this anouncement.

And only days away.

This is how it should be, no months of waiting.

Unless they are nowhere to be found.

Like the wii fit.

Grrrrrrr

euphoria over.

I'm still waiting to hear if its compatible with the Wii guitar hero controllers. Half the time I hear "Not sure", the other half "We're waiting to see".

everyone I know who plays it loves it! even those who despise anything having to do with button mashing love, love, love it!

Rockband might be the most fun game ever! (that sounds like an exageration- it is not.)

The only suck is not being able to download songs - for my friends without a 360 I sure hope they do updates on disk for you - the weekly new releases are part of the fun.

johnhummel I don't know if this helps with your question but on the xbox the guitar hero grutars do work with rockband. Hope it is compatible in the same way for wii- it is nice to have a guitar and bass but would suck if you had to buy yet another peripheral for it.

I know it's awfully consumerist of me, but at times like this I absolutely fucking hate the fact that I moved from the Bay Area to Sunny Queensland.

For some God unknown reason the "powers that be" have deemed that Rock Band will not be released in Australia until some time in the future. If I had to wager a guess, I would say probably around Christmas time so that they can maximize potential sales. This, compounded by the fact that although the Aussie dollar is almost at parity with the US dollar but the game will cost twice as much down under as it does back in the States, is enough to make me go postal.

I don't actually know the AU release schedule, but I would suggest you poke around (sounds like you did already). From what I've seen, AU releases aren't generally THAT far behind the US release, and it's been over half a year now. IGN regularly reports on AU releases and has its own separate AU reviews of the same games, might check them out for info.

In the States the game is so common now I'm seeing it sold in Blockbuster Video stores. And I mean the whole big box of instruments, not just the game itself. The price has also gone down by about $40 from the original release.

That price is likely to go lower. The first details on Guitar Hero: World Tour are starting to emerge and it looks like they're trying to out-Rock Rock Band, with a 2-cymbal 3-pad wireless drumset and a wireless guitar that has more sensors and devices on it, leading to more Wii-like game mechanics beyond hitting the notes on the controller. In addition to being able to record your own music and a bunch of other advances on the genre. Looks pretty good on paper at this point.

Rock Band will probably find itself in the position of wanting to move that game as much as they can ahead of Guitar Hero's next incarnation, so if they haven't actually had a proper AU release, they'd better get on the ball.