Guitar Hero 4 "Not Just About Guitars"

[Noyb]

Oh, jeez. I smell multiple scandals in the making with this game.

First, Neversoft decided to "innovate" by adding in drums and vocals to Guitar Hero 4. However...

A picture of the wireless Guitar Hero IV drum kit, located within the pages Game Informer magazine's June issue, reveals it to have three drum pads, two cymbal pads and a foot pedal. That gives the kit a higher number of inputs and a different physical arrangement than the Rock Band drum set, which has four drum pads and a foot pedal.

So they added a drum pad and changed around the configuration to ensure that the existing Rock Band drumsets are incompatible. What. the. hell. Unlike the earlier guitar parts of Guitar Hero, Activision is the latecomer in drumming (comparing just the two brands, and not any earlier Bemani games which don't play into compatibility). Are they completely clouded by dreams of hefty markups on plastic instruments?

I don't see GH4 offering that different an experience from Rock Band to justify buying a completely different set of peripherals *again*, especially since GH3 was an exercise in tedious masochism with repetitive songs, arbitrarily difficult notecharts, and unbalanced battle modes. Granted, they are trying something different with promises of song creation and sharing, but I really don't see that turning out well.

Activision has to keep on the good side of the record companies to have them continue to give them rights to songs. When given any arbitrary filesharing system, users will inevitably gravitate towards submitting content they don't have the rights to (see: the internet). Activision doesn't want to get in trouble hosting and distributing rightless media files belonging to the big record companies, so that gives them two options. One: keep it peer-to-peer, making it difficult to actually find any good songs without going through the rigamarole of begging for a limited slot in someone's xbox live's friends list. Two: Keep it server-side, but completely regulated, which means Activision would keep employees to review all submitted songs for copyright infringement, slowing down the whole process, not to mention that this isn't taking quality of a notechart into account either.

[Tommy Gun]

When given any arbitrary filesharing system, users will inevitably gravitate towards submitting content they don't have the rights to (see: the internet).

Well the theory is that you won't be able to upload mp3s or anything like that -- you'll need to create note charts by actually (physically) playing the songs through a MIDI interface, and then the software will make sure it's all in time and stuff. But of course people will figure out how to get "real" songs on there somehow.

Also: I don't want to buy more drums.

[miffy495]

The other restriction is that created songs won't have vocals. Really, I still think I'm done with the GH series, but I won't completely rule it out. It'll take more than ripping Harmonix off again to impress me though...

[ThunderPeel2001]

Fuck GH4

[vimes]

You know a brand is being milked when the name is kept despite the fact that it has little to do with the final game : Guitar Hero IV, now with drums, are you kidding me ?

[werd123]

They'll think of a tagline like they did with "Legends of Rock", like...like...Band Legends.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Or "Guitar Hero IV: Rock Band Legends"

[Tommy Gun]

I just got the new GI so I read the whole article. I noticed that the drum lanes are in a weird order -- the left cymbal is #2, but the right cymbal is #5. So it's (P = pad):

PCPPC even though the actual drum setup is:

PCPCP.

I guess they did that because Rock Band has the hi-hat as #2, so they just threw the new cymbal on the very outside? That's going to make rolling around the pads kind of weird to read (although Drummania has the bass pedal in the center lane, so it's also broken up).

The song sharing certainly is interesting, and if that means there's going to be a whole bunch of FREE songs to download (even with no vocals), then it could be worth it eventually. I also wonder if they're going to be competitive with their DLC pricing.

The other cool thing is the way they're doing the solo career mode: you can switch difficulties between songs, and even switch instruments. You can skip songs if you don't feel like playing them, even if they're on the setlist. Definitely improvements over RB.

Still, fuck you Neversoft/Activision (unless the RB drums work somehow, which they won't).

[Giebelhouse]

You know that fella on YouTube who converted a Guitar Hero controller into a synthesizer? Neversoft hired him to program the create-a-song mode. And, duly, it kicks ass as a result.

[DanJW]

Smells like viral marketing!

How would you know which body part was kicked yet unless you were inside the company? Not that you do, obviously.

[Nachimir]

Maybe it's surfer girl

[ThunderPeel2001]

You know that fella on YouTube who converted a Guitar Hero controller into a synthesizer? Neversoft hired him to program the create-a-song mode. And, duly, it kicks ass as a result.

WOW! Neversoft must be great!!! GH4 is going to be amazing!!! You've completely changed my mind!!! (Do you get a bonus now?)

[Giebelhouse]

Unfortunately, I'm one rung below a sneaky viral marketing scumbag; I'm a games journalist.

So no nefarious conspiracy here. Sorry.

[DanJW]

Viral marketing isn't really much of a conspiracy. We've seen plenty of them. Hell, some of us have even worked in the same building as them, and laughed at them when their poorly devised plans backfired.

So Guitar Hero Four is already being demo'd to the press huh?

[Giebelhouse]

Not directly, but via videos from Neversoft.

[ThunderPeel2001]

So you just decided to join our forum in order to put in a good word about some software that you've never actually used. I'm sure you're right: In a promotional video presented by the people who are selling the software, it probably does look like it kicks ass.

Why don't you ask for a few more videos from Neversoft and write a world exclusive review now?

Better yet, next time you're talking to their PR guy, do some real journalism and ask why they stopped Rock Band controllers from working with Guitar Hero.

[Nappi]

In all fairness he has commented on other topics as well, in case you didn't notice.

I don't mean to be rude, but I'm not sure if your first comment on the subject was any better than his. And mine is just awful.

Also, I had no idea about that Youtube synthesizer guy thing before he mentioned it.

[ThunderPeel2001]

I know I'm being a bit of a dick, but please: He's a journo who's seen promo videos from Neversoft (at least he admitted his sources) and is going around telling people how "duly, it kicks ass". I can't think of another company that needs a PR boost more after the outright lies they told regarding the Rock Band compatibility issue. For a game genre so cliquey, they need genuine low-level support. Call me old and cranky, but even if he's an honest dude, he should show a little more responsibility in his position.

Sure it LOOKS like it kicks ass, but don't go around hinting that you're "in the know" when all you've seen is a video, for christsakes.

Also, to be fair, he's commented on three other topics - one of which was the "Introduce Yourself" thread. Out of 7 posts, that seems pretty focussed on GH4 to me.

[Nachimir]

My, what a horsey carcass (scroll down).

[ThunderPeel2001]

Oh my God. It has Heart-Shaped Box on it! HEART-SHAPED BOX!!!

This must have been what Courtney Love meant when she licensed the Nirvana back-catalogue: "We are going to remain very tasteful and true to the spirit of Nirvana while taking the music to places it has never been before."

Gawd bless her soulless, money grabbing ways!

[Noyb]

Wow, I thought that was a joke.

"Really works!" -

"[annoyed sigh]" -

[Tommy Gun]

I saw those at GameStop the other day. I loved the "10 jaw dropping track SEGMENTS!" label.

[toblix]

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/usermovies/222607.html

I was going to stop watching right away, but then I didn't.

[Nappi]

Indeed. That was so disturbing that I forgot to post it the first time I saw it although I was supposed to.

[Nachimir]

I couldn't take any more at "Green red yellow blue what will yooou dooo?"