Music & Rhythm Games – Brought Back from the Dead

New Guitar Hero and Rock Band Games to Drop Late 2015!

For someone who became fully entrenched in the Guitar Hero/Rock Band craze that swept through popular culture in the mid-2000’s, this was one of the best pieces of news I could hear.  It all started out with me making fun of the whole thing, but pretty soon I was hooked.  I bought up every existing Guitar Hero release and went out on the day of World Tour’s release for the full band package.  Before long I crossed over to Rock Band as well.  Now I own every physical release from both franchises (including games like Lego Rock Band, Band Hero, DJ Hero 1 & 2, etc.) as well as 4 Guitar Hero guitars, 1 Rock Band “bass,” 1 set of drums from World Tour, 1 set of drums from The Beatles: Rock Band, 1 pro-guitar from Rock Band 3, the keyboard from Rock Band 3, cymbal expansion for Rock Band, an extra foot pedal for the RB kit, 3 official RB or GH USB mics, 2 official mic stands, and 2 DJ Hero turntable controllers.

As you can imagine, I was very disappointed when both series essentially dried up after 2010’s holiday season.  However, a casual list at the last pre-order sheet handed to me at GameStop revealed a listing for Guitar Hero Live.  What?  Was that right?  Hell yeah it was!

Both Activision (Guitar Hero) and Harmonix (Rock Band) are actively developing new games that are expected to drop sometime late in 2015.  Both companies have expressed interest in retooling the franchises and a desire to shed the excessiveness of later releases.

The new installment of Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero Live, will reimagine the layout of the guitar controller, opting for a 6-button design that utilizes 2 row of 3 buttons on the fretboard instead of the previous single row of 5.  Taking into account the difficultly that some players had using their pinky (but isn’t that difficulty the fun part!?), the developers want to create an experience more akin to playing real chords on a real guitar.  So far there are no plans to include any instruments other than the guitar.

The new guitar peripheral for Guitar Hero Live. If you look closely, you can see the new arrangement of buttons at the top of the fretboard.

Visuals will also experience an overhaul, giving the player a view of the stage and crowd from a first person perspective.  Instead of animations, these scenes will contain full motion video recorded specifically for the game, and the imagery will change based on factors such as player performance.  The goal is to create a completely immersive and highly realistic experience.

Plans are to release Guitar Hero Live for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Wii U in the fall of 2015.

So what’s up with Harmonix?  Rock Band 4 is in the works over at their camp, promising to take the core gameplay elements that made the series a hit to begin with and refocus their efforts into something a bit less sprawling than what we last saw.  They’re axing the “Pro Modes” introduced in Rock Band 3, which were designed to teach the player techniques that they could realistically apply to actual instruments.  Further details are scarce, though confusingly Harmonix has stated that they “don’t want to reinvent the wheel.”  New guitar and drum peripherals will be developed, though their are talks of attempting to make PS3 and Xbox 360 guitars and drum kits backwards compatible with the PS4 and Xbox One, respectively.  Initially the game will be released in a guitar only bundle and a full band bundle with guitar, microphone, and drum kit.  Harmonix has stated that no further accessories will be made.

Rock Band 4 aims to make full use of the internet to extend its longevity.  Harmonix wants to focus solely on one game, releasing additional content electronically to take a burden off the developers and also make it easier and more cost-effective for consumers.  They expect to regularly update the game through patches as well as provide new songs as DLC much like previous entries in the series.  Surprisingly, all existing Rock Band content is expected to be compatible with Rock Band 4, including any previous DLC and full setlists exported from prior games.

So far, Rock Band 4 will only be available on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

Sound Good?

Instead of conflating what we know with what I think, I wanted to wrap this up with my own reaction to what is largely awesome news!

The new Guitar Hero Live sounds like a blast.  Although I’d gotten used to having a full ensemble, I’ve got no problem with a game called Guitar Hero getting back to the guitar.  I’m also eager to check out the new controller.  While the pinky finger complaints seem pretty stupid (it ain’t that hard; adjust the difficultly if you can’t handle it!), I’m excited about the new configuration and having a whole new experience with the game.

The POV camera sounds cool, I only wonder how much footage they’ve actually captured and what sorts of options will be available for customization.  I actually enjoyed the animations from games past, though I can understand the need to move beyond that on current gen systems.  And even though many of the movements would be repeated, certain aspects could be changed, such as the other characters, their clothes, your clothes, the guitar itself, the venue, etc.  I sincerely hope there are enough options available to keep the FMV sequences from becoming achingly repetitive, because repeated live footage is going to be significantly more groan-worthy than repetitive animations.  I’ll also kind of miss “watching myself” jam out on stage.  I got a real kick out of playing as Johnny Cash in Guitar Hero 5 and watching him (me?) rock out to the likes of tracks like “Comedown” and “A-Punk.”  But who knows, I’m sure they’ve got some amazing stuff planned for us.

