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Reader Comments (45)

Posted: Feb 10th 2011 4:17PM Jack Kevorkian said

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Harmonix are partially to blame since they sold the franchise to Activision.

Posted: Feb 10th 2011 4:23PM ZeroPayn said

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@Jack Kevorkian

They did indeed sell the title to Activision, but Activision was the one who oversaturated the title by releasing around 2 games a year. People caught on that Guitar Hero games were cheap and easy to make, therefore demand plummeted.
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Posted: Feb 10th 2011 4:24PM Mach2 said

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@Jack Kevorkian
Evolution/God is partially to blame for creating humans, who then created the video game industry, who then created Activision.

Oh wait. No. Not at all.
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Posted: Feb 10th 2011 4:26PM Ovy said

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@Jack Kevorkian Red Octane held the rights to Guitar Hero, not Harmonix. So when Activision bought out Red Octane, but NOT Harmonix, they bought the rights to the franchise rather than the developer of said franchise. Harmonix was powerless.
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Posted: Feb 10th 2011 4:30PM Jack Kevorkian said

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@Ovy whack.
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Posted: Feb 10th 2011 4:30PM (Unverified) said

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kgoo867 is correct. RedOctane originally had the license for GH, but only covered the instruments. Harmonix developed the initial games, creating the entire setup. When GH2 was a massive success, Activision bought RedOctane, and threw Harmonix out on their asses where they had to start over (which they did incredibly well with RB).
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Posted: Feb 10th 2011 6:43PM TRONdll said

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@(Unverified)
Actually, Harmonix was committed to a three-game contract with Activision for Guitar Hero. After Rocks the 80's, Activision did not agree to renew the contract.
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Posted: Feb 11th 2011 4:34AM Mortegro said

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@Jack Kevorkian Actually, Red Octane was the creator of the original Super Soldier Serum, and Harmonix held rights to the laboratory/corporation that the Serum was developed in.

When the lab was destroyed by Red Skull/AKA Activision, Harmonix went on to hire James Barnes Accociats to creat the highly lucrative, if poor selling, Avenger Band.
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Posted: Feb 11th 2011 5:37PM Brodo said

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@Jack Kevorkian
Give it about a year and there will be a
"Guitar Hero: Revival"
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Posted: Feb 10th 2011 4:23PM mywhitenoise said

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Guitar Hero has sucked ever since Rock Band came out (you know...when Harmonix, the original Guitar Hero guys, moved over to form Rock Band). This is nothing to mourn about. Good riddance, and let the rest of Activision follow in it's footsteps.

Posted: Feb 10th 2011 6:26PM Beltyra said

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@mywhitenoise
Taps are fun. Controller vocal overdrive deployment is best. Improve sections, while exploitable, are fun. 5 pad drums are more fun. Double kick pedal is more fun. More versus modes for online or in-house play. They invented drop in drop out quickplay.

Ummm yeah. Nothing at all.
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Posted: Feb 10th 2011 9:09PM HozeRapha said

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@Beltyra four pads and three cymbals are more fun than five pads (pro drums). Harmonies are more fun than controller vocal overdrive deployment (which is now also implemented in Rock Band 3). I'll give you the drop-in/drop-out quickplay, which is also there. The only thing missing in RB3 (in regards to GH) is versus modes, which I'm happy to trade off for an awesome coop online experience and the joy of playing a band of up to 7 people offline, and being able to play real instruments that may teach you yet another skill in the off-gaming world (not that I mind though).

So, yeah. Rock Band.

Still feel bad for those losing their jobs, though.
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Posted: Feb 11th 2011 10:29AM Rickmanx said

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@HozeRapha

Let's also not forget being able to make and save your own setlists of up 2 150 songs, Party play running like a Jukebox till you feel like dropping in/out, open string bass notes, added sustaines, a much better medium mode (Rock band's medium has always been way too easy and hard was too big a leap; GH never felt that way and party goers appreciated that), and a little bit more acceptable delay for hammer ons and pull-offs that made it more fun with casually playing at parties.

