Vicarious Visions
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Wacky pick stylus reborn for Guitar Hero: On Tour
We had a pretty good idea of what BD&A's Guitar Hero stylus accessory would look like, but we figured there was always the possibility of a surprise until we could see a picture of the thing. A picture has just been added to the Gamestop listing, and there is no surprise to be found.The DS Lite Guitar Hero Stylus is exactly the same idea as the Jammin' Guitar Pick stylus that Naki released to go with Jam Sessions. It's a stylus attached to a guitar pick. You hold the pick and use the stylus end on the screen, which sounds, at least, a little more guitar-like than just playing the DS with a little stick. The major differences between the two products? The Guitar Hero set has the Guitar Hero logo on the picks, and doesn't come with as many.
Nintendo DS, Guitar Hero on Tour bundles coming this June
For the launch of Guitar Hero: On Tour, Nintendo and Activision are planning to sell bundles of the handheld system and game. Said Activision Publishing CEO Mike Griffith in a conference call (34:50 mark), "Nintendo has been impressed with this innovation and part of our launch will include selling the game bundled with Nintendo DS hardware." On Tour has 15 confirmed songs so far and is due out this June. %Gallery-18848%
Activision announces Guitar Hero DS Lite bundle, new Tony Hawk
During Activision's conference call about their Q4 earnings, Activision dropped a relatively large bomb: in addition to the normal game/controller bundle, Guitar Hero: On Tour will be released as a bundle with both the Guitar Grip and DS Lite hardware. This portable Guitar Hero thing is much bigger than we thought, and this show of confidence on Nintendo's part bears out Todd Greenwald's prediction of big sales.In addition, Activision's Mike Griffith announced a new DS-exclusive Tony Hawk game to be released this year, that will "utilize new technology not yet seen on the DS." Maybe it'll be wheels, so you can ride your DS for real.[Via GameDaily]%Gallery-19362%
Analyst: Guitar Hero: On Tour will play to huge crowds
While the media reactions to Guitar Hero: On Tour seem to range from dismissive to skeptical to vaguely intrigued, analyst Todd Greenwald believes that the game will arrive at retail as less of an oddity and more of ... a Guitar Hero game. Which means big-time sales."We think this title, never having been released on any handheld platform, has the potential to sell several million units at launch, at a $49.99 price point." (Note about the novelty of the release: there is Guitar Hero III Mobile, but that doesn't count.)He also said that large retailers like Best Buy, Target and Wal-Mart will feature the handheld title prominently in their stores, contributing to the sales. That makes the most sense to us: a Guitar Hero game in a smaller box must be a very attractive item for retailers.%Gallery-19362%
Free headphones with Guitar Hero On Tour at Gamestop
Headphones are an absolute must for handheld music games, unless you're a) alone or b) a jerk. You're almost required to have the sound on, unlike other portable games, and it would be quite rude to subject the other bus passengers (or other neighbors) to your racket. Guitar Hero: On Tour also puts your neighbors in danger of a serious jostling should your fake solos get too energetic, but there's not really an accessory that could help with that, aside from elbow pads.GameStop has taken the extremely sensible step of bundling a pair of On Tour-branded headphones with copies of the game. If you're going to be buying the thing anyway, might as well get extra free stuff with it!In other On Tour accessories news, the "Ruby Red" accessory pack is now pictured on GameStop's website.
Guitar Hero track listing revealed, ranges from great to Maroon 5
Like Bigfoot, fairies, and (sob) unicorns, the perfect Guitar Hero soundtrack simply doesn't exist. There'll always be stuff we love and stuff we hate on the damn things, and so it is with Guitar Hero: On Tour. Activision just revealed fifteen of the tracks that will appear in On Tour (there'll be 25, eventually), and it's the usual mixed bag. "Breed" by Nirvana? Great choice! "Helicopter" by Bloc Party? We like! "Rock and Roll All Nite" by Kiss? Fair enough. "All Star" by Smash Mouth? Umm ... "This Love" by Maroon 5? What?Head past the break to see the full list (complete with handy YouTube links) and feel varying degrees of satisfaction/rage.%Gallery-19362%
OK Go, Jet, Daughtry in Guitar Hero: On Tour
If you've ever been enjoying the music of No Doubt or Twisted Sister and thought "Yes, this is good, but it's just not compressed enough for my tastes," you'll be happy to hear that they and 13 other bands were recently announced for the upcoming DS release Guitar Hero: On Tour. Perhaps considering the popularity of the system outside of the hardcore, the song selections do seem a bit more ... mainstream than we've become accustomed to. But overall, they don't seem like bad picks. Check out the full list after the break and let us know what you think.
