-
Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!
Guitar Hero World Tour IGN Blowout
- Thread starter schuelma
- Start date
McBradders said:
I fully understand complaints about cross-compatibility for guitars, considering as of now they're all the same basic thing, just shaped differently. But seeing as your complaints seem to stem from having to spend money on another drum kit, I'm going to say there's something wrong with that. Activision aren't just making an identical kit and locking the RB one out. They've gone and made a kit that looks like it can provide something that is above and beyond what the RB kit offers. It sounds to me like you're saying since the RB kit came first every drum kit from either company should have a 4pad+kick pedal chart so we can maintain compatibility instead of improving the experience. Of course as a company they're in it for the money, but they're providing a (possibly, I guess nothing is definite) better drum experience, so there is a justifiable reason for the lock out, unlike the guitars.
It's not right to force the consumer to have 4 guitars with the same basic functionality (5 frets, strum bar, nothing else *required* to play either game), but if Harmonix had released some function that gameplay required that made guitar playing a better experience (6th fret button or something else) I wouldn't have some expectation that GH guitars would work, and likewise with the drums.
JonathanEx
Member
Lead/Rhythm/Bass.Dina said:
plagiarize
Banned
i really hope GH:WT has rhythm guitar where appropriate as GH2 and 3 did. i really miss it in Rock Band, even if it was only a handful of songs that offered it.
McBradders
NeoGAF: my new HOME
DarkJC said:
I'm fully on board with the drum issue, I am, really. From the look of the thing it is the "superior" kit. I'm not gonna buy it, I simply don't have the room or the desire to pick up another unwieldy piece of kit to clog up my living space.
In Activisions favour, they have tried to differentiate the kit in favour of the experience. Were they to soften on their stance and allow cross sompatibility on all instruments, I am sure there are ways to ensure both are playable in the game (like with the new slidey-touch guitar).
And, again, I present you Rock Revolution as yet further evidence as to why this approach sucks. What the hell was that mess of a drum controller they presented? Are they honestly serious about this endeavour? At least by conforming to an already subscribed to standard they could have perhaps caught a lot of sales between GH iterations, but now?
What hope do they have?
So rather than everyone being able to join the party, you've now got to be rich and live in 12 acres of land, or pick a side and defend it to the death. Format wars within format wars. Oh what fun.
Rock Band isn't doing that much worse than GH3 on the 360, and possibly PS3 as well. But on the PS2 (and Wii obviously), Rock Band is way behind. And while GH3 has sold incredibly well on all platforms, the order is PS2, 360, Wii, PS3--and the amount sold on the PS2 completely dwarfs that on any other platform.onemic said:
That said, Rock Band has been really successful in developing mindshare, especially with HD console owners. I hear people talking about it all the time. Unfortunately, a lot of them are talking about in terms of how expensive it is, and how they can't afford it. The four-player aspect also means people feel less compelled to buy it themselves, so unless EA starts advertising RB as a one-or-two-player game you're probably never going to see GH-like sales for it. This is a problem that Activision will have to address, especially in today's economy, if they want GH4 to sell well. If they're smart (and considering how much they appear to enjoy driving the GH brand into the ground, despite how promising this version sounds) they will advertise both bundles heavily.
GH4's new features sound excellent. The new guitar looks extremely classy, and the drumset looks good too (though I don't intend on buying it, since I won't really have space in my dorm). The music maker sounds like it's going to be very good, which is important to me because that is the reason that I decided for sure that I was going to buy the game. And as long as Neversoft makes good on its word and fixes up the charts and tightens the timing window, the setlist should be pretty amazing as well.
