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Guitar Hero World Tour
Developer(s)	Neversoft (Xbox 360/PS3) Vicarious Visions (Wii) Budcat Creations (PS2)
Publisher(s)	Activision
Series	Guitar Hero
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PC, Wii, Xbox 360
Release	US: October 27 2008 EU: October 28 2008
Genre(s)	Rhythm game
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Guitar Hero World Tour (also known as Guitar Hero 4 and Guitar Hero IV) is a forthcoming entry in the music video game Guitar Hero series, and will be developed by Neversoft and published by RedOctane and Activision, set to be released on October 27 2008. The game is expected to be available for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, and Wii consoles.

While the game will continue to feature the use of a guitar-shaped controller to simulate the playing of rock music, Guitar Hero World Tour will expand to also include the use of drum and vocal peripherals. Furthermore, according to Game Informer, the game will allow users to create new songs, including drums, rhythm guitar, lead guitar and bass guitar, although the studio mode will be without vocals, because of copyrights and storage limitations. It is confirmed that players will be able to upload and share their songs.

Gameplay

Guitar Hero World Tour will build on the existing gameplay from previous Guitar Hero games. The Star Power feature which has appeared throughout the Guitar Hero series is coming back. The traditional single player Career Mode has been reworked. Instead of playing through a setlist, players will encounter gigs during career mode, which offer a choice of songs to play; one does not, however, have to complete every song in the list to proceed. The difficulty levels include a new difficulty called "Beginner" as well as the regular difficulty modes (Easy, Medium, Hard, and Expert), this Career Mode will allow players to drop to a lower difficulty without restarting their careers if they have difficulty with one song. The player will also be able to switch to a different instrument during the same Career without having to restart. There are five total instrument career modes within the game: lead guitar, bass guitar, drums, vocals, and online/offline full band.

There is also a Band Career mode, which can be advanced by oneself or with others offline or online. A player that has not progressed as far as another player's band will still gain benefits for successfully completing songs when playing together. The interface for playing with others is described by Game Informer as being the same as the one used in Rock Band. Full four-player bands will be able to compete with other bands online in a "Battle of the Band" mode.

The game adds in an "Easy Rhythm" guitar difficulty that is aimed to allow parents to have their children participate in the game; notes are generally simple straight lines in time with bass drum beats, and only require any fret button to be held while the note is strummed. The bass guitar player has been given new mechanics, including simulating the open E string on real bass guitars during play, indicated by a sixth note in the bass' note track and played by strumming without pressing a fret button. A player on drums will activate Star Power by striking both cymbal pads on the controller at the same time. The drummer will also have special sections of songs open for drum solos, emphasized by in-game choreography that focuses on the drummer.

The Boss Battles that were present in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock and Guitar Hero: Aerosmith will return; however, the format has been tweaked to remove the focus on attack power-ups. Artists are writing new original songs yet again for their battles. Unlike rival competing games, such as Rock Band, downloadable tracks are available for all consoles, excluding the PS2.

Customization

Users will be able to use a "Create-a-Rocker" mode, based on the similar "Create-a-Skater" mode in Neversoft's Tony Hawk series and the advanced character creation scheme from the Tiger Woods PGA Tour series. Players will be able to affect their character's poise, clothing, tattoos, makeup, and age. Selected characters from previous Guitar Hero games will also be available as starting templates for creating a rocker. As a result of the present lawsuit with Gibson Guitars, the player will also be able to customize their own guitar for the game to a high degree. Drum sets and microphones will also be customizable.

Instruments

RedOctane is developing a new guitar controller for the game; the unit features a touchpad just below the normal five fret buttons along the neck of the guitar. According to IGN, this allows the player to alter the tone of sustained notes as well as simply tapping to play notes similar to mimicking slapping a bass. The touchpad can also be used for sustains and staccato notes in the music studio feature. Older Guitar Hero guitar controllers will still work with World Tour.

Guitar Hero World Tour will add two new instruments, drums and vocals, to the existing guitar, bass, and rhythm gameplay. Game Informer's preview revealed that a wireless , velocity-sensitive six-piece drum controller is being developed for the game, with two cymbal pads, a snare, two toms, and a bass drum pedal. The drum kit was designed with help from John Devacka, who is credited with creating the first music game, MTV Drumscape, and who developed key patents used for most modern music games that are now owned by Activision.. During song creation, the velocity sensitivity will be used to allow players to alter the sound made by the drum. Activision has promised that the drum set will be the "most realistic drum experience ever in a video game". The Wii version of the drum controller includes a slot for the Wii Remote to fit into, enabling it to become wireless, much like the guitar controller introduced for the Wii version of Guitar Hero III. The microphone used for vocals is not wireless and features a USB connection.

