Guitar Hero World Tour Details

[Dr.Finger]

Eurogamer (http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=141762) got some face time with Neversoft about this fall's Guitar Hero World Tour (f.k.a. Guitar Hero 4). Some of the stuff we already knew (http://evilavatar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=51011), but there are some tantalizing nuggets here to ponder.

First up are the new instruments - a microphone with which to wail away, a drum kit with three drum pads, two cymbal pads and a bass pedal (Neversoft claims the drums will be quieter and "velocity sensitive"). The guitars will be getting a redesign, but we don't have any details on that other than a promise it will be "more responsive."

Gameplay will include create a band functions allowing you to design band logos and album art, and full 4 on 4 battle of the bands contests.

Most intriguing is the previously announced Music Studio, which will give you all the tools to create your own songs (sans vocals), perform it in the game, and share it online with friends.

Yeah, they're taking a lot of pages from Rock Band's book, but is that really a bad thing? And no, they haven't said anything about pricing yet.

UPDATE - Joystiq has a screenshot (http://www.joystiq.com/2008/05/21/guitar-hero-world-tours-new-axe-spotted-in-trailer/) of a guitar from the Guitar Hero World Tour teaser trailer, and it looks like Activision is forgoing licensing a real life axe this time around.

[MelbaToast]

I wish they'd stick with just the guitar. There are so many songs that have incredible guitar parts that will never make it into the Rock Band style of games.

Let the GH series be the venue for incredible, face melting guitar parts with insane difficulty.

[Darkbase]

Couldn't even use an original title? What about "Guitar Hero International" or more aptly named "Guitar Hero & Friends".

[Dr.Finger]

It's not like the names 'Rock Band' and 'World Tour Mode' were all that original in the first place...

[Skytram]

Looks full of win to me.

[stmfuller]

my wife is going to murder me.
We just bought rock band over the weekend
fuck.

[Darkbase]

It's not like the names 'Rock Band' and 'World Tour Mode' were all that original in the first place...

Good point, but it just pushes the "HAY GUIZ WE IZ COOL WITH OUR DRUMS N MIC, WE'RE JUS LIEK ROCK BAND" voice in my head I have set to GH4.

[Purple Santa]

Talk about imitation being a high form of flattery...

[The Continental]

UPDATE - Joystiq has a screenshot (http://www.joystiq.com/2008/05/21/guitar-hero-world-tours-new-axe-spotted-in-trailer/) of a guitar from the Guitar Hero World Tour teaser trailer, and it looks like Activision is forgoing licensing a real life axe this time around.
Considering their ongoing litigation with Gibson and the fact that Fender licensed their name to Rock Band, I assumed this would be the case.

[mkelehan]

I really hope the drums are wired. It would just be an extra pair of batteries to charge otherwise. The 4 on 4 mode sounds excellent, though... I hope we can do that with Rock Band through a title update or sequel.

And man, Rock Revolution is going to get murdered. I'm so sorry, Konami... you should've tried harder and earlier.

[CES]

The guitar actually looks like a tamed B.C. Rich design. Why cant the GH folk hook up with them? Everybody needs pointy guitars.

[DylonCorp]

Here's hoping the Wii version is less gimped than GHIII or RB. I've already given up on Rock Band for my console of choice.

[Dr.Finger]

I really hope the drums are wired. It would just be an extra pair of batteries to charge otherwise. The 4 on 4 mode sounds excellent, though... I hope we can do that with Rock Band through a title update or sequel.

And man, Rock Revolution is going to get murdered. I'm so sorry, Konami... you should've tried harder and earlier.In another article I saw on this they said that all of the instruments would be wireless, so don't get your hopes up.

[H1PO]

Can anyone see what the big change to the guitar is they have been mentioning? I couldn't see much at all.

[ascl]

I wish they'd stick with just the guitar. There are so many songs that have incredible guitar parts that will never make it into the Rock Band style of games.

Let the GH series be the venue for incredible, face melting guitar parts with insane difficulty.

+1.