GH5 was actually a great game, but by then there was too much hate from the extreme ravenous fanboism. It was definitely the one of choice at my parties.. for most of the guests.

I'll miss GH, but I gotta admit I'm loving the new Guitar pro mode in RB3. If only the damn thing would save my "Chord Numbering" and "Missed Notes Sounds Off" options so I don't have to set it everytime I strart playing. lol
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Posted: Feb 10th 2011 4:24PM spikeylee said

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very classy on Harmonix's part. the demise of Guitar Hero must've been rather bittersweet seeing as it was originally Harmonix's baby before Activision came along and made it their fiercest competitor.

Posted: Feb 10th 2011 4:29PM B3astofthe3ast said

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GH is, of course, Harmonix's baby, so it must be sad for them as well.

Posted: Feb 10th 2011 4:30PM aughscreennames said

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The best thing to come out of this is no more exclusive bands/songs. Perhaps now we'll get Tool on Rock Band.

Posted: Feb 10th 2011 4:46PM Dark Archon PSN Archonik XBL Dar said

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@aughscreennames I don't think this automatically voids all the contracts that Activision paid for.
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Posted: Feb 10th 2011 6:27PM Beltyra said

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@aughscreennames
No Activision is still full of Tools.

Ziing!
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Posted: Feb 10th 2011 6:28PM aughscreennames said

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@Dark Archon PSN Archonik XBL Dar
The contracts will eventually expire and wont be renewed, forcing those bands to go to Rock Band. I think we will start seeing more instances of former GH exclusives like Jimi Hendrix coming to RB as the months go by.
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Posted: Feb 10th 2011 4:43PM spin cycle said

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Harmonix were the originals and still the best. I won't cry over the loss of Activision's developer-of-the-week releases much.

I do lament that people seem to have given up on rhythm games. I still enjoy them, I hope that the costs of developing the games can be reconciled with the revenues and the Rock Band line continued at an appropriate level.

Posted: Feb 10th 2011 4:50PM Rikerbot said

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@spin cycle

Harmonix should do just fine, considering the fact that their only competition in the 'band game' market was just shut down.
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Posted: Feb 10th 2011 4:45PM Keadin said

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I think this genre will perform better with only one act in town. No competition means all DLC on one platform.

Posted: Feb 10th 2011 4:49PM Rikerbot said

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I wonder how many of the former Guitar Hero devs will end up working at Harmonix...

Posted: Feb 10th 2011 8:27PM Mr Bungo said

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@Rikerbot Given that Harmonix just suffered a round of layoffs, I doubt they're looking to hire much. Maybe one or two top level former GH folks with skills they've envied from afar, but I think Rock Band 3 showed that HMX already has the crew they need to make an amazing game.
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Posted: Feb 10th 2011 4:50PM (Unverified) said

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@kgoo867

That would be pretty un Harmonix of them if they did go and act like dicks about this.

That being said you're spot on with the whole music industry thing. I honestly think that when you have a franchise that's FORCED to be annualized and produce a title every year you don't have much wiggle room to grow. I think Neversoft and the like did the best with what they could and I'd love to see what could happen in a alternate universe where they and Harmonix collaborate...

Posted: Feb 10th 2011 4:50PM Mixer23 said

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@kgoo867

If anyone can bring innovation to the genre and bring it back toward the top, it's most definitely Harmonix. They practically invented the genre as we now know it today(DDR and others came first but they're hardly considered to be all that similar).

And let's not forget Frequency and Amplitude. Harmonix isn't just the dev that perfect the music & rhythm genre, they're one of the most creative and hardest working devs around. You can bet they'll find a way to get themselves back in the excellent shape that they were in just 3 years ago.

Posted: Feb 10th 2011 4:55PM kentuckyfried said

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Maybe now all that music DLC can now we joined as one in Rock Band,
like Voltron.

