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Activision offers 'Guitar Hero Live' refunds after songs vanish
Activision appears to be learning a hard lesson about the risks of tying a music game to a subscription service. The publisher has launched a "voluntary refund program" for Americans who can prove they bought Guitar Hero Live between December 1st, 2017 and January 1st, 2019. You can make a claim until May 1st, 2019. While Activision didn't say why it was offering refunds, it's likely tied to the end of the game's Guitar Hero TV streaming music service. The company shut down GHL's streaming component at the end of 2018, shrinking the song library from 484 songs to the 42 tracks on the disc -- you suddenly weren't getting what you paid for.
The 'DJ Hero' and 'Guitar Hero Live' team is joining Ubisoft
Freestyle Games, known for its work on Guitar Hero Live and DJ Hero under publisher Activision, has a new home. The team has joined Ubisoft and will be renamed to Ubisoft Leamington -- based on its location in the UK. A post on UbiBlog says that the studio will collaborate with Ubisoft Reflections, whose past projects include Assassin's Creed: Syndicate and last year's Watch Dogs 2, in addition to Ubisoft's worldwide teams on their AAA projects.
'Guitar Hero Live' is a karaoke simulator
This October, prepare to bring the house down with wild guitar riffs and your mad karaoke skills in Guitar Hero Live. That's right, it's official: Guitar Hero Live brings singing back to the franchise, alongside the new guitar and all of the fresh online features, challenges and songs available in Guitar Hero TV. A behind-the-scenes video posted just before Gamescom kicks off this week in Cologne, Germany, provides an overview of online features in Guitar Hero Live and drops the mic on singing in the game.
The first bands in 'Guitar Hero Live' include Alt-J, Pantera, Skrillex
The star of Guitar Hero Live is its new controller, a guitar with six buttons instead of the classic five. The additional button allows developers to include more genres of music in the game, including Skrillex's "Bangarang," Fall Out Boy's "My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark" and The Lumineers' "Ho Hey." These artists and 10 others were announced alongside Guitar Hero Live, but now Activision and FreeStyleGames have revealed their specific songs, plus 11 new artists and tracks. The new list includes Pantera's "Cowboys from Hell," Judas Priest's "Breaking the Law," Sleigh Bells' "Bitter Rivals" and Alt-J's "Left Hand Free." When we spoke to Guitar Hero Live Senior Producer Tim Dunn last week, he noted that the new six-button guitar expands the franchise's musical reach. "The new button layout helped us get more gameplay out of different genres of music," he said. See the current track lineup below, as provided by Activision.
'Guitar Hero' gets born again with a new look and a new controller
Guitar Hero has no business being relevant in 2015. Ten years is an eternity for video games, especially so for games tied so closely to specific technology like Harmonix's revolutionary PlayStation 2 game was to its inner-rock-star-summoning controller when it came out. A decade on from that original, and five years on from the last release in the series, Guitar Hero is an icon, but it also feels like a relic, a work hopelessly locked in its era. A 10-year anniversary reissue, maybe with some bonus tracks thrown in, seems like the best-case scenario for Guitar Hero coming back to life in 2015, a dignified archive for the nostalgic. FreeStyleGames has done so much more with its new game Guitar Hero Live. The studio has made a game that feels deeply modern, relevant, wholly distinct from Rock Band and somehow still rooted in tradition. It's all thanks to a new controller and a wildly different look for the series' debut on PS4, Xbox One and Wii U.
Resurrecting 'Guitar Hero' through live rock and robots
Guitar Hero Live is trying to pull off one of the most difficult acts in rock and roll: the return to relevance. Not just a reunion tour feeding off nostalgic fans looking to recapture the good, old days of 2005, but a bona fide resurrection. After a five-year hiatus for the series, FreeStyleGames has taken over. It hopes to bring the rock star simulator back to the prominence that made Guitar Hero 3 the first game to break $1 billion in sales. Its first step: redesigning the iconic guitar, trading its five primary-colored buttons for six black and white keys that mimic actual chord fingerings, but that's not its primary gambit. Chasing the rock star fantasy that the old games sold even further, this fall's Guitar Hero Live places you on a real stage with a real band and audience, all filmed from a first-person perspective.
