Guitar Hero: World Tour

[The NZA]

 

Lotta rumors leaked yesterday, thought you guys might dig this one.

 

Also in the batch of leaks going up on NeoGAF and elsewhere: Guitar Hero World Tour (aka GH IV) will feature new controls on the guitar neck, plus a raft of A-list artists including, curiously, the Doors.

 

"New touch-sensitive guitar Neck Slide opens up the entire guitar neck for unbound solos - shred how you want," says the leaked docs. Word up to this point had promised an upgraded guitar but no details.

The game will also roll out with drums with cymbals, and a mike, which we knew. The drums are wireless and will have quiet pads.

 

At this rate, GH and Rock Band enthusiasts will have a garage full of obsolete instruments, and this kit is likely to set you back $179.99. But that money also buys you tracks from Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, Foo Fighters, Smashing Pumpkins, Korn, System of a Down, Ozzy Osbourne, Interpol, Muse "and dozens more".

 

The Doors — let's keep an eye on that one. Drummer John Densmore is notorious for refusing to license Doors tracks, memorably turning down $15 million from Cadillac and criticizing other band members' materialism. The band's unanimous consent is required for any licensing deal, and Densmore has been the only holdout, with one exception: he did agree to allow "Riders on the Storm" to be used in a Pirelli advertisement in the UK only, but later said he'd heard Jim Morrison's voice and sent his portion of the take to charity. If Guitar Hero has truly landed the Doors, it's a big change to how that band has carried on, post-Morrison.

 

Damn, theyre really pulling the big guns this time, eh? I passed up the GH Metallica and other news, but getting the Doors & Hendrix on board, if im not mistaken, is a first for the series. Cant wait to see what theyve pulled off, even if my living room's free space means no more @#$%in instruments.

[Jables]

Yeah well, the best thing Activision can do is make their drumkit a little sturdier. the description of the kit(3 pads, a pedal & 2 highhats) has me intrigued though, and my mental image has it citric orange with a big fat bass drum on the front. Anything else is gonna break my heart.

[Reverend Jax]

Skeeter, no mental imaging needed.

 

 

Hendrix and the Doors would be impressive. GH1 had an instrumental (no vocals) version of Spanish Castle Magic, and that was off how incredibly douchey the Hendrix family are. They are no doubt spending big money on Hendrix. As for the Doors, that's really more an issue of convincing Densmore that in has artistic merit/credibility and that Morrison would have been cool with it. This is obviously a different animal from licensing for a commercial, and there's not point of reference on how Morrison would have felt about GH, seeing as how he never talked about video games

 

I've obviously like to hear what specific songs are coming from those bands, but I'll just have to wait.

 

Also confirmed are Van Halen, The Eagles, Linkin Park, Sublime and possibly Dream Theater. "One Armed Scissor" from At The Drive-in is also confirmed. A trailer has a bunch of people playing Are You Gonna Go My Way by Lenny Kravitz, but that song's not officially confirmed. In a video about designing the drums, Blink 182's drummer is shown drumming Damnit (the only Blink song I'm interested in) and is also should the Red Hot Chili Pepper's drummer and the Police's drummer in the video doing motion capture.

 

Activision is also claiming that all the songs will be masters, a tall order when it's pretty commonplace for masters to go missing from studio storage.

 

I'm very curious about this crazy guitar neck Nick speaks of.

[Silent Bob]

Guitar Hero: World Tour preview from Gamespot.

 

We've known for some time that the next iteration of the Guitar Hero franchise would feature multiple instruments, but it's been anyone's guess as to how Activision and Neversoft would attempt to put their stamp on their inaugural entry into the multi-instrument genre. Thankfully, much less guessing is required now that we've had the opportunity to see Guitar Hero: World Tour in action. Members of the Neversoft development team treated us to a performance of some newly announced songs, filling in extended breaks between sets with a little bit of the character-customization process and a whole lot of the song-creation options.

 

Neversoft began the demo with an overview of its new hardware. The drums look just as they did in the photos that recently made the rounds: three eight-inch pads, a kick pedal, and a pair of elevated cymbals combining for six full inputs. What we didn't know is just how soft these pads look. Neversoft stressed the work it has put into them, relying on plenty of silicon to provide a strike both quiet and responsive. As for the cymbals, they seem to have a surprising amount of give. Far from an elevated, stiff drum pad, they oscillate nicely while still registering quick taps. The drum kit will be wireless, but it hasn't yet been decided what sort of batteries will be required. They're aiming for a pair of AA batteries just like the wireless GH guitars, but that's still very much up in the air.

