Rock Band guitar shown in latest GameStop newsletter

by Alexander Sliwinski on Jun 19th 2007 10:00AM

We knew the Rock Band guitar was going to be based on the Fender Stratocaster and now, thanks to a GameStop newsletter, we get the clear internet-ready picture of what it'll actually look like. The ten button controller (you read that right, check out another pic after the break) has five frets at the top and another five frets of the same color below. Considering we haven't seen the in-game interface, we assume these are for the designated solo sections mentioned in the Game Informer info released last week. The button colors can not be seen from the front, but are viewable from the player's perspective when they're rocking out.

The GameStop blurb also says that the guitar will allow players to manipulate sound through "reverb, flange, wah, delay and more." This thing looks great, but there is still absolutely no word yet on official pricing. It's time to talk cheddar and unless EA/MTV/Harmonix got some insane deals in manufacturing, we're starting to be just a tad concerned about the matter. Let's hope we can put a price on this music soon.

Update: Just to be clear about pricing, it's still up in the air. We contacted Harmonix and were told, "We have not finalized any pricing or packaging details for Rock Band at this point. Any speculation at this point is just that -- speculation."

[Thanks Chris]

Tags: ea, Electronic-Arts, fender stratocaster, harmonix, mtv, PS2, PS3, rock band, RockBand, Xbox-360

Reader Comments (54)

The guitar looks like it is taking a nice step away from the Fisher Price look of the GH controller, and effects are a nice additional, but with the proported price tag and the inability to rent these specialty games, I expect to stick with Guitar Hero.

Maybe if I get a chance to play in-store I'll change my mind, but the thing will have to be priced right. GH's $70 pricetag is pushing it.

WOW.....that's looks incredible! Even though I want the drums...(on expert they are real drumlines!!) I guess I'll be getting the guitar as well. This is going to be one of the BEST fall line-ups for gaming in years....

I hope they plan on releasing a lefty model or they had the forethought to put the colored labels on both sides of the neck.. otherwise this things going to be hard for a lot of people who aren't righty's to grasp.

gamestop has it listed at $199.00 bundle...

I wasn't interested in Rock Band until seeing this. That is so awesome!

It has colours on the bottom of the guitar, it looks like. You can sort of see them in the picture.

BAM, thanks for pointing that out Premax. I didn't even look close enough to notice.

Bam, thanks for pointing that out Premax. I didn't even look close enough to notice.

The interface looks pretty much like Guitar Hero, except there are three boards on the screen instead of one. The left is lead guitar, the middle is the drums (only four, instead of five, notes to keep track of) and the right side is the second guitar.

Singing is along the top. It looks like a neat hybrid of Amplitude and Guitar Hero. Heck, it looks more like Guitar Hero than Guitar Hero III does.

Wow, the guitar looks great. Love the buttons near the bottom for solos. I just hope the guitar won't cost more than $60.

Rock Band > Guitar Hero 3

Join the Rock Band Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2346954822

I thought it looked a lot cheaper than the guitar hero guitar...this is trying too hard to look like a guitar, whereas the guitar hero one, you know its a plastic toy.

They need to move the strap placement for lefties. On the X-Plorer the neck strap is actually on the neck on not on the body of the guitar so the strap sits the same way for lefties and righties. I hope they do that for this one.

"Rock Band > Guitar Hero 3"

This is most people think hardcore gaming fans are retards. Neither game is even close to being done yet, but Captain Dipshit here has already proclaimed it to be superior.

Honestly, I don't think too much of EITHER game so far - GH3 seems to be trying to fix what isn't broke, and Rock Band is going to overdo everything and redefine wallet rape. I do like how the RB team said that the Guitar Hero controllers would work with Rock Band...but obviously not correctly, since they added a bunch of shit that will likely only overcomplicate the gameplay...again, fixing what isn't broke.

I guess we should have known this was coming - someone hits on a good concept and it takes off, and in a matter of years it gets shoved in a replicator and driven into the ground.

Oh, and by the way - Gibson SG & Gibson Explorer > Fender Stratocaster...in real life. Duh. Strats are for high school kids in crappy Beatles or Phish wannabe bands. Or if they turn their distortion on, they think they are Fall Out Boy or Green Day. Yeah! Rock on, losers!

Fender does make swell surf amps though, and the Mustang & Jaguar guitars are nice.

Interesting contrast in approaches by the Guitar Hero team and the Rock Band team:

- Guitar Hero III appears to be taking the franchise, and trying to make it more like a traditional video game (Guitar Hero, with POWER-UPS and BOSS BATTLES). Rock Band is focusing more on the music experience (freestyling, drum kits, the ability to form bands).

- Red Octane has gone into deep radio silence, almost no communication with press or fans. They promised large amounts of downloadable content, didn't deliver, and then played dead. Many fans have found their attitude contemptuous. Harmonix, on the other hand, posts daily blogs from their team on their website. Developers frequent their forums, and actively solicit ideas on the boards.

