Guitar Hero 4 adds new instruments, turns features up to eleven

by Chris Greenhough { May 12th 2008 at 10:30PM }

The June edition of Game Informer features a lengthy preview of Guitar Hero 4, and one thing is immediately clear: Activision is desperate to out-Rock Band Rock Band. This is most obvious in Guitar Hero 4's adoption of other instruments; as recent rumors suggested, the next installment of Activision's faux-guitar extravaganza will include drums, bass, and vocals.

As well as this expanded line-up, you'll be able to create your own tracks (though this doesn't extend to vocals, reportedly due to storage and copyright issues) and design album art. The game will let you upload five of your tracks to 'GH Tunes' (and ten when you achieve certain grades), and it will be possible to share songs in the Wii version. If you're horribly uncreative like us, you'll be able to strum your axe to one of the game's licensed songs, all of which are master tracks, and include the likes of Van Halen, The Eagles, Sublime and angst-mongers Linkin Park.

Some big changes, then, but there is a hint dropped by Game Informer that sharing songs in the Wii version of Guitar Hero 4 is "unlikely to be as robust as the PS3 and 360 versions." The magazine doesn't expand on this comment, but it's enough to set alarm bells off in our heads, especially after the gimped Rock Band fiasco.

Tags: activision, guitar-hero, guitar-hero-4, guitar-hero-iv, music

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Jake @ May 12th 2008 10:41PM

Kind of an interesting and scary thought at the same time. Bring on Guitar, Drums, Bass, and Mike Hero 4.

Gewurztraminer says: R.O.B. is the last Cylon! @ May 12th 2008 11:10PM

My days as a frugal gamer are over.

Calvin @ May 12th 2008 11:16PM

Good, looks like Harmonix won't be getting my money, Activision will.

AndrewNeo @ May 12th 2008 11:19PM

"angst-mongers Linkin Park"?
In The End and Crawling was three (four if you want to get technical) albums ago, get over it, Internet.

iofthestorm @ May 13th 2008 12:47AM

Seriously... What I've Done is amazing and totally not angsty.

seetrapp @ May 13th 2008 6:32AM

You guys sound angsty.

Jumbo @ May 13th 2008 8:32AM

Look, I like mediocre pop-rock as much as the next guy... I'm even going to the Linkin Parks concert in July.

But they are angsty pop rock. They always have been.

Even their new album.

Dustin @ May 13th 2008 9:05AM

I can wipe my ass with their new album.

Matt B @ May 12th 2008 11:27PM

And of course the drums and vocals won't be compatible with Rock Band. Ugh. I don't think either company will be getting my money until they work on instrument compatibility.

clif @ May 12th 2008 11:32PM

This is great and all but in the end people are going to have a ton of drums, guitars, mics. It would be nice if the instruments were compatible. Thats the biggest problem about this.

I will galdly buy the software if things worked. Both companies are creating a culsterf*** of a issue here. I think I'll just stick to Rock Band 2 on the ps 3. But I'll still get Guitar Hero 4 because it's sounds like a true squeal compared to GH:Aerosmith which is alright but it should've been a dlc expansion pack.

But on the whole for the games to be fully enjoyed it's better to own a 360 or ps3. I love my wii but wiiware, no more heroes, smash, etc. etc. there's enough games on the wii that buying guitar hero 4 and rock band is a mistake.

I wish there was a way to boycott the wii version of both gh and rock band until the companies can mimic the features of the ps 3 or 360. Espically since the games are pretty much the same.

iofthestorm @ May 13th 2008 12:51AM

Especially since a music sim doesn't have to be the most graphically demanding game ever... I suppose Wii need a hard drive or USB mass storage support. Nintendo should have one in 6-8 months hopefully, homebrewers already have a semi-working USB driver, and WiiWare is going to fill up Wiis ridiculously fast. Actually, N64 games also fill it up pretty fast too. I've only got about 500 blocks left from 3 N64 games and LostWinds.
So yeah, USB support please??? Then maybe these games will get more feature parity. And can we nix friend codes? I don't mind them, but the online system is really held back without any sort of nickname system. In Brawl, it's not worth playing random people because you might as well be playing CPUs, since you can't even tell the difference.

Orion @ May 12th 2008 11:31PM

I liked how Guitar Hero was... well.. GUITAR Hero. I got Guitar Hero not just because it wasn't as gimped, but because it was also cheaper. Also, I play the nintendo predominately by myself. What am I going to do with 4 instruments. That, and I don't have the space! I think Guitar Hero had a niche.. a game that didn't require as much money as Rock Star, and focused on a single instrument making the experience better.

Seems like this will be Rock Star, but just with a better song list. Glad I got Guitar Hero III.. seems like besides Aerosmith, that will be the last true Guitar Hero game. Shame.

Mattmatt @ May 12th 2008 11:38PM

Great, I've been waiting for this ever since the Rock Band Wii version turned out to be an extremely gimped version.

Lets hope they won't downgrade this "Band Hero" for wii as Harmonix did Rock Band.

Vaati @ May 12th 2008 11:47PM

Where's this track listing at now?

Hafk @ May 13th 2008 2:35AM

There is confirmed

Van Halen
Linkin Park
Sublime
The Eagles

And about a month ago, Joe Satriani said Satch Boogie and Surfing with the Alien were comming to the next installments of Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Since Rock Band doesn't do instrumentals and doesn't look like it's getting another installement this year, and GH does on both fronts, signs seem to point more to GH.

I wanna play Satch Boogie so bad!

shadowchaoscontrol @ May 13th 2008 6:10AM

i just hope "robust" means graphics, i love making songs on FoF, and i always wanted a smoke-grey xplorer with black pick guard

jasenj1 @ May 13th 2008 7:32AM

"- A new guitar designed by Red Octane that includes a new input mechanic that'll 'impact the way you play GH in the future'."

Anyone want to take odds on whether you'll NEED a new guitar to play GH4? They wouldn't be greedy enough to make it incompatible with the existing guitars, or gimp the game if you don't have this new guitar would they? Would they?

And I agree with the Rock Band incompatibility whining. Stupid, just stupid, of Activision to block Rock Band from being compatible.