Development

Guitar Hero World Tour was announced shortly after the merger of Activision and Vivendi Games in December 2007. The inclusion of additional instruments into the Guitar Hero series was hinted at by trademarks registered by Activision and RedOctane for "Guitar Villain", "Drum Villain", "Keyboard Hero", "Drum Hero" and "Band Hero". Analysts speculated that future Guitar Hero games in 2008 will need to include additional instrument peripherals in order to compete against former Guitar Hero developer Harmonix's Rock Band. Activision's CEO Bobby Kotick announced on April 21, 2008 that Guitar Hero IV will branch out into other instruments including vocals; this was further confirmed by an initial preview from Game Informer. The game's name, Guitar Hero World Tour, was officially announced by Activision on May 21, 2008.

According to a Game Informer preview, the addition of drum functionality came from work initially done towards the Drum Hero title, but later folded into Guitar Hero after Neversoft was chosen as developer of the series.

The custom song creation feature was inspired by the current "hacking environment" that has arisen from the first two Guitar Hero games, where players would create new tracks and share them with others.

Soundtrack

All of the songs in the game will be master recordings, a first for the series. Neversoft claims that there will be more songs on disk than any other Guitar Hero game. IGN reports that the game will feature over 85 songs. While there will be a renewed commitment to downloadable content, existing downloadable songs for Guitar Hero III will not be playable in World Tour, according to IGN. Downloadable content will be available through the in-game store and will include full album downloads and more regular releases compared to Guitar Hero III. Project director Brian Blight claims that they have "a pretty even split between the '80s, '90s, and classic rock" with a "good amount of emerging bands".

Three bands have been confirmed for the game from the Game Informer preview: Van Halen, The Eagles, and Linkin Park. IGN's preview reported that Sublime's "Santeria", Billy Idol's "Rebel Yell", and Foo Fighters' "Everlong" were featured in the game. The Game Informer preview also suggests that Dream Theater may be included. Lenny Kravitz's "Are You Gonna Go My Way" was featured in the world premiere trailer and was confirmed as a playable song in a demonstration of the game at Wall Street Journal's D6 event. Blink 182's "Dammit" was featured in a video showcasing the game's drum set featuring former Blink-182 and current +44 drummer Travis Barker doing motion capture for the game. The video also featured Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith along with The Police drummer Stewart Copeland commenting on the performance of the prototype drum set.

A leak from a market research firm also mentioned that the game would feature Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, The Smashing Pumpkins, Korn, System of a Down, Ozzy Osbourne, Interpol and Muse. Furthering speculation about the inclusion of The Smashing Pumpkins, a picture has been released of lead singer Billy Corgan wearing a motion capture suit. Billy Corgan has also been reported as working with an Associate Producer from Neversoft who does work on motion capture.

Other sources have provided information regarding the inclusion of other songs within the game. While it has not been confirmed by Activision, The Answer mentioned in a press release that their 2005 single "Never Too Late", off the album Rise would be included in Guitar Hero World Tour after they won a contest at 2008's Marché international de l’édition musicale conference. A press release from Fearless Records announced that the song "One Armed Scissor" from At the Drive-In's 2000 release Relationship of Command will be included in Guitar Hero World Tour. When Chris Vance was asked if the Aerosmith song "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing”" would be in Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, he confirmed that it "will not be one of the songs that’s in the game" but gave a comment, considered a hint that we could expect it in Guitar Hero: World Tour, saying, “That song would be much more suited to a full band game if anything”. Joe Satriani has said that Guitar Hero World Tour and Rock Band 2 "have just licensed 'Satch Boogie' and 'Surfing with the Alien' for upcoming versions," according to an interview with Satriani in Guitar World Magazine.

Another recent survey rumoured that the game will feature the band Tool, as well as featuring more playable characters including Ted Nugent, Sting, Ozzy Osbourne, Jimi Hendrix, Hayley Williams, and Zakk Wylde

Custom songs

Guitar Hero World Tour will allow players to create their own songs and to share them with others through the Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, and Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection internet capabilities. Vocals are not supported in this mode due to copyright concerns. Originally, the game was to contain a "Jam Over" mode, which would allow players to create new tracks over the existing songs on the disk, but Activision had stated that this mode had been taken out of the game.

The "Advanced Studio" mode allows the creation of new and original pieces of music, and is stated by Game Informer to be similar to Apple's GarageBand software. The player can create the tracks for each song by playing it in real or slowed time, with the game quantizing offbeat notes to the nearest beat as set by the player, or tracks can be constructed one note at a time. Both guitar and drum effects can be set and changed through the song. The notes played by the user will be the default "Expert" difficulty track, and the lower difficulty versions will be generated by the game. IGN reported that they were able to create a near perfect version of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana.

Custom songs will be able to be uploaded to the "GH Tunes" service, which will be used to allow other players to rate songs, and to search and download songs by these ratings, and will include a Showcase by Neversoft to offer some of the best user works alongside new songs from popular artists. Players will only be able to upload five songs to the service at the start, but players that have highly rated songs will gain the ability to upload more. The PlayStation 2 version of the game will feature custom song creation, but will not support the uploading service.

