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Ted Nugent joins Guitar Hero World Tour
Theodore Nugent's politics might prevent him from being universally celebrated, but there's no denying the man's a virtuoso of the six-stringed axe -- dare we say, a "guitar hero." (Fun factoid: He does it all sober!) Nugent's accomplishments on stage have earned him a spot in the World Tour, where he joins Jimi, Ozzy and Sting as featured acts. Of course, Nugent spilled the beans months ago, but Activision made his appearance official today, along with his hit "Stranglehold." Peep the magic of mocap (it can even reverse aging, you know) as Nugent saddles up on his pet buffalo in the debut trailer after the break.
Four more GH World Tour tracks leak, Aussie release date revealed
It may seem odd that we're still talking about leaking Guitar Hero World Tour tracks, especially when we've had a full set list for the competing Rock Band 2 for months now (heck, we've had the whole thing ranked by difficulty for a week). Nonetheless, four more included tracks were revealed at an Activision press conference in New Zealand. The newly revealed songs (as reported by Gamespot) are: "Prisoner of Society" by The Living End "La Bamba" by Los Lobos "Scream Aim Fire" by Bullet for My Valentine "Our Truth" by Lacuna Coil In addition, the event revealed a Nov. 12 release date for the game in Australia. With 64 tracks already confirmed by various sources, we have to wonder when the rest of the reported "over 85" tracks will finally be revealed.
Classic rockers re-record tracks for Guitar Hero World Tour
Who says you can't teach old bands new tracks? (Insert groans from audience). Activision sent word today that the Guitar Hero World Tour track list will include three classic songs that have been re-recorded just recently. First off, MC5's 40-year-old classic "Kick Out the Jams" has been "updated and modernized" by MC5's Wayne Kramer, with help from Alice in Chains' Jerry Cantrell and Guns 'N' Roses Gilby Clark. The Sex Pistols will be offering up a newly recorded version of 1969's "Pretty Vacant" and Motörhead came back to the studio to re-record their 1979 hit "Overkill" for the game.Activision is casting these re-recorded classics as a way for fans to get "a unique experience of old yet new legendary sounds." Still, we have to wonder if the decision might have had more to do with missing or incomplete master recordings, a problem that afflicted the "Who's Next" DLC that was planned for Rock Band. Either way, it's nice to see some classic rock stars coming together to support a thoroughly modern interpretation of their songs. If only they all felt that way.
Guitar Hero: World Tour lacks a 'No Fail' option
Serving as a great anecdote for the old saying, "You don't know what you got 'til it's gone," an Activision representative has confirmed that Guitar Hero: World Tour will be lacking Rock Band 2's party-friendly "No Fail" option, either as a menu option or as a cheat code. Also interesting is that you can't save your bandmates should one fail; instead, you can comparatively miss more notes than in RB and stay alive.The lack of a "No Fail" option certainly isn't going to be a game-changer -- after all, its predecessors (including RB1) sold very well without it. And although the virtual rock elitist might scoff at the notion that it's now harder to fail songs, GH:WT does have the added bonus of presenting a detailed analysis of your performance after each song (we've placed an exemplary image after the break Update: Now it really is after the break). We'll have more on our time at PAX 2008 with the game, specifically the drums, later this week.
MS: Xbox 360 instruments from Rock Band 2, GH: World Tour and Rock Revolution will be cross-compatible
Clarifying its stance on rhythm game compatibility issues, Microsoft's Gamerscore Blog announced today that all the instruments for Rock Band 2, Guitar Hero: World Tour and Rock Revolution will be "cross-compatible" on Xbox 360.Sony announced yesterday that PlayStation 3 would feature full cross-compatibility among the three games as well. Guess that leaves only Nintendo to make it official.Update: The Instrument Compatibility Matrix has been updated[Thanks, Mike]
Joystiq's Instrument Compatibility Matrix, v3.0
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/Guitar_Hero_Rock_Band_Instrument_Compatibility_Matrix_v3_0'; With Sony shedding some new light on the sea of plastic instrument compatibility nonsense, we thought it was time to update our compatibility charts for the Guitar Hero and Rock Band series, as well as newcomer Rock Revolution. Introducing the Instrument Compatibility Matrix, version 3.0. We'll keep updating this page as new information percolates out, hoping one day to fill in every square with a green "yes." Until that time, check out our chart skills.Update: Now with more green care of Microsoft's compatibility commitment.
SCEA: Universal compatibility for PS3 Rock Band 2, GH: World Tour and Rock Revolution instruments
It's about time someone stepped in and took an active role in fixing this nonsense. SCEA Director of Publisher Relations Michael Shorrock has announced on PlayStation.Blog that Sony has reached an agreement with Activision, Neversoft, Harmonix and Konami to ensure that all the instrument peripherals for Rock Band 2, Guitar Hero: World Tour and Rock Revolution will work across all games for PlayStation 3.In case you're too stunned to comprehend what should've been no-brainer functionality from the start, your PS3 Rock Band 2 drum set should now be guaranteed to work with GH:WT and RR, and likewise for every game's guitar and drum peripherals. Said Shorrock, "We're still working hard to ensure compatibility between the Guitar Hero and Rock Band titles currently on the market, and we hope to have an announcement on that shortly."We're excited, but at the same time, we're a bit dismayed it took this long to sort out. To be clear, instrument compatibility has not been confirmed for Xbox 360 (although we do know GH:WT instruments work with RB2) or Wii versions of the music games. Microsoft, Nintendo, we're looking to you to make this universal compatibility, erm, more universal.
