Guitar Hero World Tour

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Guitar Hero World Tour

Developer(s) Neversoft
Publisher(s) Activision
Series Guitar Hero
Platform(s) PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360
Release date US October 27, 2008[1]

EU October 28, 2008
Genre(s) Rhythm game
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer
Media Blu-ray, DVD, Wii Optical Disc
Input methods Guitar controller, gamepad, Wii Remote

Guitar Hero World Tour (also known as Guitar Hero 4 or Guitar Hero IV) is the upcoming sequel to the music video game Guitar Hero series, and will be developed by Neversoft and published by RedOctane and Activision, targeted for initial October 27, 2008 release.[2] The game is expected to be available for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, and Wii consoles.

While the game will continue to feature the use of a guitar-shaped controller to simulate the playing of rock music, Guitar Hero World Tour will expand to also include the use of drum and vocal peripherals, much like Rock Band.[3] Furthermore, according to Game Informer, the game will allow users to create custom songs from those shipped with the game, altering everything but the lyrics, and may also be able to upload and share other songs with other users.[4]

Contents

[edit] Gameplay

See also: Common gameplay elements in the Guitar Hero series

Guitar Hero World Tour will build on the existing gameplay from previous Guitar Hero games. The Star Power feature which has appeared throughout the Guitar Hero series is coming back as well. On the Guitar Hero World Tour official website, they announced that by striking the two cymbals on the drums, Star Power will be activated. The traditional single player Career Mode has been reworked, following a similar mechanic as Rock Band's Band World Tour mode. A player will encounter gigs during career mode, which offers a choice of songs to play, all of which are not required to complete in order to proceed. Furthermore, while the difficulty levels (Easy, Medium, Hard, and Expert) remain in the game, this Career Mode will allow players to drop to a lower difficulty without restarting their careers if they have difficulty with one song. The player will also be able to switch to a different instrument during the same Career without having to restart. There are four total instrument career modes within the game: lead guitar, bass guitar, drums, and rhythm guitar.[5]

There is also a Band Career mode, which mirrors Rock Band's "Band World Tour" mode as well. However, this mode can be advanced by oneself or with others offline or online. A player that has not progressed as far as another player's band will still gain benefits for successfully completing songs when playing together. The interface for playing with others is described by Game Informer as being the same as Rock Band's.[5] Full four-player bands will be able to compete with other bands online in a "Battle of the Band" mode.[6]

The game adds in an "Easy Rhythm" guitar difficulty that is aimed to allow parents to have their children participate in the game; notes are generally simple straight lines in time with bass drum beats, and only require any fret button to be held while the note is strummed. The bass guitar player has been given new mechanics, including simulating the open E string on real bass guitars during play. A player on drums will activate Star Power by striking both cymbal pads on the controller at the same time. The drummer will also have special sections of songs open for drum solos, emphasized by in-game choreography that focuses on the drummer.[5]

The Boss Battles that were present in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock will return with new characters to face off against; however, the format has been tweaked to remove the focus on attack power-ups.[5]

[edit] Customization

Players will be able to alter many aspects of their avatar's guitar within Guitar Hero World Tour
Players will be able to alter many aspects of their avatar's guitar within Guitar Hero World Tour

Users will be able to use a "Create-a-Rocker" mode, based on the similar "Create-a-Skater" mode in Neversoft's Tony Hawk series and the advanced character creation scheme from the Tiger Woods PGA Tour series. Players will be able to affect their character's poise, clothing, tattoos, makeup, and age. Selected characters from previous Guitar Hero games will also be available as starting templates for creating a rocker. As a result of the present lawsuit with Gibson Guitars, the player will also be able to customize their own guitar for the game to a high degree. Drum sets will also be customizable.[5]

[edit] Instruments

The Guitar Hero World Tour drum controller includes two cymbal pads, one snare pad, two tom pads, and a bass drum pedal.
The Guitar Hero World Tour drum controller includes two cymbal pads, one snare pad, two tom pads, and a bass drum pedal.

