As a barely 23-year-old, my deepest connection to most classic Rock songs is through a PlayStation game. My favorite PlayStation game. You may have heard of it — it’s called Guitar Hero. So when Activision said they were calling it quits on Guitar Hero, I found myself humming: “lay your weary head to rest, don’t you cry no more.” Ok, maybe I exaggerate. But it was a sad, sad day — not just for me but for fake guitar players everywhere. Since then I can’t bring myself to play, a little tinge of sadness poking at me every time I pass the now-dusty collection.

But it’s been a little less than a year, and Activision has told Forbes that the whole “Guitar Hero is over” thing was a bit of a fib. In fact, the company was actually just trying to go undercover for a while to bring back a new and improved Guitar Hero — one ready to take on the likes of Rock Band and other more instrumental games.

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick told Forbes: “We said, you know what… we’re going to the take the products out of the market, and we’re not going to tell anybody what we’re doing for awhile, but we’re going to stop selling Guitar Hero altogether. And then we’re going to use new studios and reinvent Guitar Hero. And so that’s what we’re doing with it now.”

Why play with our heart strings like that, Activision? Actually, I guess it worked. Around the time that Guitar Hero: Aerosmith hit the market, my interest had already peaked and started to dwindle. Now, I’m more excited than ever to see the refreshed and replenished Guitar Hero.

Only question now is when we’ll get to start shredding again.

[via Reg Hardware]

Activision now says that Guitar Hero hasn’t been outright cancelled, but merely placed on hiatus. The publisher had said in February that it was going to disband the Guitar Hero business unit, and that the 2011 edition of the game had been cancelled. What gives?

Activision tells GamesIndustry.biz that rather than canceling the series outright, it’s simply changing the way the franchise works. It will no longer be a yearly release à la Madden, but that Activision will still support the brand. Maybe a release every two years? Maybe a different way to support the franchise, with special DLC and the like?

Somewhat related, Ubisoft recently said that the world needed new game consoles in order to facilitate innovation and whatnot, to tap into the newly developed technologies and techniques that have popped up since the Xbox 360 was designed.

I suppose Ubisoft is unfamiliar with something called a PC? Seems to me there has been plenty of technological development there, and I don’t see Ubisoft treating the PC with anything but contempt.

Kudos to Activision for doing exactly what so many people had been predicting for years now. The world’s biggest video game publisher said yesterday that it was going to “disband Activision Publishing’s Guitar Hero business unit,” citing a decline in interest in the music game genre. And what could possibly be the reason for that, hmm? Maybe releasing sequel after sequels after sequel in such a quick succession that you don’t give gamers any room to breathe? Gotta maximize short-term profits! The future? That’s someone else’s problem.

The last game in the series, Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, was the sixth “main” game in the series, having been released last September. It only met with so-so reviews, currently hovering around 72 (out of 100) with the critics; users were still less kind.

Perhaps this is why people lost all interest in the franchise:

Guitar Hero: November 2005

Guitar Hero II: November 2006

Guitar Hero Encore Rock The 80s: July 2007

Guitar Hero III Legends of Rock: October 2007

Guitar Hero Aerosmith: June 2008

Guitar Hero World Tour: October 2008

Guitar Hero Metallica: March 2009

Guitar Hero Smash Hits: June 2009

Guitar Hero 5: September 2009

Band Hero: November 2009

Guitar Hero Van Halen: December 2009

Guitar Hero Warriors of Rock: September 2010

All the while, from late 2007 on, competing with all those Rock Band games. Games, which, incidentally, were better received critically. Let’s not forget the DJ Hero franchise, either.

My question is, how long will people keep supporting the Call of Duty franchise? When will folks realize that they’re paying $60, year in, year out, for what amounts to Quake III mods? And buggy ones at that.

Whatever the case, there won’t be a Guitar Hero 8, or Guitar Hero: Nickelback, or whatever was coming next. Activision is shutting down the franchise, perhaps just in time, perhaps a little too late, but at least before they really ran it into the ground with Barbie Guitar Adventures or some such. The music genre will probably see a revamp in a few years, but it needs to rest for a while.

The aging True Crime series is also getting a pink slip. I don’t have anything against it, but it was never particularly compelling in the way Heavy Rain or the more open-ended games like GTA are. Off it goes to the great retailer in the sky. No hard feelings, little guy.

What’s next? Could your favorite franchise be in line for the guillotine? Studies relate franchise cancellations to murder sprees and weight gain! How will this affect your children? Fox News reports.

