Van Halen, GH5, Band Hero for 2009

By Tom Bramwell Published 6 March, 2009

Publishing source identifies Hero titles.

Activision plans to expand the Guitar Hero range several more times before the end of the year according to a source close to the publisher.

Eurogamer has been told that Hard Rock Van Halen (August), Guitar Hero 5 (presumably a working title - September), DJ Hero (October), and Band Hero (November) are among games planned for release on PS3, Xbox 360, Wii and PS2 in 2009.

Following the release of Guitar Hero: Modern Hits, Activision also plans to release at least one more DS Guitar Hero title in 2009, the same source said.

Several of the above games are already in varying states of public undress. Activision Blizzard boss Bobby Kotick has spoken publicly about DJ Hero already, and mentioned Van Halen rather notably at an investor conference in early 2008.

Guitar Hero 5 and Band Hero (a trademark registered at around the same time as "Drum Hero") are supposedly separate titles due for the same spread of home consoles within the space of a few months, although our source was quiet on any specifics.

It would be no surprise, however, if Activision were to significantly ramp up the number of Guitar Hero releases given its importance to the company's bottom line. The impending Greatest Hits standalone disc and a Metallica title just months after Guitar Hero World Tour's late-2008 release suggest the company is eager to keep taking advantage of its breadwinner.

Activision told Eurogamer it does not comment on rumour and speculation.

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 (31) 3 years ago

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

  • Santino #1 3 years ago

    i hope activision drown in fucking milk

  • kinky_mong #2 3 years ago

    I fully support Santino's comment.


  • Triggerhappytel #3 3 years ago

    Well, the DJ Hero rumour turned out to be true so I wouldn't be surprised if all of these are announced soon. I fucking hate Activision's business model; I hope the Guitar Hero bubble bursts very soon.

    Maybe it'll be like Shawn Palmer Snowboarding and Matt Hoffman's Pro BMX, where their core franchise did well but all the spin-offs fell on their arse.

  • madgerald #4 3 years ago

    I'd definately be up for a bit of band hero IF it included a keyboard controller.. Even better if it let me plug in a USB MIDI controller keyboard.

  • oupe #5 3 years ago

    It will go down the drain like NFS and THPS did. It's really a shame to see that these publishers run perfectly good IP into the ground with mediocre iterations. Why not do one solid release once a year? Wouldn't that last longer?

  • Beano #6 3 years ago

    I'm with Santino ... flodding the marked with new GH games doesn't help anybody in the long term.

  • kangarootoo #7 3 years ago

    "flodding the marked with new GH games doesn't help anybody in the long term."

    I am confused as to what harm it does. I thought choice was good, and if anything needs plenty of choice it is music as taste varies so much.

    If you don't like Van Halen, you don't buy the edition... what is the problem?

  • BOFH_UK #8 3 years ago

    "If you don't like Van Halen, you don't buy the edition... what is the problem? "

    The problem, basically, is that these are stand alone games. This is bloody awful when you consider that the most common use for these titles is as party games - there's nothing worse in that situation than blasting through, say, GH:WT and someone saying "let's play Sad but True" which leaves you having to explain why you can't do that without swapping discs, signing everyone back in etc etc. Compare and contrast to Rock Band where you can export almost all the songs from RB1 to RB2 and all DLC can be used across all core RB titles. Expect to see similar complaints if the upcoming Beatles game doesn't allow you to import the songs into RB2.

    On top of that standalone games such as Aerosmith, Metallica and Van Halen COULD be delivered as DLC, or at least the songs themselves could. That would give gamers the choice of buying the whole game and saving money or, if they were only interested in a couple of tracks, pick 'em up individually.

    Honestly, if Activision made everything compatible with the core Guitar Hero software (and ideally made the songs available as DLC as well) I really don't think people would have anything like as much of an issue with it. As it is they're flooding the market with songs that are, to many people, very very cool but can't be integrated into the already significant investment they've made in the Guitar Hero franchise. The technology is there, Harmonix have proven it can be done and works very well, so people get annoyed.

