DLC and Karaoke mode, as well as making the point 100 instruments are available, suggest this version is based around samples. Pretty funky.

I wonder how on earth DLC is going to work unless it is midi type stuff. This must be paid for content. Exciting

Surely this has an online mode too!?

I wonder if this is the version that finally makes it to the west... an English version of the original was shown last spring.

The news update on the official basically says the site is going to be updated and Band Brothers will rise again. The new bit of content:

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ds/abbj/intro/manga/topics09.html

Mentions Band Brothers DX in the last panel!

Excellent time for me to get on board with this one then after missing the original completely.

Lots of different things they could do with DX.

Karaoke mode has me pondering whether songs will be compressed audio, like Ouendan. They could even have a micro-SD slot in the DS cart for DLC if they really wanted, or a custom gba slot memory card, or maybe even use the Play-Yan.

Either than, or sample banks and midi allowing people to author their own songs still. Or both.

... and if it was online, they could theoretically have voice over IP, like Pokemon, for the Karaoke side of it.

Be very interesting to see what they actually do.

magazine scan of article in Famitsu:

http://gonintendo.com/wp-content/uploads/23735_vip498239_122_396lo2.jpg

too big to inline... can't see anything particularly frightening in there.

Ummm, awesome:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=295396&page=3

The official site was updated with another cartoon too.

We've played before pumping the lead instrument through an amp, that sounds completely brilliant.

Its up on playasia:

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-9g-49-en-70-2olk.html

Also ncsx with a scan of an advert for the game:

http://www.shopncsx.com/bandbrosdx.aspx

From that Famitsu scan Pro edit mode still seems to be in there, and the instrument-specific controls look just like Jam Sessions.

New magazine scan possibly mentioning the Wii channel:

http://img180.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=61080_banqv6_122_198lo.jpg

Awesome that must be where the neogaf translation comes from.

Some screenshots, and box art:

http://wiiz.fr/article.php?a=18027

Official site up:

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ds/axbj/index.html

8 players, rather than 6 as reported initially.

30+ songs included.

100+ songs to download initially, can store up to 200.

wfc logo is blue, which implies that the downloads are free...

This is shaping up to be ultra rad. That's right I said ultra rad. Deal with it.

Dunking 100 songs into bandbros would make passing the sessions even more difficult, assuming they haven't changed the game fundamentally.

A DX in the title of a Nintendo game normally implies a deluxe version of the same game instead of a radical overhaul.

Who ever hasn't pre-ordered this... and the jpn Wii to go with it.

Should seriously consider doing so with immediate effect.

Because, as we know pre-ordering a game on hype alone, always a winner.

Not on topic sorry - but have you seen this downloadable music game for the Poospé?

Shouten Beat
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/docs/20080611/shoten.htm

________________________________

- "Your hair looks like shit."

Yeah, its a PSN download for about £4, was on the US PSN called just 'Beat' a few months ago.

Looks really nice... but isn't that great, plays really clunkily

Like a very basic version of Stepmania, nicking the layout from the defend sections of Guitaroo Man.

kareO.K.!

http://touch-ds.jp/mediagallery/st91_a.html

That video is what happens in Papercut's brain every time he plays a game.

Its the voice in his head.

Holy Awesome!

http://touch-ds.jp/mfs/st91/index.html

Crazy microsite with Iwata asks!....

Wrong hair colour.

A bit more on the Wii speaker channel:

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ds/axbj/play/speakerchannel.html

Those clips and TV ads show that it sounds pretty much the same as before, with slightly cheesy midi-style sound banks. I'm kind of glad about that, but I guess it will still put some people off. Instrument demo:

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ds/axbj/play/gakki.html

This clip shows the most gameplay footage:

http://touch-ds.jp/mfs/st91/intro.html

This clip demonstrates downloads:

http://touch-ds.jp/mfs/st91/download.html

Also looks like extra songs will be available at download stations in Japan.

Karaoke mode looks a bit mental, seems like the same kind of pitch analysis as Karaoke Revolution/Sing Star/Rock Band:

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ds/axbj/sing/index.html

Radio mode with DJ Barbara, and Barbara's Wi-Fi Music Hour sounds like it can download new songs on the fly possibly just to listen to:

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ds/axbj/others/index.html

For gawd's sake release an English version this time!

The song list has been updated too - Ghostbusters, Last Christmas and The Final Countdown! Karaoke mode is saved.

Google translating Iwata asks gives me:

I hope thats true.

Reading through the Iwata asks it implies you are limited to the number of songs you can download, to do with song royalties.

Game save hacking to the rescue?

