Spy nabs pic of rumored Guitar Hero arcade cabinet
by Justin McElroy 
{ Nov 17th 2008 at 1:30PM }
According to several rumors, an arcade version of Guitar Hero is due to be unveiled tomorrow. These claims seem to be strengthened by some spy pics, depicting an arcade cabinet at the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions event in Orlando. The pics and a few details surfaced on BemaniStyle.com.Reportedly, the game is being developed by Raw Thrills, licensed from Activision and, if you can believe it, published by Konami. Aside from listing some of the physical features of the game, the source said that the cabinets will be enabled with online tournament functionality of some sort.
Details are scant at the moment, but we can't wait to hear more.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Chase @ Nov 17th 2008 1:34PM
*not pictured: grime
YouStayClassy @ Nov 17th 2008 3:28PM
THANK YOU!
I used to work at the electronics counter of a major retailer, and OMFG the Guitar Hero display we had was the nastiest thing on Planet Earth after all the disgusting filthy hands that groped it. I refused to clean it after awhile because I was sure I'd catch cancer or something.
Victor @ Nov 17th 2008 1:35PM
That's weird, we've got a Guitar Hero arcade in Brazil since last year o.O
Eddie @ Nov 17th 2008 1:41PM
The Guitar Hero arcade machines that are already in existence are not official cabinets. The Brazilian ones may be licensed in some way, but most of the existing cabinets are just the home versions of the games rigged up to a coin mech. This is a brand new, from the ground up, officially sanctioned arcade cabinet.
Burritoclock @ Nov 17th 2008 1:46PM
Finally, I can go forth into public and prove I am the superior nerd in the tri-county area! Kneel before me Northern Middle Tennessee arcade goers, sometime in the future!!
dark_inchworm @ Nov 17th 2008 1:54PM
I'm comin' up from Hohenwald to shred yo ass!!!
Burritoclock @ Nov 17th 2008 2:13PM
Small world and all that.
It's ON!!!
ANDERU @ Nov 17th 2008 8:59PM
Come to Clarksville. Ill show you how to truly ROCK!
I play Rock Band though. :/
colin @ Nov 17th 2008 10:11PM
west tn here ... memphis
frzamonkey @ Nov 17th 2008 1:48PM
I am gonna be at IAAPA tomorrow. I'll take some pictures and play it.
Haggard @ Nov 17th 2008 1:54PM
I've been wondering why we don't have those for ages. Arcades here in the UK still get a lot of visitors because the youth of today is basically middle-class children pretending that they're dispossessed and have nothing to do.
Courtney @ Nov 17th 2008 2:22PM
That sounds just like arcades in the US in the 80s.
dark_inchworm @ Nov 17th 2008 1:55PM
I gotta admit, this would reel me in. Not necessarily because Guitar Hero is that great anymore, but arcades need as much life as they can get and I'd be willing to support that.
...not that I've seen a very good arcade in a while... :(
-slycooper_rocker- (lorddshadow the amazing) psn: shahanasalam @ Dec 9th 2008 5:50PM
come here to alabama. we've got some nice ones.
chispito @ Nov 17th 2008 2:00PM
Single player?
Vcize @ Nov 17th 2008 2:04PM
I'm pretty sure that every Best Buy I've ever walked into with a GH or RB display has had instruments that barely even work well enough to navigate the menus after all the abuse they've taken, and certainly don't work well enough anymore to actually play the game with.
I foresee a similar issue here...
Eddie @ Nov 17th 2008 2:11PM
The controllers used at best buy don't use arcade parts like microswitches, or heavy use push buttons. I'm sure that the controllers developed for this cabinet will be MUCH higher quality than your standard home controller.
Nintendo Power @ Nov 17th 2008 2:17PM
Eddie, clearly you've never played any of the popular arcade games. That shit isn't indestructible.
Eddie @ Nov 17th 2008 2:23PM
I'm well aware, but they're also not at all comparable to the stuff they make for the home market. It's also a lot easier to repair. I will be honest though, I've been playing arcade rhythm games for like 10 years now, and out of all of the games I've played at MANY different arcades, I've only come across one or 2 broken Guitar Freaks Cabinets.
If the quality on these machines is even remotely the same, I'd assume we'll all be fine. And even if not, the game won't make money if it doesn't work so I'm sure most of the big chain arcades will keep them in proper order.
Mike T. @ Nov 17th 2008 2:27PM
Geez, never thought I'd be agreeing with a Gator man, especially after what happened to my Gamecocks this weekend, but you are correct, sir.
I was at a Best Buy not an hour ago and decided to try the GHWT drum set. The drums were in such bad shape that the only playable mode was Beginner, since EVERY SINGLE PAD except the orange cymbal was completely non-responsive. And even that was almost literally hanging on by a wire. Plus downstrum on the guitar was borked, too.
holmes @ Nov 17th 2008 3:00PM
well, mike t., my guitar world tour band kit was shipped in exactly the same condition. drums unresponsive on first try, guitar downstrum & touchpad completely out of whack.
maybe they used my drums and guitar in a demo and then reboxed it! ;-)
nestlekwik @ Nov 17th 2008 2:18PM
We can confirm that Raw Thrills is building the guitars from scratch but they will still resemble the guitars packaged with Guitar Hero: World Tour. The guitars appear to be wireless, but we're unsure at the moment - at first we thought maybe there was a wireless sync for people to bring controllers in, but our source already shot that down. Raw Thrills really wanted to try a wireless sync with the cabinet, but it will not ship that way.
