That wasn't a very nice thing to say about Rick Allen, Fahey.

docacola

who?

waterhand

@LowNemesis: Wait, when was the Van Halen GH confirmed? That is all rumor based on one ambiguous statement that is staying alive because people want it to be true. Granted, half of the people want it to be true because they want to play GH Van Halen, and the other because they want there to be more GH games so they can say that the franchise is being run into the ground.

@SAKY: I really don't get what the problem is that people have with physical copies of the songs. Like you said, making something DLC only alienates the audience not hooked up to the internet and I would prefer having a back up anyway.

ceilingfanboy

@Spoony Bard: You win. That is a fucking awesome call :D

syl1985

Please put this content into Rock Band, members of Def Leppard. You know you want to!

RedFive

@ceilingfanboy: yeah that is possible, I wish we could know what goes on in the business of this. I can understand why DLC would be less profitble for the artists as you are then narrowing the consumer market to those with a console AND internet connection. I could come up with theories all day. :)

I would love to know "why the high prices on DLC?"

SAKY

@Evil J: Agreed, I guess I am not the only one who just enjoys expanding their RB Library.

LowNemesis

@JRock: Your'e right it is pointless. Activision is going to run GH into the ground. Just like Tony Hawk. Does no one notice that GHII and GHIII came out in the same year and now were gonna have GH Aerosmith, GH Van Halen, and GHIV. Come on people this is crap. I'll stick to my Rock Band DLC. It's cheaper than GH's DLC as well.

LowNemesis

Will there be an Acheivment for playing the drums with one arm tied behind my back?

Mr.SithNinja

So the Rock Band version comes with an extra foot pedal?

boopadoo

crap, i thought it said LED ZEPPELIN. oh well, Def Leppard still kicks ass.

Sweet Tooth

Def Leppard! (Attention) O.O

Guitar Hero 4... (Ignore) ¬.¬

King Seafoam

@SAKY: By looking at the track record for both companies, releasing new titles rather than DLC actually is the cheaper way, though. I guess when you put up a track pack of an artist or 3 the royalties are higher because it is evident that the people downloading those tracks are downloading them specifically for that one or few artists. That seems to be the most logical explanation to the high DLC cost to me.

ceilingfanboy

@Malaky: "Through the Fire and Flames" was the most downloaded song on iTunes among the other songs featured on GH3. NOT the #1 download.

@Evil J: Ditto. I like the Dropkick Murphys, yet really have no interest in launching GH3 again.

I might be interested in Guitar Hero again if they:

1) Fix the note charts
2) Fix the animations
3) Fix the character designs
4) Take out the battles

Basically, if they make it Guitar Hero again.

mind in rewind

@relic1980:

I'd like to see that.

Billkwando

What has 9 arms and sucks? Can't say Def Leppard is much of a selling point for me.

Goodthymes

@Pips:
The only reason not to have both is money.

Now, the thing is that so long as the hardware doesn't change for this generation, you're absolutely right, I'll likely buy the stand alone games.

However, I'm severely disappointed with GHIV info coming out already. I beat the game the first week I had it, downloaded a few of the paltry DLC packs they put out (c'mon, a whole No Doubt pack? that makes sense for Rock Band, not GH), and was ready to shell out some DLC cash (though people hate it) to keep it fresh where the other games went stale.

Seriously, these are games where whole new titles aren't needed to keep it fresh and exciting. The weekly DLC packs from Rock Band are a good indication of that. I hate to use the upcoming phrase, but... Rock Band gets played every other day by either me or my wife. Guitar Hero? Collecting dust. I haven't even bothered to fire it up to play the FREE Dropkick Murphy's pack.

Evil J

Def Leppard?... *shouts to heavens with tears streaming* Why, god, why?
There isn't a band I despise more on all of this land than Def Leppard. The name alone inspires deep desire to hurt small animals. "If we change around the letters it makes it metal, right?" Can't wait to play Lep in Gatarr Heroe IV. Joy!
Talk about Bringin' On The Heartbreak. At least that joke made it hurt a little less.
P.S. For a hoot watch "Hysteria: The Def Leppard Story". It may be the worst bio pic ever. Didn't they put any of their money into it or did they stay hands off?

Erwin

If you like these types of game there is no reason you shouldn't be buying both.

When a new GH comes out, you get a whole new campaign to play through with a whole new selection of music. Rock Band 2 will be the same way.

You're fooling yourself if thinking you can just keep downloading new music will keep it fresh/cheaper forever. When Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero 4 come out, you will buy them. Don't try and kid yourself.

And to the guy who thought it was lame for a band to have multiple songs by the same artist. Newsflash, its always been this way for both games. Woop?

Pips

... I can't believe you went there.

Then again, considering some of the 'there' you've been to in the past, maybe it's not that surprising...

As for the song choices? Well I thought 'Photograph' was kinda cool... so maybe I'll check it out. (Though what I really want is ROCKS THE 80s II!)

DarkTetsuya

Verse moi du sucre dessus! Envoye Bébé!

Anyway, great news but is it just me or musicians are being big mouths lately? Game publisher tend to keep secret most of their business but I guess it just doesn't work that way in any other business...

Oh and GH4 better be better than GH3... Total let down for me on that one. Boss battles sucked, a good load of songs were "meh" and freakin' Dragonforce sucked balls! And I'm not talking about the menus... Damn were they awful! And what about the caracters? Ugh, Judy Nails was awful and Lars Umlaut is on that box while there is like 4 metal songs in the whole game. Guess they wanted people to associate him with Kiss :p

Still MTV/Activision/Whatever achieved their goals in putting the game mainstream. 3 weeks after it was released some people who never even played a videogame were looking franticly for it. Hell even 2 months after it was still a real frenzy. I mean, the boss where my mom works was looking for it and did not even know how to play it AND, did not know the obvious fact that you need to have a console to run it. O.O Talk about getting swept by a craze!

And talking about Dragonforce. Guess what song was the most downloaded on itunes 3 weeks after the release of the game? That's right: "Through the fire and flames". I mean, don't tell me all those people like Dragonforce... I can understand some people do but to me that was more a case of: "Oh man it's that song with the crazy guitar that is so fast!"

grrrr

Sorry, had to vent and add my 0.02$ :p

Malaky

I want HYSTERIA!!!!!!!! Best guitar riff and solo ever.

ElektroDragon

Also see:
I'd give my left arm to play drums for Def Leppard.

infamyRISE

@Fiztaru: YES!!! Anyone who caught that reference is AWESOME.

"Let's just take a step back. No I'm sorry a step forward. And a step back and a step forward and now we're cha cha-ing!"

@Spoony Bard: LOL that was brilliant. I'm really getting it too :D

rachaza

Def Leppard huh.... ummm, neat?
Sorry GH, not enough to pull my attention away.

I'll be over here playing rock band still.

CaptLtrl

@Boy Howdy: Post of the day. I like the game and all, but at this point I'm pretty much looking forward to it's downfall.

kingclip

@iameleveneight: Official...Stripper...Anthem ^_^

relic1980

Def Leppard?! ... who cares?

RemyDuvalle

@LittlestLamshi: Tony Hawk thinks this is a fantastic plan, and sees no potential downfall.

Boy Howdy

We're leaking songs for two different GH games now? Ouch.

Boy Howdy

Already on Guitar Hero 4???? DAMN! what a cash cow...!

LittlestLamshi

@Len Bias Cocaine Surplus: Thanks, I didn't know.

SAKY

@Bobby McPresscott: oh well then to summerize MY OPINION: I won't be picking this up. I feel that this need to create one itterartion after another is needless when content can be delivered at a cheaper price. Both parties are guilty of this.

@KirbyMorph: agreed they do get some good songs, but that is a matter of opinion. I'm really interested to see album pricing, as such, I have yet to buy a song/pack for RB.

Guys I simply feel that my money is better spent on RB. I bought GH2, the content pricing and distribution methods were crazy. GH3 seemed like a cash in it didn't develop the series and RB to me was/is the evolution of Rock rythm games and I enjoy the variety. Sure GH has the multiplayer battle modes with the powerups but that shit is annoying to me.

Content wise, RB stuff is cheaper. I also don't like that I can't use my GH2, GH3 DLC with GH4. I hope Harmonix sticks with the plan to allow RB1 songs to play w/ RB2, they did mention it.

Don't get me wrong GH is good and all but I feel my money was better spent on RB.

SAKY

"Personally I was hoping they would show up as downloadable content for Rock Band, but that's only because I lost one of my drumsticks. Oh come on, I had to go there. It was a moral imperative."

OMG, that is fucking hilarious! I just LOL'ed in my 19th Century British Literature class!

NinjaBurg3r

3 songs by one artist in one GH? No thanks. Unless the playlist is made that much larger to accomdate the multiple songs. It's the reason I will be passing on the Aerosmith version until it comes down in price.

I don't mind artist pack DLC (I can CHOOSE to buy those)...but not on-disc. One thing I've always loved about both RB and GH is the variety of music available.

And I didn't intend for this to turn into RB vs. GH, as I play and enjoy both games quite a bit. But I simply wanted to point out some flaws in the following logic:

@KirbyMorph: and a large chunk of its playlist is the random indy bands and bonus tracks.

GH's has 7 tiers of 5 songs and 1 tier with 4 (Boss battles do NOT count as songs). That's 39 total tracks in the main setlist. And I think 20+ bonus songs from bands of varying levels of mainstream. That's like 30% of the total tracks.

RB has 9 tiers of 5 in the main setlist. Plus 13 bonus songs. Somewhere around 20% of the total game.

Very few people do the whole karoke thing, so I'd wager you only plya drums and guitar with the occasional mic if people were over.

"Very few"? Do you check the leaderboards? Do you play online? It's never hard to find a vocalist. Maybe you don't enjoy them, but you don't speak for a majority.

TRT-X

What? No Rock Band? Meh...

Han Daimond

That was weak, Mike, about that one drumstick thing.

I risk the banhammer by informing you that you /fail.

Hardcore

Hehe, I am feeling you on the 'Photograph' bit.

But dude, you really need to spellcheck & grammar check your article. :)

Livid

I mock this! (but secretly think it's awesome).

Story Time folks! (skip if you like):

The first song I ever learned to play on the guitar was Armageddonit, back when Hysteria first came out. I bought the sheet music, but it was completely useless, so that was the beginning of me learning to play by ear. This was in 6th or 7th grade. As a bit of background, I grew up in Georgia, in the Bible Belt, where every teacher was either a practicing Christian, or claimed to be, for fear of their job.

One day we're sitting around in history class and somehow we started discussing music. Of course, most of the boys mentioned that they liked Def Leppard, and I pointed out that I was learning to play it on guitar.

Our history teacher, Mr. Guthrie, tells us "You shouldn't listen to Def Leppard, it's Satanic!" In Georgia, all rock that wasn't country or southern rock (i.e. Lynard Skynard) was satanic.

I, of course, point out to him that Def Leppard is NOT satanic. He disagrees, and states: "You bring in their lyrics tomorrow and I bet you I can find something satanic in there!". I agree to this bet.

The next day, I bring in the sheet music to Armageddonit and hand it to him. He sits down in from of the class, and starts reading it silently, furrowing his brow.

After about 2 minutes, he hands it back to me.

"Well?" I say.

He responds:

"That's not Satanic, that's just STUPID!"

I nod knowingly, and go sit at my desk.

[www.azlyrics.com]

@Hauler:

LMAO.

@Bobby McPresscott: Ah yes, the time honored tradition of stopping fanboyism by perpetuating it. It never gets old. Kinda like going to a forum and making a post to tell people to stop whining about [subject], which is then countered by posts informing the original poster that he is "whining about whining".

The difference is, the person you're replying to has a point, as does KirbyMorph.

[This message brought you by someone who owns neither game as of this writing]

Billkwando

Man, I thought these guys were dead...

halo00to14

@KirbyMorph:
The real benefit of Rock Band over GH3:
Less 'tard rock.
Though it still has plenty of baby/safe metal :/
... and it still does have some 'tard rock....
But at least it doesn't dominate a huge portion of it.
Harmonix crafted a more diverse game. Just as with GH1 and GH2.

GH3 = for the "WOO RAWK! YEEEAH |,,| GET SOME RAWK! WOOO!!!! GUNS N ROSES ROOLZ! GIMME THE BEER WOOOOOO!!! AFTER THIS IMMA SHOOT SUMFIN ONLINE! EXPLOSIONS! WOO!" crowd.

You can blatantly tell exactly the kind of audience that game was aimed for by the big ol' CG Slash on the cover.

otimus

@ceilingfanboy: Actually it's "What has nine arms and rocks?" :p

This is truly a great day.

eclipsegryph

@Hauler: Wouldn't that be 9 arms?

On topic: Why the hell isn't "Pour some sugar on me" one of the songs?

PissedPS3Fan

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Where's "Pour Some Sugar On Me?"

iameleveneight

"See for yourself once Guitar Hero 4. During an interview wit the band"? Thank God you're not required to check for errors, guys.

mariospants

"It's a moral imperative"? Ha! I know a "Real Genius" reference when I see one. Well played, Mr. Fahey. Well played!

"Well, maybe you ARE smarter than I am. But...can you do this?" [pirouettes around the room]

Fiztaru

Yay GH4!

aR-Tard

@SAKY: Those MS Points are real money.

Len Bias Cocaine Surplus

@aveneyer: Wouldn't Activision be the company milking GH?

