Posted Jul 21st 2008 11:00AM by Dustin Burg Filed under: News
Today, Activision and Red Octane are probably strutting around their swank offices with chests held high, because we just got word that they have secured Hendrix for inclusion in Guitar Hero: World Tour.
According to cbc.ca, Activision has secured the licensing rights to include two of Jimi Hendrix's songs for World Tour including "The Wind Cries Mary" and a live version of "Purple Haze" that was recorded back in 1969. Though, if those two tracks don't float your boat, Acti promises more Hendrix DLC post release. But, not only will two Hendrix tracks make the World Tour cut, but we also learn that the game will feature an in-game Hendrix avatar featuring his likeness. And so the Guitar Hero versus Rock Band battle continues ...
At Activision's non-E3 conference Tuesday, Guitar Hero director Brian Bright surprised attendees confirming that any guitar and drum controllers players own for other games on the Xbox 360 will be compatible with Guitar Hero: World Tour.
This news comes as quite a shock considering the current state of controller compatibility between the two music franchises -- a recent update apparently made all guitar controllers compatible with Guitar Hero: Aerosmith but we've heard of some issues.
You may be asking yourself how the drums will work, considering Guitar Hero: World Tour drums use five-inputs while Rock Band uses four (see center of image above). According to Wired, Activision promises that using the Rock Band drums will cause the game to adjust the title to four inputs only. Now we wonder, will plugging in the Rock Revolutioncontroller bring the input count to seven?
Coming out swinging, the Guitar Hero segment claims 85+ tracks right on the disc. As for the downloadable content there'll be an REM track pack with 3 songs, plus the megaton news that Van Halen and the Eagles are exclusive to Guitar Hero, and that Metallica's newest album will hit on both the XBLM and retail at the same time. Plus they're launching something they're calling GH Tunes, which will allow for users to upload and share the music they've created with the in-game creator.
Guitar Hero: Aerosmith recently released and we have Guitar Hero World Tour and Rock Band 2 to look forward to later this year, meaning we're getting a bunch of brand new guitar peripherals. Take into account the older guitars from Guitar Hero II and III as well as the original Rock Band and you're left with a confusing instrument compatibility mess. Our head hurts just thinking about it. But team Joystiq has done their best to make sure you understand which guitar peripherals work with which games, breaking down the information into a convenient Guitar Hero / Rock Band guitar compatibility matrix (version 2.0). Make the jump to view the complete matrix of guitar compatibility and be in complete peripheral compatibility awe and, possibly, complete compatibility disgust.
Last week, we told you about Todd McFarlane's interesting decision to gobble up the Guitar Hero license and the subsequent creation of a set of four Guitar Hero figures that are set to release this Fall. No, we still haven't fully accepted the figures seeing that we don't have any real attachment to the characters of Guitar Hero franchise, but we do now know exactly what each figure will look like. Viewable in the gallery below are the final sculpts of the Johnny Napalm, Lars Umlaut, Axel Steel and God of Rock figures. Not horrible (except for the God of Rock's odd looking shoulder), but we'll stick with our Halo and Gears figures.
A few weeks back, we mentioned that a Guitar Hero: Aerosmith (and Target) sponsored racecar would be tearing up the NASCAR track. Well, that race went down this past weekend where the GH:Aerosmith car finished in a very sad 38th place. Bummer. But thanks to loyal fanboy SToNeP2277 who attended the racing festivities, we received a few pictures of not only the racecar prior to its losing finish, but also the promotional trailer and RV they had setup on the race grounds. Check out all the NASCAR pictures below and be sure to note the very glam red rope they had setup.
With Activision and Blizzard working together to achieve total world domination, the fan favorite track "I Am Murloc" was released free for Guitar Hero III on Thursday. Surprisingly the World of Warcraft based track is no slouch in the difficulty department and, while it isn't a replacement for "Through the Fire and Flames," it may pose a challenge for nimble fingered casual players. Whether or not you enjoy the World of Warcraft reference, the song is a nice added bonus for gamers who are looking to freshen up their Guitar Hero III experience as they wait on Guitar Hero: Aerosmith or more information on Guitar Hero: World Tour.
Update: Readers are telling us that this is actually a custom Guitar Hero II track, but you get the idea of what to expect. Think of it as a dramatic re-enactment of what you'll get! Yeah, sorry for the error.
Posted Jun 26th 2008 2:30PM by Dustin Burg Filed under: News
Okay, we aren't sure what the general opinion is going to be for why these are being created or who's going to end up purchasing 'em, but we think we can agree it's an odd franchise to spawn action figures from.
The Toddy McFarlane sculpting crew (the same crew who makes those lovely Halo 3 figures) just announced today that they've partnered with Acti to release Guitar Hero action figures ... yes, Guitar Hero figures of action. Odd, seeing that the GH franchise really doesn't focus on character development so our enthusiasm for owning a figure like, say, Johnny Napalm is kinda lacking. Oh well. The complete set of four figures (Axel Steel, Johnny Napalm, Lars Umlaut and God of Rock) will be available this Fall for around $15 a pop. Yup, yup ...
