Activision Announces Guitar Hero Live For Fall 2015 Release

[Conrad Zimmerman]

Activision Announces Guitar Hero Live For Fall 2015 Release

Back in plastic.

Activision is reviving the Guitar Hero series this fall with the first entry in the franchise since 2010. Developed by DJ Hero studio FreeStyleGames, Guitar Hero Live appears as a dramatic change from prior Guitar Hero titles visually and mechanically.

As demonstrated by the first official trailer, Guitar Hero Live uses live-action footage (shot in first-person perspective) instead of rendered graphics to depict bandmates and the audience during play across a variety of venues and songs. As a song progresses, the footage dynamically changes to reflect positive or negative reactions based on the player's performance.

Game design elements central to the series have also been overhauled in an effort to make the game more accessible to newcomers and offer new challenges for veterans. A new guitar controller designed specifically for the game features two rows of three buttons, eliminating the player's need to move their hand up and down the neck. This reduces the number of lanes notes will travel (from five in prior games to three in Guitar Hero Live), but simultaneously increases the range of possible combinations by allowing for two different note types for each track.

In addition to the first-person campaign, the game will ship with a mode called "GHTV," which Activision's press release refers to as, "the world's first playable music video network." An online mode, it offers players a constantly updating collection of official music videos to play along with, organized in channels and themed programming or accessible for on-demand play.

[gallery=4029]

Perhaps the most interesting announcement of all relates to platforms. Guitar Hero Live will be available for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and Wii U, but it doesn't stop at home consoles. The full version of the game will also be playable on tablets and phones, with Activision promising further details regarding mobile platforms in the near future.

All of the changes come with one huge downside: Guitar Hero Live will not be backwards compatible with any prior Guitar Hero DLC players may have already purchased. If you were hoping to transition that massive catalog of back tracks you collected over the years, you're out of luck.

Permalink

 

[Elijin]

Great! Another music game to render the 'Show recent additions' button on the marketplaces irrelevant.

 

[Mirrorknight]

Huh. So the music rhythm genre of gaming is showing signs of a pulse, Harmonix says their working on a new Rock Band... Oh, and here comes Activision with a pillow, to make sure the job gets done this time.

 

[Sight Unseen]

This looks.... bad. Like, really really bad. It looks and feels like a massive step backwards even by Guitar Hero's already low standards.

At least we know that Rock Band will be soundly thrashing Guitar Hero again this generation... FMV videos limiting replay value, "on demand" content that seems to limit music library and selection rather than expanding it. Guitar peripheral that is not only not backwards compatible, they also broke cross compatibility with Rock Band. No DLC from previous GH's carrying over. Guitar only instead of full band experience.

Congrats, Activision, you've jumped the shark... AGAIN.

 

[Kolyarut]

Well, I thought it looked pretty nifty!

I really don't care enough about hating Activision to hunt for reasons to hate it based on a trailer. If it still looks fun on release then cool, I guess.

 

[Kinitawowi]

The full version of the game will also be playable on tablets and phones, with Activision promising further details regarding mobile platforms in the near future.

Oh, fuck you and the horse you rode in on.

I get the need to innovate with the base game, but this is revealing the game's true colours - let me guess, the controller will be Bluetooth connected so you can synch it to your tablet as well as your XBox and your friends can play along on their tablet and oh look we're developing for phones instead of consoles again. Fuck you. Just... just fuck you.

 

[Sigmund Av Volsung]

Somehow Guitar Hero looks even more like a casual game.

I didn't think it was possible, but it looks like the days of Green Hills & High Tides are long gone. The gameplay shown here looks insultingly easy and boring.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I'll reserve judgement until I see a track list...and confirmation as to whether or not I'm required to be online to play this. I really enjoy Guitar Hero but not enough to have bought DLC for any of the games so there's that. Still really miffed that Rock Band Japan never happened...oh well.

 

[Sight Unseen]

Somehow Guitar Hero looks even more like a casual game.

I didn't think it was possible, but it looks like the days of Green Hills & High Tides are long gone. The gameplay shown here looks insultingly easy and boring.

Green Grass and High Tides was on Rock Band

 

[Sigmund Av Volsung]

Somehow Guitar Hero looks even more like a casual game.

I didn't think it was possible, but it looks like the days of Green Hills & High Tides are long gone. The gameplay shown here looks insultingly easy and boring.

Green Grass and High Tides was on Rock Band

I am absolved from my internet error for saying "days of", not specifically mentioning Guitar Hero(though that had it's share of insane difficulty).

Evade: Success!

 

[Sight Unseen]

Somehow Guitar Hero looks even more like a casual game.

I didn't think it was possible, but it looks like the days of Green Hills & High Tides are long gone. The gameplay shown here looks insultingly easy and boring.

Green Grass and High Tides was on Rock Band

I am absolved from my internet error for saying "days of", not specifically mentioning Guitar Hero(though that had it's share of insane difficulty).

Evade: Success!

But you got the song name wrong too! Homing internet error is still on your trail!

 

[Sigmund Av Volsung]

Somehow Guitar Hero looks even more like a casual game.

I didn't think it was possible, but it looks like the days of Green Hills & High Tides are long gone. The gameplay shown here looks insultingly easy and boring.

Green Grass and High Tides was on Rock Band

I am absolved from my internet error for saying "days of", not specifically mentioning Guitar Hero(though that had it's share of insane difficulty).

Evade: Success!

But you got the song name wrong too! Homing internet error is still on your trail!

Shit!

Uh... uh...

>_>

<_<

Spoiler: Look! It's Bobby Kotick! Get him!