 

As for the microphone, it's a standard wired Logitech mic. There's nothing terribly fancy about it, but weights have been added to give it the feel of a much more expensive piece of hardware. Aspiring vocalists shouldn't expect to see much different from what they've experienced in Rock Band, both in terms of hardware and gameplay. The singer's chunk of the screen looks very familiar, with words scrolling from right to left and a pitch gauge telling you just how well or poorly you're matching the original singer.

 

And we certainly can't forget the instrument that made this series famous. The guitar is no longer modeled after the iconic designs of the Gibson company, instead taking the form of a license-free body that struck us as particularly heavy metal. It's a bit bigger, too, falling somewhere between the old Guitar Hero models and the Rock Band Stratocaster. The big new addition is what Neversoft is calling the "touch strip." Essentially, it's a touch-sensitive section of the guitar neck right next to the standard, multicolored buttons. The touch strip doesn't stand out from the rest of the neck, so you might not even realize it's there if you're not familiar with your new hardware. What this touch strip does is act as a multipurpose tool for several inputs and effects. One use is finger-tapping guitar solos, but you can also swipe your finger along it, side-to-side, to mess with the sustain on your held notes and provide a sound very different from the whammy bar. You can also use it to affect the synth sounds during songs with heavy keyboard usage. Finally, a new button has been added to the bridge to let you palm mute chords.

 

With hardware introductions out of the way, Neversoft took to the proverbial stage. It began with Billy Idol's "Rebel Yell," later performing The Foo Fighters' "Everlong" and "Santeria" by Sublime. Other bands that have been officially announced include Linkin Park, Van Halen, and The Eagles, but no specific tunes related to these groups have yet been made public. The way each band member occupies the screen should feel familiar to anyone who's played multiplayer Guitar Hero or, closer still, Rock Band. The drummer, guitar, and bass occupy the bottom of the screen, with the drummer's note highway sitting right in the middle. The singer's lyric ticker is located at the top of the screen, while the band's progress and multiplier information is quartered off in the top-left area of the screen. The biggest difference in user interface between World Tour and Rock Band is the band's progress meter: Rather than having every instrument bouncing up and down on one gauge, all four get their own slightly smaller meters to tell them how well they're doing overall. As for what happens when a band member sinks to the bottom of that bar and fails out, the Neversoft crew was a little too good to let that happen, so we'll have to wait to see how that particular mechanic works (but our guess is on Star Power).

 

Soon after the first song, we were treated to a rundown of the game's rock star creator. Here, you'll be able to design your own avatar with a wide array of options. Neversoft's been at this sort of thing since Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 way back in 2000, so it has learned a lesson or two about the process of crafting your own virtual doppelganger. You choose a name, attitude, age, and then move on to the finer details. These include sculpting the look of your rock star's face and physique by adjusting dozens of sliders, making them as photogenic or hideous as you like. Then you can top off your rock star with a new hairstyle and outfit. Custom tattoos and body decals will also be an option. The ability to choose which animations you'll see at the beginning of a set and which you'll see when you succeed or fail at a song are options you can choose from as well.

 

The really interesting part is that customization isn't limited to the physical attributes of your rock star. You'll also be able to design your own personalized instruments. With the guitar, you can mix and match bodies, necks, inlays, and headstocks. You can also decide on smaller touches, such as the pickups, dials, and pick guard. Drummers can design their own kits as well, including a custom logo to slap on the bass drum, and singers won't be left out, either. They can customize the look of their microphone and mic stand. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to include the ability to add Steven Tyler-esque scarves, but beggars can't be choosers.

 

In terms of gameplay modes, there will be five possible careers from which to choose. You have guitar, bass, vocals, drums, and a band mode that works both offline and online. As for how you'll be progressing, Neversoft wanted to stress that it wouldn't be the same linear, venue-to-venue path taken in previous Guitar Hero games. When learning a tough new song, you'll need to practice in the smaller clubs before you take to the stage in a giant arena or what have you. A new level of difficulty has been added to the proceedings, an ultrasimplified beginner level, which is one step below easy. You can also adjust the difficulty levels of songs midcareer, meaning road block tunes will be less of an issue (provided you can swallow your pride and bump yourself down a notch, however temporarily).

