Jimi Hendrix joins Guitar Hero World Tour

by James Ransom-Wiley { Jul 21st 2008 at 4:20PM }

Activision today (officially) scored a major player for Team Guitar Hero (take that Rock Band!), landing Jimi Hendrix, who will make his posthumous "video game debut" in Guitar Hero World Tour. Hendrix will feature as a playable character in the game, and two master tracks from the fire-casting rock star will ship on the game disc:

"Purple Haze (Live)" (recorded in 1969 at the San Diego Sports Arena)
"The Wind Cries Mary"

Additionally, Activision has announced plans to release more, unnamed Hendrix tracks as downloadable content. Seeing as how Rolling Stone has named Hendrix the "Greatest Guitarist Evar," it's about time we're able to honor his ineffable talent with five multi-colored buttons. So what's a guy like Jimi cost, Activision?

Tags: activision, breakingnews, budcat, guitar-hero, guitar-hero-world-tour, jimi-hendirx, neversoft, vicarious-visions

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Shadowflare @ Jul 21st 2008 4:26PM

Damn...

...now even *I* have to play this game.

Heh {XBL: P4nic 4tt4ck} @ Jul 21st 2008 4:27PM

Fuck, now I have to buy this game.

Damn you yet again, activision. Damn you.

Number_Zero @ Jul 21st 2008 4:28PM

But Jimi was on GH1 with Spanish castle Magic.

But Master tracks of Jimi sold me on this game. Still will like RB2 more.

Heh {XBL: P4nic 4tt4ck} @ Jul 21st 2008 4:32PM

Yes, but you see, Jimi in this game will be so over-charted TTFAF will look like child's-play.

Number_Zero @ Jul 21st 2008 4:36PM

Which is why I am gonna enjoy RB2 more.

Vcize @ Jul 21st 2008 6:20PM

GH is only over-charted on expert, so here's a little tip for you: DON'T PLAY IT ON EXPERT!

GH on Hard is the same speed/difficulty as RB on Expert anyway. Don't compare GH's "Expert" to Rock Band because there is no equivalent difficulty setting in Rock Band.

Noshino @ Jul 21st 2008 7:03PM

Actually, I find RB much harder than GH (despite the Games Radar comparison)

I still can't pass Ballroom Blitz on medium :(

Yeef @ Jul 21st 2008 8:31PM

"GH on Hard is the same speed/difficulty as RB on Expert anyway. Don't compare GH's "Expert" to Rock Band because there is no equivalent difficulty setting in Rock Band."

If you only count the disc songs, I could agree, but if you include DLC I'd say Rock Band has more hard charts than GH3.

Heh {XBL: P4nic 4tt4ck} @ Jul 21st 2008 11:48PM

"GH is only over-charted on expert, so here's a little tip for you: DON'T PLAY IT ON EXPERT!"

It's not the difficulty on GH's over-charting that annoys the crap out of me, oh no. You see, I actually find RB to be harder do to it's timing. GH's timing is pretty much GH2 covered in weak sauce.

However, I hate the fact that, as a multi-instrumentalist, the over-charting makes the whole song feel awkward, misplaced (notes), and rather "meh" after a few play-throughs. It's not even remotely how I play the songs irl (excluding a few songs in RB, such as afterlife, the guitar/bass parts are somewhat the same) and it just makes it odd.

You usually can go two ways with games, make it EXTREMELY over-done (God hand, UT3's multi-player, GH3) or make it more like the real thing (COD4, RB, etc). I'd much rather play the former than the latter when it comes to music games, thank you very much.

tl;dr: music game no sound like song.

Heh {XBL: P4nic 4tt4ck} @ Jul 21st 2008 11:52PM

latter than former*

I've had too much to drink tonight...

Sora @ Jul 21st 2008 4:30PM

Harmonix: OH SNAP.

MarMar @ Jul 21st 2008 4:32PM

Funny how counter-culture has become commercial culture in today's America. Throw in a che guavara t-shirt, a few anarchy sew-on patches, ripped-when-new ripped jeans, skater shoes, and some lead hair dye and you'll just be oozing wiht "stick it to the man!" flavor!!!

MarkHawk @ Jul 21st 2008 4:33PM

meh, I play drums... never really a fan. Great win for Hendrix fans though. w00t.

schismpunk @ Jul 21st 2008 6:10PM

Jimi had two amazing drummers. Mitch Mitchell is a drum god.

schismpunk @ Jul 21st 2008 6:13PM

Jimi had two amazing drummers. Mitch Mitchell is a drum god.

Noshino @ Jul 21st 2008 4:33PM

so how many bands are exclusive per side?

Isn't Metallica, Van Hallen, Aerosmith (not sure if they have a contract outside of GH: Aerosmith) on the GH side? Are there more?

What about RB? Any exclusive deals?

Charron @ Jul 21st 2008 4:39PM

Aerosmith, Van Halen, and Eagles have been cited as "exclusive" by Activision.

AC/DC is implied as a Rock Band exclusive, but I don't believe it's official.

Metallica is not an exclusive to either side.

MarkHawk @ Jul 21st 2008 4:55PM

exclusives are for noobs... :p

Noshino @ Jul 21st 2008 5:09PM

damn, btw, has the song library for GH:WT been released? because Activision now has a huge library to pick from thanks to Universal...that and these exclusive deals should really give them the advantage

aristokrat @ Jul 21st 2008 7:05PM

Activision can keep the Eagles. Who wants to play along to elevator music?

kornation @ Jul 22nd 2008 10:31AM

Doesnt matter if their exclusive, exclusive just covers the original DAT tapes being used, cover band versions are legal as long as you credit and pay the songwriter.

Intresting Fact! Your allowed to cover ANY song in the world, as long as you credit the songwriter properly and pay them their share, they don have to agree with you covering either,cause the money is handled by a third party (music union).

Even so, Jimi Hendrix original recordings went out of copyright a while ago, if you could get your hands on a DAT from the early era, your free to do as you wish without paying a penny.

(in other words, Jimi Hendrix Torrents are now legal)

Buckshot @ Jul 21st 2008 4:37PM

Old news, this was announced last week...

Heh {XBL: P4nic 4tt4ck} @ Jul 21st 2008 4:39PM

Joystiq makes it's living announcing old news.

beans @ Jul 21st 2008 4:40PM

jimi who?

Zachary Hinchliffe @ Jul 21st 2008 5:39PM

Minus one for you. >:(

Donald @ Jul 21st 2008 6:53PM

Zachary who?

gs942002 @ Jul 21st 2008 4:47PM

hahahahaha i guessed this! and no one believed me! Awesome!

samfish @ Jul 21st 2008 4:53PM

I think was a pretty big tip-off when they defaced a Hendrix statue by making it look like he was holding a Guitar Hero guitar...

gs942002 @ Jul 21st 2008 4:54PM

No i guessed it the day gh3 came out.

Aex @ Jul 21st 2008 4:49PM

I thought Purple Haze, Foxy Lady and Little Wing were reported to make the cut.

This news makes me sad, no Little Wing :(

Brian @ Jul 21st 2008 4:52PM

I'm partial to the SRV Little Wing version myself, but with no vocals it wouldn't be fun.

Aex @ Jul 21st 2008 4:55PM

I like SRV tons, but I have a tendency to prefer original versions, specially when that Original Version comes from Jimi :p

busydoingnothing @ Jul 21st 2008 5:33PM

I love Jimi, but seriously, that SRV cover of "Little Wing" is simply unreal. I swear to God, there are parts in that song that sound like he's playing two guitars at once.

RavenPaul @ Jul 21st 2008 4:50PM

I don't care. We all know how crappy live tracks sound. Anyway, never liked Hendrix anyway. I will probably buy it though if I can use my GH3 guitar and my Rock Band mic with it. Don't care about the drums, no way in hell I'm paying for another guitar.

Hafk @ Jul 21st 2008 6:57PM

"We all know how crappy live tracks sound." Sure, maybe old ones, but modern live mixes are actually done very well. I suggest you listen to Dream Theater's Live at Budokan and Score CD/DVDs. Sure, Labrie's vocals aren't album perfect, but they have improved since his injury. The tracks are fantasticly mixed. I can't wait for the Chaos in Motion DVD coming at the end of the year.