I really wish they wouldn't do this. I like Guitar Hero for... wait for it, this is shocking....... the guitar!

[stmfuller]

Can anyone see what the big change to the guitar is they have been mentioning? I couldn't see much at all.

as long as my GH guitars work with GH4, I will buy the game.
I won't worry about the drum set

[Phanto]

Well thats how business works, you just copy all the "highlights"/good things of the other company, change a few things and then start selling and competing against them. Ask Microsoft they are expert doing that since the beginning.

[Xzyliac Noise]

Really they can only fail if they don't respect the competitors hardware. Which, of course, they won't and that makes me about 60% less excited. Sad because GH almost had me again.

And really all I'm worried about is drums. I have four guitars and two mics as it is. I probably will buy it and if my drums aren't compatible I'll just buy the GH kit later. Still no drums for what may be Hot for Teacher is a major bummer.

[Wilkz07]

nice.

First rockband - Gameplay will include create a band functions allowing you to design band logos and album art

Then Guitar Hero World Tour - Gameplay will include create a band functions allowing you to design band logos and album art


First Rockband - includes world tour mode

then Guitar Hero World Tour - has world tour in the title... how awesomely original is that.

lol. yeah my last post about the new GH... milking a franchise that they know has been surpassed by rockband.

[Wolvie]

So if I bought this, I'd essentially be buying the same game twice. No thank you.

[Zawath]

nice.

First rockband - Gameplay will include create a band functions allowing you to design band logos and album art

Then Guitar Hero World Tour - Gameplay will include create a band functions allowing you to design band logos and album art


First Rockband - includes world tour mode

then Guitar Hero World Tour - has world tour in the title... how awesomely original is that.

lol. yeah my last post about the new GH... milking a franchise that they know has been surpassed by rockband.

Rock Band totally screwed Europe, so I think it's a good thing that they are adding drums and all that other stuff to Guitar Hero. Also GH4 has a song editor which is going to be huge.

[RainOfTerror]

In case you had not seen it yet, the trailer and a few screenshots, including one of the drumkit are on WorthPlaying

http://www.worthplaying.com/article.php?sid=52353

[Sl1pstream]

Rock Band totally screwed Europe, so I think it's a good thing that they are adding drums and all that other stuff to Guitar Hero. Also GH4 has a song editor which is going to be huge.

Not exactly.

EA screwed Europe. Rock Band is still as awesome as ever.

Now that my copy has shipped, I won't be buying another Guitar Hero. Not even one that has World Tour in the title. Was it that hard to think of a title that didn't include the main gameplay mode of your direct competition? Especially when you're already imitating them.

[Rock Bandit]

Not exactly.

EA screwed Europe. Rock Band is still as awesome as ever.

Now that my copy has shipped, I won't be buying another Guitar Hero. Not even one that has World Tour in the title. Was it that hard to think of a title that didn't include the main gameplay mode of your direct competition? Especially when you're already imitating them.

I wouldn't be surprised if they actually thought about calling it Guitar Hero: Rock Band for a while. I know it sounds retarded, that's what makes it seem so credible.

[Variable Gear]