  • dudefella #9 3 years ago

    Dear Activision,

    Please stop.

    Sincerely,

    the gaming world.

  • Zomoniac #10 3 years ago

    I am confused as to what harm it does. I thought choice was good, and if anything needs plenty of choice it is music as taste varies so much.

    If you don't like Van Halen, you don't buy the edition... what is the problem?

    The problem is that they're releasing new editions left right and centre instead of providing decent sets of DLC, meaning if you want decent quantities of new songs, in RB you get to pick and choose the ones you want and with GH you get sod all DLC and have no choice but to pay £40 if you want to play the 10 or so songs in each release that actually appeal.

  • Monkey_Puncher #11 3 years ago

    So fucking bored of Guitar Hero and Activision.

  • Linkified #12 3 years ago

    when will companies stop releasing shitty music games.

  • duffster #13 3 years ago

    When people stop buying them.

  • BlackKraken #14 3 years ago

    Activision: battling for EA's crown of wankery

  • Freek #15 3 years ago

    Every new Guitar Hero cash-in just makes the Rock Band model look better to me. Back and forwards compatibility, disc ripping, well maintained DLC.

    Now if only they'd properly release the game in Europe.....

  • Eraysor #16 3 years ago

    Sounds more like Milk the Franchise Hero.

    Roll on Rock Band 3 :)

  • FiZiE #17 3 years ago

    Activision is the new EA...but 10 x worse me thinks. Looking forward to DJ Hero though!

  • sco0504 #18 3 years ago

    How can they release 4 games in 4 months?
    Neversoft's offices must be like a concentration camp.

  • SpaceMidget75 Verified Senior Software Developer, Minerva Computer Services #19 3 years ago

    Cunts.

  • Law07 #20 3 years ago

    They are milking this beyond recognition, I'm seriously losing the will to live in these franchises.

    Release GH: Metallica and let that be it, its all they ever need.

  • JahB #21 3 years ago

    I'm with Law07. Give us Guitar Hero Metallica, which - judging from the setlist - is everything any rhytm/music game should have ever been.

    A franchise like this deserves a dignified end, not a never ending corporate gang-rape.

  • Stiggy #22 3 years ago

    GH is engrained on the Casual Conscience now - they see and they will buy it.

  • jaxon58 #23 3 years ago

    Activision = Max Clifford
    Guitar Hero = Jade Goody

  • sopaman #24 3 years ago

    No thanks.

  • MuppetThumper #25 3 years ago

    i quite like the idea of a Van Halen slanted title though. cant think of a better artist for guitar hero.

  • XdarXideX #26 3 years ago

    Stop crying you whiney little children. You don't have to buy these iterations so shut up and get on with it. This is nothing new to the gaming world.

  • daz_john_smith #27 3 years ago

    Holy Shit. I like GH but 5 new console GH games, another handheld one and a DJ spinoff all in one year (especially a recession year) seems a little over the top. Also I could've sworn there was a news story on Eurogamer a while back saying that there'd be no official GH5 this year, just spinoffs; the same story also stated there'd be no RB3 this year.
    Edited by 1 at 09/03/09 @ 17:46

  • Blackthorned #28 3 years ago

    Band Hero?



  • aphexstwin #29 3 years ago

    MMMMMMMMMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

    this cows tits must be well sore by now. AHHH fuck it. some vaseline will help smoth this problem!

  • Zebula77 #30 3 years ago

    F*ck Activision for this! I was hoping to be able to boycot all of these stand-alone games for the fact that they're simple cash-cows, but I'm afraid I'm too much of a Van Halen-fan for that. Hmf. Make these into DLC-packs, PLEASE! I'm sick of having to buy new games just to play songs.

  • daz_john_smith #31 3 years ago

    I wouldn't be surprised if GH: Van Halen turns out to be next years spinoff and GH5 and Band Hero are the same thing, also to be released next year.