Guitar Hero 5 lets you cram 4 drumsets into your living room
by Kevin Kelly 
{ May 15th 2009 at 1:25PM } 
You already know Guitar Hero 5 is coming, but did you know it'll let you amass even more little plastic instruments? The new game offers the ability to create any combination of rock you want. Three microphones and one guitar? Okay. Two drummers and two guitars? No problem. Four drummers? Insane, but yes. We just hope that doesn't mean a Guitar Hero 5 Super Mega Ginormous Box Set: Limited Edition with four of everything is coming.
Also new to the game is RockFest, which has five competitive head to head modes that are playable "online or in your living room." Er, aren't most people online in their living room? Other tweaks: you can play the entire set list from the moment you pop the disc in, no more unlocking songs, and all of the Guitar Hero: World Tour DLC will be playable in GH5. Thanks for not locking us out of the music we've previously paid for.
Of course, there are some new songs coming as well. So check out the only two screenshots we've seen so far in the gallery below, and head over behind the break to peep the tunage.
Gallery: Guitar Hero 5
The Rolling Stones – "Sympathy for the Devil"
Bob Dylan – "All Along The Watchtower"
The White Stripes – "Blue Orchid"
Santana – "No One To Depend On (LIVE)"
Vampire Weekend – "A-Punk"
Tom Petty - "Runnin Down a Dream"
Johnny Cash – "Ring of Fire"
Kings of Leon – "Sex on Fire"
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
DWilli @ May 15th 2009 1:29PM
Vampire Weekend?
*music nerd heart attack*
baby sea tuna @ May 15th 2009 3:33PM
I guess.
False @ May 15th 2009 4:08PM
I like Vampire Weekend too, but "A-Punk" has been played TO DEATH on the radio.
But not as much as "Sex on Fire". I don't ever want to hear that song again, much less have it in one of my precious rhythm games.
Kelly @ May 15th 2009 4:27PM
Uhhhg...more guitar hero....don't they know that rock band is way better an-......wait a second...this post seems pretty original...HEY! you can use whatever combination of instruments you want, that's seems like a nice option. And all the songs are unlocked right away....
AND WHAT THE HELL!? VAMPIRE WEEKEND?! KINGS OF LEON!?
That sounds...cool...really cool....this isn't like Activision at all...
jdawg @ May 15th 2009 5:46PM
dude you missed runnin' down a dream.. arguably one of the most requested songs ever
DWilli @ May 15th 2009 7:11PM
I truly wish they put Vampire Weekend - "Boston" instead, but, alas, I'll live.
VW is on the radio? I thought they were solely popular on the indie-type scene. Now I don't like them...MORE OBSCURE ARTISTS, PLZ.
(btw, fuck the word indie.)
Slaziman @ May 15th 2009 1:30PM
doesn't sound too bad.
not that im buying it
DWells55 @ May 15th 2009 1:31PM
Judging by that second screenshot, it looks like they ditched the original hideously ugly stylized design for their characters and opted for something more realistic.
Troy Powers (PSN: TroyPowers) @ May 15th 2009 2:23PM
"opted for something more realistic" = "did it the way Rock Band does it." :D
Luis @ May 15th 2009 3:13PM
Except Rock Band's characters are equally hideous
DWells55 @ May 15th 2009 3:14PM
Nah, the Rock Band characters are still pretty stylized, they're just actually recognizable as human rather than hideously mutated beasts. This looks more realistic than the Rock Band characters.
Not that it really matters, unless this has a killer setlist I'll be sticking with Rock Band.
neko to kuruma @ May 15th 2009 3:40PM
Still looks like they have no idea how big a guitar is supposed to be, unless that guy is like 7 feet tall.
jdawg @ May 15th 2009 5:57PM
keep swinging from RB's nuts, everyone else does.
Crayfish @ May 15th 2009 7:17PM
It can look as good as it wants to, but if they haven't fixed the marionette, Captain Scarlet-like animation I'm going to be pretty damn disappointed.
