A whole range of Guitar Heroes to be available

by Jennie Lees { Mar 6th 2006 at 7:00PM }

Why have one hero when you can have them all? While Accordion Hero may not be your thing, perhaps this will mollify Guitar Hero fans keen to expand their repertoire.

The CEO of RedOctane has revealed to UK trade magazine MCV that several Guitar Hero sequels are in the pipeline, from Guitar Hero 2 to country'n'western and metal, following SingStar's successful genre-themed-spinoff model. Guitar Hero launches in Europe in a month's time, giving gamers this side of the pond the chance to finally see what all the fuss is about.

Tags: bemani, Eurogamer, Guitar Hero, GuitarHero, RedOctane

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Gelakinetic @ Mar 6th 2006 7:09PM

Sweet! Can't wait for Classic Rock Hero. If only they made a Les Paul guitar controller...

32_Footsteps @ Mar 6th 2006 9:27PM

Just to let people know - Harmonix's crew does look at prominent sites and their forums to get a feel for songs people want in future expansions. I've already let my preferences be known. Others might want to as well.

Just throwing it out there.

Buster "Fisticuffs" McGee @ Mar 6th 2006 11:24PM

Then by god, by god, by god.. (by god thrice and thrice more)... let them know that people want a metal version, and they want Clutch's "Impetus" and/or "Elephant Riders", Entombed's "Damn Deal Done", and because Metallica will be far too expensive, to go straight back to Megadeth, who are now more credible anyway. We want speed metal, death metal and black metal. Pungent Stench's "Viva La Muetre" or "Why Can The Bodies Fly?" are censorable and very metal-groovy, I'm sure millions will adore a Cradle of Filth song (not me, but hey).

Since they use soundalikes, they should be able to quickly produce these, and I think its far more enjoyable to buy Singstar-style updates to the same game than pay full price for EA-style reworkings once a year.

Stay away from nu-metal or you will find people like me not only shying away from it but tackling the young uns who step up to the counter. It was bad enough they put Blink 182 in Amplitude.

Feel (middle) In (middle) Love (left) With (right) The (left) Girl (middle) At (left) The (middle) Rock (middle) Show (middle.)

Deth @ Mar 6th 2006 11:52PM

I would like to see a game of classic rock (floyd, more clapton, zeppelin, etc.) Please!

mantis23 @ Mar 6th 2006 11:53PM

YES. HELL YES.

the more guitar hero the better!

and for the love of all that is holy put in Atreyu's "Right Side of the Bed"...that song SCREAMS for the Guitar Hero treatment!

mkdjeezus @ Mar 7th 2006 1:25AM

any other *real* guitar players out there? having played for 10 years now i simply could never bring myself to even touch this product. i could be just overly-sensitive to this, but it seems to trivialize guitar playing and players. hell, i'm sure in the time that many people spend playing this 'game' they could be well on their way to learning the instrument for real.

dvddesign @ Mar 7th 2006 1:51AM

This trivializes guitar playing to a substantially lesser extent than to what American Idol does to the talent process. I feel that GH exemplfies what a musicians talents are and how good they really are. I can barely keep up on the medium levels, and I'm in awe of myself to complete a complex song, and then I think of all the notes I'm NOT playing. Hearing those notes there, that I didn't play impresses the heck out of me that someone could and can.

As for music selection, I'm all for a metal edition, just keep the GH2 as eclectic as you did for the first one. I'd love to see some 90's alternative, as well as a hair metal or two from the 80's. I would think they'd need to bring out a long classic just to test people's stamina. Can you imagine if some Iron Butterfly snuck in on there? Could anyone break themselves to play it a second time if they failed after the drum solo from Innagodda...?

If I could pick a handful of songs from the sequel, I' d stick some G'N'R (Paradise City or You could be mine) on there, some Smashing Pumpkins (Geek USA/Cherub Rock), Soundgarden, Rage Against the Machine.

To get some metal on there, you have to stay mainstream to keep up interest, so I'd say Type-O-Negative, Rammstein, or Black Flag.

And finally, since they got some Bad Religion on there, if they could sneak some Dead Kennedys or Dinosaur Jr. on there, that'd be great thanks!

Please, oh please stay far far away from lite rock crap. No Matchbox 20, Dave Matthews, or the like, please. Save those for a "frat rock" edition or something.

Timby @ Mar 7th 2006 3:05AM

The people demand Layla.

Barry @ Mar 7th 2006 3:16AM

Yeah, I'm a real guitar player too, and I love Guitar Hero. More than that, I think it's a really good way to get people into learning how to play the instrument. For lots of people picking up and learning to play the guitar is really intimidating. This game does a really good job of demystifying music theory for people who don't play any instruments.

Sure, it's a really basic version of guitar theory, but Guitar Hero teaches people about rhythm, strumming, and to a degree intervals, as well as the muscle memory inherent in moving up and down the frets. I know that when I first learned how to play guitar, moving along the frets to the right spot on the neck was really tough. But this game is goal-oriented and has a huge focus on visual cues, which gets the player's mind away from thinking about the new techniques and theory that they are learning. How many people could potentially move on from playing Guitar Hero to deciding he or she wants to actually learn the instrument?

LordBug @ Mar 7th 2006 7:21AM

I'm already debating about buying Guitar Hero, after seeing it played a few times. 2 versions I'd love to see are a classic rock (Zepplin, Clapton, Hendrix, etc.) and a metal one (Slayer, Megadeth, Vader, etc.). I'd buy either of those in a second.

Tucker @ Mar 7th 2006 10:00AM

I've also played guitar for a good 10 years, and I absolutely love this game. Two of my friends were over this weekend and made me disconnect my brand-new xbox360 just to check out GH because they'd never played. Both are accomplished musicians (regionally, at least, we're not talking Joe Satriani or anything), and we wound up playing the damn thing for hours and hours.

If nothing else at all, Guitar Hero is one of the best finger exercises for guitar ever invented. I was skeptical at first, MK, but Harmonix staff is full of musicians who understand precisely your concerns. Hell, even one of the loading screens in GH says "at some point you should think about getting a real guitar."

Can't wait for expansions. Can't friggin' WAIT.

mkdjeezus @ Mar 7th 2006 12:02PM

Thanks for the great responses guys, seriously I'm glad to see what you have posted (solid info) and by some other guitar slingin' gamers.

Rock on!

Ben @ Mar 7th 2006 4:17PM

Please let me play Stevie Ray Vaughan's version of Little Wing.

Ben @ Mar 7th 2006 4:19PM

It would be awesome if they could make a new guitar that simulated fingerpicking.

BANJO HERO!

Dan Choi @ Mar 7th 2006 5:01PM

It is really encouraging that RedOctane's CEO has decided to reveal that multiple expansions are in the works. Too many times with Japan-based titles, all we get for peripheral-playing rhythm games, on the domestic side, is one game and import bitterness. (See: Taiko Drum Master for one such example.) It's good to see Harmonix follow up with sequels/expansions like they've been doing for Karaoke Revolution. (Hey, they've even got a country version in the works for that series.) Bravo.

http://www.joystiq.com/2006/01/27/karaoke-revolution-country-comin-this-march/