A new preview of Guitar Hero: World Tour is up on 1UP (http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3168336). Here are some highlights.
If you've played Rock Band -- yes, Rock Band -- you'll have a good idea of what to expect. World Tour has gone multi-instrumental, with a badass set of drums and a microphone for vocals (alongside a new guitar). For better or for worse, the onscreen note-chart layout is identical to Rock Band's -- a scrolling drum track in the middle of the screen, bass and guitar on either side, and the vocal track up top.
Let's start with the drums -- because as much fun as Rock Band's drums are, and as much as they add to the experience, World Tour's setup is better. The hardware itself is a huge improvement: two adjustable silicon cymbals to hit (that have just enough floppiness in their construction to provide the "give" that makes them feel just right), three drums between them (also silicon for quieter feedback), and a foot pedal that matches up to a horizontal bar onscreen, just like -- you guessed it -- Rock Band. All of the pads are velocity-sensitive, so lightly rapping on a cymbal produces quieter splashes while whaling on it provides a satisfying crash (it's all wireless and sturdy to boot). Though Neversoft hasn't fully figured it out yet, you'll be able to execute drum fills anywhere in a song, not just in predefined areas (you currently activate them by hitting both cymbals at once).
It seems likely that any new input methods would be in service of the new studio modes, where, for the first time in either rock 'n' roll series, you'll be able to create actual songs -- from scratch! -- with your various instruments. We don't know enough about the technical side of music to understand -- never mind communicate -- all of the options we saw, but that alone should help give you an idea of the toolset's depth. Once in the virtual studio, you can lay down tunes in a four-track, choosing and customizing your scales and assigning different sound sets to both the drums and guitar (from the pedestrian crunchy or clean guitar to crazy 8-bit bleeps and potentially disturbing Speak and Spell sets).
Though it may not sound exciting, World Tour's career structure has quite a few changes, and it improves on several of Rock Band's niggling faults. Firstly, you can switch difficulties midcareer if things get too tough for you. Secondly, you can change instruments at any time between songs, so if something is too tough on bass, you can hop over to drums and give it a shot. Also, you now share Star Power in a pool anyone can use, though it's better to activate it together.

[Variable Gear]

Here's another Guitar Hero World Tour Preview from IGN (http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/882/882888p1.html). Here, again, are the highlights:

http://xbox360media.ign.com/xbox360/image/article/882/882888/guitar-hero-world-tour-20080620101933592-000.jpg
The biggest addition to the new guitar is the touch pad located on the neck. While playing a song, this touch sensitive strip allows you to alter notes during sustains by sliding up and down the strip (giving more freedom and options than what you had before with just a whammy bar). It can also be used for tapping to play notes, particularly awesome if you want to mimic a slap bass. The real power of the touch pad comes in the music creator. We'll get to that soon.
Then, if you like, you can take these decals and use them to customize your equipment in the new instrument creator. That's right; you can now make your own custom guitar, bass, microphone and drum kit to use on stage.
Of these we saw "Rebel Yell," "Santeria," and "Everlong" played by the Neversoft team. The standard vertical scrolling notes for instruments and horizontal bar for words delivers the same base gameplay that's been such a big success, though we did notice a couple tweaks. The bass has an added sixth note that is played by not pushing a button for an open strum. Also, cash is awarded at the end of each song, divvied up amongst the band members based on their individual performances.
When I say the tools in World Tour for creating your own music are impressive, you'd do well to believe it. I was only given a brief demo of what this game packs and came away with a longing to try it myself and see what I could pump out. You don't just create songs by laying out a note track. You can simply play and the game will do the rest for you. Or you can get technical and go deep into the editor. The only downside is that you can't record a vocal track. Legal quashed that one and, when you think about what ugly doors vocal recordings could open, it makes sense.
Once you're done creating your song, you can publish it to GH Tunes. When you do you'll be asked to pick which tracks should be played by each instrument, assign your own cover art (which can be custom created using the decal editor), select a genre, and a few other key bits of data to mark the track properly as yours. From there, anybody is free to download it and play it. As soon as they finish their first try at it they'll be asked to rate your masterpiece. That data is then sent back up to the server so that Activision can track which songs are the hottest with rankings for highest rated, fastest chart movers, most played and more.
You'll be able to save up to 100 songs of your own creation locally, upload five at a time (you're free to swap your favorites in and out of GH Tunes), and download up to 200 tracks others have created. Activision was quick to point out that the Wii version will have the same features as the PS3 and 360. You can create songs, upload them, download them, and purchase famous downloadable tracks on Wii.

[Sl1pstream]

Can anyone see what the big change to the guitar is they have been mentioning? I couldn't see much at all.

There's a brownish strip next to the fret buttons. It's supposed to be a touchpad.

EDIT: Boo Variable Gear! :p

[Variable Gear]

Boo upon Variable Gear again! Oh, wait...