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Van Halen, GH5, Band Hero for 2009 News

PlayStation 2 Xbox 360 PlayStation 3 Wii
News by Tom Bramwell

6 March, 2009

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.

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Comments: 1-31 of 31 in total

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Santino
06/03/09 @ 16:52
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i hope activision drown in fucking milk
kinky_mong
06/03/09 @ 16:56
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I fully support Santino's comment.


Triggerhappytel
06/03/09 @ 16:58
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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
06/03/09 @ 17:01
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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.
oef!
06/03/09 @ 17:26
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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
06/03/09 @ 17:33
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I'm with Santino ... flodding the marked with new GH games doesn't help anybody in the long term.
kangarootoo
06/03/09 @ 18:03
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"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
06/03/09 @ 18:38
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"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
06/03/09 @ 18:45
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Dear Activision,

Please stop.

Sincerely,

the gaming world.
Zomoniac
06/03/09 @ 18:56
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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
06/03/09 @ 19:06
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So fucking bored of Guitar Hero and Activision.
Linkified
06/03/09 @ 19:36
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when will companies stop releasing shitty music games.
duffster
06/03/09 @ 20:15
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When people stop buying them.
BlackKraken
06/03/09 @ 20:44
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Activision: battling for EA's crown of wankery
Freek
06/03/09 @ 21:49
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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
06/03/09 @ 22:12
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Sounds more like Milk the Franchise Hero.

Roll on Rock Band 3 :)
FiZiE
06/03/09 @ 22:55
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Activision is the new EA...but 10 x worse me thinks. Looking forward to DJ Hero though!
sco0504
06/03/09 @ 22:55
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How can they release 4 games in 4 months?
Neversoft's offices must be like a concentration camp.
SpaceMidget75
07/03/09 @ 00:35
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Cunts.
Law07
07/03/09 @ 00:51
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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
07/03/09 @ 08:52
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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
07/03/09 @ 08:58
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GH is engrained on the Casual Conscience now - they see and they will buy it.
jaxon58
07/03/09 @ 11:35
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Activision = Max Clifford
Guitar Hero = Jade Goody
sopaman
07/03/09 @ 14:14
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No thanks.
MuppetThumper
08/03/09 @ 12:10
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i quite like the idea of a Van Halen slanted title though. cant think of a better artist for guitar hero.
XdarXideX
08/03/09 @ 13:38
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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
08/03/09 @ 19:36
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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 1 times, most recently on 09/03/09 @ 17:46
Blackthorned
08/03/09 @ 22:35
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Band Hero?



aphexstwin
08/03/09 @ 23:14
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MMMMMMMMMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

this cows tits must be well sore by now. AHHH fuck it. some vaseline will help smoth this problem!
Zebula77
09/03/09 @ 10:42
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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
09/03/09 @ 17:44
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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.

Comments: 1-31 of 31 in total

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