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RedOctane Speaks Out on Guitar Hero's Future

Posted by Zonk on from the still-tying-my-shoe dept.

njkid1 writes "In the first published interview since the news broke that Neversoft would be taking over development, RedOctane is speaking out on the decision and what it means for the future of the franchise. From the article: 'Internalizing development allows for more control of the creative elements of the game and, in this instance, provides for a much more robust and feature laden franchise. We believe that having the talented group at Neversoft, with their unprecedented string of market success with the billion dollar Tony Hawk franchise, develop the next Guitar Hero game will allow us to vastly enrich the consumer experience. We are excited to further the music and rhythm-based videogame genre, and Neversoft has the full experience, knowledge, and talent to do this.'" As nice as it is to hear from RedOctane, I'd rather hear the fully skinny from Harmonix.

8 of 59 comments (clear)

  1. Hardly Red Octane Speaking Out by JimmyTuscadero · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I believe Dusty Welsh was planted by Activision corporate to head Red Octane after the acquisition. Bio here.

    I'd like to hear what Red Octane REALLY thinks.

  2. they ought to have asked... by MarcoAtWork · · Score: 2, Insightful

    if they ever plan to re-release GH1 with the GH2 engine (as GH1's songs are in general better than GH2, but GH2 is so much nicer to play given that HO/PO actually work)

    --
    -- the cake is a lie
    1. Re:they ought to have asked... by Gizzmonic · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I can beat Bark at the Moon on Expert. I can't for the life of me do hammer-ons and pull-offs consistently. I'm one of the thousands who didn't even bother because the feature DOES NOT WORK in the first Guitar Hero.

      If the majority of people who beat the game can't hammer on and pull off (which is introduced after beating "Medium" difficulty), then it is broken.

      And no, I don't have any problems doing it in Guitar Hero II...

      --
      (-1, Raw and Uncut is the only way to read)
  3. DING DING DING!!! We have a winner! by Fallen+Kell · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You nailed it. I completely agree with you on that one. The entire interview was/is simply damage control. People are very upset that developers were changed on a great product/franchise without any reason at all, other then possibly corporate greed. When they were caught making that change sooner then they anticipated, they throw one of their PR "firefighters" out to put a "smiley" face on the situation. Trying to get everyone to see that the guys who just lost their jobs for being too good at them (and wanting to be paid appropriately) get dropped after making a crap load of cash for the franchise.

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    We were all warned a long time ago that MS products sucked, remember the Magic 8 Ball said, "Outlook not so good"
  4. I'd buy Guitar Hero Redux by Hecatonchires · · Score: 4, Insightful

    All the original songs, but the multiplayer features of GH2. Now I'm off to read this link which talks about getting your own songs onto Guitar Hero.

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    Yay me!

  5. Oh well, at least we got two by realinvalidname · · Score: 3, Interesting

    All Harmonix did was create 100% fun music games with a real feel for rock, from the Boston bands playing in their basement level up to overblown stadium rock. All they did was make it fun. And before that, they did the spot-on goofy Karaoke Revolution games.

    All Neversoft has ever done is crank out tired sequel after sequel after sequel, of Tony Hawk (yawn) and Spider-Man (yawn, big yawn, slip into coma).

    Red Octane can spare us the spin. This doesn't do the gamers any good. It's all management and marketing, and even though I was first in my neighborhood to have GH, KR, and DDR, it's going to be very hard to get me to give GH3 a chance.

    1. Re:Oh well, at least we got two by Toddarooski · · Score: 2, Informative

      Actually, Treyarch did most of the Spider-Man sequels. Neversoft was involved in the very first one, but that's about it.

      They did do Gun, though, for what that's worth...

      --

      "Do you expect me to talk?" "No, Mr. Bond. I expect you to die!"

  6. Re:My Theory by DamnRogue · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The founder of Harmonix came and spoke to the MIT business school a couple months ago and basically said exactly that.