On Tour devs on the challenges of cramming Guitar Hero into the DS
Vicarious Visions, developer of Guitar Hero: On Tour, talked to MTV Multiplayer's Steven Totilo about the process of creating, Frankenstein-style, the bizarre DS version of a game that usually relies on a giant peripheral. They broke their discussion of its development into a list of six challenges, and then addressed each challenge specifically. The most obvious challenge: the DS isn't shaped like a guitar, and it's doubtful that any useful peripheral could make it be. According to Vicarious Visions' Karthik Bala, the company never considered adding a full Guitar Hero fretboard, due to a desire to remain compact.Another challenge, and one that we find particularly interesting, was convincing Nintendo to allow Vicarious Visions to add buttons to the DS. Rather than providing a different interface for the existing buttons (like other Guitar Hero controllers), the Guitar Grip actually adds new buttons to the system that aren't mapped to anything else. And Nintendo had to get involved to make sure the peripheral was up to their standards.%Gallery-19362%
NMS08: Joystiq impressions roundup
Nintendo offered press a look at upcoming Nintendo (and third-party) titles at last week's Nintendo Media Summit, and Joystiq's Zack Stern was all up ons. He got a look at two of the most highly anticipated third-party DS games, and one surprise that we didn't realize Nintendo would put their marketing muscle behind.Zenses: Ocean is a casual puzzle collection from publisher The Game Factory designed to be relaxing. It features an ocean theme (a second game will be rainforest-themed) and a mellow soundtrack (even including headphones in the package). The games described include block-matching and a "connect the dots" game that is basically Puchi Puchi Virus. Zack was perhaps a little too relaxed by Zenses, in that he didn't find it particularly fun.New information about Guitar Hero: On Tour was revealed in a presentation. For example, as expected (but not previously confirmed) it can be played right- or left-handed. Star Power is activated by humiliating yourself yelling.Faithful readers will already know plenty about Space Invaders Extreme, but by all means check out the post, because it's stuff about Space Invaders Extreme.%Gallery-20612%%Gallery-19362% %Gallery-14613% Read: Impressions of Guitar Hero: On Tour Read: Hands-on with Zenses: Ocean Read: Hands-on with Space Invaders Extreme
Joystiq impressions: Guitar Hero: On Tour (DS)
Activision and Nintendo briefly demonstrated Guitar Hero: On Tour at last week's Nintendo Media Summit. As previously announced, the portable rhythm game includes a four-fret controller that slips into the DS GBA slot. A stylus shaped like a guitar pick can be stored inside and pulled out for portable rocking. Guitar Hero: On Tour includes the same kind of career mode and single-song play as Guitar Hero III; many of the portable songs also overlap with other versions of the game. But 20 new tracks, a few control twists, and a new versus mode should make it more than Guitar Hero Lite. %Gallery-18848%
Guitar Hero DS accessories on the way
Someone is willing to gamble a significant amount of money on the idea of a shrunk-down Guitar Hero on the DS. BD&A, who make officially-licensed Nintendo hardware cases and accessories, will produce accessories for Guitar Hero: On Tour, meaning that they think the product is non-wacky enough (or lovably wacky enough) to sell -- and sell other stuff.Two listings at Gamestop hint pretty strongly at their initial products: a $10 DS Lite Guitar Hero Stylus and a $20 DS Lite Guitar Hero Ruby Red Kit, which comprises "a glitter case, 2 system wraps, and a cleaning cloth." We assume they mean a DS Lite/Guitar Grip case that is glittery, and not a case for your glitter. They're saving that for Guitar Hero: Rip Taylor Edition.