- Red Octane bans all mention of Rock Band on the Guitar Hero forums. Harmonix lets people talk about Guitar Hero all they want on the Rock Band forums.

Which company do you think is focused on developing an innovative gaming experience, and which one is trying to do the minimum effort to crank out a knock-off sequel?

Hmmm...I hope the song list is better than GH2 for X360...after spending all that money, I was pretty disappointed w/ the song choices.

Guitar looks sweet for Rock Band, definitely a step up from Guitar Hero.

lol k
who knew having an opinion made you a dipshit?i guess your one too.

rock band has drums and guitar so its obviously better.

dipshits ftw =D

Wow K, calm down. For real big fans of Guitar Hero, it looks like Rock Band is just the natural progression of where to go next. You mention "wallet rape", but you don't need to buy four instrument. Want to just play guitar? Buy just the guitar, then. You don't need all four controllers to play, and all the parts have their own campaign (except bass guitar), so you can play all you want by yourself. You're dreaming if you think the GHIII guitar isn't going to cost more then before, now that it is wireless.

Harmonix leaving Guitar Hero doesn't bode well for GH, just because Harmonix is a company dedicated to making music games, while Neversoft is...well, Neversoft.

P.S. The Stratocaster is awesome. I don't know why everyone has to act all high and mighty and accuse every Guitar Hero fan of being in a "wanna be band". I just like the game, its fun.

Eh, personally I think Rock Band is going too much for the music experience and not enough game. If I took a serious interest in music creation I'd just get an actual instrument. I just wanna pick up a play guitar and screw off for a bit and have fun, not learn how to manipulate sounds and music.

I am pretty annoyed with RedOctane's support at the moment... The ZERO downloadable content they've released after the first week for the 360. Where the hell are the new tracks? It was the main reason I bought the damn game a second time.

Guess they're too busy with 80's Edition for PS2, or collaborating for GH3. Sucks a lot.

Then again, maybe I'll just go back to listening to actual CDs and playing MMOs again, keeping the two realms of music and games separate - as intended by the gods.

@14 K
"Oh, and by the way - Gibson SG & Gibson Explorer > Fender Stratocaster...in real life. Duh. Strats are for high school kids in crappy Beatles or Phish wannabe bands. Or if they turn their distortion on, they think they are Fall Out Boy or Green Day. Yeah! Rock on, losers!"

Wow you really are an idiot. Yeah only losers use strats let me try and think of some of those guitar losers:
Eric Clapton
Jimi Hendrix
Jeff Beck
Stevie Ray Vaughan
David Gilmour
Prince
Eric Johnson
The list goes on please think before ever saying or typing anything ever again.

Hate to tell you this but i was at gamestop yesterday and the guy at the store told me 200.00 bucks for the bundle.

the new game informer has the whole kit, drums look fun

Sure, the songs in GHII weren't my desert island classic list, but what did you want? You have to keep in mind that this has to appeal to more than the 70's rocker hesher or the speed metal freaks out there. I think they nice job considering they have to cover such a wide base. The funny thing, even some of the songs that I think suck are pretty fun to play with GH. I have a new found appreciation for some crappy songs. Go figure.

When you guys say that it's $200 for the bundle, what exactly is in the bundle? If that means the game, two guitars, drums and microphone, then I'd call that a good deal.

The question for me is how much for just the game and one guitar? I can add on other pieces later if I decide I like it.

@Galicki

I completely agree with you. Although there are quite a few songs that I hate (Laid to Rest), it's a very good list considering that it needs to appeal to a wide range of people. And I also found some songs that I don't like are actually fun to play (Laid to Rest).

Why stress about price when you have no idea what it will be? When they announce the real price, then you can decide if it is worth it to you. Until then, why worry about it?

Right now all we know is:
1) Harmonix is pretty good at what they do so the game will probably be pretty cool
2) The guitar looks awesome -- even though I probably will totally suck playing it
3) There will be multiple instruments available in some variety of configurations at some unknown price
4) The game will sell like crazy.

Beyond that, why stress? Isn't there enough in the world to worry about?

Honestly, at the end of the day it's the track list that's going to influence my choice the most. I don't think it's outside of the realm of possibility that I could actually end up with both GHIII and Rock Band. If rock band does actually get released for the Wii I'll probably pick the drum package becuase it's going to be awesome, and maybe the guitar also, now that I've seen it, it looks pretty cool. I'd still like GHIII, but I don't want to buy ANOTHER fake guitar, so I'll probably get it for PS2.

@Eric #20

Bah, there are two of us, this is confusing.

I never believe what Gamestop employees tell me, just because they always seem to be promoting the rumors of the internet.

Every time I go into my Gamestop, there's always this big deal about an internet rumor being herald as the truth

-Eric (same Eric in comments 8 and 17)

One other thing. In Game Informer, they said that the drum controller would allow you to use real drum sticks on it. In fact, it comes with a pair of real sticks. No need to wait for a Wii version to drum like crazy!