 

Neversoft capped off its demo with a detailed look at the song-creation process. There's actually two ways of doing this: the standard song creator and a streamlined "New Song Wizard" option. In the latter, your options are simple but limited: You choose from three tempos, add a few rhythm loops, and record the instrument of your choosing (minus vocals, which has had recording disabled due to myriad legal reasons). One thing we didn't expect to see was the guitar being used as a drum machine. With this option, you can record drum loops with the guitar buttons after selecting a genre and kit type, then tweak the loop by dropping certain elements of it with various movements on the touch strip. It seemed pretty complicated but a nice way to add some nuance to otherwise robotic-sounding loops.

 

If you don't want to mess around with loops in the drum machine, you can still record with the guitar and drums the way they were meant to be played--relatively speaking, of course. With the guitar, you can choose from several different scales and arpeggiate away with single notes, or you can set your guitar to play either power chords or full chords. If you really want to get tricky, Neversoft has teamed up with Line 6 to reproduce the guitar and amp effects used in its popular guitar pods. The drums are a bit easier because it just maps what you're playing, though you can still choose from different kit sounds. The note highway is then automatically mapped based on what you've played through the instrument. Your original recording will always be the hardest difficulty level; the game will only scale it down for later play-throughs.

 

If all this sounds a bit confusing, it's probably because the song creator looks to be rather deep. And it doesn't stop there. You can also head into a mixer to isolate certain chunks of your song to repeat or swap them around. Once you're pleased with the song, you can design album cover art and throw it onto the "GH Tunes" online content-sharing service. This is where players will be able to download other peoples' songs and rate them (which is mandatory whenever you download another person's song). Frankly, the whole song-creation process has turned out to be far more detailed and involved than most people probably would have expected. As such, we're looking forward to taking another look so we can explain it in much better detail.

 

Finally, we can't leave you without dropping a few more miscellaneous details. Quickplay has been tweaked to where you can create up to six song sets, even earning cash for unlockables. Previous Guitar Hero controllers will still work with World Tour, albeit with limited functionality. The Wii version will support both downloadable content and the GH Tunes service. And last but not least, the final tracklist is expected to clock in at about 85 songs, each and every one a master track. You can expect to see more Guitar Hero: World Tour coverage in the very near future.

 

The question is, will it be compatible with Rock Band hardware (past experience suggests no) and if not, are consumers really going to be willing to buy yet another set of fake instruments to clutter up their living room with?

 

Personally, I think the last thing we need is another mock band videogame franchise. The only thing it will do is hurt the consumers who will have to buy more hardware and have to choose which game they want based on which exclusive bands and songs each company manages to secure. Neversoft should have kept their greed in check and just held onto their guitar niche.

 

[HypnotizinChikns]

guitar hero world tour makes me the mads.

Now I have to buy it just to play songs i'd rather play on rockband.

grrrr.

[Silent Bob]

Agreed. Though I'd probably we willing to shell out the bucks if they somehow made it compatible with Rock Band hardware.

[Jables]

Hmm. Harmonix & EA have well and truly fucked me and my ilk and offered an alternative(even if it IS fucking Activision), I think i'd definitely make the shift. Having said that principle plays fuck-all in my machinations. If they release it within say, a year of the US, and the drums a a little sturdier than RB's(that's less a complaint and more just a hope that someone can build toys I won't break), I'll buy in a heartbeat. Seriously, if Activision got their shit together and released GH4 here even close to RB's tentative Sept AU release, I think most Aussies'd just boycott RB. I know I'd certainly do my part to generate some interest in something like this. EA has a lot to answer for here.

[HypnotizinChikns]

Agreed. Though I'd probably we willing to shell out the bucks if they somehow made it compatible with Rock Band hardware.

 

I know. but the real question is... will the GHWT be compatible right away? or will xbox360 make 'patches' a year from now after we've bought both games to make the GHWT stuff usable with rockband a year from now?

 

 

i can see it. i totally can.

[Jables]

RB guitars still have no compatibility patch on the 360 do they? I know vice-versa worked from day 1...

