Questions about Track Pack Volume 1 for PS2/Wii

[piroteknix]

Hey,

I'm a PS2 owner, and I have a few questions about the upcoming Track Pack Volume 1, released for PS2 and Wii this July.

A slip of paper in the Rock Band Wii box says that the Track Pack will be a fully playable version of Rock Band, with Solo, Band, and Versus modes, and unlockable content. The only difference between Rock Band and the Track Pack is the songs. Does this mean PS2 and Wii owners will have to swap out discs to play Track Pack songs? I somehow envisioned the Track Pack saving a file to the memory card so the Track Pack songs show up when the original Rock Band disc is in, like an expansion pack.

Even if PS2/Wii owners have to swap out discs THIS time around, with the release of Track Pack Volume 2 (I'm just assuming there will be a Volume 2 based on the name) would it be possible to be able to play any songs from any save file with any disc in? On a related note, could a future track pack include other features that PS2/Wii owners are missing out on (Band World Tour, character creation) for a few extra bucks? I'd gladly pay $50 for 20 DLC songs, plus character creation and World Tour. Or would that be reserved for Rock Band 2?

Speaking of Rock Band 2, with DLC for 360/PS3 and track packs for PS2/Wii, is there even a NEED for Rock Band 2? Rock Band has a few glitches (the Drum Overdrive glitch where notes and a drum fill appear at the same time, but neither is playable) and flaws (difficulty seeing the notes on guitar when overdrive is activated). Rock Band 2 could fix a lot of these problems without changing actual game play (Rock Band is fun enough, I really don't want to see a bunch of gimmicks thrown in, don't mess with a winning formula).

Will Track Pack Volume 2 definitely be released? Or will it only be released if Volume 1 has good sales? I'm going to buy Volume 1 when it comes out, but I'd love to have even more songs than that.

Finally, how were the songs for Volume 1 chosen? Was there a poll on the site? Was it based on number of sales from DLC? Did Xbox/PS3 owners rate songs they liked? Will the songs for future track packs be decided in this way?

[Dartagnan64]

Wow that's a lot of questions that no one here likely has any answer to.

As far as track pack disc swapping, that's likely how it would work as a standard memory card would have difficulty hold all those songs. Each DLC song is usually 3 MB or more and i think a PS2 memory card is only 8 MB.

[whypick1]

Don't take any of this to be official:

1. Yes, you will have to do disc-swapping
2. Don't count on #1 changing with future releases. Since PS2 and Wii users are stuck with playing behind pre-rendered videos, any new songs are going to have to include their own videos as well. For 360/PS3 owners, DLC is 30-40MB (depends on the song length of course). You're looking at that size at least doubling, if not tripling. Neither the PS2 or the Wii has enough usable storage to fit tracks. The PS2 has an entirely optional hard drive attachment, yes, but how many people have it? The Wii has SD cards, but how quickly would it be before those tracks make it onto the internet?
3. The reason character creation was not in the initial release is that neither console has the processing power to handle the maximum load this would require (4 custom gen characters, 4 note charts). That's more or less Harmonix's official word, so all of you Wii people, don't complain to me that that's wrong. Band World Tour would be doable, but there'd be no reason to do it: you can't earn money or instruments to customize your character that you can't customize, no online leaderboards since there's be no online infrastructure (obviously the Wii has online capabilities, but they aren't used in RB).

I can't really answer any of your other questions.

[Viral Cheese]

Right now there is a giant egg flying through the air. If Guitar Hero: World Tour delivers what it promises (customizable characters, full features, DLC) on the Wii, then Harmonix will have the egg on their face. Of course, if GH:WT doesn't deliver, the egg falls on Activisions face. It will be quite interesting to see what happens...

[piroteknix]

Thanks for the answers! It sounds like PS2/Wii owners will always have a little less than PS3/360 owners. I've been thinking about getting either a 360 or a PS3 but, like a lot of people, I just don't have the money. Along with the price of the system, Xbox Live is $50, or PS3 games are $100.

