Double you Tee Eff.

[Sethran]

So, I was reading through one of the two Game Informers that I got in the mail today [I apparently got one that I had missed] I came across the cover article, which I had paid only marginal attention to beforehand, and discovered that -- to my shock -- I was looking at Rock Band.

Oh wait, no I wasn't.

Guitar Hero 4, developer Neversoft, has grown some balls and decided that taking over what Harmonix started in the first place wasn't good enough so they took the existing Guitar Hero, with it's cartoonish character design and focus on songs that made your fingers and arms want to cry when you got done playing them on Expert, looked at Rock Band and copy-pasted.

Sure, they added a few new things -- you can customize your guitar, the drums have an extra thing to bash and are somewhat rearranged, oh and you can create your own songs [a step forward, at least], but everything else from the face paint to the clothes [or lack therof] you can wear might as well have been pulled out of Harmonix's wardrobe.

And to add insult to injury, Neversoft justifies this theft with the following statement:

"The natural evolution of the game is to add more instruments," observes Neversoft co-founder Joel Jewitt. "It's not like [Harmonix] even invented that. That's been out there for years in the arcades."

So they're not doing exactly what Harmonix did when it stepped off of Guitar Hero and over to Rock Band. They're just doing something that has been out there for ages with the franchise Harmonix left behind, as well as Harmonix's art design.

Now please tell me, fellow Escapists, your thoughts and opinions both positive and negative on 'Guitar Hero: World Tour' AKA 'Just like RockBand but ____'

 

[ThaBenMan]

I was pissed because it looks better than Rock Band in a lot of ways, and I had already dropped $170 on that! I just threw up my hands and said "I'm done with these damn music games!"

 

[Larenxis]

Yeah, it looks a lot better, but it's coming too soon (or too late, rather). At this point it's just mean.

 

[Programmed_For_Damage]

Personally I'm looking forward to it as apparently Rock Band will never officially see the light of day here in Australia. Harmonix have been reported saying that they can't produce the peripherals fast enough in the regions Rock Band is already released to warrant its release elsewhere.

I totally agree with you that Guitar Hero World Tour is a blatant rip off of Rock Band (which I was really looking forward to) and Neversoft should be ashamed of themselves but is the closest thing to Rock Band I'm ever likely to get. Bring it on.

 

[Jdopus]

Well, if you can think of something else that could sell their game instead of rock band send it on over to them.
But remember that absolutely no big companies care about innovation more than profit, this is basically the only route for them to take. Maybe I just don't have the imagination though...

 

[Sethran]

No, big companies care about innovation, it's just the companies that lack the balls to try something new that rip something else off. Harmonix may not have been the first to make peripherals for a game, but they were the first to make goofing off with the peripherals fun and in some cases essential to the gameplay.

 

[snuffler]

You know i was really hoping that guitar hero 4 would be "guitar hero 4", not "guitar hero we added drums and a mic too hero lol".

 

[Alone Disciple]

Well, if you can think of something else that could sell their game instead of rock band send it on over to them.
But remember that absolutely no big companies care about innovation more than profit, this is basically the only route for them to take. Maybe I just don't have the imagination though...

I see this sentiment a lot lately that GH is copying RB, and people criticize lack of innovation, but I have to ask what exactly are you expecting them to develop for under $200?

If you are going to have a Rock Band-esque game, you need vocal, hence a microphone, so I'm not sure how you're going to re-invent that peripheral. And what else would you use for drums....other than drums?

Maybe one could add a keyboard? A record scratching device for-hip tracks...but then again you're then moving away from the 'rock' genre.

Horns?...eww...I wouldn't want to put my lips on a shared mouthpiece.

If anything, I'd want them to concentrate on more song variety. Sure, we have rock, punk, alternative, metal represented. But dare I say some country songs? They use guitars the last time I checked. Reggae would be great with the bass groove and vocal....come on...what we rally need is songs that appeal to all genres.

 

[JakubK666]

Guitar Hero: It will sell in Europe like hot cookies.

