That Xbox marketing survey just keeps on giving: a slide on Guitar Hero 4 presents a $180 pricetag for now-gen consoles, $170 for PS2 including all instruments. Just the software? They're asking $60 for 360 and PS3 versions, and $50 for their lower-def cousins. A handful of artists are also name-dropped – Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, Foo Fighters, Smashing Pumpkins, Korn, System of a Down, Ozzy Osbourne, Interpol, Muse ... "and dozens more" – but what we're really interested in is this bit about an "all new wireless guitar controller with the first-ever touch-sensitive neck slide." We snuck a peek at the brandless guitar in the game's trailer and, though touch-sensiitive reads to us like "no buttons" – a claim that's as worrisome as it is intriguing – it certainly appears to have buttons in the pic above. So maybe just something below the buttons then, y'know, for solos and whatnot?
Of course, pricing information is always subject to change (read: let's wait to see what Rock Band 2 costs) and this survey doesn't include the game's "World Tour" subtitle so we're not entirely sold on the veracity of this information. Again, all eyes towards E3 where all will be revealed (we assume).
At the All Things Digital 6 conference, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick took the stage for an interview with Kara Swisher. During the session, Kotick introduced and showed off to the audience Guitar Hero World Tour. "I tried to get [Yahoo and Microsoft execs] Jerry Yang, Steve Ballmer, Sue Decker and Bill Gates to play Guitar Hero, but they weren't interested."
Instead, Kotick had Paula Abdul pull four people from the audience -- one of them just happened to be legendary skateboarder (and Activision franchiser) Tony Hawk -- to play an unnamed Lenny Kravitz song (we're guessing "Are You Gonna Go My Way," since it was used in the trailer). We've embedded the video, which features some in-game footage, after the break.
The above Guitar Hero World Tour (the official GHIV title) video shows off the new drum set through testimonial from a few rockers – namely, Red Hot Chili Pepper's Chad Smith, Blink 182's Travis Barker and The Police's Stewart Copeland, all of whom are featured prominently (especially Copeland) on Rock Band and a pretty good sign they'll be on World Tour, too.
One interesting detail gleaned from the video is that the drum kit is sensitive to velocity, meaning it can register how hard or soft you hit the pads. We're not shown any gameplay footage so we're not 100% sure how that'll translate to the virtual drumming. All we know is that we can't tell our friends this detail. It's taken us months to teach them not to bang on the set loud enough to wake neighbors six miles away.
Activision made Guitar Hero: Rock Band Edition World Tour official today, confirming the details leaked from the current issue of Game Informer. World Tour will feature an all-master track cast, filled with previously named acts like Van Halen, Linkin Park, and The Eagles, plus today's confirmation of Sublime and "many more." The announcement also highlights the "Music Studio" mode (create-a-song), which allows players to "compose, record, edit and share music," and the 8-player "Battle of the Bands" mode.
World Tour will also feature so-called "new state of the art wireless instruments" (as sorta seen yesterday), meaning mom won't trip over the coil of wires when she walks in front of the TV and totally destroys the rock mojo; and the still curious, but ambitious sounding promise to add "significantly more localized downloadable music than ever before on all of the next-generation consoles." Yep, that includes the Wii version (developed by Vicarious Visions). Activision confirms that World Tour will be the "first game ever in the Guitar Hero franchise to allow in-game downloadable content on Wii" -- just make sure your SD card is inserted.
We don't have a lot to go on at the moment, but from what we can tell, these new screens from Guitar Hero: World Tour represent a slightly more grown-up look for the series, straying from the silly rock clichés of Guitar Hero III. It's still not quite at a Rock Band level of realism, but we imagine fans of the series probably aren't ready for that.
In fact, though we've wished Guitar Hero's look would grow up for a while now, the stylized characters and settings are one of the main things that are setting it apart from its competition, a distinction that, with the addition of drums and vocals to World Tour, is becoming increasingly difficult to make.