Beating the drum part on hard or expert will be equivalent to actually playing it on a four piece set, meaning if you can beat the game well, you can really play those parts on a real set.

That's it, no more comments from me. I swear.

"15. Hmmm...I hope the song list is better than GH2 for X360...after spending all that money, I was pretty disappointed w/ the song choices."

Dude, are you stoned or something? The set list on GHII kicks the holy hell out of the first one!

Wow K do you have ANY friends? With an attitude like that it would be suprising oh mighty overlord of everything. What a fucking tool.

I cant wait till either one personally. They are both going to be really fun games when it comes down to it, and i cant wait to get both just for the different set lists. Rock! =D

your not forced to buy the gh3 guitar they will sell the disk solo which is what im buying.but now for rockband i was getting just drums then this pic came and now i must have it! i gotta be able to imitate hendrix! also rock band needs a hendrix song if theyre using the strat. just saying. and some cream too!

I think I prefer the GHIII guitar... I'd rather have it look like a well-made toy than a crappy real guitar.

That guitar is beautiful.

Even if the game is 200 dollars, I think that since you won't be able to play all three instruments and sing at once (unless you're REALLY REALLY talented), the idea is to get your friends to chip in as well. But then after you do that, it's a question of who gets to keep the game disc. :P

now thats a guitar, can not friggin wait for this game

can the rock band guitars work for Guitar Hero also?
i only have one guitar for guitar hero
and me and my brothers are thinking of getting rock band as well as guitar hero 3 and 80's.

"can the rock band guitars work for Guitar Hero also?"

The answer to that question is a very big, resounding maybe. Harmonix said that they could make it work with Guitar Hero, but didn't say if they would.

@Eric

I've already asked this, but I'll ask it again: what's in the bundle?

That guitar is awesome... period!
I think that looks awesome, it looks like it will play great, and it has added features. All the items I'm looking for in a controller for these types of games.

If the guitar is made of a good quality plastic, with responsive buttons I think that it would definitely be worth 199.99 for the bundle with just the guitar. People blow that much on an iPod they can spend that much on a controller for a game that may be the most comprehensive multiplayer entertainment yet created!

Yes, you can chide me, say I don't have a life if I can afford this type of controller. I don't care, I'll be enjoying it and that is what matters.

I agree with K, in fact I'll do him one better: only pussies play video games! Go join a REAL band you losers, stop.... oh wait where am I? Damn, wrong messageboard...

If its 200 dollars for just the guitar, they can shove it. If its 200 dollars for 1 guitar, 1 mic, and 1 drum kit, its a good deal. If its 200 dollars for for all that plus the bass, its a killer deal.

I won't buy if its 200 with 1 guitar. And neither will anybody else.

@3
actually, you'd be surprised at the number of left handed guitarists out there--because most play right handed! not a hard thing to do, I am left handed myself. just about everything is written for right hand, and on a real guitar you use both hands just as much anyways.

moving along....
the guitar looks fantastic, but with that much complexity added and the price (although not given yet), I'd rather play in a real band with real instruments--besides, where am I going to find all the space for this in my entertainment room??!!

No one with half of a brain thinks it will be $200 for the game and one guitar, that's not even a possibility.... why would you even think that???

I'm personally guessing the prices will be similar to this:

Game by itself - $50 ($60 for 360/PS3)
Game w/ Guitar - $90 ($100 for 360/PS3)
Game w/ Two Guitars, Drums, Mic - $200 ($220 for 360/PS3)
Extra Guitar - $40-$50
Extra Drums - $50-$60
Extra Mic - $20-$30

Just guesses.

This is epic news! I can't wait for this game to come out. My only question is they've said in the past that the current Guitar Hero controller would be compatible. But with the addition of these new buttons, I don't see how. Anyways, I was so excited about this news that I wrote a post about it on my own blog. Check it out if you get a chance. Thanks!

http://www.tonightwemakesoap.com/2007/06/shredding-is-in-my-future.html

Aha!

According to Gamespot, the $199.99 bundle includes the game, one guitar, drums and microphone. They also listed individual prices as follows:

Microphones for 360/PS3 - $29.99
Guitar for PS3 - $59.99
Guitar for 360 - $79.99 (WTF!)

I guess those wireless guitars were more expensive than I thought. They didn't talk about the drum prices.

I just realised this isn't coming for the Wii

@Anam

Yeah the drum prices are 80 for both consoles i am also surprised for the cost of the gutiar on the 360

didnt harmonix say that the prices gamestop said are not correct cause they havent decided the prices yet?

To the poster above who said that they bailed on GH Guitar compatibility, you are not completely abandoned. From the looks of it, it seems that that might just be for people who want to actually feel like soloing or whatnot. I doubt they'll actually make you go into a certain "solo mode".

The X360 guitars are more expensive because MSFT freaking sucks and required propriety chips (which they can sell at ridick royalty rates).

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Rock Band guitar shown in latest GameStop newsletter

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