The way they're supporting the Wii makes me very happy. On one level, I kind of expected it, because GH3 is one of the few "hardcore" (perhaps debatably) third-party games that has done extremely well on the platform, which means that for Activision the Wii's userbase advantage is actually relevant. On the other hand, between all the crap they pulled with the Wii version of GH3 (not to mention the PS2 and PS3 versions, but at least they patched the last of these) and the way third-party publishers generally treat the Wii, on another level it's a pleasant surprise. Hopefully Nintendo will come out with some sort of storage solution for us geeks and otakus 'cause frankly it was about damn time two years ago and at some point their stubborn unwillingness to admit that they fucked up ceases to be endearing and starts being infantile and disingenuous and that point was also about two years ago. People are not just storing VC games on the Wii, Nintendo. Nor is your longass encryption/decryption process the equivalent of shifting stuff around in a fridge. Wake the fuck up.
I'm amused at how quickly a lot of people are jumping off the Rock Band wagon and onto the GH one, though. It should be obvious at this point that Harmonix will do exactly what Neversoft did--take a good, long look at the competition, extract the best features, add even more enhancements, and announce RB2. If you've already invested that much money in expensive peripherals--even if they're shitty and unreliable RB peripherals--why transfer? It all seems a bit silly.
Besides, while GH is the much bigger franchise for now, Activision is so determined to turn its story into THPS in fast-forward that it probably won't be for long. Four SKUs per year is simply too much for the average consumer, and I have no doubt that the franchise has peaked with GH3. An impressive peak, admittedly, at least saleswise, but no matter how good GH4 is I just can't imagine it doing as well; it has no more new platforms to expand to and it's become so mainstream that I don't know whether there's that much more new audience to reach at this point. So even without Activison's help, the GH franchise has pretty much nowhere to go from here but down, and their treatment of it will only accelerate the process. I imagine Harmonix will be much more careful with their brand, and I see the Rock Band franchise being a steady and continuous seller for years to come. Long after Activision has abandoned its GH4 DLC and its servers, RB2 will still be receiving new content. In the long run, if you want to continue to see support from the developers and you don't have a Wii, RB is probably your best bet. If GH4's custom song features are really good developer support might not matter as much, of course.
CurseoftheGods
Banned
Ceres said:
Not to mention that each disc covers one fucking band only.
sneaky77 said:
The charts in GH3 are just not as fun as the charts in RB, unless fun = hard. For me, this is a casual game, one I only really play when I have friends over. If no one can advance past medium it's epic fail. I never made it to expert in GH3, because hard was so painful.
Compare me the reptilia prechorus in GH to the one in RB. http://youtube.com/watch?v=GalqSYGFv2k (starts at 1:25). Wtf is that? It's hard for the sake of being hard.
One of them is a portable game. If you have to resort to that, it's obvious you don't have a good point. GH Metallica is being released next year, so it's only two GH for 2008. On top of that, it's not like Aerosmith is meant for everybody, it's just a glorified DLC compilation of Aerosmith and a bunch of other artists.Sharp said:
People will buy it because they feel like they need more songs to play or because they are Aerosmith fans, not because it's the next GH. The same that's been happening with RB since it was released. I don't see people complaining anyone is flooding the market because they release DLC on a weekly basis. In fact you just have to read people writing "I've spend up to 150 dollars worth of DLC".
I think Activision is doing a good job at advertising Aerosmith as a way to live the Aerosmith story. And at the same time they're telling the next real thing is World Tour. The message is pretty clear. If you have to label someone as stupid it's gotta be EA/MTV/HMX, by releasing a shitty and late Wii port and screwing Europe with a retared price.
Look, I'm not an RB apologist. I don't even own the game, though I play it on a regular basis. I'm a huge Guitar Hero fan and the way that Activision is treating the franchise upsets me. GH:'80s was bad enough, but now we have tons of games in this vein. Providing DLC that increases the longevity of a game you already bought is pretty different from milking your franchise with one-band releases, unfortunate exclusivity deals and exorbitant price tags. Everything I've heard about GH4 makes me think it's going to be awesome, but that doesn't exactly negate Activision's overall poor treatment of the franchise. You'd think they'd learned their lesson with Tony Hawk, but apparently every time the executives hear "Guitar Hero" all they see is bottomless piles of cash thrust upon them by eager and willing consumers in an economy where they don't seem to want to buy anything else, and they think, "wow, we'd better get in on this as much as possible before people wake up out of this crazy dream world!" It is disappointing and would be even if they were all guaranteed to be good games, which after playing '80s recently I'm more certain than ever most of them won't.sneaky77 said:
keyrat said:
I agree.. I canot play expert in gh and I hit the wall on raining blood in hard in gh3, so I hope the charts in hard are better balanced.. but if you play expert.. then I guess it means expert.. thats why the other difficulties are there.. my problem with gh3 was that medium was too easy and the last tier in hard is way too hard.