Sounds as if the game comes with a password to download the wii channel too.

Promo video and demo now up on the Jpn Wii.

It is Band Brothers, pretty much exactly the same as before, except now there is karaoke and strumming.

It does now say 'good' or 'best' to help indicate your hit timing, when the color codes of the original were fine as they were, which is a little off putting. I'm sure it will just take a little getting used to though.

All the other visual tweaks and so on are nice but don't add anything to the game. The hit layout is identical thankfully, cool.

Cannot wait! Wii Channel most exciting thing for me, apart from 100 or more new songs of course.

Excellent. Jpn wii pay off!

What songs are there in the demo?

One single song in the demo, I think it's called Robinson from this list here:

http://www.dsfanboy.com/2008/06/11/check-out-the-track-lists-for-band-brothers-dx/

You get amateur and beginner modes, a strummable instrument, and karaoke - call for that song. I'd guess that the Nintendo Channel promo video is the singer playing her song on DX.

shipped!

*happy dance*

Economy air bubble FTREALLYLONGWAITFORRANDOMPOST

FedEx, bitches.

6:57 AM In transit POYLE GB

It has now been confirmed you can download 100 songs maximum, and cannot delete them.

From the lists so far it also looks like all video game tunes, anime tunes, and western songs are download only. The initial list seems to be classical and j-pop only.

Some dude has translated a lot of the info on the official site here:

http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/genmessage.php?board=945811&topic=43862797

Some other features:

- Wii Speaker Channel also shows lyrics
- add-on songs separated to 100 downloads and 100 user created
- user created songs can be submitted to Nintendo
- you can submit real Japanese songs as long as you also add the JASRAC works code! Nintendo may then make it available to download for everyone (this seems completely crazy to me)
- strumming supports rumble
- quantity of songs downloaded is locked to the game/ds

Someone is also working on an impressive looking list of YouTube links to all the songs available too:

http://loading.se/forum.php?thread_id=37242

Decisions, decisions. 100 of them, in fact.

Just noticed Pikmin is in there too, rockin.

Idly musing on the DLC situation...

It would be cool if Nintendo sold add-on gba slot carts for about £20 entitling you to another 100 songs. Then you'd be able to grab as many as you want, and play with the same game save, rather than having to buy multiple copies of the game.

I'm holding it right here in front of me!

The game has arrived too.

BBDX is making me very happy. Some random first impressions:

- the arrangements are a lot more fun, especially on the classical stuff. The compositions seem more flexible too, so overall the sound quality is better.
- midi type cheese will still be a barrier to entry for some, which is a shame, but I'm enjoying it
- wii channel is very nice but cannot be used when going for scores, boo. Sound quality via the speaker channel is great, and following that you get a band-eye view on the DS, you get a crowd-eye view on the channel, a nice touch.
- download system works very well, Final Countdown and Ghostbusters are must-haves. I'd got 18 out of 100 already, will have to hold off for Magical Sound Shower (thats JASRAC, right!?). Think I may be looking at a multi-cart binge here.
- karaoke is very good but I am very bad at singing.
- strumming mode is much better than expected, with excellent customisability and rumble support.
- the included music genres are pretty limited, downloading is essential. Makes out-the-box experience lamer than the first game, lack of video game tunes in particular hurts it.
- note tails now disappear even if your timing is completely off, helps you visually get an idea how you are doing but I don't think it affects score.
- menus are more confusing than the first to begin with, but click after 30 mins groping around. May put off some importers.
- there are some voice recording parts I don't understand.
- difficulty is pitched somewhere between the first game and the expansion pack (which felt like it was designed to push seasoned players more).
- there is a new 4 button difficulty to ease the transition from beginner to amateur, good stuff.
- the star rating system is more granular; there are more stars.
- everything seemed to be unlocked from the beginning, pro mode and edit mode
- I've already unlocked a few songs
- I seem to be unlocking 56 instruments by hacking away at individual songs, each of which plays a small excerpt from a Nintendo tune. Those tunes had better be unlockable or else this feature is TOTAL BASTARD.
- There is some kind of performance single player mode that earns you a star rating and tracks the number of 'encores' (consecutive 90+ scores) you get in a row. star ratings can go down as well as up, got up to 7, not sure what the end game is here.

GETGETGETGET!

Download rankings:

https://secure2.nintendo.co.jp/axbj/download/dl_rank.html

There are user-submitted Haruhi and Eva theme tunes in there already.

You are making this all up. Its just a figment of your imagination, all of this.