Well, not as realistic as, you know, actual drums, but apparently the next Guitar Hero will be setting some sort of benchmark in the battle of the fake bands. Judging by the above debut trailer for "Guitar Hero World Tour," the new peripherals are convincing enough to lure hundreds of people into a poorly lit grotto and subject them to a cacophony of plastic instrument flailing. It's out this Fall.
For a game subtitled "Legends of Rock", Guitar Hero III didn't feature that many real-life six-string virtuosos. Sure, you had Rage's Tom Morello, GnR's Slash and a brief cameo by VH1's latest lothario, Poison frontman Bret Michaels -- but many classic rock aficionados who tried their hand at Activision's shredding simulator were left unsatisfied in terms of quantity (and in the minds of those belonging to the churches of Hendrix and Clapton, quality).
Until now, we've yet to hear anything about the roster for the next legit entry in Activision's golden goose franchise (no, we're not nor will we ever count Guitar Hero: Aerosmith), however, that silence was recently broken by the whistle of a flaming arrow through the night air, fired from the heavenly compound bow of the Motor City Madman himself, Ted Nugent. Listen to his radio interview on Detroit's WRIF (about 12:30 in), where he uses all manner of colorful language to describe the mocap process. Now, if they could only get the rest of the Damn Yankees involved, it would definitely ensure a purchase on our end. How 'bout it, Blades?
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Harmonix must be beside itself with this last week finding not one but two companies hopping on the developer's coat tails and revealing a pair of drum kits that bear more than a passing resemblance to those used in Rock Band. However, while Guitar Hero IV's kit still carries some basis in reality, the kit revealed by Konami for the company's newly announced Rock Revolution looks to be designed for players with extra appendages or other rhythm enthusiasts who are not quite human.
With six face pads of three different sizes, as well as a kick pedal, Konami's kit is certainly the most complex of the three. However, according to MTV Multiplayer blogger Patrick Klepek, the drums carry what sounds like a much more forgiving difficulty curve than those in Rock Band, which while great are almost unapproachable by rhythm game newcomers even on the easiest setting. By contrast, and according to his admittedly brief time with Konami's offering, the game doesn't penalize players for improvising during a song, and also features five difficulty settings with the lower two removing the foot pedal entirely. Still, the question remains as to if there is room enough for another peripheral-heavy rhythm game, not so much in the genre but in our own living rooms.
Some of you may have already received the June 2008 issue of Game Informer in the mail, but, for those who haven't, we thought you might enjoy seeing the first image of the new Guitar Hero IVdrum kit one subscriber scanned. As you can see, the main difference from the Rock Band kit is that the yellow and orange drums have been turned into two wedge-shaped pieces elevated above the others.
Cool as it looks, we still don't have the most important piece of information about the kit: If it will be compatible with Rock Band, or if RB's kit will work with Guitar Hero IV. We like fake instruments as much as the next nerd, but two fake drum kits may just be more than our dens, living rooms and dignity can withstand.
[Update: Just so there's no question, you have to click the picture to see the full image. There is totally a foot pedal. Update 7/2/08: Gamestop, owner of Game Informer, has demanded that we remove the small thumbnail showing a piece of the drumkit. Considering the official press shot came out over a month ago (seen above) we've gone ahead and removed the thumbnail. Of course, if you still wanted to read the whole magazine, it's still out there.]
We'd like to extend a thanks to reader John M, who heeded our call for a new Guitar Hero IV image. Who better to replace Skeletor with than The Most Powerful Man in the Universe himself. Check out our highlights for today:
Here we go again. Every month, someone gets an early copy of a gaming magazine, posts the highlights in a forum post, and we run it as a rumor until we can confirm its veracity. And again, we can't confirm this information, but a Neo GAF poster has claimed to already receive a copy of the latest Game Informer, the cover story being Guitar Hero IV.
Here's the alleged information. Guitar Hero IV features the requisite Rock Band features: drums, vocals, bass, guitar and create-a-rocker. Additionally (and most interestingly), there will be the option to create your own song tracks. Although vocals are excluded, all other tracks can be made and uploaded to GH Tunes for sharing and rating. We're not sure how this will apply to songs not in the game, given copyright concerns, but color us intrigued.