Former DJ Hero devs exploring IPTV for multi-platform project
DJ Hero developer FreeStyle Games is hiring a producer for IPTV gaming, according to a job listing on LinkedIn. The position will lead "the development of new multi-platform games with specific emphasis on online infrastructure-heavy video applications." "IPTV" could mean any number of platforms, including set-top boxes such as Apple TV and Roku. The job listing noted that the developer is working on a "new ground-breaking multi-platform and mobile project." FreeStyle Games posted a number of jobs to LinkedIn in the last week, including one for a mobile gaming producer role that will "develop strategies to leverage mobile enabled business models including free-to-play and freemium." That person would also be in charge of creating "features to bridge online, console and mobile games to create a connected product." FreeStyle Games' most recent efforts were seen in Sing Party for Wii U, so the Activision-owned developer hasn't strayed too far from music-based games. Whether its next multi-platform and potentially free-to-play project falls in line with that genre remains to be seen.
Sing Party review: Vocal opposition
My wife is a karaoke person. She's not a hustler, but when we lived in a small town with nothing to do, we'd hit the same dive bars and Mexican restaurants every week so she could sing while I slowly got soused. We own a karaoke machine and a hundred or so discs, and instead of hiring a regular DJ our wedding reception was one big karaoke party. My wife doesn't play games but she owns almost every Karaoke Revolution and breaks out the Rock Band mic every few weeks. She knows karaoke, she knows karaoke games, and she knows that Sing Party isn't particularly great at either.%Gallery-171003%
DJ Hero dev FreeStyleGames survives to make another game
DJ Hero developer FreeStyleGames has officially survived "the great Activision music genre culling of 2011." The fate of the developer was still undecided earlier this year, but Creative Director Jamie Jackson announced today that the studio "will continue [its] strong partnership with Activision." There was some collateral damage, as a studio rep confirmed 35 positions would be lost. The developer is currently working on a "new, innovative" unannounced project. The studio plans to share details about the upcoming title in the coming months.
DJ Hero 2 gets even more 5weet jam5 from Benassi, Deadmau5
The mysteriously replenishing spring of DJ Hero 2 DLC has turned out yet another batch of downloadable mixmasterpieces -- and it might just be the most danceable selection of new additions to date. Well, we're assuming they possess a high danceability, considering the dance-centric lineage of their inventors: There's a track by Benny Benassi, Deadmau5 and Yolanda Be Cool and DCUP, all of which have been remixed by the folks at FreeStyleGames. We've contacted Activision to find out exactly how many mashed-up downloadables they've got left in the chamber. Hopefully, the answer is "a lot" -- we're still waiting on pins and needles for that totally dope Crosby, Stills and Nash remix. For now, check out this week's new additions after the jump.
DJ Hero 2 bundle's price scratched down to $30 at GameStop and Amazon
This is just silly: The DJ Hero 2 turntable bundle has been marked down from $59.99 to $29.99 on Amazon and GameStop. No reason for the massive discount is given on either retailer's site, but we're just going to assume its a national holiday dedicated to the honorable craft of Disc Jockeying.
RJD2, Atmosphere, Jaylib headline new DJ Hero 2 mixes
If you like your beats fresh and your hip-hop obscure, DJ Hero 2's latest three-song DLC bundle was carefully tailored for your very subset of desires. The "Indie Hip Hop Mix Pack" is available now through the in-game music store, and includes a trio of mashed-up selections featuring works by RJD2, Jaylib, Atmosphere and Peanut Butter Wolf, who is obviously the most delicious wolf of all time. Check out which tracks have been blended after the jump -- or start blending them yourself by picking up the pack for 640 Microsoft Points or $7.99, or separately on the Wii for 300 Wii Points a pop.
More Guitar Hero and DJ Hero DLC coming thanks to 'continued support' from fans
Though the DLC well for the Guitar Hero and DJ Hero franchises was supposed to dry up at the end of this month, it seems that Activision's not quite ready to retire the ol' pump (or bucket, depending on how old-timey the well in question is). The official Twitter feeds for both series have announced that more DLC is planned for their respective stores, citing "continued support" from their communities for the change in position. Both feeds promised that more information about the new content is coming "soon" -- we'll let you know when we learn more. That is, after we scold Activision for playing with our emotions so recklessly. Seriously, this is like the time our parents told us our hamster died, and then a week later, told us that they were just kidding about the hamster thing, only we later found out that, yes, our hamster was actually totally dead the whole time.
Fate of DJ Hero dev FreeStyleGames still undecided
If you've had your fingers crossed that FreeStyleGames would make it through Activision's culling of around 500 jobs unscathed -- well, keep those digits twisted. The DJ Hero developer's creative director Jamie Jackson and commercial director Chris Lee announced this morning in a joint statement, "We continue positive discussions with Activision around possible routes for FreeStyleGames," adding, "We have not reached an agreement as of today, however we are in continued dialogue and hope to have more news soon." The statement didn't include any other hints about how these dialogues are going, but did mention, "Messages from the industry and gamers alike have been warmly received and we are incredibly grateful for the support." Here's another for the pile: DJ Hero games are awesome, and we sincerely hope you get to keep making them.
