Guitar Hero III videos return for second look

by Alexander Sliwinski { Jun 4th 2007 at 9:25PM }

Last week IGN posted some videos of Guitar Hero 3 -- and then unceremoniously pulled them. But, the internet never forgets, and the videos were disseminated anyway. Well, Red Octane now informs us that IGN has the proper videos and you can view them in "HD" above and after the break. The two videos are Slow Ride and Weezer's My Name is Jonas.

Even with the clearer videos, it's quite obvious that Harmonix is no longer in charge and Neversoft is putting this one together. It just looks ... different, kind of like Tony Hawk characters in Guitar Hero. Although, we'll see how much the look contributes to the "feel" of the game when the title releases this fall. So far, we're excited about the track list featuring Heart's Barracuda and the Rolling Stone's Paint It Black.

What we do know is we're keeping an eye on the incoming rhythm game war between Rock Band and Guitar Hero III. It's poetic in its father vs. son drama. Analyst Michael Pachter is starting to waffle on who he thinks is going to come out on top, after his firm belief that Activision was right to buy Red Octane (who owns the rights to Guitar Hero) instead of GH's original developer Harmonix (who was purchased by MTV). We're waiting to see some videos from Rock Band, hopefully by next month's E3, to get an idea of how this rock opera is going to play out.

Tags: activision, guitar hero, GuitarHero, harmonix, red octane, rock band

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Einhanderkiller @ Jun 4th 2007 9:37PM

Whoever designed the new interface is a retard. It looks horrible and doesn't fit in with the shape of the fret board. It's also, in my opinion, raised too high.

The old one was much better.
http://www.dignews.com/admin/screenshoot/guitar_hero_12.jpg

bearattack79 @ Jun 4th 2007 9:37PM

Hope the new guitar isnt so "clickity clack"

miles foreman @ Jun 4th 2007 9:38PM

Hmm.

I do like that they muted the colors on the fret boards. I won't play some characters on GH I&II because sometimes the notes have a tendency to blend in to the background.

Skippy @ Jun 4th 2007 9:44PM

I'll make a grand, boisterous, and ridiculous prediction: both games are gonna be weak. Guitar Hero III has a new developer which is gonna hurt it (the new Hud sucks, the game art has gone to hell; gameplay might remain solid, but boss battles?! WTF), and Rock Band just sounds too ambitious for it's own good. Guitar Hero III will sell way better though; no one's going to pony up for Rock Band's lofty price tag.

SloppyJimbo @ Jun 4th 2007 9:50PM

Was the male singer's mouth always that big?

These aren't the same movies as the ones posted before. It's a different difficulty, and different characters are used. The older ones had Lars Umlat in one, and I can't remember who was in the other.

bounchfx @ Jun 4th 2007 9:50PM

At the VERY least rock band will be as good as GH2. Guaranteed.

and as for the "clickity click" - it's almost necessary to hear the strum bar click to do some parts correctly like in 'the trooper'. I wouldn't mind the fret buttons being quieter but for the strum bar it's very useful.

and I actually like the new interface neversoft has done.. how much I will like the rest of the game remains to be seen.. I'm a huge huge fan of GH1+2

kcx2233 @ Jun 4th 2007 9:51PM

travis barker anyone?

ZenGaijin @ Jun 4th 2007 9:52PM

Wow, the character animations and backgrounds are horrible.

ZenGaijin @ Jun 4th 2007 9:55PM

Ok the second video looks alot better

grub @ Jun 4th 2007 10:03PM

Two things right off the bad need changed..and if we don't bitch it'll stay the way it is...

1. The HUD: at least swivel the rock and score meter in like the original, rather than just pasting flat images on there that definitely don't look like they belong.

2. The crowd was loud as hell in the Jonas vid, I dunno if it was just me but... :-/

They need to show us more so we can bitch and they can get it perfect before the release...

Koji @ Jun 4th 2007 10:08PM

I'd like to see some harder note charts. But other than that. I'd say it's pretty hard to mess up a rythm game that already has an outline for how it works. It's still guitar hero, you press frets and strum the bar. I'm excited to see the songlist.

And as for rockband, Think Konami, It's not impossible. Drummania and guitar freaks were some of the most fun I've ever had with music sims.

uclatommy @ Jun 4th 2007 10:32PM

I wish there was a game like guitar hero that used a real guitar as the controller.

Ben @ Jun 4th 2007 10:33PM

I'm not a big fan of the new whammy bar animation.

Phaty000 @ Jun 4th 2007 10:59PM

Woo! It looks...just....like...the other ones...

DDR all over again...

Ikthog @ Jun 4th 2007 11:04PM

Uclatommy, there is a game that uses a real guitar as the controller, it's called "playing the guitar."

It seems kind of odd that they're going with this vaguely steampunk-looking interface style, but other than that, it looks pretty nice. I for one am looking forward to the game using a slightly more realistic graphics style in the next iteration... I think Rock Band could eat its lunch if it's done well, given that this series has pretty much settled into cash cow mode.

Jay @ Jun 4th 2007 11:21PM

Everyone has a serious problem with the new way that GH II seems to be moving, but I like it a lot. I don't know why. Everything looks fine with me and I have no problems with the way the HUD is right now. I think it's a nice change form the current model.

Dustin @ Jun 4th 2007 11:31PM

The classic "you didn't change any thing you money whores!" vs. "You changed too much you idiots!" trap, people make me laugh.

"Halo 3 is too much like 2"

"Halo 2 is too different from 1"

etc...

Anam @ Jun 5th 2007 9:30AM

Well, I couldn't care less about the characters and background, since I don't look at them when playing the game anyway. The fretboard looks better, so that's good. But the hud looks too small and out of place. Not very impressive.

However, if the song list and controller are good, I really don't care about anything else.

DT @ Jun 5th 2007 10:01AM

I really don't care about the graphics or HUD but the videos make me a bit worried about the feel.

Harmonix were all musicians and really understood the rhythm game, the note progressions were awesomely tuned. Based on these short videos I'm not sure how that will work out here, I'll remain optimistic until proven otherwise.

Rock band sounds awesome but I still haven't picked up a XB360 and I'm not sure it will make me. I think They would have a much bigger hit if it released on ps2.

Ocho @ Jun 5th 2007 11:05AM

@DT

I agree completely on a couple of your points. Harmonix has done their time in developing music titles, and they likely have that intangible edge that comes with experience.

That said, if Rock Band's excluding the PS2, they may be shutting out a lot of their potential fanbase. I know the PS2 is supposed to be old and last gen, but the numbers don't lie.