 

Really though, it's in no developer's best interest to let buyers mix & match their instruments. I think the aforementioned compatibility of GH guitar on RB was a concession due to 360 buyers not getting a wireless guitar bundled in(PS3 still doesn't have compat does it?), and at A$170 it was already a hard sell. If those drums are the final design they're not going to work on RB or vice versa anyways since they're a 6 bar input as opposed to RB's 5. Guitars and such may work fine but certainly anyone wanting to drum on GH4's gonna have to pay the price.

[HypnotizinChikns]

I'm not as interested in the actual instruments as the songs, I personally haven't had my drums break tho. You do bring up a good point.

 

 

I look at it like this, either way it sucks. I don't want to have to shell out more money for another 'band' type of game, and to make matters worse, the bundle for rock band has gone down in price, which to me isn't a good sign (and i'm bitter that i paid full price for buying it when it first came out not even a year ago!) becuase if that's the only way the marketing team can sell RB it could possibly be because the song packs they have and the song packs they will have either didn't do as well as they hoped, or aren't going to do as well as they hoped.

 

and holy crap that was huge run on sentence.

[Lolrelei]

yeahhhhhhhhh wikid wikid wikid yeahhhhhhhhhh fuk u if u don't like it wikid yeahhhhhhhh!

[Jables]

yeahhhhhhhhh wikid wikid wikid yeahhhhhhhhhh fuk u if u don't like it wikid yeahhhhhhhh!

 

FUck off and die troll. Lo doesn't need your help being hated and all you're doing is crapping up the place even worse. Times like this, a well=placed IP check wouldn't do no harm.

[Jables]

 

That's the guitar. Note the slide on the neck, means they're further separating themselves from Harmonix products.

[Benz]

I thought this was the title of the one coming out for the DS, I just saw an ad for it on Wal-Mart TV the other day...

[Reverend Jax]

The DS one is called "On Tour", the full band sequel on home consoles is "World Tour". It's only going to cause confusion. I can imagine alot of kids getting On Tour for Christmas after asking for World Tour.

[Benz]

Ah, gotcha.

 

Yeah gonna be confusing as heck definitely. Can't wait to get a Wii...

[Silent Bob]

Since we're kinda talking about all these games in one thread*, here's the official final setlest for Guitar Hero World Tour and holy god...I was disappointed with GH3 but this is gonna be enough for me to give them another shot.

 

30 Seconds To Mars--The Kill

311--Beautiful Disaster

Airbourne--Too Much, Too Young, Too Fast

The Allman Brothers Band--Ramblin' Man

Anouk--Good God

The Answer--Never Too Late

At the Drive-In--One Armed Scissor

Beastie Boys--No Sleep Till Brooklyn

Beatsteaks--Hail To The Freaks

Billy Idol--Rebel Yell

Black Label Society--Stillborn

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club--Weapon of Choice

blink-182--Dammit

Blondie--One Way or Another

Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band--Hollywood Nights

Bon Jovi--Livin' on a Prayer

Bullet for My Valentine--Scream Aim Fire

Coldplay--Shiver

Creedence Clearwater Revival--Up Around the Bend

The Cult--Love Removal Machine

Dinosaur Jr.--Feel the Pain

The Doors--Love Me Two Times

Dream Theater--Pull Me Under

The Eagles--Hotel California

The Enemy--Aggro

Filter--Hey Man, Nice Shot

Fleetwood Mac--Go Your Own Way

Foo Fighters--Everlong

The Guess Who--American Woman

HushPuppies--You're Gonna Say Yeah!

Interpol--Obstacle 1

Jane's Addiction--Mountain Song

Jimi Hendrix--The Wind Cries Mary

Jimi Hendrix--Purple Haze (Live)

Jimmy Eat World--The Middle

Joe Satriani--Satch Boogie

Kent--Vinternoll2

Korn--Freak on a Leash

Lacuna Coil--Our Truth

Lenny Kravitz--Are You Gonna Go My Way

Linkin Park--What I've Done

The Living End--Prisoner of Society

Los Lobos--La Bamba

Lostprophets--Rooftops (A Liberation Broadcast)

Lynyrd Skynyrd--Sweet Home Alabama (Live)

The Mars Volta--L'Via L'Viaquez

MC5's Wayne Kramer--Kick Out the Jams

Metallica--Trapped Under Ice

Michael Jackson--Beat It

Modest Mouse--Float On

Motorhead--Overkill

Muse--Assassin

Negramaro--Nuvole e Lenzuola

Nirvana--About A Girl [unplugged]

