Rock Band 2, GH:World Tour's shared tracks compared

by Ross Miller { Oct 27th 2008 at 10:45PM }

If you're interested to see how Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero: World Tour's 16 shared songs match up to one another, look no further than YouTube. While there are certainly others (and undoubtedly more to follow suit), user Gurra100 has a playlist of comparison videos (embedded after the break). Everything we've seen so far looks unsurprisingly identical (update: scratch that, we just watched "Go Your Own Way" -- not so identical at all).

Take note how GH:WT handles a Rock Band 2 set -- namely, it's scaled down to a 4-pad note chart. According to some on the Rock Band forums, trying to play the 5-pad variant with a RB2 set plus cymbal pack leads to glitches.

Meanwhile, our Instrument Compatibility Matrix has been updated to version 3.33 and we're still working to fill in all the missing pieces; we've reached out to Activision and Harmonix for help.

Tags: ghwt, guitar-hero, guitar-hero-world-tour, rb2, rock-band, rock-band-2

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Jeremy White @ Oct 27th 2008 10:51PM

Can someone explain this to me better?

Take note how GH:WT handles a Rock Band 2 set -- namely, it's scaled down to a 4-pad note chart. According to some on the Rock Band forums, trying to play the 5-pad variant with a RB2 set plus cymbal pack leads to glitches.

I'm reading it but not understanding it.

Will @ Oct 27th 2008 10:56PM

I think they tried to mix and match hardware, using a Rock Band 2 drum set on GH:WT and because of that it only uses 4 buttons instead of 5 (on the screen)

Jeremy White @ Oct 27th 2008 10:58PM

Oh, ok, I get it now. I watched some videos.

On a related note, does anyone think Stranglehold by Ted Nugent sounds like garbage on GH:WT?

Will @ Oct 27th 2008 11:02PM

Everything about Ted Nugent is garbage, not just his music in GH.

Hafk @ Oct 28th 2008 1:09AM

It isn't glitchy, it is actually simple.

Red, Yellow, and Green pads keep the same amount of notes. The Blue and Orange pads are joined to make the RB Orange pad.

Phronk @ Oct 28th 2008 9:19AM

It says it's glitchy with the RB2 set and ADDITIONAL cymbals. In other words, trying to play with five 'notes' using a RB2 set.

syrik zero @ Oct 28th 2008 11:48AM

Maybe they're just talking about how the new cymbals just glitch a lot? I was lucky enough to get a set with messed up cymbals. They only take the hits when they want to it seems.

Disclaim3r @ Oct 27th 2008 11:01PM

Identical? We must be watching different videos...

Gilbert Tang @ Oct 27th 2008 11:03PM

For what it's worth the Jimmy Eat World song plays a lot more excitingly (and accurately to the real-deal) on the GH side.

Premature ejaculation man @ Oct 27th 2008 11:03PM

I'm not big on these games anymore. I do like that Rockband's buttons look more slick...But that doesn't really mean anything :P

Mrblonde @ Oct 27th 2008 11:14PM

I hate the way Rise Against sounds in World Tour. The sound of the drums kinda overpower the song some

Mr French @ Oct 27th 2008 11:23PM

gah I didnt realize how much cleaner Rock Band looked over GH. Then again I havent played a GH game since GH2, so I guess I took for granted how much better looking RB is.

Tiptup300 @ Oct 28th 2008 12:17AM

GH:WT is horrible. The entire time you play it just have a thought in the front of your head "I wish I was playing RB2 right now."

SuicideNinja @ Oct 28th 2008 1:08AM

No doubt.

My issue is that the chords they pick for GH are really irritating and are usually far less accurate in my experience. The round gems don't do it for me anymore either.

I bet trying to sing and play guitar wouldn't be as fun in GH either. I think I'm going to skip a purchase this time around. I was all excited for their new drum controller, too.

Sora @ Oct 27th 2008 11:26PM

Wow, look at the Today video. They're like...really different.

Kellydude025 @ Oct 27th 2008 11:30PM

as interesting as this is...

who cares?

I'm sorry for the rb and gh fanboys, (i personally am a fan of rb for the DLC and teamwork.) But if you honestly care about how close the note charts are?

The only reason this would ever matter to me is if i started to memorize the note charts so i could...impress? other people by not looking at the screen and playing...

Dr. @ Oct 27th 2008 11:36PM

So you don't care what maps, weapons, and characters a shooter has? These are RHYTHM GAMES, a comparison of the rhythm portions only makes sense...

Penguin Warlord @ Oct 27th 2008 11:54PM

It's not about memorizing the notes. It's so that you can see things like difficulty etc.
i.e. GH3's version were far harder than RB2's guitar part. At comparable difficulty settings.

Zyphron @ Oct 28th 2008 9:18AM

Well, you care enough to comment on the fact that people should not care.