Rock Band 3 is going to teach you something actually useful: playing-for-real.

Harmonix is giving gamers a 25-key midi keyboard to use with the new Rock Band 3. It takes gaming to a new level. You can learn real songs, and play quite well, right from you TV. If this works it could modernize the way people learn piano. Project director Daniel Sussman said they wanted to recapture the fun “that really started this whole phenomenon in the first place.” I’m not much of a gamer, but I am keen on learning the keyboard, so this is perfect for me. Now the question is..was this the original goal of the original Guitar Hero?
http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9/30317506001?isVid=1

83 new songs are to be released with the new version. Also due for the release are two new guitars that will be “advanced.” You better get practicing if you plan to beat the neighborhood family of super-Rock-Band-players.

[via Gizmodo]

I’m not really sure it’s the best way to go. I mean, the keytar didn’t really work out so well for… anybody. Or itself. It was an oddity in its own time, and is a subject of near-universal mockery. Be aware that the instrument in the following is not a keytar:

This is a keytar:

See where I’m coming from here?

[image from Synthtopia]

Seems like a fairly rudimentary project, all you need is a Torx screwdriver, a small Phillips head screwdriver, a hacksaw, some glue, and some mending plates. You then take apart the donor guitar and perform the necessary surgery to make the neck smaller based on your particular needs. Of course it’s a bit more complicated then that, but feel free to read over the full instructions posted by the author.

The original complaint about music games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band is that they convinced kids that playing the guitar was actually easy. A few taps, a few strums and you sounded like Jack White or OzzySteve Vai, right? Well Powergig wants to change that perception by offering a real six-string guitar that you can really play and, with the flip of a switch, you can dampen the strings and strum along to your favorite tunes on the XBox 360 or PS3.

The company, Seven45, is also making a guitar game with its own downloadable content that will be something like Brutal Legend, and the guitars are made by their parent company, First Act makers of “entry level” AKA toy guitars and instruments. Nice synergy, eh?

Anyway, more on this from GDC when we have it but until then, feel free to thank me for sticking Summer of ’69 in your head.

via CNET

The NPD Group is reporting that the sale of music games like DJ Hero, Band Hero, Oboe Hero, and Violin Concerto Band are falling with a bullet, leading analysts to expect the category to crash this year.

The report finds that the Rock Band: The Beatles sold 800,000 units, missing its 1 million forecast and that Guitar Hero 5 sold 500,000 units in its first month of sales, down from 1.4 million for GH3.

Analysts blame “too much music in too short a time,” saying that the games just filled up the player’s heart with so much value that they could handle it. However, I suspect that the average gamer has room only for one or two freaking drum set ups in their living rooms and those with enough floor space have already filled it up with bongs and electric ATVs this winter, leaving little space for George Harrison’s RB:B flute attachment.

These games are great for parties but at some point you tell your host, no, you don’t want to play them anymore. Maybe you play New Super Mario Brothers or maybe you just drink beers and wrestle instead. However, the comet that was the “band game” is passed, friends. It’s sad but true.

Famous rock band No Doubt has sued Activision over the use of its avatars in the game Guitar Hero 5. No Doubt says that the deal it signed with Activision only permitted the avatars to be used when playing No Doubt songs. The problem is that Activision has it set up that you can play any song in the game with the No Doubt avatars. That I’m even writing about this is rather depressing.

As easy as it is to ride No Doubt for being a bunch of nerds, the fact is if the contract the band signed with Activision specified that the avatars could only play No Doubt songs, well, then Activision is in the wrong here.

The band said in a statement:

No Doubt agreed to place avatars containing their name and likeness performing three No Doubt songs in the upcoming Band Hero game of the Guitar Hero series from Activision.

Without the band’s knowledge or approval Activision turned the group into virtual karaoke players by having them perform over 60 additional songs by other musical groups.

Meanwhile, Activision said:

Some of the world’s most popular and iconic artists have been featured in Guitar Hero as playable characters, and we are proud to count No Doubt among them. Activision has a written agreement to use No Doubt in Band Hero — an agreement signed by No Doubt after extensive negotiations with its representatives, who collectively have decades of experience in the entertainment industry. Pursuant to that agreement, Activision worked with No Doubt and the band’s management in developing Band Hero. As a result, Activision believes it is within its legal rights with respect to the use and portrayal of the band members in the game and that this lawsuit is without merit. Activision is exploring its own legal options with respect to No Doubt’s obligations under the agreement.

And there you have it. What a way to start the day~!