0x15e

@Bobby McPresscott: but but we all know you cant own more then one game in the same genre. Just like you can only own one game console. Fanboys will be fanboys. Its what they do. They are just trying to justify there purchase to everyone else by putting down the only competition said purchase has.

Detre

@SAKY: Uh, what crack are you smoking? If you buy songs on Rock Band once a month, you'll spend more on Rock Band in 6 months than you would buying Guitar Hero once a year.

GH3 even shipped with like 30 more songs that Rock Band and had a more robust scoring system than it. There's no high scores for quick play or career modes, there's no FC'ing songs, you can get gold stars only on Expert in RB and it doesn't even require much effort or even a 100% on the song.

Most of the songs on Rock Band consist of band songs, ie. songs a band would enjoy. There are very few guitar centric songs because most suck for the singer or drummer or bassist.

And how can you get 4 times as much play time out of 2 more instruments on less songs in Rock Band? Guitar Hero has bass and guitar, which makes up half the instruments in Rock Band. Very few people do the whole karoke thing, so I'd wager you only plya drums and guitar with the occasional mic if people were over.

Rock Band is a better game, but a lot of its fanboys, like yourself, are ignorant and spout the most messed up things imaginable. Rock Band is about bleeding its customers dry of money with microtransactions. It ships with less songs. It ships with less GOOD songs (the first half of the playlist is terrible if you go through world tour) and a large chunk of its playlist is the random indy bands and bonus tracks.

It did this not because it wanted to force you to buy that $5 Metallica pack on Day 1. It did this because it wanted to nickel and dime you into buying more content that should have shipped with it, like hte newer $10 5 song "albums" (since when does an album have only 5 songs?).

I bought around 15 songs so far. That's $30 roughly (more since Canada gets fucked on MS points for some reason). Are you saying if Rock Band 2 shipped this fall with 60 more songs on it for $60, it would be a bigger rip off than me buying 30 songs for the same price from their Rock Band store? How is that "saving money"?

Again, Rock Band is a great game, but it is a bigger rip off in terms of money than Guitar Hero, even if GH shipped a new version every 6 months.

KirbyMorph

Why isn't this on Rock Band?

I want to be able to play drums and have a free arm to drink with.

Len Bias Cocaine Surplus

@brooza:

pwnd myself. yep

WordMan

Rockband gets my money now- nuts to GH's "Well, someone on scorehero.com FC'd it, lets keep making it harder!" mentality. It's only a matter of time before EA's milks it dry, and we're just getting a taste of it.

aveneyer

@SAKY: You are aware you didn't sign a contract when you bought Rock Band? There is no need for you to try and sell their product every time you spot any article with a vague connection to Rock Band. This article is not about how awesome you think Rock Band is, it is about Def Leppard being in Guitar Hero 4. Anyone who has Rock Band has no need to hear your lines, and anyone like me who was ever considering it threw out the possibility after seeing how it turned everyone on Kotaku who plays it into a mindless marketing zombie for Harmonix.

Bobby McPresscott

@Hauler: Does the singer have no arms?

What has nine arms and sucks? Not seven.

ceilingfanboy

Oh, hell yeah. Not that GH4 wasn't a confirmed day-one purchase anyway, but...this is awesome news.

eugaet

no Nugent?
that guy is indestructible, i swear. i once saw him deflect bullets with the power of his guitar!

aeonpulse

Bleeding that franshise!

Glad I picked RB over GH3, I get four times the play out of content with the drums, mic, etc thatn I would w/ GH. I don't have to shell out $60 every 6-12 months for a game that sees minor upgrades and needless game modes. Also, I am loving the new store layout. I can listen to a preview of a song and I get a breakdown of a song's diffuculty rating before I buy it.

DLC is going to be a cashcow for Hamonix/MTV. The devs don't need to rewite/add code every year and the consumer saves money. Everybody wins.

SAKY

Off to see Def Leppard, Whitesnake and Thunder in July :)

That'll be a brilliant gig

brooza

Im all for putting in some of the classic bands of the 80's, but come on if they really want to test GH players then add some Burzum and Gorgoroth and maybe Finntroll. Hell, if they want older bands then they could put on past one's like Possessed.

Tull

Oh, that joke was just so wrong.

dazyluz

What has seven arms and sucks?

Def Leppard.

Hauler

@WordMan: You mean 'Rocket'?

brooza

@Chapel: Or, you know, you could be paying $60 for a game that's, maybe, fun to play?

GH vs. RB is the dumbest argument since GH vs. real guitars.

JRock

Def Lep used to sound good, on analog cassette tape! But man, when I listened to them 17 yrs later...on CD...please! Make. It. Stop! AH YUH GETTIN IT! REALLY GETTIN IT? OH. COME GET IT FRUM ME!