Hala Madrid!! @ Oct 27th 2008 11:32PM

Wow, not different at all.

I'm not seeing any difference, you guys have an HD video we can watch?

Sora @ Oct 27th 2008 11:59PM

You need an HD video to compare note charts?

Hala Madrid!! @ Oct 28th 2008 12:34AM

Yeah, I need a video in HD to compare them, big whoop wanna fight about it?

Premature ejaculation man @ Oct 28th 2008 12:42AM

Hala Madrid rules :)

Dr. @ Oct 27th 2008 11:34PM

It's interesting just how similar Livin on a Prayer is (save for the ending,) and just how DIFFERENT Go Your Own Way is...

Wallaby In Disguise @ Oct 28th 2008 1:01AM

nice use of "save", mr. tolkien.
I kid, that was pretty legit.

Bobby Blackwolf @ Oct 27th 2008 11:51PM

Since there's no post about the instrument compatibility matrix, I figured I'd share this tidbit: I hooked up my electronic drumset I use professionally to the MIDI-In jack of the GH:WT drumkit for the 360. It worked out of the box - although since I have the high-end Roland V-Drums (TD-20-S) it was actually sending more data than GH:WT wanted. On my V-Drums, the sound changes based on where on the head you hit - closer to the rim sounds less full than the center of the head. This also sends a different General MIDI note. Since GH:WT expects a specific MIDI note, if you don't hit pretty close to the center of the head, it won't register.

But other than that, it worked out of the box with no fiddling. Plug in the MIDI cable and go.

But the reason I bring this up is for the instrument compatibility chart - the MIDI setup ALSO worked in Rock Band 2. And it actually seemed like it worked BETTER in RB2 than it did in GH:WT.

As an aside, my green pad is not sensitive enough, you have to practically slam the stick down to get it to register, which causes crosstalk with the orange cymbal. I'm RMA'ing it tomorrow. Quite disappointed I can't play GH:WT the way the developers intended.

(Oh, and just to prove that yes, I am telling the truth about trying my drums with GH:WT - http://www.flickr.com/photos/blackwolfga/2974461045/ - that was my living room yesterday.)

Ross Miller @ Oct 28th 2008 12:09AM

You, sir, have an awesome drum set.

Markez @ Oct 28th 2008 12:13AM

Makes your TV set look tiny! Nice title also :P

Justin @ Oct 28th 2008 7:29AM

Your kit looks exactly like my father's, he even has the extra tom and crash. I was wondering how you were able to plug those into RB2 since our RMA on the drum kit is taking FOREVER and my dad really likes to play as a band with me and my kids.

Bobby Blackwolf @ Oct 28th 2008 11:23AM

They plug into the MIDI-in jack of the GH:WT drumkit (it's on the left behind the MIDI brain in my picture) and the GH:WT drumkit interprets the MIDI notes and translates them into video game notes.

Shagittarius @ Oct 28th 2008 11:42AM

I have a Roland TD-12 kit that I was considering setting up in this manner. You gave some good technical points to the disadvantages of doing this but can you tell me if it just feels wrong when playing on a real electronic kit triggering the predefined sound samples?

I was thinking I might not even bother as I would just rather play along in practice mode without game detection and use the crappy game drums for playing the actual game.

I guess I'm asking if you even think its worth hooking up the drums to be detected in the game.

Bobby Blackwolf @ Oct 28th 2008 2:17PM

The TL;DR short answer is "No". I have already put my drums back in their traditional practice space area and most likely will not put them back in a position to play Guitar Hero again.

Essentially, since you have a TD-12, I can tell you the mappings. Red = Snare, Blue = T1, Green = T2, Yellow = HH, Orange = CR1. (I had to modify my drumset to make my ride cymbal CR1 so it would be on the right rather than on the left.)

The biggest issue I have is that GH:WT doesn't exactly always use the same sound for the note, primarily with the yellow pad. Sometimes it's a Hi-Hat, sometimes it's a crash cymbal. To activate star power in the game, you have to hit "both cymbals." This is NOT easy to do with a real drumset because you're expected to hit both the hi-hat and the crash cymbal - and if you're crosssticking like you're supposed to now you have to rearrange your arms and STILL hit the hi-hat. Very awkward, and much easier to do on the video game controller.

Bottom line to me: Guitar Hero and Rock Band are video games. They are intended to be played with video game controllers. They are not intended to be real musical instruments. I think the ION kit also isn't worth it. RB2 was designed to be played with four pads, GH:WT is designed for three pads and two cymbals. While it was a fun experiment to try to use my professional drumset with the games, it just isn't practical and sometimes make the songs harder than they need to be.

