Reporting on a Guitar Hero/DJ Hero press event last night, Dan at Activision’s One of Swords blog dropped this bit of knowledge upon us:

The drum kits for [Warriors of Rock] are the new Band Hero kits that fans have been asking for — round cymbals, a relocated control box, and an overall refinement of the previous GH drums. The MIDI port that was introduced with GH: World Tour is still there, but now it’s joined by a second bass drum jack (no more splitters for double-bass on Expert Plus!) and the pedal now stays put on the kit itself.

I’m waiting on confirmation that these will come packed in with the Warriors of Rock Super Bundles, but whether they are or not, I’m just happy to know I’ll be able to grab a set of these for my 360 at last.

UPDATE: Dan confirms that the new drums will definitely be available in the Warriors of Rock super bundle, and also be available on their own — possibly in advance of WoR’s release. Rock!

Hit the Read link to learn more about the swanky event…that I wasn’t invited to.

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The answer: No one seems to know. Posting on Twitter last week, GuitarHeroDevs (Neversoft’s official GH-related Twitter account) said the following:

For those that have asked about the new instruments hitting the states, I have been told they are still investigating retailers, etc. So I don’t have a date for when the new Band Hero drums will be in the US. When I have more solid deets, I will share them.

Activision told me awhile back that the drums would be exclusive to the Wii bundle in the U.S., and will only hit PS3 and 360 “at a later date.” Well, it’s certainly later.

In the filing, Activision responds to many of No Doubt’s allegations by noting that “it has been publicly known that certain users of ‘Guitar Hero’ videogames are able to ‘unlock’ in-game characters and can then choose to play songs performed by other artists using ‘unlocked’ characters.”

But it goes further than defense; later in the filing Activision goes on the attack, asking for monetary damages thanks to the following:

No Doubt also agreed to provide services, including marketing services, to promote the ‘Band Hero’ videogame. Even though Activision fully paid No Doubt under the parties’ contract, No Doubt failed and refused to perform the services No Doubt had agreed to provide … No Doubt has been unjustly enriched and should be required to disgorge all benefits it wrongfully received.

Feel free to look over the entire filing in this PDF obtained by the Hollywood Reporter. It’s a riveting — OK, interesting — read, especially the attached contract, which lays out the band’s responsibilities in marketing the game, like this one:

Artist shall provide two (2) recorded video ‘shout-outs’ (e.g., ‘Hi, this is No Doubt and we’re in the new Band Hero game’), subject to Artist’s scheduling demands and subject to Artist’s review and approval of the
contents of such ‘shout outs’.

It’s a rare and interesting look into the carefully-crafted marketing plans of big-name games like this one.

[Read, via @RockBandAide]

1 Band Hero Band Kit for the Wii
1 Band Hero DS Bundle (includes game, guitar grip and drum skin)
1 Band Hero T-Shirt (most likely in purple and/or pink)
and the big prize: 1 Taylor Swift Baby Taylor guitar

The contest ends December 4, so get moving if you’re interested.

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Other prizes include tickets to a Swift show and a meet-and-greet (no travel included), a Band Hero guitar faceplate autographed by Swift…and, uh, a T-shirt. But hey, those other three prizes are pretty sweet if you’re into the pop country, right?

Oh, and if you don’t own Band Hero, don’t worry: It’s illegal to run a contest like this without including a way to enter with “no purchase necessary.” Instead, you can enter via the standard 3-by-5 postcard route. Take a look at the official rules to get all those fine-print details.

The import will cost $5.99 on PS3, 600 Wii Points, or 500 Microsoft Points. Check out last week’s post for a rundown of the songs that won’t be available to import.

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Here is a quote that describes a scenario I still am not particularly proud of:

Even Taylor Swift’s “Picture to Burn” — and I can’t believe I’m saying this — even that marvel of pop-country is seriously fun on guitar thanks to a couple banjo breakdowns that add a welcome and surprising challenge for those used to playing mostly rock.

So come on over to GameSpy and mock my clear lack of sense, taste, and/or masculinity.

[Read]

Importing Band Hero tracks into Guitar Hero 5 costs $4.99, 400 Microsoft Points, or 500 Wii Points, and it includes almost all of the game’s 65 tracks. Here are the only four that aren’t available for transfer to GH5:

Aly and AJ	Like Whoa
Hilary Duff	So Yesterday
Jesse McCartney	Beautiful Soul
Styx	Mr. Roboto

I doubt many Guitar Hero 5 players will miss any of these, except perhaps “Mr. Roboto.” But let me tell you, that’s one of the few Band Hero tunes I was really disappointed by — only in that I was hoping it would be a lot more entertaining to play and sing than it ended up being.

Anyway, if you’ve got your Band Hero on, you can also transfer a good chunk of Guitar Hero 5′s tracks into the kinder, gentler interface of Band Hero. (Well, you can if you have a 360; apparently it’s going to take a bit to get this functional on PS3 and Wii.) Continue reading →

Sound familiar?