No Doubt--Spiderwebs

NOFX--Soul Doubt

Oasis--Some Might Say

Ozzy Osbourne--Crazy Train

Ozzy Osbourne--Mr. Crowley

Paramore--Misery Business

Pat Benatar--Heartbreaker

Radio Futura--Escuela De Calor

R.E.M.--The One I Love

Rise Against--Re-Education Through Labor

Sex Pistols--Pretty Vacant

Silversun Pickups--Lazy Eye

Smashing Pumpkins--Today

Steely Dan--Do It Again

Steve Miller Band--The Joker

Sting--Demolition Man (Live)

The Stone Roses--Love Spreads

Stuck in the Sound--Toy Boy

Sublime--Santeria

Survivor--Eye of the Tiger

System Of A Down--B.Y.O.B.

Ted Nugent--Stranglehold

Ted Nugent--Original Guitar Duel Recording

Tokio Hotel--Monsoon

Tool--Parabola

Tool--Schism

Tool--Vicarious

Trust--Antisocial

Van Halen--Hot For Teacher

Willie Nelson--On The Road Again

Wings--Band on the Run

Zakk Wylde--Original Guitar Duel Recording

[Jables]

Hah. I love the fact that RB1 still has no confirmed release here, and hope very much that it fails next to the confirmed release of GHWT Nov 13. COnfirmed bundle price is AU$329, which is a little steeper than RB's AU$280, so parents buying for the kids for Xmas will probably swing that way(which the delayed release tells me that's what they're holding out for), but anyone actually plays games and has been waiting for Harmonix & EA to stop fucking us has vocally boycotted RB. That setlist right there'll make that a lot easier.

[The NZA]

that's a fuckin' shame. I still think RB2 has a much better setlist (which isnt to say id not trade songs from GHWT to it) but overall, much better. still, if RB 1 didnt come out here yet - shelf space be damned! - id likely be pissed as fuck too. you should really wait to see whose instruments are reviewed better, and import though ,man.

[Jables]

Man, fuck importing again. It's a pain in the arse even if it does work out cheaper. Screw 'em man. They don't want the Australian dollar in their coffers then they can keep it that way, the cunts.

[The NZA]

i will never understand you.

[Jables]

That's cause I'm like the wind.

 

Seriously though, I imported 1 on the basis that it may or may not make it to Oz. Now we know that EA & Harmonix are not only aware of our land DownUnder, but see us as some kind of Eastern European nation that awaits New Coke and 80's hair metal that can consume the defective equipment you yanks reject. I'm not funding that attitude.

[archangel]

will you fund the "We would really like to see you enjoy the game with us and not be bitter at us?" Cos I know Nick and I would have NO problems shipping that over to you and insuring it.

[Jables]

It's a nice thought, and realistically it's only need to be the game itself since all peripherals are cross-compatible and I'm buying the GHWT bundle, but seriously, you guys aren't touching GH at all? I promise I won't be bitter this time because 1) I've now tasted the bitter sweet, sweet fruit that Harmonix(those dickfarmers) bear and know what awaits on the other side of the rainbow, and 2) I'll be plenty distracted with GHWT to be overly concerned with RB2. Maybe a year or two down the way when RB2 hits about the same time as the Kriss-Kross Live at Stuckey's VHS finally reaches us, I'll save up every pelt & rock I can to shell out for these key cultural icons.

 

What's the word on either game for online band touring? I know The Hot Costners have no room on the roster for a semi-okay drummer, but we're(The Pepper Republic) almost hurting for a second guitarist/bassist in the face of Crim's defiant lack of coordination.

[Reverend Jax]

The Online Band Tour is now fully operational as I understand. Solo mode is also now in the format of World Tour (getting managers and buses and challenges and all that), it's the only way to unlock songs. I formed the band The Jebus Freaks (the game had the nerve to saw "Jesus Freaks" wasn't "classy" and couldn't appear on Xbox Live), so if other people have RB2, they can jump in as I unlock songs (I've unlocked about half the disc songs so far).

 

Note: You can unlock all the songs with a cheat, and if you're going to have a local party, that's probably for the best, but unlocking them is tons of fun.