SigmundTheSeaMonster

Ah, cool. My parents were good friends with Def Leppard when I was a kid. I went to their house and I remember going to their music room and just exploring, I was only like 7-8. They also played songs around a a fire in their garden if I remember correctly. The drummer is legend!

DiskoDanyo

I would've preferred 'Rock it'

Anyways, on other news that comes from the official "the Doors" message board, their manager said they would have a song on GH4. He didn't say which song, just that there would be one.

WordMan

I had to pee so I went to the bathroom.

I had to go there.

schizogony

Haha, one armed drummer.

Ulquiorra

@Ecks: It was missing in the video for Animal, but yeah, I know. He still performs them today though!

Mike Fahey

Still waiting for AC/DC...

AceKicker

want more def lep songs. 3 is not enough :)

Enyeez

one of these things is not like the other
one of these things just isn't the same...

guess I'll shell out another $60 for a game with a few songs that no one cares about instead of spending a few bucks here and there to buy songs I want for 4 different instruments. oh wait, no I won't

I get new content EVERY TUESDAY!

Chapel

@Ecks: ANCIENT but classic's

Azrial

Ouch.

Anyway, three songs they say? Sounds like a DLC pack to me...

JarenFace

"but that's only because I lost one of my drumsticks."

Not cool man.

reddevil3

They picked three ANCIENT songs, he had both arms then! (I think!)

Ecks

If Guitar Hero continues to ignore Pandora, I refuse to acknowledge its existence.

Screwing up a beautiful formula to make Judy Nails a slut and get rid of the best character is a sin no amount of music can absolve.

Polywhirl

@Spoony Bard: Classy :D

I might now be temped to fork out cash for GH - The Lep rules over them all... if they add Judas Priest i'm sold

Azrial

Guitar Hero 4 needs to come soon because that's the only way I'm buying a second guitar.

Clarke

Guitar Hero 4? ArmaGEDDON it!

(I had to go there.)

Spoony Bard

With this news, it's now a confirmed purchase.

caleb

@LowNemesis: I know it probably won't happen, but I do hope that they make the Aerosmith disk work with GHIII so you can install the songs on the system and not have to change disks if you are playing on a PS3 or 360.

ceilingfanboy

@SAKY: Perhaps, but I think the figure of RB DLC is somewhere over six million downloads. Not to shabby considering it hasn't found its way to Europe yet. Plus I like being able to pick and choose songs because I don't like about half of what is offered.

LowNemesis

@ceilingfanboy: Regardless of whether it will be released or not doesn't change the fact that I think there are too many sequel and spin-offs in the mix. Most likely we'll have GHV & GHVI before Rock Band 2 is announced the way it is going now. I'm not try to pick a fight here. It's just that I would rather have like two hundred songs on my list in rock band at some point in the future rather than have to switch between like 4 or 5 discs. It doesn't help that content from GHII wont work on GHIII. Plus I love the new in game music store in RB where you can preview downloads, it makes choosing way more simple. And in my OPINION(disclaimer) I think that the animations and graphic style is way cooler in rock band as well.

LowNemesis

As I finished reading this entry a man named Lazlo Hollyfeld walked out of my closet carrying a box full of empty Fritos bags.

Meltron3030

@LowNemesis: "And in my OPINION(disclaimer) I think that the animations and graphic style is way cooler in rock band as well."

That's not an opinion. That is FACT.

mind in rewind

@AceKicker:

and whitesnake
and Led Zeppelin
and some real Iron Maiden (give me running free, goddammit)

Angusslo

@mind in rewind: LOL, yeah, but I just didn't want to start an argument in case anyone disagreed or was just a plain GH fanboy.

LowNemesis

plus, I'm still burned by the idea that GH2 was going to have more DLC than any 360 game ever made ever... and they totally effed me on that one. I own GH2&3 and Rock Band. I don't play the GH games anymore... the guitars hurt my palms and I just don't enjoy them that much (well, I still play GH2 a bit. I do like the songs in it)

Chapel

@JRock: I find RB more entertaining song for song.

Chapel

I rather want variety in music in both franchises rather than a exclusive focus or Drummania/Guitar Freaks USA 2.0.

Sure, it goes against the current names, but what about Blues, Experimental, and Jazz? I know 70s punk has to be included some time.

HeartAino

@Ecks: "Pour Some Sugar on Me" was definitely post-accident. He had both arms for the other two.

//crosses fingers that "Foolin'" gets added

Gus Johnson's Cardiologist