Downloadable content

In addition to custom songs, players of the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii versions will be able to download new licensed songs for the game. This is the first game in the Guitar Hero series to support download functionality on the Wii. Wii users will be able to store downloaded songs on either the Wii's internal memory or on an SD Card in a "Rock Archive," and then will be able to create playlists from this.ROCK ON GUITAR HERO WORLD TOUR!!!

References

1. http://consolehero.com/2008/05/23/guitar-hero-world-tour-release-date-and-prices
2. http://consolehero.com/2008/05/23/guitar-hero-world-tour-release-date-and-prices
3. ^ Hatfield, Daemon (2008-04-21). "Guitar Hero IV Branching Out". IGN. Retrieved 2008-04-22. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
4. ^ Faylor, Chris (2008-05-12). "Guitar Hero 4 Includes Song Creation and Sharing, Multiple Instruments, Van Halen, Linkin Park". Shacknews. Retrieved 2008-05-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
5. "Guitar Hero World Tour first look at Gamespot".
6. ^ "Guitar Hero 4: Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy Meets Reality". Game Informer. June 2008. pp. 48–57.
7. ^ Pigna, Kris (2008-05-21). "New Details on Guitar Hero World Tour". 1UP. Retrieved 2008-05-21. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
8. ^ Brudvig, Erik (2008-06-19). "Guitar Hero: World Tour First Look". IGN. Retrieved 2008-06-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
9. ^ "Guitar Hero World Tour: Drummer Demo Trailer". Game Trailers. 2008-05-24. Retrieved 2008-05-24. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
10. McElroy, Justin (2008-05-14). "Game Informer Snags First Pic of Guitar Hero IV Drums". Joystiq. Retrieved 2008-05-14. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
11. Casamassina, Matt (2008-06-20). "Bringing Guitar Hero World Tour to Wii". IGN. Retrieved 2008-06-26. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
12. Elliot, Phil (2007-12-03). "Activision Blizzard fact sheet reveals some unannounced titles in the pipeline". Game Industry Biz. Retrieved 2007-12-03. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
13. Sinclair, Brendan (2007-01-17). "Activision calls dibs on Guitar Villain, Drum Villain". GameSpot. Retrieved 2007-11-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
14. Boyer, Brandon (2007-08-01). "Janco: Guitar Hero To Add New Instruments In 2008". Gamasutra. Retrieved 2007-08-01.
15. Minkley, Johnny (2008-05-21). "Guitar Hero World Tour revealed". Retrieved 2008-05-21. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
16. Minkley, Johnny (2008-05-21). "Neversoft talks World Tour". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2008-05-21. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
17. However, Kotaku has reported that downloadable content will work in the game, though no source for this information has been provided. McWheator, Michael (2008-06-20). "Yes, Guitar Hero III Downloads Will Work In Guitar Hero World Tour". Kotaku. Retrieved 2008-06-25. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
18. "Guitar Hero World Tour trailer". Game Trailers. 2008-05-21. Retrieved 2008-05-21. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
19. "Guitar Hero: World Tour demo vid". Kotaku. May 28, 2008. Retrieved May 29, 2008. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
20. "Big Guitar Hero World Tour Information". Console Hero. 2008-06-15. Retrieved 2008-06-15. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
21. Shearer, Jordan (2008-06-24). "Billy Corgan Boss Battle in GH: World Tour?". Console Hero. Retrieved 2008-06-24.
22. "Guitar Hero IV Preview". Console Hero. 2008-05-12. Retrieved 2008-05-14. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
23. "At the Drive-In's "One Armed Scissor" to appear in Guitar Hero IV". Punknews.org. 2008-05-08. Retrieved 2008-05-09. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
24. http://consolehero.com/2008/06/15/more-tracklist-info-for-guitar-hero-aerosmith-and-world-tour/
25. http://www.videogamesblogger.com/2008/05/07/joe-satriani-to-have-songs-in-guitar-hero-iv-and-rock-band-2.htm
26. http://consolehero.com/2008/06/28/rumor-more-guitar-hero-world-tour-playable-characters/
27. Faylor, Chris (2008-05-22). "Guitar Hero 4 Wii Supports Downloadable Content". Shacknews. Retrieved 2008-05-22. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
28. Mullen, Michael (2008-06-20). "Guitar Hero World Tour for Wii Getting Downloadable Tracks". Game Daily. Retrieved 2008-06-21. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

See also

• Rock Band
• Rock Band 2
• Ultimate Band
• Rock Revolution

External links

• Official Site
• Activision
• RedOctane
• Neversoft

• Cooperative video games
• Guitar Hero
• Guitar video games
• Music video games
• Rock music
• 2008 video games
• Drumming video games
• Wii games
• Wii Wi-Fi games
• Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection games