Wii U

[Bront20]

HMX can't, and Nintendo has no incentive too.

Early reports have DLC migration as an issue, but no one has said anything about actual gameplay.

[Elementician]

one of my RB3 players said that RB3 looks great on the Wii-U and they have a program on the Wii Shop Channel that lets you convert everything on your Wii to the Wii-U even the DLC and save data

[Alternity]

Guys, I was asking if anyone new if the RB3 game and the RB2 instruments would work with the new Wii U because The nintendo site says that the Wii U will be backwards compatible with MOST Wii games and accessories. I haven't seen anything that looks like RB or GH coming out for the Wii U. The closest thing is the Wii Sing game. I didn't even think about the GH stuff because I don't play those very much anymore. Yikes! I did write to Nintendo and here is there answer:

"Regarding Rock Band accessories, I'm sorry to say that I don't have any information as to whether or not they will be compatible with Wii U at this time. Also, it sounds like you may have been asking if you will be able to move your Virtual Console games from your Wii console to Wii U via SD or SDHC Card. If so, there is no way to transfer the content just by inserting an SD Card. However, the good news is that Wii U owners will be able to wirelessly transfer content to their Wii U system, but both systems will need to be present and connected to the Internet in order to do so. Also, Wii U will need an SD Card in order to transfer, and this process will be similar to transferring content from a Nintendo DSi or Nintendo 3DS to another Nintendo 3DS/Nintendo 3DS XL system."
I asked about DLC and they answered about Virtual Console games, so who knows.

When I wrote to Harmonix asking the same questions, this was their answer:

"We actually haven’t been given any info about hardware or DLC compatibility from Nintendo, but we’ll definitely share the news as soon as we know more!"

This was why I decided to reach out the the RB community. Unbelievable that no one tested any of this stuff!

Some people did some test, look in the Rock Band forums, there's a thread about it.

[Blucher28]

I'll have to check that out, thanks!

[hsuband]

The backward compatibility of the Wii U is achieved by the Wii mode or Wii Channel as they put it. It is just like the old Wii. For testing, I took Lego disk and a guitar to the Wii U in Wii mode. It work right away. No issue at all for the instrument itself. The graph on the 1080p screen is just as good as it on the 480p if not better. The game play is very very smooth. No issue there .

However, I have not transfer my Old Wii to WiiU yet for the following reasons:
1. It is said that once it is transferred, all the data in old Wii will be transfer at the same time and be deleted from the old system. Since there is a lot of DLC, I would rather let the 'official' to perform the test before I try it myself.
2. The old Wii still work and can be used as a RB3 station for now.
3. My biggest question is will a new RB3 U coming out? If so, will the DLC works with any new RB-U tittle in the future?
4. Online playing? No idea. I cannot connect to RB3 server for a few weeks already...

[hsuband]

Wii mode in WiiU is exactly like the old Wii. The RB3 looks very good in WiiU Wii mode. It looks like the 480p graph is somewhat up-converted to 960p with a black frame in a 1080p display. You can access the leader board to check your score. You can play online with other player. You can use the Pro insturments. You can also access the music store.

The console is very cool during all the game play comparing to the old Wii. it would mean that the WiiU has a lot more CPU and GPU power to handle the every games that I had played. Some of them are 1080p FPS including the COD Black OP2. Quite a capable game console.

According to the Nintendo, the Wii-WiiU transfer should include all your shopping and in game purchase activities. I would say that since the DLC purchase is operated by Nintendo, all purchase should also be transferred. Again, I have not transfer my game to WiiU so I can't testfy for that.

[Bay78]

Well I successfully swapped over all my wii content to the Wii U including my Rock Band 2 DLC. However I had to format my SD card and re download all my DLC onto the SD card. I had A LOT of fun playing Rock Band 2 the other night and am going to buy Rock Band 3 now because of it. I thought I was finished with Rock Band but I was WRONG! But..... the only thing that didn't work for me was online play. Did they suspend online play for the Wii on Rock band 2? Or is that an issue of playing Rock Band 2 on Wii U? If anybody knows this and can fill me in on it that would be great.

[Bront20]

Did they suspend online play for the Wii on Rock band 2? Or is that an issue of playing Rock Band 2 on Wii U? If anybody knows this and can fill me in on it that would be great.

There's a known issue where connectivity with Rock Central is problematic on the Wii, and this would likely effect RB2 as well as RB3.