Rock Band 2 Wii Supports DLC, Online Play

Unlike the original Wii release of Rock Band, Rock Band 2 Wii will let users buy and download new songs as well as play online, USA Today reports. The functionality had been heavily suggested in the past, though this marks the first explicit confirmation.

Series developer Harmonix previously cited the Wii's lack of substantial internal storage had excluded the functionality from the first Wii release, which arrived in June.

Vicarious Visions' impending Wii release of Guitar Hero World Tour will also support downloadable content, which can be stored in either the Wii's internal memory or an inserted SD Card. While Guitar Hero will let users play tracks that are stored on the SD Card, it is not yet known if Rock Band 2 downloads will offer similar functionality.

New downloadable content has been released on a weekly basis for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of Rock Band since it launched last November. Harmonix has yet to state if the entire catalog of downloadable tracks will be available to Wii owners, or if only new releases from this point forward will be available.

Already available on Xbox 360, the multi-instrument music game sequel--which supports guitar, drums and vocal peripheral-based gameplay--is slated to hit PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and Wii by the year's end. As with the first game, the PlayStation 2 version of the sequel will not sport DLC or online play.