But like I said, if I was going to play a difficulty called expert I would expect it to be as close to the real thing as possible. I can't play expert well.. in rockband I do but I havent passed all songs that I have... but I don't complain cause I am not good enough for it.. like I said is called expert for a reason so I am okay with it, I don't feel like a lesser person cause I play for fun and hard is fun for me.,
McBradders said:
This is my main issue with this whole debacle as well. Unfortunately with two competing franchises, I'm unable to think of a way where one can innovate/improve the formula but where consumers can expect complete compatibility between both products, patents/licensing issues aside. Of course working together to keep some sort of instrument standard is one way but since they're competing franchises I don't think we can realistically expect that to happen.
Sharp said:
If you hate all the spin offs, why not only buy the main series? (1 2 3 4)
And i like them, not necesarilly for myself but what about people in europe without a credit card? they cant buy DLC. Heck there are even people who dont even have their console hooked up to the internets.
Activision recently made the official statement that they'd be pursuing four GH games per year. Of course I'm aware that On Tour is on a handheld, but it is definitely a separate game--and it will be a pretty bad one, judging by the fact that the tracklist has a ton of songs from other GH games--so I'm not sure what your point is. Do the handheld Castlevanias not "count"? I'm not "resorting" to anything, dude. Either way, I have no idea why you think multiple games per year being released in the same franchise, at $50-$60 a pop ($100+ with peripherals) is not "milking." Please do, I'm really curious.fresquito said:
The DLC argument is sort of a nonstarter. GH3 has DLC too (except on the Wii, that is), just not nearly as consistently, nor on average of the same quality. DLC does not "flood the market." DLC does not confuse consumers. It does not introduce multiple high-priced SKUs into retailers, and it frequently does not require its own advertisements. $150 in DLC is indeed a lot, but it doesn't really address my point, which is that Activision is watering down their brand with so many releases. DLC does not exactly constitute a release.
Once again: I have no vested interest in the success of Rock Band; if anything, I would prefer to see Guitar Hero be successful, since I've already invested in it. Do you really think I'm some sort of EA apologist? Did you not read my longass post? I'm fully aware that RB has pretty much shot itself in the foot when it comes to establishing any sort of foothold on the Wii, and on that platform GH is going to dominate for the foreseeable future.
That's exactly what I do. I'm not sure how it's relevant to the discussion though, any more than "well just buy the main series games then!" would be relevant to someone complaining about how much Capcom milks (well, milked) Megaman. And let me make this clear, it's not like I want GH to go all DLC. I just want them to stop constantly releasing games that piss off users and make them distrust the franchise.Tiduz said:
McBradders
NeoGAF: my new HOME
DarkJC said:
The terrible nature of the beast, unfortunately.
Tiduz said:
Put it this way. I bought GH3 for the PS3. My first GH game. They originally promised lots of DLC which was part of the reason I made the jump. Two months later I'd seen one pack released while Rock Band gets it every week. Eventually GH:Aerosmith gets announced. It basically tells me Activision has absolutely no interest in taking DLC seriously (hell, any DLC mentioned in press releases for WT points to it all being the user created content as opposed to legit releases). I had originally not wanted to get RB because I thought it was too much money. I was hoping the promised patch to make the GH3 guitars work on RB would happen and then Activision blocks that. My original plan was to pick up two GH3 guitars then grab RB and the drums separately. I finally gave in and picked up RB for $150 on Amazon. GH3 hasn't been played since February. I think the free Aerosmith song was the last thing I played the day it was released. My entire RB set works fine. Drums are used the majority of the time and are fully intact, guitar works perfectly (unlike the GH PS3 guitar that had latency issues actually). I honestly have no desire to provide Activision with any more money and I was fully willing to originally give them the majority of it. There's honestly only maybe 5 or 6 bands that would ever get me to buy another GH product.