Terrence Newton @ Oct 28th 2008 12:08AM

well i don't really care about different note charts. after all any note chart is basically the developer's interpretation of the song, so you can't really complain if they're different (even tho u may have your own preferences about which one u like better). i generally do agree tho, with many others, that i prefer more accurate note charts.

my real concern, and the reason i've put my GH:WT purchase plans on hold, is the drum incompatibility. i think it's safe to assume that it would be a very simple matter for activision to allow GH:WT to support the use of RB2 drums w/ cymbals. but even when cross-compatibility for peripherals was anounced by sony and MS, my skeptic's heart of hearts told me that GH:WT woulnd't support RB2 cymbals (at least, not at launch), because let's face it, activision is greedy, and they want people to buy their drum kit.

ok yeah, i can play 4 lanes of GH:WT drums (w/ my RB2 drums) instead of 5, but i refuse to nerf the game like that, especially when a proper solution would be so simple. and i really don't feel like crowding my room with another drum set, esp. when (a) there have been varying reports on the quality of the GH:WT drums, and i bet that just like the stock RB drums, they will deteriorate over time, and (b) i purchased the ion kit w/ my (perhaps vain?) dream of being able to configure it for and play RB and GH perfectly.

well let me wind this up. harmonix and EA really care about the gamers (at least as far as RB is concerned). sure they want to make money, but they want us to be happy. they don't want to force us to buy extra instruments we don't need, and they let us pick and choose the songs we want (for the most part) with the awesome amount of DLC. activision on the other hand wants us to buy THEIR instruments, and instead of a lot of DLC, we get all-or-nothing choices like GH:A (and the upcoming GH:metallica perhaps). activision is greedy. they just want our money, and they don't care about us.

/rant

TheE3Guy @ Oct 28th 2008 1:21AM

Wow, you Rock Band fans don't get it do you. Of course Activision wants to make money, who doesn't? For you to spout lies just broke the camels back though. First of all they're not forcing us to buy extra instruments, they offer 3 packages for the new Guitar Hero. The whole point of it is the whole band experience, so most Guitar Hero fans want the drums and guitar anyways. If you have Rock Band already, you can buy the game separately. Plus Red Octane makes peripherals that are second to none. The drums are excellent and the new guitar is perfect. And don't even give me that defective instrument crap, call me lucky, but all of my instruments since I got Guitar Hero II on 360 have worked perfectly and are still fine. It's not like other said games cough*Rock Band*cough, haven't had their fair share of broken instruments either. Second, they're going to offer a lot more downloadable content in World Tour than previous titles. They had 3 song packs up before the game was even out. Plus they're not making you buy songs just in a pack anymore, they offer individual song downloads now for 160pts. Get your facts straight next time asshole.

Terrence Newton @ Oct 28th 2008 1:54AM

to TheE3Guy: as far as GH dlc is concerned, activision claimed last time around, with GH3, that there would be a ton of dlc, and as we've all seen, the offerings have been pitiful compared to that of RB.

as for broken instruments, sure RB has had its share as well, but at least they don't charge you shipping when you send your stuff in, and you can get your replacement in a matter of days. according to reports, GH:WT replacement turnaround is about a month.

and sure, as you say, if you have RB, you can just buy the GH:WT game by itself and use your RB instruments, but the point that i made earlier, which you seem to have missed, is that the RB2 drums (w/ cymbals) are not fully compatible with GH:WT. perhaps they'll release a patch for this, but until then, i refuse to buy it.

this isn't about fanboyism. this is about me wanting to play both games the way they were meant to be played (i.e. with proper drum support) w/o needing two sets of drums. i don't care which game is better, as long as they're both satisfactory -- i want to play them both, 'cause i just want more songs to play. more variety is better.

as for the companies behind the games though, i do believe that activision/neversoft is just more greedy than ea/harmonix. i believe that concept was demonstrateed last year, when activision barred EA from releasing the PS3 update that would allow RB for ps3 to use GH3 controllers -- activision wanted to be paid a royalty. meanwhile, EA was all for letting activision make RB guitars compatible w/ GH. i think that is a clear demonstration of greed on activision's part.

and as for 'forcing' people to buy instruments, obviously they can't force me to buy anything, but what is meant by that is, by not having full drum compatibility of RB2 drums on GH:WT, if i want to play GH:WT drums properly (meaning with 5 lanes instead of 4), then i have no choice for now but to buy the GH:WT drums.

and lastly, what's with the asshole comment? i stated my opinion on an open forum, and you seem to take this as a personal attack? what did i ever do to you for you to call me that? just because this is the internet and there is anonymity, its not ok to be disgusting towards people just because you disagree with them over a video game.

ill trooper @ Oct 28th 2008 2:07AM

Whassup with calling the guy an 'asshole,' E3 Guy? Can't hold your liquor? I think I shall vote you down for that. ('Cause I'm an asshole.)