According to Game Informer, RedOctane is developing a new guitar controller for the game that is tied with a new gameplay mechanic in order to "make the guitar as expressive as a real guitar", according to developer Scott Pease. While the actual change is not yet known, Game Informer suggests that it may involve either fret sliding or improvisation sections.[5]

Guitar Hero World Tour will add two new instruments, drums and vocals, to existing guitar and bass gameplay in the series. Game Informer's preview revealed that a six-piece drum controller is being developed for the game, with two cymbal pads, a snare, two toms, and a bass drum pedal.[5][7] The drum kit was designed with help from John Devacka, who is credited with creating the first music game, MTV Drumscape, and who developed key patents used for most modern music games that are now owned by Activision.[5] The drums also are reported to be "velocity sensitive", though how this translates in normal gameplay is not yet known.[6] However, during song creation, this sensitivity will be used to alter the sound effect made by the drum.[8] The drum set has been stated through official trailers to be wireless.[8] Activision has promised that the drum set will be the "most realistic drum experience ever in a video game".[6]

[edit] Custom songs and downloadable content

Guitar Hero World Tour will allow players to create their own songs and to share them with others through the Xbox Live, PlayStation 3, and Nintendo Wifi network capabilities. Vocals are not supported in this mode due to copyright concerns.[4][5] Originally, the game was to contain a "Jam Over" mode, which would allow players to create new tracks to or for the lot for the existing songs on the disk,[5] but Activision has stated that this mode has currently been taken out of the game.[6]

Guitar Hero World Tour will allow for users to create their own songs note-by-note or in real time.
Guitar Hero World Tour will allow for users to create their own songs note-by-note or in real time.

The "Advanced Studio" mode allows the creation of completely new pieces of music, and is stated by Game Informer to be similar to Apple's GarageBand software. The player can create the tracks for each song by playing it in real or slowed time, with the game quantizing offbeat notes to the nearest beat as set by the player, or tracks can be constructed one note at a time. Both guitar and drum effects can be set and changed through the song.[5]

Custom songs will be able to be uploaded to the "GH Tunes" service, which will be used to allow other players to rate songs, and to search and download songs by these ratings, and will include a Showcase by Neversoft to offer some of the best user works alongside new songs from popular artists. Players will only be able to upload five songs to the service at the start, but players that have highly rated songs will gain the ability to upload more. The PlayStation 2 version of the game will feature custom song creation, but will not support the uploading service.[5]

In addition to custom songs, players of the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii versions will be able to download new licensed songs for the game. This is the first game in the Guitar Hero series to support download functionality on the Wii.[9]

[edit] Development

Guitar Hero World Tour was announced shortly after the merger of Activision and Vivendi Games in December 2007.[10] The inclusion of additional instruments into the Guitar Hero series was hinted at by trademarks registered by Activision and RedOctane for "Guitar Villain", "Drum Villain", "Keyboard Hero", "Drum Hero" and "Band Hero".[11] Analysts speculated that future Guitar Hero games in 2008 will need to include additional instrument peripherals in order to compete against former Guitar Hero developer Harmonix's Rock Band.[12] Activision's CEO Bobby Kotick announced on April 21, 2008 that Guitar Hero IV will branch out into other instruments including vocals;[3] this was further confirmed by an initial preview from Game Informer.[4] The game's name, Guitar Hero World Tour, was officially announced by Activision on May 21, 2008.[13]

According to a Game Informer preview, the addition of drum functionality came from work initially done towards the Drum Hero title, but later folded into Guitar Hero after Neversoft was chosen as developer of the series.[5]

The custom song creation feature was inspired by the current "hacking environment" that has arisen from the first two Guitar Hero games, where players would create new tracks and share them with others.[6][14]