Warner Music wants more money for licensed songs
Developers vying for a slice of the rhythm game pie may soon find the cost to dig in to be increasing -- at least if they want players to nod along with music they know. According to Reuters, Warner Music's top exec Edgar Bronfman has come forward, stating that game companies should pay more to the music industry in order to include licensed tunes in their music-based games.Says Bronfman, who compared the relationship to the likes of MTV or Apple's iPod, "The amount being paid to the music industry, even though their games are entirely dependent on the content we own and control, is far too small." Given Warner's interest in music currently flowing through both Guitar Hero III and Rock Band, not to mention the war that is about to unfold on living room stages later this year, it will be interesting to see who will 5-star this game of financial tug-of-war.
Stuff Magazine reveals new Guitar Hero World Tour tracks
Ready to "beat it" with fire-lit butterfly wings? (Note to self: That came out wrong.) The latest issue of Stuff Magazine (via Guitar Hero Community) has a Guitar Hero World Tour preview, which lists nine confirmed tracks and five more confirmed artists. Although we already knew a few of those songs, five of them are new, including The Doors' "Light My Fire," Smashing Pumpkins' "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" and -- yes, really -- Michael Jackson's "Beat It." Additionally, two of the listed artists with "unknown" track contributions already have confirmed songs (Foo Fighters' "Everlong" and Van Halen's "Hot for Teacher"). Newcomers include Muse, Beastie Boys and Nirvana. We've compiled a list of confirmed GHWT tracks after the break.
Rumorong: Activision, Red Octane call shenanigans on World Tour set list
We hope you didn't get your hopes up regarding Guitar Hero World Tour's hypothetical set list, which included songs from such bands as REO Speedwagon, Rob Zombie, and whole lot of Tool. Game Informer reports that both Activision and Red Octane have come forward, denouncing the list as a fraud. While some of the tracks listed will make it into the game, such as Van Halen's Hot for Teacher, the report calls the lion's share of the list "wishful thinking and pure speculation." We're sorry Tool fans, but you'll have to get your progressive rock fix somewhere else.
Rumor: Guitar Hero World Tour full set list
[UPDATE: Click here for the real full list, straight from the folks at Activision. While you're at it, you may want to examine our Instrument Compatibility Matrix and see which of your plastic instruments will work with which game. Yes, this is seriously a major concern for our kind.]The supposed full set list for Guitar Hero World Tour has been making its way around the forums (Something Awful, GameFAQs). The 87-song list is divided by 73 main tracks and 14 bonus tracks. Additionally, there are 3 guitar battles (Ted Nugent, Zakk Wylde ... and renowned bassist Sting) and 7 "sample songs," presumably for the song creation mode. We're still looking into the source of the list; with no official word from Activision or Neversoft, consider this a rumor. Full set list after the break.
Sublime joins Guitar Hero: World Tour, Activision confirms previous acts, details
Activision made Guitar Hero: Rock Band Edition World Tour official today, confirming the details leaked from the current issue of Game Informer. World Tour will feature an all-master track cast, filled with previously named acts like Van Halen, Linkin Park, and The Eagles, plus today's confirmation of Sublime and "many more." The announcement also highlights the "Music Studio" mode (create-a-song), which allows players to "compose, record, edit and share music," and the 8-player "Battle of the Bands" mode.World Tour will also feature so-called "new state of the art wireless instruments" (as sorta seen yesterday), meaning mom won't trip over the coil of wires when she walks in front of the TV and totally destroys the rock mojo; and the still curious, but ambitious sounding promise to add "significantly more localized downloadable music than ever before on all of the next-generation consoles." Yep, that includes the Wii version (developed by Vicarious Visions). Activision confirms that World Tour will be the "first game ever in the Guitar Hero franchise to allow in-game downloadable content on Wii" -- just make sure your SD card is inserted. %Gallery-23477%
See first screens from Guitar Hero: World Tour
We don't have a lot to go on at the moment, but from what we can tell, these new screens from Guitar Hero: World Tour represent a slightly more grown-up look for the series, straying from the silly rock clichés of Guitar Hero III. It's still not quite at a Rock Band level of realism, but we imagine fans of the series probably aren't ready for that.In fact, though we've wished Guitar Hero's look would grow up for a while now, the stylized characters and settings are one of the main things that are setting it apart from its competition, a distinction that, with the addition of drums and vocals to World Tour, is becoming increasingly difficult to make. %Gallery-23477%