Bobby Blackwolf @ Oct 28th 2008 11:28AM

E3 Guy: Hate to break it to you, but the drums aren't second to none, at least in terms of working as intended. Mine work worse than my RB pads ever did - I can't even pass the in-game tutorial with them. I have to RMA them. Granted, I would not have been so upset over this had Activision not gone around saying "When their instruments break, you can buy ours" so I had expectations that they'd *work* out of the box.

At least my guitar works fine, but the drums, to me, aren't "second to none." I had to plug in my professional kit just to try to play GH:WT with the note chart the devs intended!

Shagittarius @ Oct 28th 2008 11:48AM

I think you guys should really consider that the GH drums are actually less authentic than the RB drums.

Because of the layout of the Rockband drums multiple drum heads can be used for many different drum interpretations. With the GH drums since they added the symbol you lose some of the freedom of configuration rock band had.

For example there is no such thing as an open high hat hit in GH, its exactly the same pad (yellow) as the closed high hat hit. What I'm getting at with this is GH actually limited the authenticity of their drum kit by including the elevated cymbal pads.

Neither kits layout is proper but RBs kit allows for more flexibility in drumming notation.

Its clear to me that RB has the superior layout (WIthout Cymbals) and I won't be buying a DL content for the GH game beacuse of this.

Abuzar Baloach @ Oct 28th 2008 1:14AM

Can someone just tell me which one is better? So I can go buy that one.

burgerbat @ Oct 28th 2008 1:19AM

Rock Band 2, obviously.

DeadPlasmaCell @ Oct 28th 2008 1:37AM

I'm enjoying Guitar Hero way more than Rock Band.. Song Creator is very very cool.

Terrence Newton @ Oct 28th 2008 2:04AM

well i'd have to say RB2, but it's really a matter of your personal tastes. it basically comes down to the song lists, and major features that one game may have and the other doesn't. RB has a ton more songs, but it depends on if you like 'em. GH has the song creator (which i personally will prob. never use). if this is really a major decision for you, i'd recommend waiting and seeing what ppl say about GH hardware a while after its been out (particularly the drums), but if you get RB now, i can definitely say that if you want quality stuff (namely drums), you're gonna have to spend more money. but if you're not gonna be playing a lot of expert drums, the hardware thing is not that serious.

Lekko @ Oct 28th 2008 3:55AM

Wii Music! :D

burgerbat @ Oct 28th 2008 4:03AM

Don't understand why people have to explain the issue as if it were a grey area. It's very black and white. If you want a good band game, Rock Band 2 is the best. Fact. Look at the reviews.

T @ Oct 28th 2008 9:31AM

For multiplayer, it's RB hands down. Being able to provide support for struggling bandmates as well as No Fail mode make for a far more enjoyable party experience.

GHWT seems like a Guitar Hero game that they quickly decided to add drums and vocals to. The multiplayer feels broken (you can't support band mates who are having trouble, and they've removed No Fail mode for some reason).

If you're looking for a challenge, GHWT is the way to go...but I find myself getting bored of single player (even on RB) these days, as the game's all about a band.

It's definately worth a rental, give it a run through and see how you feel. Average length is 5 days, which is more than enough to give each mode (4 instruments plus band) a full test drive.

Vcize @ Oct 28th 2008 10:51AM

GH = More arcadey. Larger timing windows and HOPOs make it an easier game to just pick up and have a good time with and pretend you're a rockstar.

RB = More sim, more for the music lover who wants everything in its purest form. You're eyes may bleed in concentration as you stare unblinkingly at the screen making sure that you hit every note and hopo EXACTLY right, but you know at the end that what you played is probably closer to the real thing than what you would have played on Guitar Hero.

Personally, I could give two shits about preserving the original integrity of the song, and just want to play casually and have a good time, so I enjoy GH much more. Most people are the opposite, though.

Shagittarius @ Oct 28th 2008 11:58AM

It is my opinion that Rock Band is far superior.

SKI @ Oct 28th 2008 12:06PM

I like GH better because of the challenge. But do yourself a favor and get both.

Nietha @ Oct 28th 2008 10:17PM

I enjoy Rock Band 2 more, being able to help your bandmates is huge. I also think visually RB2 is much better than GH:WT and I prefer how RB2 handles touring around the world and displaying the setlists.

GH:WT has more character customization, if you're into that. Set how wide your chin, nose, etc are. I personally don't care about creative aspects, so I also do not need their music creation feature.

I was excited about 6 colours for GH:WT drums, however since my set came with 3 non-working colours, I'm more f'in pissed off than anything and wish I had picked up RB2 drums instead.

I find the GH:WT guitar touch strip thingy to be more gimmicky than anything else. You're like "ooh cool!" for 10 seconds until you actually try to play notes with it.