What I'd really like to see is a really simple method to switch between Rock Band and Track Pack without interrupting game play too much, but I don't know if that'll happen.

Of course, Harmonix could always release 40 DLC-only songs on one disc for $60 for PS2/Wii. Twice the songs, twice the price, a little more convenience.

[buckethead12]

since GH:WT has already been played for the wii by 3 different sites, activision has already threw the egg at harmonix. (but DLC is not officially confirmed.) also people who are skeptical about the whole world tour wii thing your probably ps3/xbox owners. yea stop deniying the fact that GH:WT is going to burn rock band wii to bits. its true, and im actually sorry to be the one to tell you

[CaptainPasty]

3. The reason character creation was not in the initial release is that neither console has the processing power to handle the maximum load this would require (4 custom gen characters, 4 note charts). That's more or less Harmonix's official word, so all of you Wii people, don't complain to me that that's wrong.



First, I asked why the Wii version is coming out much later than the Xbox 360, PS3 and PS2 versions — was it was an afterthought or did it just need more dev time? “It was human bandwidth,” Baptiste said matter-of-factly. With all the tracks, character customization and things needed to initially get the game out the door, Harmonix “didn’t want it to be a jumble.” He also said that there were different “design choices” that needed to be made for the Wii version.

For instance, Baptiste said the game was “streamlined” in that it doesn’t include character creation so that Wii users can jump right into rockin’ out with pre-made avatars. “The focus of the Wii console is different than the [Xbox 360 and the PS3],” he said. “We wanted the more casual player to get into the game without having to navigate all these menus.”

Source: MTV Multiplayer (http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2008/05/29/rock-band-for-wii-not-an-after-thought/)


Can we please put this whole "the Wii can't handle it" baloney to rest? It was a decision made to get the product out the door quicker, and not because of any lack of capability by the hardware.

[Lily Mu]

I still think that the solution for the Track Packs is having Custom Track Packs.
Harmonix should release a Custom Track Pack that we could fill up with 20 songs just like the one being released in a retail store. It will, of course, be a CD-RW or DVD-RW or w/e you call them. They could sell it at like 60$, since we could go back and take off the songs we don't like anymore and replace them with new ones.

[buckethead12]

lily mu will you marry me? cuz that idea is so awesoem! i could play ride the lightning and thrasher then i could play buddy holly and hard to handle next lol

[Roton7]

I still think that the solution for the Track Packs is having Custom Track Packs.
Harmonix should release a Custom Track Pack that we could fill up with 20 songs just like the one being released in a retail store. It will, of course, be a CD-RW or DVD-RW or w/e you call them. They could sell it at like 60$, since we could go back and take off the songs we don't like anymore and replace them with new ones.

$60 Track Pack FTL!

Why would you want to 'trade' songs in and out?

[Lily Mu]

lily mu will you marry me? cuz that idea is so awesoem! i could play ride the lightning and thrasher then i could play buddy holly and hard to handle next lol

To those that are do not know my sex, I'M A GUY. I TOOK MY NICKNAME FROM A CARTOON CALLED KAPPA MIKEY.


And i'm straight btw.

[Sico21]

I have a rock band track pack volume 1, somebody can help me with the next duda? How I can use this with only guitar o drums with out microphone? Becouse I can´t!

[SFen24X]

Whoa, rephrase?
You can play the game without a microphone. From the straws I can grasp at, it sounds like you're playing with Guitar Hero instruments, which TP1 does not support.

[dansolo]

Whoa, rephrase?
You can play the game without a microphone. From the straws I can grasp at, it sounds like you're playing with Guitar Hero instruments, which TP1 does not support.

No, back in the day I remember playing tp1 on ps2 with my original Guitar Hero 1 red sg controller.

[SFen24X]

No, back in the day I remember playing tp1 on ps2 with my original Guitar Hero 1 red sg controller.

Forgive me, I meant on Wii. :) I'm fairly confident that TP1 on PS2 is compatible with Guitar Hero instruments, but check the drums, as the game came out before those did.