Rock Band 2 or Guitar Hero World Tour for Wii

[bigslickwood]

Anyone play one or the other (Rock Band 2 doesn't come out for a couple weeks yet on the wii) or have any input on which one to get the kids for Christmas?

[Karpro]

got my kid, 8 yr old boy, original rock band couple months ago for his birthday, can't keep him and his buddies off of it.

[JLew1415]

Got Guitar Hero World Tour for the Wii
I liked the way you can store downloadable content on an SD card. It saves it there, but you can access with almost no wait time from inside the game, and it doesn't fill up you Wii memory. Supposedly really good online play as well.

There is a beginner mode where my son can wail away at the drums and not fail the song. Basically you just have to play a note, it doesn't matter which one.

Nice mix of songs, not as hard as GH3.

From the reviews I have seen for the Wii, GHWT is the way to go.
I have not seen a definite answer as to whether the drum kit from GHWT will work with RB2. I'm thinking not, but that would be sweet. The guitars will be interchangeable between the 2 games.

I big reason I went with GHWT, other than the SD card memory, is that I have 2 guitars from GH3.

I'll post up some pics some my set.

[T]

I have heard that RB2 isn't going to be out until first of the year, possibly not until march.

If its for the kids, guess you gotta go with the GH WT.

T

[bigslickwood]

I thought I saw Dec. 16th for RB2? I've been leaning the GHWT direction, cuz the new guitar with the buttons lower down on the neck looks cool. Also, the better drum kit.

I haven't actually spotted a full GHWT kit yet. Might be another hit or miss thing like the wii was last year.

[T]

all I know is the kid and I just got done playing some RB on my old shitty ps2 and still had some fun.

Nothing better than a 5 year old singing Mississippi Queen(Mountain), Here I Go Again(Ok GO) and Run for the Hills(Iron Maiden).

I think its great!

T

[FuManchu36]

I would go with rockband 2. I work at Gamestop and a guy I work with has both of them, and he went to school to be a music engineer (or whatever its called), so he's big into music. He said he can't stand guitar hero world tour. I guess the star power in guitar hero activates for the whole band, not individually like in rockband. So say the guitar player builds up the star power and the drummer sets off the star power, then the whole band gets star power at the same time. Also he said he wasn't sure but it seemed like once somebody fails out of a song then they can't be brought back like they can in rockband.

Also it seemed to be that the rockband drum set is better, if you really want the symbols you can buy a $30 symbol attachment for the rockband kit. And just for the record, I'm not basing this off of the wii version specifically, but the xbox 360 version was used.

[JLew1415]

I liked the drum kit in GHWT better, out of the box at least.

Star power is a free for all, it goes in the bank, and anyone can you use it. The whole band does not go into star power though.

Once anyone fails the band does fail.

[bigslickwood]

Thanks for the feedback guys, this will probably boil down to whichever one happens to be in stock at some point when I happen to be in a store.

[FuManchu36]

One last thing, find the song lists. Thats what it really boils down to. I know rockband comes out with new songs pretty much every week. I don't know how often Guitar Hero comes out with songs. However on the Wii version you can't download songs, I know that Rockband has track packs you can buy at the store.

Here's the song lists for World Tour and Rockband, I didn't try and find all the song lists for the previous guitar hero/rockband games, but they should be easily findable on wikipedia.
GH WT - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_songs_in_Guitar_Hero_World_Tour
RB2 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_songs_in_Rock_Band

Also the other thing to look at is what guitar/drums are going to be comparable with other games, this offer's ways to expand the songs you are wanting to play. The new guitar hero equipment can be used with any game it seems. http://www.joystiq.com/Instrument-Compatibility-Matrix/

[JLew1415]

However on the Wii version you can't download songs[/url]

You can download songs for GHWT for the Wii, and can store them on an SD card.

[bigslickwood]

We ended up getting GHWT, since RB2 isn't out yet for wii. It's hidden in my parent's garage. The kids will probably have to fight me to get a chance to play...

[FuManchu36]

You can download songs for GHWT for the Wii, and can store them on an SD card.

Your right, this is a new thing with Guitar Hero World Tour. This was something that the Wii version should have had a lot earlier.

[JLew1415]

For the Wii internets are saying that Rock Band 2 can be played using GHWT guitars, and drum kit.

Need to rent RB2 and see how well the drum kit works, but looks like you could buy GHWT full band and then buy the RB2 game.

[Trann]

Had to get one item at WallyMart last night and found two Wii versions of GHWT on a fresh palette, buried beneath a number of PS2 and XBox versions. Phoned the sister-in-law to ask what price she paid when she got hers "on sale" in December and it was
the same so I scooped one right there.

The kids were with me at the time and both went a bit giddy.

Now I've played Rockband at two family members' homes many times in the past six months. I've played GHWT once at an office party. Now that I've had last night to do a bit more exploration, I can firmly say...

I prefer GHWT.

If you're still reading, here's my observations and reasoning:

- the RB drums come out of the box with four pads; GH came with 3 pads and two cymbals, which makes the drumming experience a bit more fun (one is supposedly a hi-hat but there's no pedal for it :)
- the RB drums are loud and plastic sounding whereas the GH drums are more rubberized and quieter: you can hear the music better
- the RB bass pedal needs to be fixed at two distances from the drummer, but can slide sideways as required; GH bass pedal is freely positionable and I like the simplicty of the mechanism

- both RB and GH guitars are bigger and heavier than the original GH Gibson Les Paul's we already have, making them feel a bit less toy-like
- the RB guitar came out with the high-fret solo buttons first but GH went one further and created a pressure sensitive "slide bar" that you can either do hammer-ons and -offs on the proper notes, wah-wahs on sustained notes, or fret tapping.
- I like the new GH Moog controller's feel: the strumming bar feels more sensitive than the RB Stratocaster -- the Moog needs only to pass a certain threshold for the trigger mechanism to fire whereas it seems like the Stratocaster needed a full extension of the strummer to make successful contact -- and the whammy bar is better offset, longer, and easier to reach, as are the other buttons (placed on and beside the bridge).

