Guitar Hero Live
| Guitar Hero Live | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | FreeStyleGames |
| Publisher(s) | Activision |
| Series | Guitar Hero |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 3 PlayStation 4 Wii U Xbox 360 Xbox One Mobile |
| Release | October 20, 2015 |
| Genre(s) | Rhythm |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Guitar Hero Live is an upcoming music video game under development by FreeStyleGames, to be published by Activision for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One in the fall of 2015.
The game will serve as a reboot of the Guitar Hero franchise, being the first new entry in the series since Warriors of Rock in 2010. Guitar Hero Live will introduce major changes to the core gameplay and experience of the Guitar Hero franchise, including a revamped guitar controller with a new, 6-button layout, a new in-game presentation style that utilizes full motion video, simulating a real-world concert setting from the perspective of the guitarist, and a new Guitar Hero TV mode to encompass multiplayer and curated playlists in the style of television music channels.
Development
Background, aborted reboot
Rhythm games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band had been widely popular during 2005 to 2008, but due to oversaturation of the market and the onset of the 2009 recession, the rhythm genre suffered major setbacks, and the genre's popularity had quickly waned.[1] Sales of the previous instalment Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock were below estimates. The NPD Group reported 86,000 units sold in the United States across all platforms for the last five days of September during which it was available. This figure fell below the initial sales of the previous games, such as 1.5 million and 500,000 units in first-week sales for Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock and Guitar Hero World Tour, respectively.[2][3] Combined sales in North America of Warriors of Rock and DJ Hero 2 were below one million in 2010, 63% below the total sales of Guitar Hero 5, DJ Hero, and Band Hero in 2009.[4] Weak sales of Warriors of Rock, in part, led to Activision cancelling a planned 2011 sequel, and shuttering the Guitar Hero franchise.[5][6]
In a July 2011 interview with Forbes.com, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick stated that they were going to try to "reinvent" the series,[7] but a former teammember of Vicarious Visions has stated that as of 2012, all development of Guitar Hero has come to an end within Activision.[8] Another source close to Vicarious Visions had reported to Kotaku that while Guitar Hero 7 was in development under an Activision studio, the game was considered a "disaster".[9]
The cancelled game omitted the additional instruments and used only a guitar peripheral, redesigning the unit to include a 6-button mechanism replacing the strum bar; the resulting unit was considered too expensive to manufacture and purchase.[9] The developers had started from scratch to try to create new characters and venues that would be more reactive to the actual songs being played, to give the feel of a music video, but ultimately this proved too much of a challenge and had to be scrapped.[9] Further, with a limited budget, the song selection was limited to "low-budget" hits of the 1990s, or at times reusing songs that had previously been included in Guitar Hero games.[9] Though the team had a two-year development cycle, it was closed down after Activision president Eric Hirshber had seen the current state of the project at the one-year point.[9]
As Guitar Hero Live
In February 2015, rumors surfaced that new entries in both the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises for eighth generation consoles were in development; Harmonix announced Rock Band 4 On March 5, 2015.[10][11] On April 14, 2015, Activision officially announced a reboot of the Guitar Hero franchise, Guitar Hero Live, was under development by FreeStyleGames—developers of the previous DJ Hero games.[12]
In an interview with Fortune magazine, Activision's CEO of Publishing Eric Hirshberg found that even after five years without a game, the Guitar Hero brand still enjoyed high social media attention, with over 10 million followers on the Guitar Hero's Facebook page.[13] However, Hirshberg stated that Activision realized they needed to reinvent the series so that consumers would not consider it much the same as previous games and to help sway those that were turned off by the earlier saturation of music games.[13]
The task of developing the new game was given to FreeStyleGames around 2012, Activision giving the team freedom to develop the game without relying on the previous titles in the series.[14] The core gameplay of Guitar Hero Live was rebuilt from scratch; developer Jamie Jackson explained that the goal of the game was to bring "big innovation" to the franchise rather than continue with the same format used by previous games. He explained to his staff to only "think of [Guitar Hero] as a name. Think of it as a music game with a guitar peripheral, but pretend that nothing else has ever been done."[15] The team brainstormed on what had made the Guitar Hero series fun, and recounted the earlier titles of the series which were designed to enable the player to envision themselves as a superstar guitarist, subsequent design choices were made around recreating that experience. The team also cited fellow Activison franchise Call of Duty as an influence towards the goal of providing an immersive, first-person experience.[14][15]
The design of the game's guitar controller was overhauled; instead of using the traditional row of five colored frets used by previous Guitar Hero games, Live utilizes a new design with six frets arranged into two rows of three, designated by black and white-colored notes in-game. Jackson explained that the new layout was meant to make the game easier for new players, as the three-button layout avoids the need to use one's pinkie finger, a difficulty they recognized new players had on the traditional five-button controller.[14] The layout was also designed to provide a new challenge to experienced players, including more realistic simulations of chords.[16][15]
The game itself is presented in a more realistic and immersive style; the rendered stages and characters of previous games are replaced by full motion video, shot from the first-person perspective of the lead guitarist, simulating real-world concert settings. The video footage is dynamic, and can transition between versions featuring positive or negative reactions by the crowd and band members based upon the player's performance.[15] The first-person footage utilizes session musicians as actors playing the remaining members of the band, and is filmed using a Bolt robotic camera system, programmed to simulate the motions of a guitarist on stage. To enable smoother transitions between positive and negative versions of the band footage, multiple takes were performed for each song using the same camera motions.[15] Groups of 200 to 400 actors were filmed using a green screen to construct crowds; using varying takes and other editing techniques, the groups of actors could be made to cover much larger areas. Positional audio effects are also used as part of the footage, varying the volume of certain instruments depending on how close the player is to them on-screen in the footage.[12][16][15]
Gameplay
Guitar Hero Live follows similar gameplay to previous installments in the series, requiring players to use a guitar-shaped controller with buttons and a strum bar to match notes on a scrolling "highway" corresponding to notes played in a song. In contrast to the previous five-button design, the Guitar Hero Live controller features six buttons arranged into two rows of three. The frets are represented by three lanes on-screen, containing either black or white notes representing the two rows. Lower difficulty levels will only use one row of buttons, while higher difficulties may include "chords" that use a combination of buttons from both rows.[16][15] There are no present plans to include other instruments such as drums or vocals in the title, with Jackson stating that the game is "all about guitars".[14]
The main story mode will be a single-player experience; the Guitar Hero TV (GHTV) mode will serve as a free play mode with multiplayer support, offering the ability for players to play songs individually or in curated "channels" focusing on different genres of music. The mode will also perform background matchmaking, allowing players to compete against others on the same channel online in real-time. GHTV uses music videos rather than the filmed concert footage used in the main storyline.[12][14]
The game will also be playable via an app on mobile devices that supports the guitar, providing "[the] full game in an uncompromised way". Specific details have not yet been announced.[12]
Soundtrack
The soundtrack of Guitar Hero Live will span across a diverse selection of genres, the developers recognizing that challenging guitar tracks are not strictly limited to rock music.[17] The game's soundtrack will include songs by The Black Keys, Blitz Kids, Ed Sheeran, Fall Out Boy, Gary Clark, Jr., Green Day, The Killers, The Lumineers, My Chemical Romance, Pierce the Veil, The Rolling Stones, Skrillex, and The War on Drugs.[17] One song included in the announcement press demo was Fall Out Boy's "My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark".[14] Jackson stated that additional songs for the main Live mode may also be available as downloadable content.[14]
There will be no backwards compatibility with songs or controllers from previous editions of the franchise; Jackson justified the decision, explaining that Guitar Hero Live was a "completely new game" that existing content would not work with due to the change in core gameplay.[16]
Confirmed songs so far for the game: [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]
Guitar Hero TV
Additional songs will be introduced to the game through Guitar Hero TV (GHTV); Jackson explained that the feature and its curated playlists were "about discovering music as much as it is about going and finding music you know you already like".[12] Activision's Hirshberg stated that GHTV was developed as a better means to provide new songs to players through a round-the-clock content platform, rather than relying on scheduled downloadable content, allowing the company to provide a much larger quantity of songs.[13][14][12] Activision's Tyler Michaud stated that there will be "hundreds at launch on day one in GHTV alone".[27]
On starting the Guitar Hero TV mode, the player will be given a choice of a number of themed channels, which broadcast playable songs curated programs similar to a radio broadcast. One such channel will also always present new songs that have been added to Guitar Hero TV. Songs in Guitar Hero TV will be played over the music video for the song or live concert footage of the band playing the song, instead of the custom visuals for the main single player game. The player can pick up and play on any song that is being shown, but they will also be able to use in-game credits to replay a specific song outside of the channel's rotation.[28]
There will also be a part of the Guitar Hero TV series called GHTV Premium. Here, the player will compete asynchronously with other players as to attempt to reach the highest score, as well as to complete challenges set by Activision that often require the player to complete other songs offered on Guitar Hero TV. By falling into the highest scoring brackets, completing these challenges, and also completing goals in the single-player portion of the game, the player will earn in-game rewards, such as a reskinning of the guitar fret display, as well as in-game credits. In-game credits can also be purchased via microtransactions, though the developers have stated that Premium mode can be completed without having to purchase credits. The developers also plan to add the ability to buy an access pass that allows full access to all of GHTV's features for a limited period of time without having to spend additional credits.[28]
References
- ^ Caoili, Eric (2011-03-01). "Harmonix: Dance Central Outselling Rock Band 3". Gamasutra. Retrieved 2011-03-01.
