When Will Wii Get the Full Metallica Death Magnetic Album DLC?

Update: Wii Finally Getting Full Metallica Death Magnetic Album DLC in November 2009!

The DLC That Never Comes

Over a year after Metallica's thrash metal album "Death Magnetic" was released, Guitar Hero Wii players are still left with only 4 of the tracks to play.  Meanwhile, Xbox 360 and PS3 players have had all 11 Death Magnetic album songs available as Guitar Hero DLC since the album's debut in September, 2008.

Why Didn't the Wii Get All 11 Death Magnetic Songs for Guitar Hero World Tour in 2008?

As usual, Guitar Hero company representatives were extremely tight-lipped when the ugly truth became apparent to angry Wii gamers that in fact, only 4 of the 11 songs would be available.  Everyone wanted to know the reason why, but the company wouldn't talk.  A few months later, Neversoft posted an official statement on the GuitarHero.com Community Forums:

"I know that there are a lot of questions about the Wii DLC releases. There is an official statment that I can now share with you:

"Due to technical or licensing restrictions, the DLC offerings will not be the same for every console platform. For example, certain artists prefer to keep the integrity of the track pack rather than releasing singles and the Wii's infrastructure only allows us the ability to release single songs as DLC. We are very excited to be the first third-party publisher to bring a library of playable DLC songs to the Nintendo Wii platform. Vicarious Visions has pioneered with Nintendo a seamless way to download, store and access songs via SD Card. The development team is committed to offering Wii fans worldwide as much variety of DLC as possible on a regular basis."

This statement didn't do much to fan the flames of disappointed Wii rockers, mainly because it didn't provide a specific reason why the Wii could not receive the remaining 7 songs.  Whatever the holdup was, somebody doesn't want it known.

Guitar Hero World Tour Wii players were offered the following songs:

1. "Broken, Beat & Scarred"
2. "Cyanide"
3. "My Apocalypse"

Kind of a strange selection, since "The Day That Never Comes" was getting frequent airplay at the time as the album's lead single.

Xbox 360 and PS3 Gamers Get the Premium Treatment, But For Wii It's: The DLC That Never Comes

Buyers of Guitar Hero Death Magnetic DLC for Xbox 360 and PS3 didn't just get the full tracks, they got them for Guitar Hero 3 and Guitar Hero World Tour at the same time, cross-compatible.  Then, when Guitar Hero Metallica came out in March 2009, Xbox/PS3 players doubled their value for a second time, since GHM allowed the Death Magnetic DLC to import (and only those tracks).

Guitar Hero Metallica Was the Chance to Give Wii the Full Album, But Instead Wii Got the Same 3 Songs

Sure, it was understandable that Guitar Hero 3 Wii couldn't get Death Magnetic DLC since it had no Music Store or DLC whatsoever.  For Guitar Hero World Tour, forums were ripe with the rumor that it was a Wii Music Store file size limitation preventing the longer tracks of Death Magnetic from appearing.

But when Guitar Hero: Metallica came out with 49 new tracks on disc, Wii metal fans once again got their hopes up that they'd finally get songs like: The Day That Never Comes, That Was Just Your Life, Suicide & Redemption, and All Nightmare Long.  Instead, Guitar Hero strangely decided to package the same 3 GHWT DLC songs on-disc with Guitar Hero Metallica, plus All Nightmare Long – one of the longest tracks from Death Magnetic.  (Playstation 2 got the same treatment.)

Even the Guitar Hero Metallica Wii game package itself is consistently strange:

To make things more bizarre, All Nightmare Long was unceremoniously chosen as the one and only new Death Magnetic song Wii would receive, and it was placed as part of the game's main Career setlist, instead of part of Tier 8: Death Magnetic!  Not only is it not listed on the package under "BONUS METALLICA DEATH MAGNETIC TRACKS FOR Wii", but it's actually the biggest bonus Death Magnetic song by any standard – given that it's the only new one for Wii, not to mention an epic thrash song of considerable length.

What could possibly explain this?  While All Nightmare Long is considered one of the best new Metallica thrash tracks in years and Wii gamers were thankful for the chance to finally play it, certainly it is as much a part of the Death Magnetic album as the other 3.  And why didn't they just include all 11 songs for Tier 8 since the game came out not long after the Death Magnetic album was released and during Metallica's World Magnetic Tour?

A Glimmer of Hope Came With Guitar Hero 5

Several European members of the GuitarHero.com Community Forums reported seeing the full Death Magnetic album DLC in the Guitar Hero 5 Wii Europe Music Store for an extremely brief period of time in early October, 2009, but were unable to actually purchase the songs from the store.  This sparked rumors that the company was "getting ready" to finally offer the full 11 track Death Magnetic album for Nintendo Wii players.  Unfortunately, one month later, there hasn't been any further sign of the 7 elusive tracks.

Which Songs Would You Buy If Death Magnetic Were Finally Offered For Wii?

Now that Guitar Hero 5's Wii Music Store supports albums and track packs, "the integrity of the track pack" is no longer a factor possibly preventing the album's release.  What's left holding up these tracks a year later?

If it finally comes out, will you buy it?