Guitar Hero 4 has drums, custom music?

By Tom Bramwell Published 13 May, 2008

Apparently you can make and share music.

Guitar Hero 4 will reportedly include a set of drums, a bass guitar and microphone support and allow you to create and share your own songs.

That's according to a poster called SolidSnakex on NeoGAF who has listed the contents of an upcoming Game Informer preview. Activision declined to comment when contacted by Eurogamer.

The game is listed for PS3, 360, Wii and PS2, although it says that the Wii/PS2 song-sharing element will be less "robust" than it is on 360 and PS3.

According to the post, a new guitar peripheral will introduce a "new input mechanic", which involves "see-through notes" and will "impact the way you play GH in the future", although there are no details yet about the drums, bass or microphone elements - other than your ability to create a rocker, guitar and drums in-game.

Meanwhile, the music-creation element will allow you to create up to five songs with everything except vocals (apparently due to storage and copyright issues) and upload them to a Guitar Hero song-sharing service. If your songs get good ratings you will then be able to upload more. There will also be a facility for creating album art.

Elsewhere, all the songs will be based on master recordings (so no more "As made famous by" - sniff!) and Van Halen, The Eagles, Linkin' Park and Sublime are mentioned. Apparently Neversoft and Activision didn't want to discuss other specific bands for fear of being beaten to the idea by Rock Band. Perish the thought.

Obviously none of this is confirmed for now, but it ties in nicely with what Activision said earlier this month about a "significant leap forward in innovation" and what the publisher's Bobby Kotick said in April about "other instruments" and "vocals".

Expect to hear more very soon.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (25) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • CordableTuna #1 4 years ago

    Funny how fast the old leader had to play catch-up.

  • DB2k #2 4 years ago

    cross game instruments please :(

  • yupyup #3 4 years ago

    Non Euro rapage pls.

  • Goodfella #4 4 years ago

    Non Euro rapage pls.

    Lol, I'll second that.

    GH4 sounds really good though, Rock Band (possibly) got pwned ;)

  • DanWhitehead #5 4 years ago

    I'm just hoping they ditch those awful "boss battles".

  • acidmonkey #6 4 years ago

    if its cheaper than rock band ill get it, as i refuse to stump up that amount of cash for rock band

  • cnlfailure #7 4 years ago

    Providing they remember that GH was a success not because it was a game but because it was a rock hero simulator, sounds good.

  • Beano #8 4 years ago

    "GH4 sounds really good though, Rock Band (possibly) got pwned ;) "

    Not really. Neversoft still have to learn how to place notes properly and make the songs fun på play. GH3 missed the mark and was simply not a fun as the first three GH games (and Rock Band to my knowledge) from Harmonix. Most songs in GH3 seemed off somehow (and no - it's not a lag issue).

  • WickedDeeJ #9 4 years ago

    Personally I hope they launch the whole thing(game included) for around £120 and totally bury Rock Band. Harmonix deserve no less after the price-hike they pulled here.

  • Goodfella #10 4 years ago

    I said 'possibly', I even put a wink at the end of my sentence. *sighs*
    Edited by 1 at 13/05/08 @ 09:54

  • nickthegun #11 4 years ago

    By 'song' do they mean creating your own beats for existing songs? I could imagine that being a pretty cool community feature.

  • MrMarbles #12 4 years ago

    The incredible thing about Rock Band (that no one seems to pick up) is how it so effortless nails that unique gig atmosphere, from the grubby venues at the start to the almighty venues at the end. There are so many goosebump-inducing moments when playing: the crowd singing with you, the stage diving, the slow-mo leaps into the air whilst flames burst out in the background, the various TV-footage filters, they all help to bring the atmosphere to the fore.

    GHIII's inherent clinical ugliness is a huge factor for IV to overcome (as well as its awful note-charts, natch) - simply adding more instruments and local bands isn't enough.

    I can't wait to see what innovative multiplayer special moves they add, though - I'm sure they'll rock...