Posted Jun 23rd 2008 1:00PM by Dustin Burg Filed under: News
With its release date quickly approaching, we've been in the dark regarding Guitar Hero: Aerosmith's complete track list. That is until this morning when we were graced with the complete track listing thanks to Eurogamer and my oh my is there a lot of Aerosmith. Though, that was expected. You can browse all the musical goodness after the break where we've listed all the songs in their appropriate tiers including the bonus tracks.
We have one giant complaint though, what happened to Deep Purple and The White Stripes? They were both previously confirmed way back when for inclusion in GH:Aerosmith. And, darnit, we want our promised The White Stripes! We're willing to trade in one of the 872 Aerosmith songs for our Stripes, get rid of "Nobody's Fault" or "Draw the Line", we don't care. Anything to get a track from The White Stripes ... humph!
Rumors about a possible licensing agreement that would see The Beatles join the music game revolution have been swirling and according to the Financial Times, MTV and Activision are in talks to bring the fab-four to their respective music platforms.
Citing a source familiar with the ongoing talks with representatives from The Beatles, the two rival publishers are currently attempting to woo the classic back catalog into their respective music games; Rock Band or Guitar Hero. A final deal could be "reached in a matter of weeks," believes the Financial Times. The deal, expectedly worth millions, is complicated by the fact that two different organizations own stock in The Beatles-- record label EMI owns the master recordings while Apple Corps supervises the band's business interests.
If the report is accurate, we may learn more information regarding possible Beatles music around the time E3 goes live this July.
Posted Jun 20th 2008 1:00PM by Dustin Burg Filed under: News
Holy Guitar Hero: World Tour information blowout! Those lucky monkeys over at IGN somehow convinced Activision to show them everything World Tour and boy oh boy is there a lot of information.
Seeing that we can't talk about all the World Tour details (if we did, this blog could be considered a feature article) we'll touch on the highlights. First and foremost IGN posted pictures and details about every instrument including confirmation that the World Tour guitar will feature the rumored touch pad. We also learn that World Tour takes customization to the next level, adding the ability to create your own band member AND customize your instruments as you see fit. We also learn about specifics regarding the game's recording functionality (sorry, no vocal recordings) and the fact that the career mode will modeled after Rock Band's progression. There's just too much info ... go read ... get learned and be surprised. Surprised that Activision may have actually come through with World Tour, pushing the genre to a whole new level.
Posted Jun 18th 2008 4:15PM by Dustin Burg Filed under: News
In an effort to appeal to the manly sports-minded crowd, Activision and Target have teamed up to sponsor Dario Franchitti's NASCAR Dodge and plaster it with Guitar Hero: Aerosmith prettiness. Just look at it above, isn't she pretty? Dario will drive the Guitar Hero themed racecar during the NASCAR Sprint Cup's New Hampshire Motor Speedway race on Sunday, June 29th. Hopefully Franchitti doesn't wreck his prettified car on Sunday, because we know Steven Tyler would NOT approve of damage done to anything sporting the Aerosmith name.
Continuing the flow of rumors from the aforementioned survey site, there's now the rumor that Guitar Hero 4 is still searching for a final subtitle and that it's going to try to make you buy even more fake plastic instruments, with the full version (including instruments) running for $179.99. The guitar is going to be wireless and have a touch sensitive neck slide, the drums are also wireless and have raised cymbals, plus the mic is also rumored to be wireless.
As for the music itself the site lists a whole host of different artists, including Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, Foo Fighters, Smashing Pumpkins, Korn, System of a Down, Ozzy Osbourne, Interpol, Muse and more. Additionally, the game has tons of customizable stuff, with custom tracks, album art, characters and logos.
How about it readers? Can GH4 truly take on Rock Band now?
Posted Jun 3rd 2008 12:45PM by Dustin Burg Filed under: News
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, music group Coldplay's own Chris Martin mentioned that, for the release of their Viva La Vida album on June 17th, they'll be releasing their single "Violet Hill" to (what we expect) Guitar Hero III. No pricing or release date were mentioned in the EW article, but we're sure the musical DLC will pop up on the XBLM sometime in the next few weeks for their CD release. Anyone interested in strumming to Coldplay?
Those sneaky business execs over at Activision are really putting their Red Octane purchase to good use lately. Not only are they releasing both Guitar Hero: Aerosmith and Guitar Hero: World Tour later this year, but we just learned that there's another Guitar Hero game scheduled for release early next year and it's guaranteed to have Lars Ulrich's seal of approval.
Gamespot is reporting on industry analyst Michael Pachter's discovery, where (after sifting through Activision's recent SEC filings) he found mention of a new game called Guitar Hero: Metallica that is set to release by fiscal end on March 31st, 2009. No other details were revealed in the filing, other than the obvious fact that Metallica will be a part of the new edition and that it'll probably further dilute the franchise that Activision is hell-bent on milking dry. Yes, we want fuel and yes, we want fire, but we don't think we desire a new Guitar Hero game every nine weeks. Sorry ...
[Via Joystiq, Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