That’s right, much like Courtney Love and the surviving members of Nirvana with Kurt Cobain’s likeness, No Doubt has discovered that their virtual selves can be used to sing all sorts of songs that are most definitely not No Doubt tunes.

But this one is looking more nasty than even to Cobain debacle. From the article:

When the band brought their concerns to Activision, they allege the company “refused to correct its actions.” “An Activision executive asserted that [changing the game] would be ‘too expensive’ and would jeopardize their revenue,” according to the complaint.

Ruh roh.

Rolling Stone has a full statement from the band, which includes this spicy quote:

Without the band’s knowledge or approval Activision turned the group into virtual karaoke players by having them perform over 60 additional songs by other musical groups.

See the whole article for more details. I’ve contacted Activision for a comment, and I’ll let you know if I hear back.

UPDATE: Activision just sent over a statement:

Some of the world’s most popular and iconic artists have been featured in Guitar Hero as playable characters, and we are proud to count No Doubt among them. Activision has a written agreement to use No Doubt in Band Hero – an agreement signed by No Doubt after extensive negotiations with its  representatives, who collectively have decades of  experience in the entertainment industry. Pursuant to that agreement, Activision worked with No Doubt and the band’s management in developing Band Hero.  As a result, Activision believes it is within its legal rights with respect to the use and portrayal of the band members in the game and that this lawsuit is without merit.  Activision is exploring its own legal options with respect to No Doubt’s obligations under the agreement.

The thing that interests me is the phrase about No Doubt’s representatives having “decades of experience.” The implication there seems to be that the use was in the contract, and that No Doubt’s representatives ought to have seen it.

[Read, thanks to DJ Pooka for the HOT TIP]

1UP: A-
“Band Hero proves that Activision is finally treating their Hero franchise as a music platform and not a series of unrelated titles. And in this case, you get to choose which graphical skin you like: ‘Top 40′ Band Hero or ‘Hard Rock’ GH5.”

1UP: C+ (DS Version)
“When it comes to bringing the full complement of instruments to the DS, Band Hero represents a very rocky start. If it weren’t for the game’s shortsighted and unintuitive peripherals, there might actually be something worthwhile here”

G4TV.com: 4/5
“[For a] casual audience, Band Hero is a good package. It combines pop hits for younger players with classic tunes for their parents. It contains many of the mechanics that made Guitar Hero 5 a much-improved sequel. Although it has some of that game’s quirks, it adds some charm of its own.

G4TV.com: 2/5 (DS Version)
Band Hero DS has translated the button-pushing function in a workable, if compromised way, but the exuberant joy of rocking out just doesn’t come through. … Band Hero might hold the attention of some younger gamers for a few hours, but it’s a game that deserves to be forgotten.

GameDaily: 7/10
“If you haven’t played the latest Guitar Hero or are looking for something that all ages of players can get into, it’s a respectable choice. However, its mostly flat song list and almost complete lack of anything significantly new may have you feeling a sense of deja vu that can’t be shaken. Rent it first just to be safe.”

Game Informer: 7.75/10
“It’s hard to take Band Hero out of the context of its recent music game brethren. Band Hero is the least innovative of the bunch, but that certainly doesn’t make it bad. For players who found previous releases too hard-edged for their tastes, Band Hero is exactly what they’ve been waiting for.”

GameSpot: 8/10
“There’s a lot of good stuff here, unless, of course, you already own Guitar Hero 5, in which case it is little more than a full-price track pack. But if you’re looking for more songs or interested to see what this plastic video game rock craze is all about, Band Hero is a great option.”

GameSpy: 4.5/5 [Disclosure: I made this!]
“[I]f you’re interested in even half the songs, I can almost guarantee you’ll find at least a couple more surprisingly entertaining. And that pretty much sums up Band Hero for me: It’s not a revolution for the genre, but it is a surprisingly solid, well thought-out, and just plain entertaining game.”

IGN: 7.9/10
“For better or worse, this is a re-skinned version of Guitar Hero 5. Now, that’s not bad because that game was great, but it is disappointing if you were expecting something special from Band Hero.”

IGN: 7.5/10 (DS Version)
“[D]on’t get me wrong; Band Hero’s fun. The trouble is that it’s just a noisemaker that you pick up and jam out with before moving on to the next thing. You’re not going to get super involved with your band and you’re going to be lugging around a bunch of add-ons if you want to get the full experience.”

IGN: 5/10 (PS2 Version)
“This game is the same Guitar Hero you’ve been playing on the PS2 for years. Perhaps it’s worse because we’ve seen the franchise grow on the other systems and stay stagnant here.”

TeamXbox: 8.4/10
There’s no doubt that Band Hero is fun to play, but Activision could have had so much more to show if it had evolved it better in relation to the other Hero games.

And if the word on the street has whet your whistle for some ‘tweentastic rocking, you may satisfy your dark urges via one of the following Amazon links.

360 Disc | 360 Bundle | PS3 Disc | PS3 Bundle | Wii Disc | Wii Bundle | PS2 Disc | PS2 Bundle | DS Bundle