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Guitar Hero Developer Announces Rock Band
figgen writes "Gamers and music fans have been waiting on details for the next Harmonix project, now that the company has been purchased. The development team behind Guitar Hero announced Rock Band via USA Today. The title is coming to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and will expand on the concept by adding singing and drumming into the mix. 'With MTV as a partner, Harmonix was able to sign deals with the major forces in the music publishing industry and has access to the master recordings of music from popular artists. Electronics Arts is also involved, and will use its global reach to help distribute the game.' GameSpot had a chance to sit down with Harmonix's Alex Rigopulos and EA Partners' David DeMartini to talk about the upcoming title."
The three big differences are: 1. Setlist - GH has Western Rock and Metal, I'm not sure how to describe Guitar Freak's setlist. 2. Number of frets - Guitar Freaks has 3, and Guitar Hero has 5. Guitar Hero emphasizes scales and chords a lot more. 3. How forgiving the timing is - Guitar Freaks requires a lot more precision to hit notes. Also, GH has a whammy bar.
Having played both, here's why I prefer GH to GF:
1 - Actual songs. Guitar Hero is only 50% about the game, the other 50% is the sheer fun factor of playing some great songs. I was never able to get into Guitar Freak's pseudo-electronica... It just didn't fit with the guitar thing.
2 - 3 vs. 5 frets. This is huge. Guitar Freaks was sometimes too easy because of the fact that your fingers never truly move.
3 - Better interface. The bottom-to-top scrolling lines got confusing when the game was going real fast. Guitar Hero's top-to-bottom scrolling with bigger icons and a "fade in" made the notes much easier to hit and less confusing to play.
4 - C'mon, who doesn't want to play Free Bird?
GuitarFreaks? Easier even with 3 frets? GF is leagues harder than Guitar Hero. Go look up tatsujins for that game. Search "Concertino in Blue" in YouTube and then tell me that's not easier than the hardest of what GH offers.
I agree. The GH controller is far more intuitive to pick up and play. My neighbour and I both have a copy and we get the multiplayer mode going at most of our parties. Everyone loves it. GH definity has the humour factor too; for those who have never seen some of the unlockables, there is a 'fish' guitar with the following description: "This is a highly practical and effecient guitar. Because it looks like a fish."
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