We've pretty much squeezed all of the "unofficial" information we can from our source. Until tomorrow, what you can know about the cabinet is "the cabinet is going to feature 8-10 speakers, more than 500 LED lights and a 32" monitor. The cabinet is also reportedly slated to take advantage of Internet connections to provide online cash tournaments sometime starting in 2009."
profeteer @ Nov 17th 2008 2:23PM
I'm pretty sure I played this like 6 or so years ago, when it was called Guitar Freaks :P
Wiinterfang @ Nov 17th 2008 2:27PM
*Franchise successfully Milked.*
Markusdragon @ Nov 17th 2008 5:13PM
I dunno, they can suck it dryer...
-slycooper_rocker- (lorddshadow the amazing) psn: shahanasalam @ Dec 9th 2008 5:52PM
Guitar Hero 3: Recon
wait wha?
T @ Nov 17th 2008 2:36PM
Is this Activision's attempt to try and steal away some of the revenue being generated by Guitar Hero/Rock Band nights at local bars?
That's the only reason I could think of for why they'd do this. Otherwise it's just pointless.
I've got the games at home, and add a new song or two a week through DLC. I'm not going to plug quarters into this game...especially with the aftertaste of the GHIII overcharting. Imagine spending 50 cents or so to play 6 seconds of Dragonforce.
The smart move would be to make the cabinents no fail, and focus on high scores.
Rich @ Nov 17th 2008 3:04PM
We still have arcades in the US?!
Ghoti @ Nov 17th 2008 5:31PM
Not at my mall. The one we had closed about 6 months ago.
jBiber @ Nov 17th 2008 3:20PM
**pictured: American Idol? [ref: background]
ihateemo @ Nov 17th 2008 3:40PM
"published by Konami"
Haha.
FSK405K @ Nov 17th 2008 5:29PM
Worst idea ever. How many guitars at Best Buy work correctly after a few months on the display floor?
chronomaster.k @ Nov 17th 2008 5:35PM
Well, there goes Technika's chance at being purchased as a rhythm game. :
nestlekwik @ Nov 17th 2008 7:15PM
I don't really see this as an issue. Most of the crowd behind DJ Max Technika is really into Bemani, especially Beatmania IIDX and the like. On that same token, the majority of those same people absolutely despise Guitar Hero, it seems. I could honestly see an arcade having both games and the casual crowd would flock to Guitar Hero while the seasoned music game veterans crowd around Technika. That's a thought in theory, but it is very possible arcades would take on a Guitar Hero machine before picking up a Technika. Each game has its crowd and I think the majority of arcade owners that still kicking are smart enough to know how to cater to them.
nestlekwik @ Nov 17th 2008 7:10PM
To those concerned about how the guitars will withstand arcade beatings, you have to understand - console accessories are, for the most part, made as cheaply as possible to keep them at a lower cost for the consumer. When you're already spending thousands on an arcade machine, this really isn't an issue. The console guitars we've been seeing do not even remotely come close to the quality resistance Guitar Freaks' guitars have. Just as Eddie pointed out, I can only think of two times I've ever seen GF guitars out of commission. I owned an arcade that had a Guitar Freaks cabinet for almost two years and never once was there an issue with the guitars. Arcade machines are made to be roughed up because they will be. The springs, switches and buttons on upsacle arcade machines are about as high quality as you can get while the hollow plastic shells that are the Best Buy console guitars can break at the drop of a hat. Guitar Freak arcade controllers are heavy, thick beasts with high-end parts (I love how the guitars have a speaker that pump out the guitar parts you play). You just can't compare them.
And, yes, that is the rumored American Idol "Star Studio" in the background. It's kind of interesting, technology-wise, really. You climb in and perform a song and you actually have the option to have your performance burnt to a DVD on the fly or you can have it e-mailed to you as a file. Regardless on your thoughts of American Idol, karaoke, the music that's in it, etc., it definitely has some serious technology behind it that we'll find out about tomorrow.
SpikeDelight @ Nov 18th 2008 1:58AM
I played a "Guitar hero Arcade Cabinet" at the shore this but it was just an Xbox 360 inside of a black wooden box- literally. You paid 5 dollars or something ridiculous for 5 minutes on the game, not one song or 3 songs like DDR, you just pay for 5 minutes! Like you have to sign into a 360 profile and then choose your song and wait for it to load. It was pretty laughably bad.
Ash @ Nov 19th 2008 3:13AM
A arcade version of Guitar Hero will be really cool. The funnest part of Guitar Hero is playing with friends and competing. If you can do that in a public setting (aka Street Fighter) Guitar Hero will go to the next level. Although I don't know how many quarters I'll spend in an arcade when I can just go home and play for free.
-Ash
http://www.guitarhero-rockband.com