In the interest of bringing Ron and Fez‘s fantastic radio show topics to a more tech-minded audience, I propose the following: games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band, while fun and, generally speaking, “good,” will not save rock music. Rock and roll, for all intents and purposes, is dead. Bear with me for a minute, I’ll make this relevant to CrunchGear.

So the topic on today’s show was: U2—you may have heard of them—recently released a new album, but it didn’t sell too well. This created the discussion: is rock dead? Someone brought up the idea that kids today just aren’t buying music anymore, that they’re playing video games instead; you have but so many entertainment dollars to spend, right? But even if kids (and by kids I mean the 30 and under crowd, a completely arbitrary cutoff point) are going out and buying these games left and right, does that mean they’re experiencing music in a new way, as proponents of the idea that Guitar Hero will save the music business would have you believe, or are they just killing time?

To paraphrase Ron Bennington, if the only thing these kids are doing is playing Simon with Pearl Jam in the background, Pearl Jam might as well be the Pac-Man theme song. The kids aren’t paying attention to the music, aren’t getting “into it,” per se, but are merely following along with whatever random melody is playing in the background.

(Incidentally, a caller tried to blame the decline of rock music on Pearl Jam’s anti-everything antics back in the 1990s and 2000s, driving kids into hip hop’s flashy embrace. Kids want to look up to Rock Stars, and the lifestyle they live, and not necessarily people who, while armed with guitars, are generally against the whole rock “scene.” That’s partially why rapping about money, women, and cars caught fire in the 1990s: it filled a void that rock had left behind. I sure as hell would rather listen to Jay-Z than, say, The Strokes, who, if I recall correctly, were once promoted as the saviors of rock and roll.)

The future?

What new (and I do mean brand new, and not merely new to you) rock music have you heard in one of these games that made you think, “Hey, this band is pretty good. I’m gonna buy their album from iTunes and buy a t-shirt from their Web site.”? You may well be able to play along just fine with a Weezer or Peter Frampton song, and you’ll have a good time doing so, but in doing so you’re not exactly discovering Bruce Springsteen back when he was just a local Jersey act. You’re not discovering new music, but rather pressing a fisher price fret along with the melody to a classic rock song. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but that’s not going to save rock music, now is it?

And by save I just mean to make it popular again. I’d love to see a sales comparison between rock music and hip hop over the past 10 years. I bet it’s pretty one-sided.

Now these games are great for bands like The Beatles that are trying to introduce their catalog to millions of new eyeballs, but you’re not necessarily creating any new talent. It’s sorta like WWE in that sense: I stopped watching regularly back in high school (2004ish), but I turn on Raw or Smackdown today and the very same guys are who were main-eventing then (Triple H, Undertaker, John Cena, etc) are main-eventing now; no new stars have been created in the past five years. That’s not good!

So yeah, sorta rambling, but you get my point: Rock Band & Co. may be great for the record labels looking to make a extra few dollars on licensing deals, and may be great for old bands looking to introduce new fans to their music, but you’re crazy if you think these games will make rock music the music of this generation’s young people; hip has already won that battle. No new rock talent is being cultivated with these games, and the relationship between the actual music and the player isn’t genuine: you’re playing a video game with your friends as part of an event or fun social gathering, and aren’t carefully digesting the melodies and lyrics of “Gouge Away” for the sake of the music itself.

That is all.

Flickr and Flickr

Many may look at Guitar Hero 5 the same way people look at popular sports games like EA’s Madden series: the core game hasn’t changed that much at all but there are some new features here and there, plus 85 new songs to play and a slightly redesigned guitar controller.

Diehard fans of the series will likely go out and buy Guitar Hero 5 without much convincing, while people who are slowly (or quickly) growing weary of the near-endless crop of music games aren’t likely to find much here to change their minds. So let’s focus on those of us (myself included) in the middle – people who like music games enough to keep playing them but need some good reasons to keep shelling out $60 to $100 every other month (or so it seems).

New Features

If you’ve played any of the Guitar Hero games in the past, you’ll feel right at home with Guitar Hero 5 as the basic controls, modes, and features are largely unchanged from past iterations.

As for new stuff, though, the most welcome feature in my mind is that you can play any of the game’s 85 songs without jumping through all the Career Mode hoops first. That’s great because at this point, I’m not interested in career modes for music games any more. I’m 30 years old. Just give me the damn songs so I can RAWK OUT!

What’s more, you can now FINALLY import certain songs from Guitar Hero World Tour and Guitar Hero Smash Hits – at ten cents per song, mind you, due to licensing restrictions — and all the downloadable songs you purchased for those games are playable as well. Not all the songs are available, though, depending upon how the track is licensed. Guitar Hero World Tour has about 35 songs that can be transferred, while Guitar Hero Smash Hits has around 20 or so.

So taking the 85 songs from Guitar Hero 5 and assuming you’ll spend $5 to $6 to transfer the other songs over, you’re left with plenty to play with.

The game now also allows you and your friends to play the same instruments, if you so desire. If you’re all hell bent on singing, pick up four mics and sing away. Four drummers, no problem. Four bassists? Lame, but absolutely allowed. You can also join other players mid-song and change difficulty levels on the fly in the “Party Play” mode.

Finally, there are some new competitive game modes: Momentum, Perfectionist, Elimination, Do-or-Die, Streakers, and Pro Face Off. They can be online or in person.

The guitar controller is has technically been “redesigned,” although I didn’t find much about it different than the guitar that came with Guitar Hero World Tour. The buttons are pretty much the same, while the slider bar section has been tweaked a little bit.

Track List

I’m always hesitant to rate actual songs as it’s a totally subjective experience, but I can tell you that the track list in Guitar Hero 5 is all over the map. There’s definitely something for everyone here, but whether there’s enough of the same types of something that you actually like will be up to you. I personally don’t care for most of the songs this time around but if you’re looking to play along with friends, everybody will likely have their tastes accounted for.

The songs are all master tracks, which is nice, and the ability to import from the previous two Guitar Hero games along with the playability of previous downloaded songs is definitely a plus.

Famous Musicians

Yes, there are famous musicians this time around. Kurt Cobain has been resurrected, much to the chagrin of his late wife and loyal fans. Carlos Santana is in the game as well, along with Johnny Cash and a few other familiar faces. You can now import your own Xbox Live avatar into the game, too, so who cares about all these other famous yayhoos? You’re famous!

Presentation and Gameplay

The actual gameplay itself is pretty similar to past efforts, which is a good thing – it just works. Graphics and animation haven’t been overhauled by any means, either. If you were playing the game and someone walked into the room, they probably wouldn’t be able to tell if you were playing Guitar Hero III, World Tour, Smash Hits, or Guitar Hero 5. Activision seems to have found a tried and true formula. So again, not a whole lot of groundbreaking differences as far as the look and feel of the game is concerned, but if it ain’t broke yada, yada, yada.

Overall

You like Guitar Hero? Buy this one, especially if you like the track list. If you don’t like the track list, you can stick with World Tour or Smash Hits and not miss out all that much. If you’ve got three friends (lucky!) then the appeal is even greater as the revamped party mode and new competitive modes make the purchase more worthwhile. All in all, though, not much has changed. That’s not meant to be a criticism – it’s just that each successive release seems to be more and more about the actual music. And it’s all about the music, right?

Guitar Hero 5 [GuitarHero.com]

If you really think about it, it makes sense that future installments of Guitar Hero and other games like that could basically come packaged like those Jakks Pacific plug-and-play TV games. It’d eliminate the need for a console altogether. Activision CEO Bobby Kotick realizes this, and says that his company is considering the possibilities.

Kotick said the following at a recent technology conference:

“I think what the untethered Guitar Hero does is it maybe equals the playing field a little bit more and gives you leverage with first parties on downloadable content and the business model… [Y]ou should expect to see many of our products to be playable on the television independent of a console.”

Kotick also noted, however, that there’s plenty left to do with actual consoles, “saying they still provide enhanced online experiences and better production value,” according to IGN.

But you can imagine, for instance, an early Guitar Hero game stripped down a bit and loaded onto memory inside the actual guitar, a guitar which would have a simple AV output cord to your TV. Something like that isn’t probably too far off.

Expect Console-less Guitar Hero from Activision [IGN]

Ahhh, just what the doctor ordered: Logitech just released a wireless guitar controller that looks like a kinda-sorta Superstrat played by Adrian Smith of Iron Maiden along with a collapsable drum kit for the Wii and the XBox360.

Not much really to say about these peripherals except that they’re coming on the heels of Beatles Rock Band. I can’t get any pricing but if you need a drum kit for the Wii or XBox 360 and/or want to play a sexy black and white git-fiddle on the Wii, these are your men.