Charlie Daniels: Guitar Hero 'perverted' my song
While a lot of people here may have spent hours rawking out and pulling buffoonish poses to Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, it's safe to say that country rock musician Charlie Daniels wasn't quite as enthusiastic. Firstly, the guy is 71, and if performing high kicks and the splits is beyond us flexible twenty-somethings, it's probably going to be unrealistic for anyone who qualifies for a free bus pass. Secondly (and a lot more relevantly), he's not too chuffed about how one of his songs, "The Devil Went Down to Georgia," has been presented by Legends of Rock.According to an entry by the musician on his blog, the song in question is "a lighthearted novelty about a fiddling contest between a country boy and the devil and the devil always loses," but try telling that to Guitar Hero III. Instead, the game has players competing on the song with old Beelzebub himself, in a face-off which the devil can win. Insert outraged gasps here!Anyway, this is the main sticking point for Daniels, who accuses developer Neversoft of "perverting my song," and huffs that he's "disgusted with the result." He also describes the game as having "a dark side, complete with grotesque monsters on stage with the band, strange, eerie lighting effects and all manner of weird things popping up on the stage," and reckons it's "not the healthiest thing in the world for young, impressionable minds to be exposed to."As it happens, Daniels' complaints look set to fall on deaf ears, because he sold off the publishing rights to the track. Nevertheless, his diatribe is worth a read, if only for a chuckle.[Via Kotaku]
Point: Why Guitar Hero: On Tour could rock out
Guitar Hero: On Tour is a weird product. The guitar controller, which would seem to be Guitar Hero's greatest strength, is pretty much absent from the DS game, replaced with a vestigial controller that retains the basic gameplay motion but removes the rock-star fantasy. For some, the loss of the guitar shape may remove the primary source of fun from the game (lookin' like C.C. DeVille); for me, it enhances the fun. Is it possible for a music game to be fun without simulating an instrument? Historically, yes. Guitar Hero may have roots in the instrument-based Guitar Freaks and other Bemani-series games, all of which use specialized controllers, but its immediate predecessors were Harmonix's Frequency and Amplitude for the Playstation 2. These two games featured the same visualization method and gameplay as Guitar Hero -- notes as icons, moving toward the screen Klax-style -- but used the PlayStation 2's stock controller. These two games were, in fact, more complex than Guitar Hero, requiring players to move between musical tracks. The Guitar Hero controller doesn't allow for this feature (and, of course, there'd be no reason to move over to the drum or vocal track with a guitar controller), so, in a way, the guitar controller hampered the game design.PaRappa the Rapper used the PlayStation controller to control the main character's speech. That's about as far from representative as a controller could be, and PaRappa was well-received enough for the genre to advance. Now, just because NaNaOn-Sha, Harmonix, and other companies could make great music games without representative controllers doesn't mean that Vicarious Visions can, or will -- but it does mean that we shouldn't summarily dismiss Guitar Hero: On Tour for not having a sufficiently guitar-like controller.From the looks of it, the Guitar Grip peripheral will provide a mechanically similar gameplay experience to the full-size controller anyway. With the exception of the fifth fret button, of course, the base game of holding one or more of a line of buttons and strumming on time is unchanged. So it's still Guitar Hero -- it just doesn't look like it. This should really only dissuade people who play Guitar Hero in order to pretend like they're playing guitars. People who like Guitar Hero as a game will only benefit from a smaller version.Portability is especially novel for something like Guitar Hero, whose normal controller is freaking huge. Sometimes you don't have space for a bunch of big controllers! You may be dissuaded from bringing your Guitar Hero setup to your small dorm room, for example, while you could easily play On Tour in the back of a Volkswagen. The added value of portability, with a smaller price tag? Rokken. placeholdertext Back A different tune
Point/Counterpoint: Guitar Hero: On Tour
Welcome to Point/Counterpoint, in which two DS Fanboy bloggers get into a verbal slap-fight over a divisive topic in the field of DS gaming. Few DS-related topics are more divisive right now than Guitar Hero: On Tour. Activision and Vicarious Visions have tried to cram the experience of one of the best-known party games onto the DS by grafting a big ... thing onto the side of the system. We can all agree that the Guitar Grip doesn't look anything like a guitar, but is it sufficient for Guitar Hero? Is there any chance that this game could shred, or is it going to be all guitar face and no totally sweet solos? On Tour could strike a power-chord %Gallery-19362%
Guitar Hero: On Tour grip works with DS Phat
We have to admit that the first time we saw the elegant, though not particularly guitar-like peripheral Activision had created for the DS' Guitar Hero: On Tour, we were concerned. It wasn't the missing orange button (we're fans of anything getting easier, whether it's fake guitar playing or cutting things), no, we were more worried that owners of the original DS (the DS Phat, on the streets) would be excluded from the fun by their system's girth. But now, Activision has dispelled our fears with the announcement that the Guitar Grip will work with both of the models. Now, Phatties, as for actually being able to see the notes in anything but perfect lighting, we're afraid you're on your own on that one. [Thanks, Kaelora]
Gamestop shreds out Guitar Hero price, release date
A listing for Guitar Hero: On Tour has appeared on the site of retailer Gamestop, revealing both a release date and price for Vicarious Visions' shred-a-thon. While neither has been officially confirmed by publisher Activision, Gamestop's date (June 29th) does at least fall in line with Activision's announcement from Wednesday regarding a summer release. What's probably of greater interest is the price. Because the title is to ship with the much-discussed Guitar Grip, Gamestop has On Tour listed for $49.99. Which begs the next, obvious question: will you pay the extra monies to rock out portably? [Thanks, Max!]