It would’ve been great if Guitar Hero 5 had recreated this moment! Fun Fact: I have this very poster on my wall!

The setlist has me a little worried though.  Half of these tracks are songs I hear over and over, all day long on my local alternative station.  Furthermore, while some of them may have some fun guitar parts, I wouldn’t mind seeing the series dig a little deeper for actual guitar driven tracks.  Without the full band ensemble, there’s really no need to go after too many semi-generic pop tracks.  I actually think a more timeless collection of music would serve the franchise well and keep it from feeling stale and dated so quickly, but I guess Activision’s experience after Warriors of Rock taught them that popular music goes a long way in helping them to sell games.  I guess we’ll just have to wait and see, but already songs like “Ho Hey” and “Little Talks” feel a bit like yesterday’s news.  At least two songs, “When You Were Young” and “Message in a Bottle,” have previous appeared in Guitar Hero titles; GH3 and GH2 respectively.

The news surrounding Rock Band 4 is a little harder to draw any real conclusions from.  They’re going to trim the fat, but they want to bring something new to the franchise.  They want to innovate, but not reinvent the wheel.  These are obviously throwaway comments to avoid giving away any real details, though the conflicting approaches do leave me wondering just what Rock Band 4 will look like.  However, if existing DLC is going to be compatible with the new game and they’re looking into backwards compatibility for existing controllers, it sounds like we may have something very similar to what the series looked like before its extended hiatus.  It’s not necessarily a bad thing, though I do wonder why we’ve waited 5 years for a game so similar to its predecessors.  Even if the backwards compatibility doesn’t work out, the fact that they’re even talking about it means that the controls haven’t been radically changed; same goes for DLC compatibility – if the new game had an entirely new setup, bringing old song in line with a new format wouldn’t be feasible.  It’d be like translating old GH songs based on the 5-button layout to the new 6-button layout, which is clearly something Rock Band is not going to do with their library of over 2,000 songs.

Having Rock Band 4 act as a sort of base for future updates sounds like a good idea though.  It’ll be a great way for Harmonix to continually craft a better experience without having to issue new releases or leave songs from previous releases in the dust as newer and better versions of the core gameplay are produced.

Remember how the genre looked back in 2010?

The main question that’s nagging at me is that of cross-compatibility for games.  Back when both series were at their peak, I really enjoyed the fact that instruments from one series would work with the other.  And ultimately this was a smart move on the developer’s part.  Instead of a consumer having to restrict themselves to one series of games (whichever one they bought the instruments for first), players could get a hold of one set of instruments and enjoy any and all games freely.  In the end, it makes more money for both companies because players are forced into picking a side and sticking with it.  Unfortunately, cross-compatibility seems unlikely based on similar clues that Rock Band may not be overhauling the entire system.  If Rock Band 4 controllers can play old 5-button songs, it seems unlikely that they’ll be able to translate the new Guitar Hero Live set up and vice versa.  But who knows?  There’s still an appreciable wait ahead of us and I’m sure the companies realize the benefits of cross-compatible peripherals.  Then again, it won’t be nearly as much of an issue this time around assuming Guitar Hero Live makes good on their statement that they’d be only utilizing a guitar controller

Overall though, I think we’re in for a treat.  It might actually be a good thing for the the two series to get some distance from each other and establish themselves as truly separate entities.  I mean let’s face it, with all the similarities between the two franchises in the past, they may as well have all been part of the series. Maybe 2 wildly different games with the same basic premise will create some real competition and growth in field rather than oversaturation and stagnation.

This is also a prime opportunity for both franchises to re-establish themselves and learn from their mistakes.  Maybe we can finally see Guitar Hero and Rock Band transform from a simple fad into a viably long term facet of gaming!

That’s it for now!  What do you think of the new news?  Are you excited to see these types of games return or were you glad to see the death of fake plastic rock?  Let us know what you think of these announcements below!

Written by The Cubist

Written by The Cubist

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Find out what these ratings mean and how I rate video games.

I collect as much video gaming paraphernalia as I can get my hands on, especially when it comes to hardware. With over 40 systems including oldies like the ColecoVision and Intellivision, obscurities like the CD-i and 3DO, and the latest and greatest including the Wii U, PS4, Xbox One, 3DS, and PS Vita, I get easily overwhelmed. Most of the time you can find me firmly nestled sometime between 1985 and 1995 when it comes to my games of choice, but I’m also having a great time seeing what the 8th generation has to offer.

Currently in love with: Mortal Kombat

Email me anytime, about anything: thecubist@butthole.nerdbacon.com