Here’s a list of what’s available:
“Prodigal Son (Live)”
“You Gotta Move (Live)”
“I’m Free (Live)”
“Under My Thumb (Live)”
“(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction (Live)“

So no stand alone addition. We can keep the hope alive though. I mean, if Aerosmith can get their own game, surely…

Most of the posts are about downloadable content right now but this looks like a labor of love, thereby making it worth more than 50 pro gaming blogs put together. Good luck, Joe.

Get right the hell outta town with this one. The kid in the above video plays Ozzy Osbourne’s Mr. Crowly on Expert mode in Guitar Hero, using his right elbow to work the strum bar while his right hand solves not one, but two Rubik’s Cubes. And if that wasn’t difficult enough, he plays with his back facing the game, using a mirror for some reason.

Chalk this one up to a skill that adds little, if anything, to our society as a whole, yet is one of the more awesome things you’ll ever see (and will never be able to do) yourself.

Un… beee… lievable.

[via Kotaku]

This is the OpenChord V1 guitar. It’s a guitar, obviously, but one that works with Guitar Hero and Rock Band.

Right now, the guys behind the guitar only have it up and running with the Nintendo Wii version. That said, Xbox 360 and PS3 versions are in the works.

This video demonstrates what’s going on here:

You can buy the guitar right now for $190. Or, if you’re handy with a toolbox, you can download the source code and create it yourself.

Also, keep in mind that, yeah, playing random notes on the guitar may sound annoying, no one’s forcing you to plug it into an amp. No plugsies, no soundies.

via Joystiq

No, I’m not posting this for the fun of it, but I can’t tell you why I’m doing it either. Just watch the video and I’m sure you can figure it out. Sound off in comments if you think you know.

Logitech has announced a premium Guitar Hero drumset for the PS2 and PS3, priced at $229 and available soon. The kit features a stainless steel bass pedal and the drumheads and cymbals can be repositioned “to fit your reach and suit your style, helping you play faster and better.”

Without having actually seen the set, it looks like it’s maybe a step or two up from the set that’s included with GH World Tour but perhaps not as nice as, say, the ION kit that’s available for Rock Band. That one goes for $300, though.

Of course, this all begs the question: why no Xbox 360 or Wii versions as well?

Full press release:

Feel the Beat: Logitech Unveils Premium Drum Controller for Guitar Hero

Logitech Wireless Drum Controller Licensed for the PLAYSTATION 3 Computer Entertainment System

FREMONT, Calif. – July 15, 2009 – So you can really rock out to Guitar Hero® on the PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3) computer entertainment system, Logitech (SIX: LOGN) (NASDAQ: LOGI) today introduced the Logitech® Wireless Drum Controller for the PLAYSTATION 3 system. Licensed by Activision Publishing, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI), for the award-winning Guitar Hero franchise, the Wireless Drum Controller features premium drum heads with recessed rims – making it easy for you to play like a rock star.
“When you’re ready to experience a new premium drum controller or expand your band, you’ll want to rip on Logitech’s new drum controller,” said Ruben Mookerjee, Logitech’s director of product marketing for gaming. “With the Wireless Drum Controller, you can mark time, keep the backbeat, color up your riffs and crash down on the cymbal pads. Joining the Logitech® Wireless Guitar Controller, the new Wireless Drum Controller lets you rock out to your favorite songs on the PS3 system.”

The Logitech Wireless Drum Controller features three fully adjustable drum heads and two cymbal pads. Each piece can be positioned to fit your reach and suit your style. Offering a unique playing experience, the new Logitech Wireless Drum Controller provides quiet, responsive heads that deliver a lively feel, won’t distract you from the music, and are designed to let you take advantage of all the latest features of Guitar Hero games.
But Logitech did not just replicate typical drum heads. The recessed rims help make it easier to score points and avoid accidental rim shots. The kick pedal uses a stainless steel surface and an adjustable spring – providing a highly durable, responsive drumming experience.

Delivering up to 50 hours of battery life on two AA batteries, the Wireless Drum Controller gives you enough juice to perform a concert’s worth of hits, encores included.

Compatible with the PS3 system as well as the PlayStation®2 system, the Wireless Drum Controller uses a 2.4 GHz wireless USB receiver, so the connection is as steady as a drum beat. When you’re ready to play, the Logitech Wireless Drum Controller sets up quickly and folds flat in seconds. You can start playing within minutes of opening the box and when the show is over, the set can be easily stowed away. (Roadies are not required.)

Pricing and Availability

The Logitech Wireless Drum Controller for the PS3 system is expected to be available in the U.S. beginning in July and Europe beginning in August for a suggested retail price of $229.99 (U.S.).

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