*Runs through the Fire Exit*

 

[Sight Unseen]

I'll reserve judgement until I see a track list...and confirmation as to whether or not I'm required to be online to play this. I really enjoy Guitar Hero but not enough to have bought DLC for any of the games so there's that. Still really miffed that Rock Band Japan never happened...oh well.

Confirmed Artists so far:

The Black Keys- Gold on the Ceiling
The Blitz Kids
Ed Sheeran
Fall Out Boy- My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark
Gary Clark, Jr.
Green Day
The Killers
The Lumineers
My Chemical Romance
Pierce the Veil
The Rolling Stones
Skrillex
The War on Drugs

And also, this:

The Guitar Hero TV social networking hub
The choice of music is also going to be different. No longer are you constrained to playing maybe 50 songs on a disc before you have to start downloading your favorite tracks.

The new Guitar Hero links to an online social hub, dubbed Guitar Hero TV. You can go online from directly within the game and see leaderboards for the best players. You can see who is available to challenge and you can jump into a head-to-head match with them. Whoever hits the right notes the most wins.

You can check out the music from well-known bands or indies. And the selection should be huge, because it?s all stored and accessible in the cloud infrastructure. You just pick a song and play.

?We have a playable music video network,? Jackson said. ?There?s a library in the cloud.?

You can press a button on the guitar and it throws you into a channel, like the same channel that you were previously playing. You can hit a music video and play against someone. The game matches you with someone else. But it?s like an always-on massively multiplayer online experience. Your performance record sticks with you.

?You can pick a song and play on demand,? Jackson said. ?You get a score and others can benchmark against you. You can play socially online with loads of other people and discover new music.?

And once you buy the first game, you won?t have to keep buying a new disk just to access new songs. That problem of years past was one of the things that killed the old Guitar Hero.

Source:http://venturebeat.com/2015/04/14/the-long-awaited-return-of-guitar-hero/

 

[Kinitawowi]

And once you buy the first game, you won't have to keep buying a new disk just to access new songs. That problem of years past was one of the things that killed the old Guitar Hero.

No it wasn't. The fact that they kept throwing out discs for what should have been DLC was one of the things that killed Guitar Hero. GHVH would have been fine (nay, great) as a World Tour / 5 compatible DLC pack. Shoving out DLC works. Shoving out discs doesn't.

Scarily, Guitar Hero (and Rock Band) are among the few games that are absolutely perfect for a microtransaction/DLC based model. Build a single robust central engine, maybe with an update and a new disc every two years, and make the majority of the song content DLC; completionists will buy it, non-completionists will judge on whether they want the songs or not. But they wouldn't sell quite as much; people are more inclined to buy a disc that says Guitar Hero on it than a DLC pack. That's why they glutted out on discs.

 

[Sight Unseen]

And once you buy the first game, you won't have to keep buying a new disk just to access new songs. That problem of years past was one of the things that killed the old Guitar Hero.

No it wasn't. The fact that they kept throwing out discs for what should have been DLC was one of the things that killed Guitar Hero. GHVH would have been fine (nay, great) as a World Tour / 5 compatible DLC pack. Shoving out DLC works. Shoving out discs doesn't.

Scarily, Guitar Hero (and Rock Band) are among the few games that are absolutely perfect for a microtransaction/DLC based model. Build a single robust central engine, maybe with an update and a new disc every two years, and make the majority of the song content DLC; completionists will buy it, non-completionists will judge on whether they want the songs or not. But they wouldn't sell quite as much; people are more inclined to buy a disc that says Guitar Hero on it than a DLC pack. That's why they glutted out on discs.

I agree with you completely. I much prefer the direction that rock Band 4 is taking.

 

[sexygamergirl]

lol! 5 years Late! Game Designer Daniel Dilallo talked about this when he was speaking at my college they should of did it then I just don't see myself getting back into it.

 

[Mr.Mattress]

Confirmed Artists so far:

The Black Keys- Gold on the Ceiling
The Blitz Kids
Ed Sheeran
Fall Out Boy- My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark
Gary Clark, Jr.
Green Day
The Killers
The Lumineers
My Chemical Romance
Pierce the Veil
The Rolling Stones
Skrillex
The War on Drugs

And the Bolded Killed my Interest in the game. Why put Skrillex in a Guitar-based game? Does he even have any straight-forward rock songs? Or any songs that use Guitar extensively?

Still, the concept is interesting. It's just a shame that it looks like Activision is going more for what's "popular" instead of what's "good" (And the "'s are there because I know "good" is subjective when it comes to Music).

 

[Mave]

Well they managed to fuck up guitar hero, looks like shit, let me guess? it's going to be avaible for sega cd, neo geo cd and Jaguar? ugh -.-

Part of the charm of the series was the cartoonish looks, the avatar you could make and how to customize it, God I really hate this idea.

 

[FPLOON]

Wii U, you say? *chuckles* You almost had me there... Now, work on DJ Hero Live... with more impromptu/improvable record scratches... and then, we'll talk about your inclusion of Skrillex in this Guitar Hero Live of yours...

Other than that, I don't know if I should feel sorry for Wii U owners or glad that they, too, can indulge in the plastic guitar peripheral as well...

 

[Estranged180]

There is something else they're going to have to address. The peripherals themselves. The cheap plastic 'guitars' of the past usually had a microswitch break down, whether it was because it was cheaply made, or overuse (which can happen with microswitches, especially when they're as hammered as they have been in the past peripherals).

Address that, and I'll reserve judgement for a later date. Who knows, it might just be what games are supposed to be... you know, fun.