Tag Archives: red octane

Kiss singer Gene Simmons, speaking to GameOn, has confirmed he’s to appear as the “voice” of Guitar Hero 6.

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Darren Richardson, president and CEO of Mad Katz, had told Kotaku that the reason the original Guitar Hero game only launched on PS2 was because the firm pulled out of doing a Xbox SKU due to a lawsuit between Harmonix and Konami.

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According to a Seattle Times interview with Red Octane co-founder Kai Huang, Activision may consider a subscription based service for future Guitar Hero DLC.

“That’s definitely one of the things we would love to do,” Huang said. “There are a lot of issues around music licensing. Customers want it. I know I want it. We’re trying to make that happen.”

It may be simpler that way. Pay a monthly fee, like a lot of other music services, and download all you want.

Providing more than 10 songs are put out a month and it’s cheap, it might eventually be the way to go.

More through the Seattle Times, via 1UP.

Here’s a shock for you – almost a third of all Guitar Hero players are female.

“A very large group really wants great guitar music, and they don’t want us to confuse that,” Guitar Hero CEO Dan Rosensweig told Gamepro.

“And there’s another group of people who love that, but also love to have more current music, more family music, music more popular for girls – 30 percent of our players are already girls, and we want that to grow.

“One of the great things about having a franchise like this is you can really meet all kinds of consumer demand.”

Place your bets on sex split for DJ Hero now.

Thanks, GoNintendo.

Guitar Hero may have a hardware-less future, if comments made by Red Octane president and co-founder Kai Huang to DigitalSpy are to be believed.

“We’ve definitely been evaluating Microsoft’s Natal technology along with a lot of other different technologies that could enhance the Guitar Hero playing experience,” Huang said.

“Natal is very interesting because there’s so many different things you can do with it, whether it’s the motion detecting, maybe sensing how you’re playing, or the ability to use it for interactivity purposes and taking advantage of it for party purposes…

“We’re evaluating it, and I think it’s likely that sometime in the future we’ll have those technologies integrated into our games.”

Huang’s comments come after Acti boss Bobby Kotick said recently that Guitar Hero games may soon not need a console. All that’s left to get rid of now is the game itself. Imagine: you pay Bobby money, and you consume music without having to press any buttons or hold a plastic guitar. You just “hear” it.

Bet that’s roasting your goose, non?

Thanks, 1UP.

Off the back of the earlier news that Guitar Hero World Tour has outsold Rock Band by a ratio of 2:1, Red Octane’s UK senior brand manager, Ian McClellan, told VG247 today that this figure is more like 4:1 in the UK.

“From a UK perspective, we think the growth in music gaming in 2008 is a great thing, as it brings new and different music to consumers and allows them to experience the feeling of being a rock star,” said McClellan.

“The emergence of new titles such as Rock Band is great if it grows the overall market. However, based on our UK market figures, that ratio of sales is conservative – its more like 4:1,” he added.

“We have found that more casual titles such as Wii Music have been the titles that have actually grown the overall category by introducing new gamers to this genre”.

By Mike Bowden

According to this AP piece, royalties musicians accrue from games such as Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero often exceed revenue from album sales.

Apparently, Aerosmith made more moolah from Guitar Hero: Aerosmith than they did from their last two albums, while Nirvana and The Red Hot Chilli Peppers have seen a sharp increase in numbers since getting involved in the rhythm action business.

According to NPD, “22 million units of Guitar Hero had sold in the US since its launch in October 2005, along with 5 million units of Rock Band since its debut in late 2007. The release of Guitar Hero: World Tour in October could boost revenue for the franchise some 40 percent over last year, according to analysts.”

Although Warner has bemoaned the lack of money made from rhythm action games, it hasn’t stopped them from allowing its artists to appear on these games. Wedbush Morgan’s Michael Pachter says there is good reason for this:

“There are literally probably 2 million songs out there, and fewer than a 1,000 were used in these two games combined in these last two years,” he said. “If Warner wants to say we’ll take our 20 percent of the market and go away, a lot of bands are going to leave the label if they think they can get better exposure by being on these games.”