Then my imagination is obsessed with the subtle technical limitations of song downloading. Which is highly probable.

http://www2.jasrac.or.jp/eJwid/

Not found Magical Sound Shower in there

Updated song translation list here:

http://www.nt2099.com/J-ENT/news/video-game-news/video-games-daigasso-band-brothers-dx-song-list/

There is also a BB->BBDX conversion tool (BDXTOOL) for game save hacking, don't know much other than that:

http://home.usay.jp/pc/etc/nds/

Not sure what devices support the 8MB game save data of bbdx yet either.

Wanna cobble together some vids and screen caps of the wii channel?

I'm absolutely fascinated.

Cool. Had a proper blast on this... Doesn't appear to have a game anymore. I can't tell if there is an ability rating zone or not, no apparent recording session type thing as before to unlock the difficulties.

However, everything else is 50% better, more comprehensive modes and the instruments have more fidelity.

Managed to download a few tracks, ghostbusters, the final countdown, sadly it prevented me from downloading the power of love (bttf) must have been on taste grounds... Anyways I was scrolling into the 600s before I decided to try out the tracks I had claimed.

The actual playing of the music has a lot more visual flourish and I noticed that it appears to acurately represent 4:3 and 4:4 with the amount of boxes from left to right... Or that might be something else.

Either way, must have game for the ds by the longest shot in the world, an absolute must have.

It isn't that Power of Love.

I've got a handle on where the single player game is now.

There is live performance mode which serves mainly as a performance barometer (it recommends difficulty levels depending upon how many stars you are up to). You can unlock a couple of extra songs getting 10 stars here too (the Barbara Bat theme).

The 'main' game is the pure score chasing part, choose any instrument on any song and aim for 90+ %. There are some incentives here too - get 90+ on each instrument in a song (at the highest difficulty) and the disk turns gold to show that you have mastered it. There are a handful of tunes where that unlocks an alternate version of the mastered song too (about four of the classical ones).

Finally you also unlock instrument descriptions as you play different instruments, which is an incentive to explore the edit modes, and try to play all the different instruments (rather than always avoid the drums).

It is quite subtle, and open, but guides you just enough to try out all of the game.

Interesting.

I figured the star rating at the bottom of the screens was my general rating. I can't directly recall but at one point that changed in a very visual way... I actually think it went down!

Also when you start 1player mode, that might be why it is insisting on my playing in pleb mode.

I like the way you can alter the level and speed mid song too, all the interface, bar the Japanese, in incredibly well thought through.

The WiFi stuff is great too, that fully integrated feel, seemless guff, really like it. Previewing the songs before purchase is handy. And nifty speed too!

Its the core of the game that they have improved, the flashes and the highlights and the way it informs you in the most efficient way what is happening without distraction.

I think I was playing the vocals of ghostbusters, which was wacky. And the guitar strumming wasn't too bad... Going to take some practice.

The strumming is actually very good. You can adjust the width of the strings to suit your style, each individual string can be plucked, and the rumble pack gives great feedback so you can stare at the top screen without having to worry about looking at hitting the right areas on the bottom screen.

Its the kind of involvement Jam Sessions really needed to make it worthwhile, and its included here as an addendum to the main game (like Karaoke mode).

The only thing that has let it down for me is the lack of video game tunes, but the uploaders seem to be focussing on recent j-pop and rhythm action games, so all is not lost. There are a lot of songs from the first Band Brothers, Taiko and Ouendan kicking about. A handful of western songs are cropping up too, Highway Star was added the other day (Elite Beat Agents and Rock Band). Game-wise there is Ashley's theme from Wario Ware and two versions of Polyanna (I Believe in You) from Mother. The Pikmin tune was the single released in Japan when the first game came out, balls. Strangest so far is Ubertreffen which appeared in the last few Pop 'n' Music and Beatmania games.

Song releases are interesting. There are daily updates now, adding maybe 25 - 50 songs per day. There are quite a few alternative arrangements too.

What is strange is the lack of Nintendo songs, which may or may not be down to the lack of JASRAC licensing, it isn't clear. There are more and more game tunes cropping up though, lots of stuff from Dragon Quest now, something from Rhythm Tengoku, and quite a few songs from Mother. GameFaqs forum seems about the only place actively posting new song update translations.

Also looks like it topped the charts last week:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=326382

closely followed by Initial D.