- I did like RB's method of saving weak players and restarting those who have failed, if only to allow kids and newcomers more chances but that can be offset by GH's Beginner mode which effectively lets them play any note they choose

- no comments yet on the recording studio feature (I noticed a MIDI plug right off) nor the Mii or customizable characters

That is all.

[bigslickwood]

We kind of have the best of both worlds now. We bought GHWT for xmas. Then the nieces/nephews ruined the disc. Rather than buy the GHWT disc again, we bought RB2. RB2 will play with the GHWT instruments but GHWT will not play RB2 instruments.

The band/tour dynamic is a lot more pronounced in RB2, with making choices about tour stops, gaining fans, hiring staff, etc. In GHWT, you just play through the songs. You can also customize your band people a lot more in RB2.

RB2 seems easier - at least the guitar parts on comparable difficulty settings seem easier.

I like the 'no fail mode' and the option of saving poorer players in RB2. In 'no fail' mode it doesn't matter how bad my youngest daughter sucks, she can still jam away. In GHWT we couldn't really let her play cuz we'd only get through about 10% of the song.

I like the stats, etc. better on GHWT. You can see exactly how many notes you missed, where in the song, etc.

GHWT unlocks all the songs from the beginning, which is cool. In RB2 you unlock them as you go. You can enter in a code and unlock them all, but then it won't save progress, etc. Still works fine for a simple jam session though.

Didn't try out the music creator mode in GHWT before it was gone.

Both have way too many heavy metal songs that no one knows the words to. Fun to play, but tough to sing.

[Richard Cranium]

I'm playing Rock Band 2 with my son and wife. finally got him to sit down and wail away on the drums (he's four) while we I play the guitar part and the wife sings.

I can't for the life of me figure out how to set the "no fail mode" for the drummer. So far, I've left the drum set off and he thinks he's playing. This works for now but I'd like to know how to set the no fail mode since he's asking why he doesn't have his character showing up right now. Any help?

[JLew1415]

I'm playing Rock Band 2 with my son and wife. finally got him to sit down and wail away on the drums (he's four) while we I play the guitar part and the wife sings.

I can't for the life of me figure out how to set the "no fail mode" for the drummer. So far, I've left the drum set off and he thinks he's playing. This works for now but I'd like to know how to set the no fail mode since he's asking why he doesn't have his character showing up right now. Any help?

I can't find a no fail for RB2 on Wii

[Richard Cranium]

I ended up finding it, its under extras from the main menu.

[Trann]

Picked up GH5 for the Wii last week. My old guitar was showing some wear on the strum trigger anyway and this combo came with the game and a new guitar, sooOOOooo...

Some thoughts:
- songs are fine; some good classics in there and some kitchy fun ones, too
- any instrument can be used (meaning no more fighting for lead guitar); kinda cool as the kids loved playing lead while I played either bass or drums
- Party Mode is excellent; people can drop in and out anytime; no score or failing; songs go on without intervention; same instruments can be chosen here, too; think of it as an extended jam session
- career bonuses for doing feats with certain instruments: one example that I first found was to use only upstroke strumming with a bass; funnily enough, that's exactly how I play the bass; this has also got me doing a lot more drumming as of late and I'm having a blast
- rock out as your Mii on the Wii
- Roadie Battle was a hilarious romp for the kids using their DS units to attack my opponent's gear or to repair my own during the course of the song
- kids loved running the freestyle show's effects with their DS, too

Recommended.

[timsta007]

Played the new Beatles Rockband last night. In short, if you are a fan of sweet guitar parts and challenging songs on hard/expert this is not a good choice. I would only recommend it to someone who is a hardcore beatles fan and loves the music. From that perspective it would be a really good buy as you can really explore lots of the classic beatles songs. If you aren't a huge beatles fan I think you will probably be dissapointed.

The option to use multiple mics at once (3) and sing harmony looks cool but we couldn't try it out as we didn't have more than one mic.

[Richard Cranium]

never was a fan of the beatles. I'll skip it and maybe get the ACDC song pack instead.

[Richard Cranium]

So I got the ACDC pack, but I left the wireless USB things at someone else's house at Thanksgiving. They're way the hell far away, about an hour drive each way, and I was going to just buy some new ones online and get them shipped. They don't freaking sell them! I found a bunch of pissed off people online whose "dongles" (as they call them) have stopped working and the only recourse is to buy completely new instruments or buy someone else's used. What a joke.

[Arcadic]

So I got the ACDC pack, but I left the wireless USB things at someone else's house at Thanksgiving. They're way the hell far away, about an hour drive each way, and I was going to just buy some new ones online and get them shipped. They don't freaking sell them! I found a bunch of pissed off people online whose "dongles" (as they call them) have stopped working and the only recourse is to buy completely new instruments or buy someone else's used. What a joke.

which system? I might be able to dig up some mods/hacks you can use to get them to work.

[Richard Cranium]

Wii. Without the "dongles" plugged into the USB port, there's no way for the wireless guitar and drums to interface to it.

[Wedge Rock]

They have this thing called the "Postal Service" which could be utilized the "ship" the items back to you, thus saving you a two-hour round trip car ride.

[Richard Cranium]

They have this thing called the "Postal Service" which could be utilized the "ship" the items back to you, thus saving you a two-hour round trip car ride.

interesting. I should look into this thing you speak of.