- ^ Quillen, Dustin (2010-10-13). "Analyst: Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock Sales Disappoint in September". 1UP.com. Retrieved 2010-10-15.
- ^ Ivan, Tom (2010-10-15). "Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock makes 'fairly dreadful start'". Computer and Video Games. Retrieved 2010-10-15.
- ^ Meer, Alec (2011-01-26). "Cowen predicts "blowout quarter" for Activision". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 2011-01-26.
- ^ Yin-Poole, Wesley (2011-02-09). "Activision kills Guitar Hero". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2011-02-09.
- ^ Dutton, Fred (2011-02-09). "Acti explains Guitar Hero, True Crime cul". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2011-02-09.
- ^ Ewalt, David (2011-07-20). "Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick: How To Be An Innovator". Forbes. Retrieved 2011-07-21.
- ^ Thompson, Mike (2012-02-22). "Activision Smashes Guitar Hero Reboot Plans". Escapist. Retrieved 2012-10-07.
- ^ a b c d e Tolito, Stephen (2012-12-05). "Guitar Hero 7 Was Going To Have Six-String Guitars, No Drums, No Singing. Was Cancelled In 2011". Kotaku. Retrieved 2012-12-05.
- ^ "Can Rock Band/Guitar Hero Be Successful Again? Analysts Weigh In". GameSpot. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
- ^ "Rock Band 4 is coming, and Harmonix is bringing it back to basics". Polygon. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f Crecente, Brian (April 14, 2015). "Guitar Hero Live Aims to Reshape a Beloved Rhythm Game for a New Generation". Polygon. Retrieved April 14, 2015.
- ^ a b c Gaudiosi, John (April 28, 2015). "This $3 billion game franchise crashed and burned five years ago—but now it's back. Here's why". Fortune. Retrieved May 1, 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Stuart, Keith (April 14, 2015). "Guitar Hero Live: how a UK developer re-envisioned the music gaming legend". The Guardian. Retrieved April 15, 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f g Krupa, Daniel (April 14, 2015). "Guitar Hero Live Wants to Give You Stagefright". IGN. Retrieved April 14, 2015.
- ^ a b c d "Guitar Hero Live skips backwards compatibility as it reboots series". Eurogamer. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
- ^ a b Kalmari, Luke (April 14, 2015). "Activision Announces Guitar Hero Live with 2015 Release Date". IGN. Retrieved April 14, 2015.
- ^ http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/exclusive-rolling-stones-green-day-lead-guitar-hero-live-set-list-20150512
- ^ http://www.gamespot.com/articles/new-guitar-hero-s-first-songs-revealed/1100-6426874/
- ^ Makuch, Eddie (April 24, 2015). "New Guitar Hero's First Songs Revealed". Gamespot. Retrieved May 17, 2015.
- ^ "Guitar Hero Live Tracklist". TheHeroFeed. April 14, 2015. Retrieved May 17, 2015.
- ^ Matulef, Jeffrey (May 19, 2015). "Guitar Hero Live reveals 24 song setlist". Eurogamer. Retrieved May 19, 2015.
- ^ Sirani, Jordan (May 26, 2015). "10 more guitar hero live songs revealed". IGN. Retrieved May 26, 2015.
- ^ Haywald, Justin (June 2, 2015). "More New Guitar Hero Tracks: Weezer, Queen, Wolfmother, and More". Gamespot. Retrieved June 2, 2015.
- ^ "Guitar Hero Live - Riffing On Alter Bridge's "Addicted to Pain"". IGN. June 16, 2015. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
- ^ Lowe, Scott (June 16, 2015). "Guitar Hero Live Launching October 20 in North America, 20 New Tracks Announced". Activision. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
- ^ Shae, Brian (April 18, 2015). "Guitar Hero Live's GHTV To Feature 'Hundreds' Of Songs At Launch". Game Informer. Retrieved April 18, 2015.
- ^ a b Kamen, Matt (June 18, 2015). "Guitar Hero Live's GHTV mode explained". Wired (UK). Retrieved June 23, 2015.
External links
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| Expansions | |
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