Activision confirms Guitar Hero 5 date

By Robert Purchese Published 27 May, 2009

It's out a week before Beatles: Rock Band.

Activision has confirmed the September release date for Guitar Hero 5 that we told you about back in March. Gosh.

The 1st September date is stamped on the freshly-launched Guitar Hero 5 website alongside a sweepstake to win some real-life concert tickets if you can guess the full-game song line-up.

So far we know that the bands will include The Rolling Stones, The White Stripes, Kings of Leon, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Santana, Vampire Weekend, Beastie Boys, Coldplay, Duran Duran, Gorillaz, Jimmy Eat World, Muse and The Raconteurs.

We also know Guitar Hero 5 will allow players to use any combination of instruments and join in mid-song. It's less faffy.

There are plenty of other improvements besides. All the DLC for Guitar Hero World Tour will not only be compatible, but the existing game will be patched to support the upgrades and enhancements in GH5.

Head over to our Guitar Hero 5 gamepage for a couple of screenshots.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (19) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • RobotRocker #1 3 years ago

    Rushed Release, already poor feature list, only 4 months after Guitar Hero: Smash Hits and trying to hit before the Beatles game arrives.

    Desperation Much, Activision?

  • Scurrminator #2 3 years ago

    I know the full song lineup as we have the game at work - can i enter!

    ...boo, no i can't

  • Freelancepolice #3 3 years ago

    If the features will be patched into world tour then why buy another 2nd rate game?

  • Der_tolle_Emil #4 3 years ago

    @RobotRocker: Desperation? Guitar Hero is definitely the bigger franchise and they don't really need to do anything. EA screwed up royally when they came out with Rock Band at such a high price point and way later than they should have. They also didn't even bother to ship the new instruments to Europe, Rock Band 2 was available but that was about it.

    Launching a week before Rock Band: Beatles is just regular marketing strategy, not desperation.

  • Lexx87 #5 3 years ago

    Already a poor feature list?

  • RobotRocker #6 3 years ago

    @Der_tolle_Emil
    'Launching a week before Rock Band: Beatles is just regular marketing strategy, not desperation.'

    I dont see how shoving out a product so soon after the last one is a good marketing strategy, even when trying to undercut the competition. Activision are taking a huge risk as GH5 may just burn out the fans who are buying multiple installments every 3 months and the media in general is going to be going nuts over The Beatles game.

    As regarding the high price complaints. Rock Band's high price point were for those who were idiotic enough to buy the bundle and game separate. Play.com, Zavvi, HMV and more ran discount bundles on the game when it launched so you could pick it up for as low as £150 at launch if you shopped about. Compared to the £160-170 the GH World Tour bundle launched at and the 'high prices' argument seems to come from blinkered fanboyism rather than an actual good point.

  • Vistrix #7 3 years ago

    @RobotRocker

    Activision know what they're doing. They're selling a crap load more than Harmonix are selling Rock Band titles.

    Fans will buy GH5, twice if need be. I know people who own all of the releases, same goes for Singstar. It works well, despite the releases being so close to eachother with no added features.
    Edited by Vistrix at 27/05/09 @ 10:48

  • Triggerhappytel #8 3 years ago

    @RobotRocker

    I agree with DtE - Activision know what they are doing with the GH franchise. Although I abhor this franchise treatment and I do think people will start to get burned out soon, the general public aren't going to know The Beatles: Rock Band is out one week later, and will buy the latest GH game - possibly then not buying Harmonix's game when they see it out a week later. Even with the Beatles' name on it, I doubt the next RB will sell more than GH.

  • RobotRocker #9 3 years ago

    @Vistrix

    'Activision know what their doing. They're selling a crap load more than Harmonix are selling Rock Band titles.'

    And herein' lies the issue. GH5 is looking like it will Tony Hawk the Franchise with bloated features and inferior gameplay like Neversoft already did with THUG. Party play mode looks like a pointless idea since no one is going to really drop out of a song unless they have to run to the loo. You will never be able to run 4 drums or 4 guitars without the screen going mental (Particularly if you have a HD TV or you play on different difficulties). It just looks bloated and adding stuff for to pack the back of a box rather than to actually improve gameplay. Copies sold isnt an indicator of quality at all.

    Also, SingStar works because Sony is smart enough to advertise them as track packs and sell them at £20-30 rather than full price like Activision does with GH. Much, much better impulse buys. If Activision don't want to burn out their franchise. They should really consider the SingStar model.


  • Toothball #10 3 years ago

    Hmm, this Beatles game seems like it's going to be more than just another Rock Band, as they seem to be trying for a much wider audience than people who've already been keeping up with the Band Game scene. It'll be interesting to see how it's received.

    Otherwise, I was more expecting the next Guitar Hero around Christmas time. I wouldn't be getting it either way, as I've got enough Rock Band content to keep me going over several iterations of Guitar Hero. Or at the very least, until this Beatles thing happens.

  • jambo74 #11 3 years ago

    5.....I want 6!

  • Progguitarist #12 3 years ago

    I dont know about you all but Im all Rock Band and Guitar Hero'd out.

  • varsas #13 3 years ago

    The fact that GH5 is out a week before the Beatles doesn't matter at all for Wii owners since Harmonix and EA seem incapable to releasing RB2! I expect to see the Beatles Wii game sometime late 2010.

  • Sonic_D #14 3 years ago

    I want a new Rock Band or an update or something to give it some more creative achievements, a new play mode maybe. Rock Band DLC is just so so good, so much better than GH.

  • makeamazing #15 3 years ago

    Wow were on 5 already, I didnt know there had been that many... seems to me this is worse than an EA francise... I see the Beatles winning in this battle.

  • XdarXideX #16 3 years ago

    Of course the fact that none of the people in here who are complaining have played the game, which makes their opinion worthwhile.

    A mate of mine works at Activision and has been singing its praises since he started playing it. I think I'll take HIS word for it and anticipate that it will be quite a good addition to the franchise. Speaking of which... how many of you people buy FIFA after FIFA each year?

  • RobotRocker #17 3 years ago

    @Sonic_D

    They have promised a Global Launch with the Re-Mastered albums. on Wii, PS3 and 360 on 9/9/09. No exclusivity period for 360 this time either.

    @XdarXideX

    Your mate works at Activision. Of course he is going to tell you its great. Also, the 'Oh everyone buys FIFA each year they are just as bad' argument has been proved bullshit since they add more meaningful gameplay and community features each year instead of gimmicks.

  • Gnort #18 3 years ago

    I'm a bit burned out on these games. If they're going to patch all the new features into World Tour, then the only reason to get the new game (if you already have the previous ones) would be for the tracks, and I actually think that the franchise is going backwards with these huge setlists. Before, they included songs that the developers knew would be good to play, but in the quest for name recognition to help sell the new titles, they've packed them too full of too wide a range of music. I'm playing Rock Band 2 with a friend of mine, and we both feel like we're being forced to grind through tracks we don't really enjoy playing in the hope of getting to ones that we do. We never had that feeling with Guitar Hero 3.

  • XdarXideX #19 3 years ago

    @robotrocker

    He's not in PR and Ive known him since way before he joined activision (we were both at EA for several years too) so he's not going to lie to me about how good a game is.