Loads more through the link.

By Mike Bowden

Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett has told USA Today that games like the band’s upcoming branded version of Guitar Hero may be the key to getting young people into playing music. And he may well be right.

“It is kind of weird to know that people are going to have an experience that is going to be similar to my own experience playing and performing music,” he said.

“It’s going to open people up maybe to the prospect of taking the whole thing one step further and actually picking up an instrument. We might be rearing an entire culture of future musicians. That prospect is just super-cool.”

There’s a full interview through there with Hammett and drummer Lars Ulrich. The game’s out next year.

According to this MTV post, Activision yesterday confirmed what appears to be a big chunk of its 2009 line-up at a Massive in-game ads conference in New York.

The publisher confirmed Guitar Hero 5 to attendees, showing a shot of gameplay with a Burger King ad included.

The next Tony Hawk game was confirmed to not be played with a standard controller, and will release for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii and DS in October.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was also talked about, and will be arriving next autumn.

Even further, the company revealed that Bizarre’s racing game is Bond-themed and will release next September.

According to this Eurogamer report, Guitar Hero World Tour “super bundles” will arrive on 360, PS3 and Wii on November 14 in Europe, consisting of all the instrments and the game.

The PS2 pack will be available on November 21.

“We’re delighted to confirm the release dates for all formats and bundles. Guitar Hero World Tour is the one of the most anticipated games launches this year so I’d recommend that everyone gets their orders in quick for the Christmas rush,” Activision’s David Tyler told MCV magazine.

“The free bass guitar controller offer running with all pre-orders has been exceptionally well received, and we can’t wait to see the reaction when the game hits the shelves.”

In this interview with Joystiq, Red Octane’s Brian Bright has confirmed that Activision is planning to release a DJ Hero game.

“Activision’s doing a DJ Hero game, and I can’t comment on what we’re doing,” he said.

“We’re working on the future and next gen. If I wasn’t excited about it I wouldn’t be there.”

MTV pretty much confirmed this was happening in September.

No other detail right now.

Activision’s announced a ton of in-game music gear deals for Guitar Hero World Tour, allowing players to get sponsorship action with Ampeg, Audio-Technica, EMG Pickups, Ernie Ball, Evans Drumheads, Guitar Center, Krank Amplification, Mackie, Marshall, Orange County Drum & Percussion, Pork Pie Percussion, Regal Tip, Sabian cymbals, Vox and Zildjian drumsticks.

We, of course, know all these companies intimately, seeing as how we’re so down the the kids, bro. We have, in fact, heard of none of them. Apart from Marshall. Still.

“Gamers have come to expect a certain level of realism in video games and by collaborating with key brands in the industry we’re able to deliver with Guitar Hero World Tour,” said Activision biz dev man Dave Anderson.

“With the most advanced wireless instrument controllers, the in-game likeness of multiple multi-platinum recording artists and authentic on-stage gear, the game offers the ultimate rock and roll experience.”

Press release after the link.

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Red Octane has announced in the company’s Games Convention press conference at Leipzig that the Wii version of Gutar Hero World Tour will feature a Wii-specific game mode called Mii Freestyle.

There isn’t much to say about it other that you will use the mote and nunchuck to either play ‘air drums’ or the guitar.

Awesome.

By Mike Bowden

Red Octane has just announced during the Activision Blizzard Games Convention press conference that Guitar Hero World Tour will songs available for download relating to what European country you live in.

The countries listed so far are:

• Holland
• Germany
• France
• Sweden
• Italy
• UK
• Spain

Of course, there will be tracks that all of us can enjoy and these country specific titles will only serve as extras to the main song package.

So there you go. European specific support at last.

By Mike Bowden