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Perhaps the most promising thing about Guitar Hero Metallica isn't Metallica themselves, but the slew of accompanying artists that are also appearing in the game. One of those is Slayer. And getting Slayer was tough.
Boy, Guitar Hero: Metallica got exciting all of a sudden, didn't it? Promising tracklist, a fine selection of "other bands" to play with...let's see what Metallica have to say about the whole thing.
Haven't seen this myself, so it's rumour for now, but a number of people claiming to have their hands on the latest Game Informer are also claiming to have details on Guitar Hero: Metallica.
Guitar Hero World Tour is getting the Xbox Live Weekend treatment come November 27th, snagging the coveted US Thanksgiving spot on Microsoft's service. They're planning on making good use of the four-day weekend as well, kicking things off with an all-nighter kicking off Thanksgiving Day, lasting from sunset to sun up, targeted at those of you who can somehow stave off the sleepy effects of consuming massive amounts of dead bird. Then on Friday the obligatory play and win sweepstakes starts, running throughout the weekend with prizes ranging from 1GB memory sticks to a Samsung home theatre system.
Finally, on Saturday the 30th from 10:00PM to 1:00AM GMT (Sunday 1st, 2:00PM-5:00PM AEDT), players will be able to jam online with the folks from Neversoft, from the Producer on down to the QA testers. Hit the jump for the full list of Neversoft friends to add to your list, as well as more details on how you can participate in the weekend's festivities.
When Guitar Hero III was released in 2007, it sold 1.39 million copies across the various platforms in its first week on sale. That generated $US115 million for Activision. When Guitar Hero World Tour launched in 2008, it sold 534,000 copies in its first seven days. That "only" generated $US67 million. That's got to be disappointing for Activision. Sure, you can point to the fact the complete GHWT package is prohibitively expensive in these troubled economic times, but you didn't need to buy the whole pack. Indeed, so many people own a previous Guitar Hero a lot of people could just buy the disc. So what gives? Who knows. Rock Band's probably got a lot to do with it, but I'd never overlook the fact that more casual gamers - and a lot of Guitar Hero owners are just that - don't stomach annual updates as easily as us suckers do.
NPD: Behind The Numbers, October 2008 [Gamasutra]
Take a look at this craigslist ad. It's looking for testers for a "music-based videogame". One from a "Major videogame manufacturer". Those testers need to be "fans of bands like Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Metallica, Korn, AC/DC and Judas Priest". The job's in Santa Monica. Now, we're not (often) ones to go jumping to conclusions, but a major music game? About metal? And the job's in Santa Monica, which just so happens to be home to Guitar Hero: World Tour developers Neversoft? It's got to be Guitar Hero: Metallica. Unless it's...Guitar Hero: KoRn. *shudder*. Best for everyone, then, if it's Guitar Hero: Metallica. So if you're in the area, short on cash, like Metallica and have a visa, go sign up! You'll get $US25 an hour, plus a copy of the game.
Don't say we didn't warn you. Despite, well, warnings that they just wouldn't stand for anybody creating then sharing real songs over Guitar Hero: World Tour's song creation utility, people went ahead and did it anyway. During the game's first week on sale, the GH Tunes "store" was littered with recreations of game tunes like the theme to Mario. And the theme to Zelda. You get the idea. Well, those are now gone. And the others that are still there - like tunes from Final Fantasy and Sonic - probably won't be there much longer, either. Our advice? Get creative with those song titles. "Sonic Theme" is no good. But "Baby Stole My Heart And Stashed It In Green Hill Zone"? More subtle. Might get in under the radar.
Let's face it, you can't compete against Rock Band with just guitars. You can decide to go your own route and own the Guitar-only rhythm game genre, but that seems like a formula to lose money and no one is in this business to do that. So Guitar Hero IV, aka Guitar Hero World Tour, had to come up with a band of its own. And the developers did it in spades rolling out a six-piece drum kit with two raised cymbals, a snare, and two toms, all of which are velocity-sensitive. Neversoft also made the guitar bigger, more realistic looking and added a fretless slider panel. And the innovation didn't stop with the instruments; gameplay got a major overhaul too.
Two bits of news hit the Guitar Hero World Tour community sites this week about drum compatibility.
Top of the list is news that Xbox 360 users can now download a Guitar Hero World Tour update that will allow ION Drum Rocker owners to use the drum kit with the game.
More importantly Neversoft wants everyone to know that while they've done everything they can to get the Guitar Hero World Tour drum and guitar to work with Rock Band 1 and 2, they've reached an impasse.
Activision has announced two free tracks available for download to celebrate the release on Sunday, October 26th, from two bands Neversoft had wandering about their office. You might remember Endless Sporadic from their track "Impulse" on Guitar Hero III. Now they're back with a new single, "Anything", featuring Neversoft Designer Andy Gentile on drums and Zach Kamis on guitar, keyboard, and bass. Way to multitask. Along with "Anything", Neversoft Designer David Stowater delivers the song "Electro Rock" from his creation Sworn, whose tracks will also be appearing on iTunes the same day.
With Harmonix doing the same thing with their in-house bands in Rock Band, it seems like the way to get ahead in the music business these days is to learn how to program. Hit the jump for the helpful press release, complete with links to each band's MySpace.
