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Guitar Hero is over: Neversoft is on GH3
AlphaTwo
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=14971
Goodbye GH, we hardly knew you...
While rumors (stemming from EGM) circulated last week regarding a possible '80s edition of Guitar Hero, an anonymous industry source tipped off GameDaily BIZ that development on the next Guitar Hero may be switching hands from Harmonix to Neversoft, known primarily for its Tony Hawk games.
Now, however, there's no denying it. The Neversoft website is literally split down the middle between Guitar Hero and Tony Hawk's Project 8, as Neversoft is apparently hiring for both franchises currently. (If for some reason the site is not working or has been changed, check out the screen grab below as evidence.)
Goodbye GH, we hardly knew you...
AlphaTwo on
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And what role will they actually be playing in this?
*casts summon hmxmoss*
Let's play Mario Kart or something...
This is a knife in my side. I don't mind Harmonix leaving Karaoke Revolution, but Guitar Hero?
This is insane. It won't even be remotely as good.
And I won't say Neversoft will ruin it, but it won't be the same.
There are far worse developers who could be taking the reigns, I guess... but Harmonix is a really hard act to follow.
To you know wail out some mad riffs on a fake guitar.
I never asked for this!
Technically, now that Activision owns the GH brand, they don't have to give it to Harmonix.
Uhm.
The 80s has some of the best guitar based music ever produced.
It's not all shitty synth pop.
Alot of the songs that are in the Guitar Hero we own are from the 80s.
This doesn't necessarily mean that Harmonix isn't making GH games does it? Maybe Neversoft is just going to do a spin-off game.
You know. Now that the basic formula is in place I don't see it expanding that much. GH 1 is exactly the same as GH 2. I know some people will mention the smoother roll-ons but you get my point.
I don't think a company that likes to stick to a winning formula and churn out clones with new soundtracks is exactly a bad thing.
To change Guitar Hero's gameplay you'd need a new controller anyway. Something with strings :P
1-3 was good, 4 was pushing it with a new "way of exploring the world", then UG1, UG2, and AW happened. The basic formula is still there, but how did it turn in to cookie cutter crap that no one cared?
I'm trying to figure out a way to 'innovate teh gamplae' like modern gamers want, under the constraints of music and the controller, or what could be done with the controller.
Perhaps split the buttons in half and have two rows representing two theoretical strings as opposed to the one we have now and make the game that much trickier. Change the way people play chords.
I'm not sure if people want that. Guitar Hero already intimidates the layman with it's difficulty.
Except Project 8 was pretty good. No one cared about the actual gameplay in THUG or AW (except the atrocious walking), it was just all of the stupid EXTREEEEEEME crap that they added. Project 8 is a lot more like THPS3 or 4 and is a lot more enjoyable.
I hope they don't add a story mode to "keep it fresh."
Harmonix specialize in developing note charts. They've been doing music games for years.
What has Neversoft done?
That's great and all, but the fact that it took them that many games to bring it back to the old days? You can see why my faith in them is shaky at best.
Ok, Guitar Hero.
Now. Obviously the most important thing about Guitar Hero is how well it syncs up with the music. A company named "Harmonix" of course by name seems to have an advantage (afaik they're the ones recruiting the musicians to perform the cover tracks).
A few Guitar Hero songs are ripped straight from master recordings, so if Neversoft doesn't have the same musical skill as Harmonix, master recordings would be their best option.
Syncing the game to the music is their biggest job. Nobody *really* cares about the character models and arenas, do they?
I'm imagining people posting vader because "they added 50 new songs to the game but there's ONLY ONE NEW GUITAR MODEL! NOOOOO"
There already is a career mode.
And why did this happen? Why did it switch? Did Harmonix pass it on, or doesn't MTV have rights? Did they decide to give it to Neversoft instead?
I'm confused.
XBL - Foreverender | 3DS FC - 1418 6696 1012 | Steam ID | LoL
Plus you, know, the whole fucking PS3 bullshit is why I posted vader.
XBL - Foreverender | 3DS FC - 1418 6696 1012 | Steam ID | LoL
Uhm. It was a PS2 game... 2 is coming to 360, perhaps they're going multiplatform.
I'm right with you on the concern that Harmonix is primarily a music developer and Neversoft isn't, but since Harmonix and Red Octane were bought out... where are the developers going and what are they working on?
Edit: So Harmonix was bought by MTV... what the fuck use does MTV have for them?
Goddamn you fyrewolf you got me all upset over nothing.
You monkey.
A Red Octane logo without Harmonix backing it up is pretty worthless in my book.
And it's not like Harmonix are unfamiliar with next-gen... they are doing the 360 GHII after all.
And from the looks of it, that might be their last hurrah with GH.
Maybe it's for the best, though. I'm sure they have plenty more ideas to work with.
I'm not very good at GH, so haven't ever bought it, but this still makes me feel a little bit sorry for them.
I think it's more likely that Activision owns the rights, and doesn't want to have to deal with MTV or any other company they don't already have a long-term relationship with, and so they handed the franchise over to Neversoft.
That's pretty much what Activision does these days. Buys franchises, and hands them over to developers they've had longtime partnerships with or smaller devs with less experience in order to cut costs and yet still produce blockbusters.
I'd love to walk into the executive board room during a meeting and shoot them all Dogma/Pirate Baby's Cabana Battle Street Fight 2006 style.