Guitar Hero: On Tour to feature Nirvana, No Doubt, OK Go
Okay, so maybe they don't look all that elated to hear about Nirvana's inclusion in Guitar Hero: On Tour, but we struggled to contain our glee upon reading that Kurt and co. would be appearing in the game (despite some reservations about how it actually plays). We consider ourselves experts, don'cha know. Nirvana will be joined by west coast warblers No Doubt and OK Go, but there's no news on which songs will feature. That said, we're going to go out on a limb and suggest that the OK Go song will be the only OK Go song that anybody knows anything about. Bet we're not wrong. We'll be able to play as one of six characters, and there'll be five different venues for us to get kicked off stage at. Don't think the DS's other features are getting neglected, either -- the microphone can be used to "extinguish a pyrotechnics effects gone wrong," (hark, do we hear the sound of barrels being scraped?) and it's possible to autograph the shirts of your adoring fans in the middle of a set (which actually sounds quite novel). [Via Games Press]
DS Daily: A less-than-perfect solution?
For so long, the prospect of a Guitar Hero game on the DS was a source of intrigue to this blogger. During long, sleepless nights, I would ponder how such a game could reproduce the magic of the home console versions with just two screens, the DS's tinny speakers, and no guitar peripheral.Yesterday, Activision revealed its solution to these conundrums: the "Guitar Grip." The idea seems straightforward enough: plug the above accessory into the GBA slot of your DS, grab your guitar pick stylus, and strum away on your touchscreen while pressing buttons to coincide with cascading on-screen notes. Fair enough. Considering the limitations of the DS, this isn't a terrible idea.But here's what irks me: a considerable -- no, a huge -- part of Guitar Hero's appeal is the guitar controller itself. When I'm (cough) "rocking out" on one of the home console versions of Guitar Hero, I'm Brian May on stage at Live Aid, at least in my head. In reality, of course, I'm a deluded cretin, but the point still stands: Guitar Hero is at its best when it's letting us live out our rock star fantasies, and that's fun. Yours truly is going to struggle to get the same sensation of being a total rock god just by plugging in the Guitar Grip. I hate to say this but ... perhaps Guitar Hero should have stayed on home consoles, if the Guitar Grip truly is the best solution. Is that too harsh?
Guitar Hero: On Tour and 'Guitar Grip' DS peripheral revealed
click to enlarge Finally, after months of speculation and funny Photoshop mockups of little guitars, Activision has spilled some details on the portable DS release of Guitar Hero dubbed, as expected, Guitar Hero: On Tour. Most notable is the hardware peripheral that looks decidedly unlike a mini-guitar. Instead, the "Guitar Grip" gives you not only a place to grip your DS while playing, but four "fret" buttons and a storage slot for the game's sure-to-be-lost-quickly "guitar pick" that you "strum" on the touch-screen. Since the luckier amongst us have a full set of five fingers – with our poor thumbs reduced to simply gripping things – we're anticipating a significantly easier gameplay experience than On Tour's five-buttoned siblings. But what about the music, man? Karthik Bala, CEO of developer Vicarious Visions, says "There are more than 20 songs in the game, with the majority being exclusive to Guitar Hero: On Tour." he continues, "We've done custom note tracking for all the songs and over 80 percent of the songs are original, master recordings." We're not sure what 20 master recordings are going to sound like once they've been squished into a DS cart, but we're hopeful they've addressed that concern. Close-up shot of the Guitar Grip and cheesy marketing vid embedded after the break. Read – Exclusive Reveal: Guitar Hero DS [IGN] Read – Guitar Hero: On Tour Interview [Yahoo]
At last: Guitar Hero on Tour, now with wacky peripheral
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/nintendo/Guitar_Hero_DS_confirmed_with_pics_of_wacky_peripheral'; More like Tiny Accordion Hero, amirite? Dying to know how you'll shred in portable fashion? The wait is over, Guitar Hero fans -- at least, the DS peripheral has been revealed, along with some screenshots from the title. It's called the Guitar Grip, and it will fit snugly into the GBA slot and wrap around while players hold the system sideways. Gameplay-wise, it's -- no surprise here -- Guitar Hero, as it should be. The touchscreen is where it all happens; you follow the song on the left screen, and strum on the right. You even get to throw down with Star Power, and for those of you who take your throwdowns seriously, there's a strap to ensure that your handheld stays held. The Grip also includes a slot for a special pick stylus. However, as you can see, there are only four buttons for the DS version ... and we can't help but wonder how the different slot on the Lite vs. Phat will be handled. On Tour features multiplayer via local wireless, in which players will have access to unique powerups that disrupt their opponents by, among other things, setting their guitars on fire and forcing them to extinguish the blaze with the microphone. Guitar Hero on Tour is set for some time, some day this summer -- all we know is that it's not soon enough. For now, hit the jump for some additional shots, as well as a video.