Heroic sacrifices: The companies behind Guitar Hero
The Guitar Hero series touched many people, and not just by strapping plastic guitars to them. As the series reached its absurd heights of success, it caused more game developers to enter into the service of note charts and extreme rocker-dude 3D models. And now that Activision has stopped production on the Guitar Hero series and closed that business unit, we can look back at how it affected the people who made it -- the companies who either moved on or were chewed up and spat out by the Guitar Hero monster.
Activision surprises DJ Hero 2 fans with Pendulum DLC
With two weeks left in February, each DJ Hero 2 or Guitar Hero DLC pack released seems like it could be the last one, thanks to Activision's announcement that it will curtail Hero DLC after this month. The latest set of tracks to make it out during this series countdown clock is a set of three tracks from the Australian group Pendulum. Interestingly, this pack had yet to be announced ahead of time, despite Activision's assertion that only what had already been announced would be available, and will be available today. The Pendulum Mix Pack includes "Watercolor," "Set Me On Fire," and "Salt in the Wounds" -- that last one maybe hitting a little close to home for DJ Hero/Guitar Hero fans -- andcosts 640 Microsoft Points or $7.99. Tracks can be purchased independently on Wii for 300 Wii Points each.
New DJ Hero 2 DLC adds 'Trance Anthems' today
If you're looking for a rhythm gaming experience that can elevate your consciousness to a higher state of being, your best shot is a new DLC pack for FreeStyleGames' DJ Hero 2. The "Trance Anthems" pack contains three mashed-up jams containing samples from techno masterminds such as Paul Van Dyk, Paul Oakenfold and Armin Van Buuren. The tracks are available as a package deal today on 360 and PS3 for 640 Microsoft Points ($8), or separately on the Wii version of the game for 300 Wii Points a pop. Break out your glowsticks, and check out the track list and a couple of demo videos after the break!
Upcoming DJ Hero 2 DLC dares to mix Funky Cold Medina
Activision has announced three more weeks' worth of DJ Hero 2 DLC. And, in keeping with the concept of the game, it's a pretty eclectic mixture. Today, you'll be able to download a track mixing The Pixies' "Debaser" and The Prodigy's "Invaders Must Die," and a track that combines the Beastie Boys' "Body Movin'" with Lenny Kravitz's "Rock and Roll Is Dead." Well, is it dead or is the body movin'? On December 14, an "Old Skool" pack will include combinations of the Fat Boys and Mantronix, Tag Team and 45 King, and Beastie Boys with Tone Loc. We're a bit worried about that last one, as we'd be terrified of the side effects after changing the composition of the Funky Cold Medina. It's volatile on its own! On December 21, the promised Linkin Park remix DLC will be available. We're listin' all the DLC after the break.
DJ Hero 2 review: A mechanical masterpiece
DJ Hero was a profoundly innovative game -- spun off from a franchise and a publisher rarely applauded for their profound innovation -- tapping into new genres of music and methods of interacting with it. It was, for lack of a better term, lightning in a bottle and, for all its inherent freshness, an awfully difficult act to follow. DJ Hero 2 manages to iterate on the series' debut outing not by introducing new modes or instruments -- okay, it tries to do both of those things with moderate success -- but rather, by polishing the very mechanics of virtual mixmastering to a near-perfect sheen. %Gallery-94635%
DJ Hero 2 DLC packs coming in Nov., plus original DLC compatibility update
After being curiously absent from the on-disc soundtrack, Jay-Z, one-half of the original DJ Hero promotional duo, returns for a guest verse in the first DJ Hero 2 DLC pack. Available November 2, the Hit Makers Mix Pack bundles three mixes for $8, including a Rihanna's "Umbrella" / Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On" mashup. Two weeks later, the Electro Hits Mix Pack will be released, packing decidedly more oomph-oomph. Complete details of both packs are posted after the break. Additionally, a free compatibility update will be released in November to enable support for existing DJ Hero DLC in DJ Hero 2. Activision has not specified if this update will reformat the original DLC to feature new gameplay elements. (The gameplay differential between the first and second games could be a contributing factor in the apparent lack of a soundtrack importing option from DJ Hero 1 to 2 -- that and the race just to complete the DJ Hero 2 content in seven months, not to mention possible music licensing limitations.) DJ Hero 2 will be released next Tuesday, October 19 for PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii.
