The resurrection of Guitar Hero Live is an interesting example of how popular franchises are never totally dead.
Activision’s Guitar Hero Live release date is this Fall and the company is doing more than just putting a fresh coat of paint on the franchise and throwing it into the video game market. New guitars, first-person view and a complete online interactive channel of music videos are just some of the tidbits that have fans hyped for the game.
“We’ve always said that we’d only bring back Guitar Hero if we had a profoundly new idea, and with the evolution in technology since the last iteration of the game, we felt that turning around the camera around to make you the star was just one of the big ideas we wanted to pursue,” Tyler Michaud, senior director of product management for Guitar Hero Live, told iDigitalTimes.
At this year’s Gamescom , Activision revealed 16 new tracks, singing mode as well as a brand new fictional festival to go along with the first one revealed when the game was first announced. In Guitar Hero Live your band will not only be playing in the Sound Dial festival that takes place in the UK but the Rock the Block festival in the US.
“In Guitar Hero Live, you’re playing as the lead guitarist in 10 fictional bands who play across two music festivals; one in the US, one in the UK. So you’re playing in venues that rank from small bars to massive festival stages, which required us to film a wide range of audiences,” Michaud explained. “As you can imagine, this was no easy feat. When you’re playing Guitar Hero Live, the audience reaction changes based on how well (or how poorly) you’re playing. Using a robotic camera that has been used in big time feature films, the team at FreeStyleGames shot multiple takes of audiences cheering and boo’ing, which was a massive production. And we couldn’t be more pleased with the outcome.”
And with the second festival being introduced, this leads to some great and varied live crowd reactions.
“When the crowds cheer, you’ll be able to hear them singing along with you, clapping, crowd surfing, etc. But when they’re not feeling you, you’ll know it; they’ll start boo’ing you, throwing their cups and just look generally bored. All the more motivation to get better, right?”
Getting better is what every Guitar Hero Live player will want to do. But that may be a little difficult considering the new guitar controllers. Instead of the normal five colored buttons that run across the neck, there are two rows of three buttons (one black, one white) that has the player run their fingers up and down like a real guitarist.
But how do players who are used to the original guitar feel about the new controller? Having a huge presence at E3 and San Diego Comic-Con, Activision has had feedback from players about it.
“The feedback from the game has been great. It’s interesting, because at first, people are a bit intimidated by the new six-button guitar layout. They are so used to the button configuration from previous Guitar Hero games, and many recognize the need to re-calibrate their brains to adjust to the new layout. But once people play two or three songs, it totally clicks, and they’re having a blast," he said. "We’ve also seen a tremendous reaction to the game itself. We get really excited when people say that they actually experience butterflies when playing to the live-action crowd in GH Live. It’s also been amazing to see peoples’ faces light up when they see that GHTV is truly a playable music video network. Everyone loves music videos, so why not play along with it? We’re happy we’ll be able to deliver something that truly reflects how people discover and enjoy music today.”
Speaking of Guitar Hero TV, the streaming music service that is included with Guitar Hero Live allows for players to play along with actual music videos. There are different stations based on genres of music and there are schedules for when certain songs play. And Michaud explains that there isn’t a finite amount of songs and music videos that will be available for GHTV.
“We’re still working out the cadence for how often new content will be updated in the game, but the intent is to have regular updates that keep players wanting to come back for more again and again.”
Players will have plenty of songs to master as the current count of tracks confirmed is over 100, Michaud confirmed that the disc will launch with “hundreds of playable tracks.”
Guitar Hero Live is set to release Oct. 20