I'm sorry but even the PS3 launch wasn't as much of a fail as Rock Band.

£170 < £240

Guitar Hero also seems to have a much higher brand loyalty in Europe too.

 

[Johnn Johnston]

Like Rock Band, but with very customizable characters. But apart from that, it's pretty much the same.

 

[Zombie_King]

But nothin'!

 

[Sethran]

If you are going to have a Rock Band-esque game, you need vocal, hence a microphone, so I'm not sure how you're going to re-invent that peripheral. And what else would you use for drums....other than drums?

See, the problem is, Guitar Hero isn't meant to be Rock Band-esque.

It's meant to be Guitar Hero.

Whereas Rock Band offers a higher variety of songs primarily due to the fact that they have to have easy and tough songs for guitar, vocals, and drums, Guitar Hero is supposed to -- as the name suggests -- focus on guitars.

It wasn't meant to be a fully fleshed rock band experience, it was only meant to be a simple easy to play guitar simulator. I'm all for advancing the Guitar hero franchise, but they've taken it from Guitar Hero and morphed it into Rock Band, which it isn't supposed to be.

 

[Johnn Johnston]

I get your point, but it's all about the money in the end. The game devs might want to keep the focus on the 5-string, but the bosses would pressure them to add vocals and drums in order to keep up with Rock Band.

 

[LewsTherin]

My vote is to leave all these "music" games and learn to play REAL instruments....you can make your own songs on those, too.

 

[Sethran]

Yes but that would involve talent.

I have no head for musical instruments whatsoever, though I can sing and I am an actor. I find the guitar simulation to be fun, if not as addictive as other people find it. Playing it won't turn me off learning guitar, my inability to play the guitar turned me off to it already.

Don't punish those who can't play real instruments by demanding the music games be destroyed. :|

 

[Stammer]

I have no head for musical instruments whatsoever, though I can sing and I am an actor. I find the guitar simulation to be fun, if not as addictive as other people find it. Playing it won't turn me off learning guitar, my inability to play the guitar turned me off to it already.

The problem is, if someone does have talent and they take up the game thinking they don't have talent, we just missed out on another great celebrity. Though, maybe that's a good thing. Fewer celebrities means less dumb drama in the news. I mean, sorry if that's the kind of stuff you like to hear, but I hate seeing on the front page of the newspaper "Celebrity gets wasted, stoned, and shot, then taken to the hospital."

 

[Tony Harrison]

I like Harmonix, they've made some excellent games. With Guitar Hero they successfully adapted existing gameplay for a new market, but I don't see why that should grant them exclusivity in the music game field. Both Rock Band and Guitar Hero seem to be trying to emulate the same experience now, so they're both going to be heading in the same direction. Neversoft/Activision are going to retain the name and style Harmonix created simply because it is part of a recognised brand. I don't see why this competition is treated with such contempt when it provides an incentive for improvement, particularly regarding the peripherals.
I'm interested to see how Activision treat the PAL regions because EA have messed up here with Rock Band.

 

[TheIceface]

As stupid as it is, this is the winning formula. One company will come up with (or dig up) a cool idea, another company will copy it and add or subtract a few things. Hopefully the games become progressively better, although this is not always the case.

Take controllers for example. I threw a fit when I saw the 360 controller for the first time, it was a white PS2 controller with the joystick switched with the D-pad. I got over it after a while, I mean, if everyone had original ideas, most things would suck. However, if everyone copies everyone else's good ideas everything is the same, so there are just suckier versions of the same successful thing.

What I'm trying to say is, I really hope Guitar Hero adopts all the good things from Rock Band, and adds a bunch of cool crap.

Then I can call up one of my buddies at Activision and get a copy of the game for free! Ha ha ha ha ha ha, suckers! You losers have to pay for your console games! Ha ha ha ha ha!!

 

[babyblues]

WTF indeed.

I just hope my Rock Band instruments will work with this game. More songs = good, after all.