[edit] Soundtrack

Four bands have been confirmed for the game from the Game Informer preview: Van Halen, The Eagles, Linkin Park, and Sublime. The Game Informer preview also suggests that Dream Theater may be included. Neversoft claims that there will be more songs on disk than any other Guitar Hero game, and that all songs included in Guitar Hero World Tour will be master recordings.[4][5] Project director Brian Blight claims that they have "a pretty even split between the '80s, '90s, and classic rock" with a "good amount of emerging bands".[5]

While it has not been confirmed by Activision, The Answer mentioned in a press release that their 2005 single Never Too Late would be included in Guitar Hero World Tour after they won a contest at 2008's Marché international de l’édition musicale conference.[15]

A press release from Fearless Records announced that the song "One Armed Scissor" from At The Drive-in's 2000 release Relationship of Command will be included in Guitar Hero World Tour.[16]

Lenny Kravitz's "Are You Gonna Go My Way" was featured in the world premiere trailer[17] and was confirmed as a playable song in a demonstration of the game at Wall Street Journal's D6 event.[18]

Blink 182's "Dammit" was featured in a video showcasing the game's drum set featuring Blink 182 and +44 drummer Travis Barker doing motion capture for the game. The video also featured Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith along with The Police drummer Stewart Copeland commenting on the performance of the prototype drum set.[8]

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://consolehero.com/2008/05/23/guitar-hero-world-tour-release-date-and-prices
  2. ^ http://consolehero.com/2008/05/23/guitar-hero-world-tour-release-date-and-prices
  3. ^ a b Hatfield, Daemon (2008-04-21). Guitar Hero IV Branching Out. IGN. Retrieved on 2008-04-22.
  4. ^ a b c d Faylor, Chris (2008-05-12). Guitar Hero 4 Includes Song Creation and Sharing, Multiple Instruments, Van Halen, Linkin Park. Shacknews. Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "Guitar Hero 4: Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy Meets Reality", Game Informer, June 2008, pp. 48-57. 
  6. ^ a b c d e Pigna, Kris (2008-05-21). New Details on Guitar Hero World Tour. 1UP. Retrieved on 2008-05-21.
  7. ^ McElroy, Justin (2008-05-14). Game Informer Snags First Pic of Guitar Hero IV Drums. Joystiq. Retrieved on 2008-05-14.
  8. ^ a b c Guitar Hero World Tour: Drummer Demo Trailer. Game Trailers (2008-05-24). Retrieved on 2008-05-24.
  9. ^ Faylor, Chris (2008-05-22). Guitar Hero 4 Wii Supports Downloadable Content. Shacknews. Retrieved on 2008-05-22.
  10. ^ Elliot, Phil (2007-12-03). Activision Blizzard fact sheet reveals some unannounced titles in the pipeline. Game Industry Biz. Retrieved on 2007-12-03.
  11. ^ Sinclair, Brendan (2007-01-17). Activision calls dibs on Guitar Villain, Drum Villain. GameSpot. Retrieved on 2007-11-10.
  12. ^ Boyer, Brandon (2007-08-01). Janco: Guitar Hero To Add New Instruments In 2008. Gamasutra. Retrieved on 2007-08-01.
  13. ^ Minkley, Johnny (2008-05-21). Guitar Hero World Tour revealed. Retrieved on 2008-05-21.
  14. ^ Minkley, Johnny (2008-05-21). Neversoft talks World Tour. Eurogamer. Retrieved on 2008-05-21.
  15. ^ Guitar Hero IV Preview. Console Hero (2008-05-12). Retrieved on 2008-05-14.
  16. ^ At the Drive-In's "One Armed Scissor" to appear in Guitar Hero IV. Punknews.org (2008-05-08). Retrieved on 2008-05-09.
  17. ^ Guitar Hero World Tour trailer. Game Trailers (2008-05-21). Retrieved on 2008-05-21.
  18. ^ Guitar Hero: World Tour demo vid. Kotaku.com (May 28, 2008). Retrieved on [[May 29, 2008]].

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Guitar Hero series
Main series
Guitar Hero (songs) · Guitar Hero II (songs) · Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (songs) · Guitar Hero World Tour
Console spinoffs
Portable games