Tiptup300 @ May 15th 2009 11:37PM
Have you ever seen a bass guitar, they're bigger.
DWells55 @ May 16th 2009 1:39AM
@jdawg:
Yeah, I should definitely go play Guitar Hero instead when Rock Band has a better interface, better graphics, a better setlist, better DLC support (more tracks, work in all games, RB1 importing), and just seems to be more polished overall rather than rehashed. Don't get me wrong, I loved Guitar Hero I and II, but they messed the franchise up when Harmonix left. With Harmonix developing Rock Band now, it's the obvious choice.
Robert Maynard @ May 17th 2009 1:43AM
Exactly. It's hard to justify calling someone a ball-sucking sycophant when the product in question is objectively better. :P
RogueGuy23 @ May 15th 2009 3:21PM
Great. I already have a closet full of boxes with plastic instruments in them. 2 drums, 4 Guitars, 2 Mics.... But eh, more couldn't hurt ;)
CannabisPrime @ May 15th 2009 1:33PM
With the possibility of having three drummers in the game I am surprised Slipknot hasn't been announced on the set list yet.
Mazrael @ May 15th 2009 2:21PM
The other 2 kits weren't proper kits, usually something simular to floor toms or congo drums, think on the DVD they were groups of 5, sometimes with a metal ceg(keg?)..
there would also be a lot of censoring on the songs which would kill it..
you could only probably get the Abusive mix of My Plague...
CannabisPrime @ May 15th 2009 2:28PM
I know they weren't proper kits, but that doesn't mean the drum peripherals couldn't be used.
And yeah there would be a lot of censoring, but that hasn't stopped Activision before.
Killing in the Name Of, Laid to Rest, etc etc.
Jack Tretton @ May 15th 2009 3:05PM
Even better than three drummers is three bassists -- that way you can perform "Big Bottom" as it's meant to.
The1stMJC @ May 15th 2009 1:36PM
sadly some idiot will probably have 4 drum sets for no reason all by himself
It will be funny if they start having gigantic bundle sets coming in the fall
MowDownJoe @ May 15th 2009 2:52PM
Let the sad guy pretend to be Neil Pert for a bit... what harm will that do?
SecretAgentHam @ May 15th 2009 1:38PM
they need that dude from the got milk commercial.
white gold is white gold.
that second pic kinda reminded me of him.
Shagittarius @ May 15th 2009 2:15PM
Milk is not cool.
Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ May 15th 2009 1:40PM
makes perfect sense....now 4 friends can buy 4 copies of the game with the drums and play together.....or 4 siblings can beg their parents to get them the game and 4 drumsets to play in unison...
OMGOMG @ May 15th 2009 6:17PM
Do you ever not get downvoted?
Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ May 15th 2009 6:32PM
yea I've gotten quite a few blue comments the past few days...lol...do I give a damn tho?? nope
Bananarama @ May 15th 2009 1:40PM
I hope that they add single player 4 drum kit support to any Rush or Dream Theater song they release in the game.
Slaziman @ May 15th 2009 1:42PM
the idea for the 4 drumset thing is probably more like a fourway head to head drumming match (and most likely online), and not so much in your living room
Autobot @ May 16th 2009 1:23AM
Keith Moon, why did you have to die?
Archon (PSN: Archonik, XBL: DarkARHN) @ May 15th 2009 1:42PM
Whoa, nobody commented on the DLC compatibility yet? Quite cool! Now, make that DLC GOOD for a change, Activision! That's a good start.
CTC XBL-supapaypamawio PSN-ctclaw @ May 15th 2009 1:46PM
I'll make the comment for ya...Good job Activision, way to do what Rock Band already did. It's really to bad you couldn't do this in time for Guitar Hero Metallica or Smash Hits or Van Halen.
Martin @ May 15th 2009 2:14PM
@CTC: Maybe you should stop being a douche and just be happy they're being supportive of their prior DLC at all. You were mad that they didn't before, and now you're mad that they weren't first.
False @ May 15th 2009 2:42PM
Hmm...