All songs will reportedly be master tracks, and four bands have been confirmed: Van Halen, Eagles, Linking Park and Van Halen. Is this the "significant leap" mentioned by Activision last week? Until we can obtain a copy to verify, consider this a rumor.
Activision is planning to innovate the Guitar Hero franchise. In a conference call yesterday, Publishing CEO Mike Griffith said, "For the holiday, we will provide a significant leap forward in innovation for Guitar Hero worldwide, on all platforms." That includes PlayStation 3, PS2, Xbox 360, Wii and DS. Griffith also said that more information will be provided "in the coming weeks."
We wonder if this has anything to do with those recent rumors about Guitar Hero IV going multi-instrumental. Guess we'll find out soon.
IGN reports that the May issue of Conde Nast Portfolio magazine sees Activision CEO Bobby Kotick revealing a future direction that would put his company's Guitar Hero franchise on equal footing to last year's newcomer, Rock Band. Upgrades include additional instruments (including vocals and, we hear separately, drums), as well as "local content" from "local bands."
This corresponds with information Joystiq has received from a source close to the company, who tells us that multiple instruments – including a microphone and drumkit – will be a part of the next Guitar Hero game, likely to be called Guitar Hero IV despite its focus on multiple instruments (other potential names: Band Hero and Rockstar Hero). Also, our source reports that Activision insiders are proud enough of their drum peripheral to say that it will be "superior" to Rock Band's (we know, shocking).
Perhaps just as importantly, Activision's weakness in downloadable content could be resolved as early as the release of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith this June, when content is expected to be released regularly, perhaps "even weekly." Also contributing to the company's positive outlook on DLC is the pending merger with Vivendi, potentially giving it unparalleled access to that company's Universal Music Group, the largest family of record labels in the music industry.
We've asked Activision to comment on this story. If anyone close to the story has any additional information to share, you know where to find us.
We're sorry to doubt the messengers of Rock Gods, but we finally got our own confirmation that Def Leppard has indeed contributed three songs to Guitar Hero IV. While not replaying the full interview, Rockline Radio's website did provide a stream of the bandmates talking specifically about the game.
"We're gonna have like three songs on Guitar Hero IV," said guitarist Phil Collen, before specifying "Photograph," "Animal" and "Rock of Ages." We've gone ahead and embedded the music videos after the break for those who want to rock out in this post.
Not to take away from the status of British rockers The Answer, but we'd say the newest band to attach its name to Guitar Hero IV has just a tiny bit more street cred (we're talking, like, 5-6 inches more combined hair). While being interviewed on Rockline Radio, Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen apparently confirmed that at least three of the band's top singles will be included in the next Guitar Hero installment not subtitled 'Aerosmith,' reports Guitar Hero News. Collen named:
"Photograph"
"Rock of Ages"
"Animal"
Unfortunately, Rockline will delay the replay of the interview until after Def Leppard's new album releases on April 29th. "We strongly recommend that you listen to the show live," reads a posting on the Rockline website. (Aw, thanks -- we'll be sure to add your show to our presets...) So, anyone catch the live broadcast?
Details on the New Xbox Experience: search, hard drive play, alerts, themes, pics
Our E3 party is over, thanks for coming!
Pictures from the Rock Band Bash, featuring The Who!
Bungie-Gate: The plot continues
Highlights from Sony's E3 keynote!
Listen to the Joystiq podcast (because your ears can't read)
Posts with tag Guitar-Hero-IV
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Harmonix must be beside itself with this last week finding not one but two companies hopping on the developer's coat tails and revealing a pair of drum kits that bear more than a passing resemblance to those used in Rock Band. However, while Guitar Hero IV's kit still carries some basis in reality, the kit revealed by Konami for the company's newly announced Rock Revolution looks to be designed for players with extra appendages or other rhythm enthusiasts who are not quite human.