Posted: Feb 10th 2011 4:55PM commonperson said

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Griffin watch out, don't speak ill of Damn Yankees, The Nuge will find you and then shoot you in the head with one of his explosive tipped arrows from his double action compound bow. That dude be crazy!

Posted: Feb 10th 2011 5:02PM MooseMuffin said

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It's too bad the music genre isn't doing very well. I didn't like the 5 spin-off games per year, but Rock Band 3 is a ton of finely polished fun, and it's a shame its creators aren't doing as well as they deserve.

Posted: Feb 10th 2011 5:06PM Julian Whitehouse said

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It's really something. To watch Activision go and scrape these titles and studios off of them like roadkill of a street.

Posted: Feb 10th 2011 5:11PM iceveiled said

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Guitar Hero 2 > All other GH games.

Good run, but also good riddance.

Posted: Feb 10th 2011 5:12PM ND92 said

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Pretty sure no company would rub it in their face for sake of professionalism.

But It's good they made a point to mention the last jobs, and not grieving over the actual franchise. Implicit, Harmonix. Very crafty.

Posted: Feb 10th 2011 5:19PM Dizazter said

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@ND92

You caught that too? If you read the posting, it's actually 80% about the future of Rockband. And yes I also found it interesting that he was sad for the loss of people's jobs, but made no mention of being sad about the death of the franchise.
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Posted: Feb 10th 2011 5:26PM Muscle Rider said

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And on the inside they're doing a celebratory victory pump.

Posted: Feb 10th 2011 5:31PM kcswanko said

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I don't know, I don't think they are jumping up and down because sales of Rockband 3 are not that great either. They could be right behind them no matter what fanboys think.

Rockband was always a better overall game but Guitar Hero always got the guitar right/better.

Posted: Feb 10th 2011 5:57PM Cat Herder said

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Fingers crossed that Red Octane go back to producing peripherals for Harmonix again. I always ended up buying guitar hero kits to use for rock band because I preferred the guitars and the drums were quieter.

Posted: Feb 10th 2011 8:31PM Mr Bungo said

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@Cat Herder I don't think Red Octane exists anymore. Activision bought them to get Guitar Hero, and eventually dissolved the company. Maybe former Red Octane engineers can find work at Mad Catz, which is making all the RB gear these days, but Red Octane itself is a memory.

I remember when Red Octane was merely a peripheral maker and a game rental service a la GameFly. That was an odd combo.
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Posted: Feb 10th 2011 11:42PM spin cycle said

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@Cat Herder Red Octane did a good job for the time. But Mad Catz is clearly far better at this. As long as the market stays big enough to keep Mad Catz involved everything will be fine.
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Posted: Feb 10th 2011 6:08PM jordanbiffle said

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I wish Harmonix would buy the Hero franchises from Activision. While Rock Band is good, I liked Guitar Hero slightly more because it was fantasy and had a little more challenging beat.

Posted: Feb 11th 2011 1:35AM Harrishun said

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@jordanbiffle The reason it was more challenging was because Guitar Hero was charted unrealistically. Harmonix chart their songs more realistically, so if Harmonix actually got the rights to Guitar Hero and made some, it'd be very Rock Band-like in terms of difficulty.

And that's just pointless
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Posted: Feb 10th 2011 7:56PM OrangeGamer said

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I'm just glad Harmonix is still around. Especially after they just dodged the knife.

Posted: Feb 10th 2011 8:33PM FredMC said

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Activision sucks balls.

Posted: Feb 10th 2011 8:36PM emirabal said

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You stay classy Harmonix!!

Posted: Feb 11th 2011 12:41PM tankjonson said

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You could be next Harmonix.. How about making all these new dlc songs compatible with previous versions of Rock Band instead of forcing everyone to buy Rock Band 3 just to be able to play the newly released music. I'm guessing that if sales of songs continue to decline you'll be in the same boat in no more than a year.

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