-Two Hendrix packs
-Two Nirvana packs (with songs NOT from Nevermind)
-Queen pack
-Rise Against pack
-Classic Rock pack with HOT BLOODED
-Raconteurs pack
-Motorhead pack
-Steely Dan pack
-Metallica's Death Magnetic album
-Smashing Pumpkins pack
They're not Rock Band, but GHWT has put up some good DLC and it's really sad that people just instinctively shit on it.
Jack Tretton @ May 15th 2009 3:03PM
@False
"Steely Dan pack"
Oh, hell yes. And if that song pack should happen to contain all the songs from all their albums, well, that's a cross I'll have to bear.
jdawg @ May 15th 2009 6:02PM
its really not the same.. you still cant export previous games into your library.
disc-switching is here to stay.
Autobot @ May 23rd 2009 9:51PM
@False
Don't forget Oasis pack!
Storm Eagle @ May 15th 2009 1:45PM
I can't wait to see the YouTube videos of people endlessly failing while attempting to play all 4 of the same instrument at the same time.
Liam @ May 15th 2009 1:47PM
Erm, I think the idea is to be able to play with 4 guitars, which makes sense, and kinda an awesome idea: if a lot of people have the guitar solo-packs, then letting them play all together kinda makes sense.
KIMP @ May 15th 2009 1:48PM
I'm probably the biggest Guitar Hero fan but this song selection sucks!
The rest better be good cause otherwise its gonna be the end for me!
baby sea tuna @ May 15th 2009 1:56PM
Really? Those songs alone are better than the sets on the last 2 GH games.
Dante Sparda @ May 15th 2009 2:00PM
Wow really? I like all those except Kings of Leon and Vampire Weekend(who is this?) and would kill to have some of those on Rock Band, Johnny Cash's version of Ring of Fire is one specifically as well as Sympathy of the Devil....maybe Harmonix will releases GNRs version of Sympathy to make up for it even if it isn't quite as good as the original.
Lucky Vulture @ May 16th 2009 10:54PM
GN'R's "Sympathy for the Devil" in Rock Band? Yuck. The only thing worse than that would be if Harmonix decided to put Chinese Democracy in there. Oh, wait.
Manly Mcbeefington (Mr. ESC) @ May 15th 2009 1:49PM
Interesting with 3 drumsets you and your friends can play as the Blue men group.
Slust @ May 15th 2009 2:22PM
Seriously.
In the beginning of the "Band" days, everything was peachy. I kicked ass at the guitar, one of my friends wanted to jump onto drums and one was trying to get better at playing the guitar so he opted to play bass. And there was much rockage.
Now he's pretty good at this, and he's not having fun on the bass, and frankly I can't have fun on the bass either. I never understood why we both couldn't play the same note charts for the guitars and both have fun playing challenging guitar tracks, despite the original band not having dual lead guitars. (These rhythm games aren't real simulators, afterall.)
I'm glad to see that progress is being made so both of us can play the same instrument and have fun, I'm just curious what Harmonix is going to do because we've already learned that World Tour and the lack of having a single disc which we all play of is just no good for our weekend nerd parties.
MrSpaceCowboy @ May 15th 2009 1:50PM
Multiple combinations of instruments is an interesting idea.
However, it's all about execution. It's all well and good to have ideas, but if they're not done well, it can really ruin a potentially good game.
The inclusion of Tom Petty has me interested, however Sex on Fire made me facepalm.
GH5 is going to need to be fantastic for me to go buy it. I don't want to shell out my cash dollars for something that'll disappoint me like GH:WT did.
Bainge @ May 15th 2009 2:04PM
What? Sex on Fire is the best song on there next to Johnny Cash.
MrSpaceCowboy @ May 15th 2009 2:11PM
It's horribly overplayed everywhere I go.
Also, what grinds my gears is that they've been releasing music since the turn of the decade and suddenly they're a "hot new band"?
Sex on Fire is just a reminder of everything I hate about commercialised music.
If you're going to include Kings of Leon, couldn't they use some of their earlier stuff instead?