Attempting to understand the JASRAC works database -

http://www2.jasrac.or.jp/eJwid/main.jsp?trxID=F00100

作品コード [Works Code]: 完全一致 [Agreement] ___

ISWC [International Standard Musical Work Code] : 完全一致 [Agreement] ___

作品タイトル [Works Title]: 前方一致で/後方一致で/中間一致で/完全一致で [Begins/Ends/Contains/Exact Match] すべて [Full] or 正題に限定 [Partial] ___

権利者名 [Proprietor name]: 前方一致で/後方一致で/中間一致で/完全一致で [Begins/Ends/Contains/Exact Match] 著作者 [Author] or 出版者 [Publisher] ___

アーティスト名 [Artist]: 前方一致で/後方一致で/中間一致で/完全一致で [Begins/Ends/Contains/Exact Match] ___

検索範囲 [Search Range]: 内外 [About] 内外指定なし/内国作品のみ/外国作品のみ [Unspecified/Domestic/Foreign]

Which suggests it may be possible to use ISWC codes found here:

http://www.iswc.org/en/html/Home.html

http://iswcnet.cisac.org/ISWCNET-MWI/confirmLogin.do

Magical Sound Shower JASRAC code 056-5109-3

http://www2.jasrac.or.jp/eJwid/main.jsp?trxID=F20101&WORKS_CD=05651093&subSessionID=001&subSession=start

Have you seen this?

Happy Dance Collection
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/docs/20080711/hdc.htm

Use the Wii Remote to make lots of pretties.

________________________________

- "Your hair looks like shit."

Ooh no, looks good. I like the way the dancers are actually holding a remote too

Some utter genius has added Sega Saturn, Shiro! to BBDX, and its on the download list!

10 Nintendo game tunes have appeared, from a Nintendo Dream magazine competition

Search for arranger ニンドリ (Nindori) within the game to find all the songs.

The songs are:

107 - スターフォックス６４　スターウルフ [Star Fox 64 - Star Wolf]
121 - ゼルダ　かぜのタクト　おおうなばら [The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker - Sailing Theme]
198 - ヨッシーアイランド　アスレチック [Yoshi's Island - Athletic]
275 - マリオサンシャイン　リコハーバー [Mario Sunshine - Ricco Harbour]
304 - どうぶつのもり　タイトルテーマ [Animal Crossing - Title Theme]
339 - マリオカートＤＤ　ベビィパーク [Mario Kart: DD - Baby Park]
421 - どうぶつのもり　クリスマス [Animal Crossing - Christmas Theme]
455 - おいでよどうぶつのもり　スピーディ [Animal Crossing DS - Hair Salon Theme]
461 - どうぶつのもり＋カッペイのふなうた [Animal Crossing + - ?]
568 - ファミコンたんていくらぶ２　あゆみ [Famicom Tantei Club 2 - ?, this was in the expansion pack]

(although these positions will have changed soon)

They are about the same quality as the expansion cart for the first game

Some more information on the Nintendo Dream competition here:

http://gameswelike.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=388

Picked this up in Osaka earlier in the week. It's flippin brilliant isn't it? There's a shedload of content to play through and I feel like I've only scratched the surface so far. I haven't even tried downloading a new song yet.

So, if a song is on the j-Wid site it could potentially appear on BBDX? Am I right?

There are some cool bands on there.

Was on the DLC list and noticed the Golgo13 theme made by a guy named Saur. That wouldn't be one of yours would it, Saurian?

Most Nintendo tunes and Magical Sound Shower are listed but not correctly licensed for Band Brothers DX to be able to use them.

People are distributing their own songs outside of the game though, using various tools. There is a USB adaptor tool (bdxadaptor) that can write to the game save directly, or slot 2 tools (bdxsave and nds_backup) that can copy the game save from the cart to be edited on PC. There is even a partial translation patch, and a tool to replace the built in songs on an edited rom image.

Sharing songs like this is effectively music piracy, although the game itself allows you to share custom songs between two consoles. These tools effectively allow you to do the same but share with many more people, as with the hacking tools written for the original game. In all likelihood the popularity of song sharing with the original led to the download service in the sequel.

Some of the tools that have appeared allow you to rip your Nintendo approved download songs to share, which is obviously problematic. Realistically you'd never need more than 245 songs, especially when the 100 custom song slots can be changed at will, and most people seem to be using the tools to share custom songs (ignoring the pirates who are presumably using them as a way to get at some of the download songs).

Protecting Nintendo's download scheme, each cart has some sort of unique id used to track their download quota server side, and none of the hacks have been able to work around that. So only authentic copies of the game get the full experience, of which the consistently impressive song downloads are a fairly sizeable chunk.

The quality of the official Nintendo approved downloads is generally higher that custom ones, but some of the old Band Brothers songs that have been converted are very good indeed and worth trying. There are some great versions of Super Mario Kart, Still Alive, Super Mario RPG and Metal Gear Solid 2 around from the first game.