McBradders
NeoGAF: my new HOME
AstroLad said:
Okay, I think I'm broken. Serious post?
On Tour cannot be accounted as a differnt SKU, but as a different version of the game. That's what I'm trying to say. On Tour is GH for the DS. It just happens that the nature of the platform makes for a whole different experience. What I'm trying to say is that On Tour is not another SKU that will confuse people, just like FIFA DS won't confuse anybody.Sharp said:
Aerosmith and Metallica aren't competing against GHWT, that's why I don't see them as different SKUs, but different approaches of the same game. You like Metallica? Wanna try this game? Maybe you'll get hooked to the formula. Are you hooked to the formula? What about some Metallica or Aerosmith stuff? I don't see how's confusing and I haven't seen how's hurt the brand, like many say it's already done. GH80 was released a year ago and GH3 has had the best numbers for the series. Did people get confused? Not really, it was meant to reach for new audiences, but never detracted from the main entry. Now, GH80 is a terrible product. The song selection is discussable, but everything's a cover. Aeromith seems to be a very solid addition that probably will do the same job, but offering a better game.
World Tour is where everything's at. And I don't think people is getting confused at all. As I said above, the message has been very clear, and Activision has done very well so far in this regard. World Tou seems like a great step up from GH3, then on we will be able say if Activision fucjed up GH, but up until now, seeing the numbers, I'd say they haven't at all.
Now, if you ask me, I'd take DLC everyday over disc releases, even when I have a Wii. That noted, not everybody can enjoy DLC and disc releases have a place in today's world.
As of this moment my plans are to buy the GH:WT bundle with guitar only. I still have a wired Xplorer so that'll move me into the range of all wireless guitars for GH and RB, and pass on the GH drums for the moment.
Thank god that the GH 360 controllers work in Rock Band, I'd hate to own a PS3 copy of GH/RB :/
Thank god that the GH 360 controllers work in Rock Band, I'd hate to own a PS3 copy of GH/RB :/
ThatObviousUser
ὠαἴÏÏιÏÏÎ¿Ï Ïαá¿Ï εἶ
keyrat said:
WTF, you chose that one? That's got to be one of the easiest Expert songs in GH3!
poppabk
Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
Or they held off because they have a Wii. Or live in europe. I think there are over 2 million Wii owners who have GH3 and so already have a Rock Band incompatible guitar. How many are really gonna buy into Rock band with GH:world tour round the corner. I don't think its co-incidence that this flood of info is happening just as Rock Band Wii launches.McBradders said:
Dina said:
Normal GH songs only have lead and bass, and it will stay that way since they can have vocals along with the 4 player max. The lead guitar chart sometimes includes parts of rhythm guitar, and it's been that way since Guitar Hero 1.
Since you can't have vocals in your custom songs, they let you create the 3rd guitar chart. Thus allowing you to have completely separate lead, rhythm, and bass note charts.
I really hope two things from the Editor.Struct09 said:
1) It allows you to use the micro once the song is recorded. I mean, the micro works, even if you never get any punctuation, but it would be awesome fun if at least they added Micro support to play over self-created songs. I'd hate to see micro turned off with no way to make it sound while you play your songs.
2) I really hope all the content is shared through all the versions of the gae. I'd hate to skip a darn good song because it's been created on the 360 and not on the Wii. And I guess the other way around would be the same. GHTunes must be a standarised service.
Skiptastic
Member
Man, I wish they would allow for three guitar battles so I could play songs from The Fucking Champs. Thor Is Like Immortal would be amazing in Guitar Hero.
CrunchinJelly
formerly cjelly
yodandy said:
