Hey, Activision? When you guys announced that you were scaling down your Hero releases to just two games this year, it was widely regarded as a good thing. So this rumor (via Kotaku) that you might be working on Guitar Hero: Red Hot Chili Peppers? Not exactly thrilling.
Don’t get me wrong — the Chili Peppers have some very fun, complex tunes that would be a blast to play in a music game. (As anyone who’s downloaded Blood Sugar Sex Magik in Rock Band can attest.) But it sure seems to me that the Guitar Hero franchise could stand to benefit from a paring down and refocusing.
Fortunately, the rumor sounds pretty tenuous to me. The source, says Kotaku, is a survey that “appears to be gauging interest in a Guitar Hero: Red Hot Chili Peppers concept.” From the article:
“Celebrate the entirety of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ life, starting with their early days in LA, to their famous Hyde Park concert to their highly anticipated new studio album,” notes the purported survey. “Discover the story behind their legendary music as you unlock interviews, retrospectives, concert footage and other commentary.”
The survey specifically names albums By The Way, Californication, Give It Away and the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “upcoming studio album to be released in 2011.”
To my knowledge the Chili Peppers don’t have an album called “Give it Away” — that’s a song — so there’s one questionable point. And as far as I can tell, the band’s next album is due this year, not next, so there’s another.
But I haven’t seen the original survey, so at this point your guess is as good as mine. I will say that if Guitar Hero is taking another whack at the single-band concept, they could do a lot worse in terms of playability and interest than the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
What do you think? Sound interesting to you?
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Seeing as it probably won’t be out in 2010 shouldn’t you be accusing Rock Band of the same thing with Green Day and it’s 3 venues and no foreseeable DLC.
Just sayin’
I am down for a RHCP Guitar Hero game! I would buy this rather than Rock Band Green Day.
toymachine, I hear what you’re saying, but I think the difference is simply that Rock Band hasn’t had a Van Halen moment, you know? I’m not opposed to the idea of single-band games, I’d just like them to be good…and respectful of the artists involved.
Well if Faith No More is in GH: RHCP we know it’s been handled incorrectly! xD
I think its hilariously hypocritical to point fingers and mock Guitar Hero for continuing a formula they started while Rock Band and Harmonix copycat them into the ground.
The fact of the matter is we haven’t had a single GH release since GH5. Its obvious to me and just about everyone else that the scaling down has occurred. In fact, we have had ZERO official press release announced Guitar Hero titles in many months now. Is it really so bad that we have rumors and leaks of GH6 and only one other GH game, this one being RHCP?
Two rumored GH games for the next 12 months = bad. Two announced RB games for the next 9 months = good?
Frankie, for me, it’s about quality more than quantity. Multiple good games is always good. But Guitar Hero: Van Halen has made me very skeptical about Activision’s commitment to quality when it comes to single-band games. (Well, I guess I can’t call them single-band games because of all the songs from other bands that are included…which is part of the problem.)
(Incidentally, Van Halen came out after GH5 — and let’s not forget Band Hero. I happened to enjoy that one, but I think treating it as something fully separate from the main Guitar Hero franchise is a bit of a stretch. So there’s two games that have come out since Guitar Hero 5 that are essentially the same gameplay. And that’s in addition to Metallica earlier in the year.)
Add to that all the shakeups and layoffs with studios working on the games, and it makes me feel like a tighter focus would be really good for the Hero franchise right now.
Joe, I totally understand where you’re coming from. It just seems strange to me that Harmonix is essentially copying the same formula but no one bats an eye. We are starting to see some of the backlash from the community regarding “crap DLC” and it seems some HMX devs can’t handle the heat. As I stated somewhere on Twitter, GH and its fans have been dealing with this for ages now.
Regarding Van Halen, I personally didn’t have much of an issue with the game when it came to core gameplay. The charts were fun & difficult and had some great songs. The lack of any type of “career” progression turned me off but seemed tacked on like in Metallica (which I still consider one of the best GH games ever made).
And as for your skepticism regarding Activision and anything quality driven, I think we all share the same opinion regarding that aspect.
As far as I am concerned, the band centric games have just about all been great for me (aside from the scary head and lips of Steven Tyler in Aerosmith). If it was done right and quality was priority, I could see GH: RHCP being a decent, somewhat successful game, especially if whomever develops it takes notes from Harmonix. I loved GH: Metallica and I definitely enjoyed GH: Van Halen. I can’t tell you how badly I want Green Day: Rock Band right now.
Just excuse me for giving the GH brand the benefit of the doubt
If they’d listen to their fans (a little more closely) and takes notes from the other franchise (which is obvious both studios have done at this point) I believe we’d all be relatively happy.
Indeed! I think we all benefit when the two franchises sort of push each other to excel.
Band centric games are great… the first time around playing… What Guitar Hero needs to do is take a page from RB:GD and incorporate the Export feature. Green Day will be fun to unlock stuff and all, but that only goes so far, then the disc starts to collect dust. When hanging out with friends and jamming out, i hear… lets play some Metallica or lets play some Van Halen… Then i tell them i have to swap discs and then they change their mind. It’s more of a flow thing for me.
The only thing I can’t get is, after the crap that was VH and the awesomeness that was the Beatles and that Green Day looks to be, why any artist would go with Activision. Activision clearly is about profit, Harmonix is about music. Also, given the immense disrespect shown to Cobain and No Doubt, who would want to entrust them with not making them look stupid?
Harmonix for the win, always.
I think this would b awesome, i would look forward to this
Personally I’d love a GH: Red Hot Chilli Peppers. But that’s only because I don’t like RHCP at all, and therefore I don’t mind a band that I don’t like getting the shitty Activision treatment.
Much better than the last rumor, about an Alice Cooper Guitar Hero. Man, I hope THAT one never becomes a reality. Alice deserves the Rock Band treatment, with fully exportable songs!
To Andre: You are correct! GH:RHCP=Yuck. There are way more bands I would rather see get thier own game. And to metallichris-Do not ever think it isn’t all about the bottom line, always.
Quote: FrankieB May 3, 2010 at 11:48 am
“I think its hilariously hypocritical to point fingers and mock Guitar Hero for continuing a formula they started while Rock Band and Harmonix copycat them into the ground.”
I think you’ll find that HMX developed the original Guitar Hero 1, 2 and Rock the 80s. In addition Activision copied HMX’s idea of having a full band. Rock Band was out way before Guitar Hero: World Tour. HMX have been the innovators not Activision and whoever the Mickey Mouse developers they have continuing a franchise HMX started.
Quite correct, Guitarjacked.
RO and HMX were a great symbiosis of core and husk. When HMX emerged into its greater form and made the game (and further – franchise) they originally wanted to create in the beginning (Rock Band), then Activision took the free-floating husk (which they’ve now absorbed into something of a phantom scab of what Red Octane used to be), stayed on track for about 2 games, and then ventured out to compete with Rock Band with 3 games on a very questionable engine which they’ve only minorly remedied so far in GH5.
What I’m really trying to say is GH:RHCP will make my girlfriend and I rage to no end because of Kiedis’s vocals being bound to an annoyingly stringent vocal grading system.
HMX needs to wrench the rights out of Activision’s sights before any of this becomes reality.
I cant wait for this!! The chili peppers are awesome!!
i love to watch Californication, all those pretty girls wowwww:*,
There is a Give It Away album. It only has three songs on it but it exists. GH:RHCP would be bomb though.