  • sanctusmortis #13 4 years ago

    GH III sucked balls compared to GH II - the tracklist was all over the shop difficulty wise, the songs just weren't as good bar a few shining examples, and it didn't feel as well made. I doubt that trend's about to stop, reading this; they're just pissed Harmonix made a game way more critically acclaimed.

  • Lemming81 #14 4 years ago

    "... although it says that the Wii/PS2 song-sharing element will be less "robust" than it is on 360 and PS3."

    Get some people who know how to develop a game, ffs. Short-changing the leading platform is hardly the right way to go.

  • syphaa #15 4 years ago

    For me GH1 was by far the best in the series so far...all the recent releases have fallen short in my opinion.
    Think I will be getting rock band, but not 100% sold on it yet. Will be a riot with friends though!

  • OllyJ #16 4 years ago

    sounds really good!

  • IneptPercy #17 4 years ago

    Don't add more intruments, unless you can play it only on the guitar ans still get a full game.

    I don't want drums and I really don't ant to have to sing.

    Keep it real, its GUITAR hero!

  • Rodafowa #18 4 years ago

    Another one in the "GH3 just not as good as the first two" camp, here. Going back to play GH2 after some time with 3 really brought home how much better-done the Harmonix games were - every time it "felt" like I should be able to hammer-on or pull-off, I could. In several places - notably the opening riff in Paint It Black - GH3 just felt a bit off, somehow. And that's not even going into the largely iffy tracklist, the leery misogyny or hateful, idiotic boss-battles.

    10 days 'till Rock Band. Can't bloody wait.

  • Lemming81 #19 4 years ago

    GH3 wins with me simply because the songs were real and not shitty covers. It doesn't matter how much better the 'game' element is when you know what the track is supposed to be/sound like and it doesn't.

  • Toothball #20 4 years ago

    @ yupyup:
    Non Euro rapage pls.
    Can't really see this costing much less than Rock Band. You'll probably need not only a new drum kit and mic, but also new guitars to go with this revolutionary new game mechanic. And they probably won't be compatible with the Rock Band kit, given Activision's history on this subject.

    @Lemming81:
    There were a selection of covers through the earlier brackets of GH3, but I don't think I'd heard many of them to begin with, so it didn't make all that much of a difference. Also, after many hours of covers from the first two that the original songs started sounding weird.

    I'd moved on to Rock Band since I first heard about it. GH4 is going to have to be something special to get a look in.

  • Eraysor #21 4 years ago

    This better be compatible with the Rock Band instruments, because nobody is going to want to buy two entire sets. Also, if they don't bring out new tracks every week like the do with RB, it will be pretty dull. I'd still buy GH4 for the guitar though.

  • steviepunk #22 4 years ago

    I'm a bit miffed that the guitar seems to be changing.
    I had planned on getting a second guitar with the Aerosmith version when it comes out, but if it's not going to work fully with GH4 then there isn't really much point :(

    @Lemming81
    I think the comment on 'robust' for Wii and PS2 is to do with the lack of HDD for storing content, rather than laziness of the programmers.

  • Saturn_Ascends #23 4 years ago

    To warrant a purchase, this game must have:

    A) Instrument compatability with previous GH games and Rock Band
    B) A steady stream of DLC
    C) No boss battles

    If history is anything to go by, A & B just wont happen.

  • Stu #24 4 years ago

    +1 for importance of cross-compatibility of instruments.

  • Arathia #25 4 years ago

    the cross compatability would be a good thing. problem though, it wont happen. these companies want YOUR money in THEIR pocket. Rock Band can get away with it because if you want the full experience you have no choice but to buy the full kit, BUT (on 360 anyway) you can still use the GH guitar, this comes across as a way of keeping at least a few people happy.

    gh4, if they make it cross compatible, they wont make the money they want to.

    but meh...Rock Band soon...that'll do me, 60+ songs out of the box, 70+ songs for download, keep me occupied for long enough