This is the New Guitar Hero Live Guitar

Bloody screen! SO REAL!

That guitar actually looks cool. The presentation however... not so much. :\

Rockband fanboys are good for a chuckle.

I actually think this looks really cool. I'm sure the FMV could get lame after a while, but I thought it was done great in the demo video. Nothing like having your fellow band mates (and the audience) look at you like you're completely blowing it.

That song however, blecchh

I like the design of the guitar, but part of the fun for me, as someone who switched from GH2 to Rock Band, was making your band, customizing each member to look like your friends, and going on tour. With the FMV option, it seems like your members are set unless they filmed bits for various people you could pick, and even while that would be cool, it doesn't accomplish what I usually look for in my plastic instruments games. And from what I'm looking at, none of these people have a look or feel that gives them any sort of iconic look the way the Guitar Hero characters did.

Of course, this isn't much of the full game, so I'll wait for more before deciding whether I'll get it or not. This seems fine for what it is, especially if the soundtrack they get holds up throughout the game. I can't imagine they do a lot of DLC for it, since it would require getting those guys back to film over and over. Unless they come up with a loophole.

@jesus_phish said:

@jeff Here's a shot of the fretboard from Kotaku UK

Does the fret board remind anyone else of Kit Kats?

Watching someone be bad at a rhythm game isn't cool even if they have "fuck up" reaction video. Also I don't care about that many videos because 70% of the music I want is not a modern band. Like, Radiohead doing Electioneering or The Flaming Lips doing something cool but it's not like they can get The Velvet Underground, REM, Sonic Youth, or Television in there.

Man, I am still holding out for some other option than Rocksmith. That game is a buggy mess with over priced DLC and a sub-part track listing.

I'm happy for Jeff, though.

• Blood peripheral when failing? Really? haha okay
• Changing difficulty mid-game is pretty cool.
• So the song's are all going to have a live sound to them?

I guess there might be an audience for it?

5 years! and Lead designer Daniel Dilallo is not even part of it :/...uh why make us wait so long!

What should we do to make it where they cant bitch about not using their old guitars, SO WE CAN SELL THEM NEW ONES...i think im going to stick with rockband 4

@radleyduder: Agree 100%. Understanding now that it's actually a 6 fret guitar, I actually think the controller design the gameplay result is really fantastic. Actually playing guitar myself, the second row will absolutely help make it "feel" more like guitar playing (as much as hitting a plastic button can come to fretting strings).

But I am not into the FMV thing, for the reasons you said. I loved the customization of my characters, or even just the option to choose them from a set roster. And unless the FMV is only for some of the songs, I can see it definitely limiting the amount of content they can provide.

Hopefully it works out, because I am genuinely impressed by the controller redesign, and want it to succeed for that reason alone. But i dunno...

@acornactivist: Absolutely. I play guitar as well, and the one thing that concerns me is that they'll eventually come out with a 5 x 2 fret setup down the road. Sliding up and down the neck to get to the right note is pretty big when it comes to playing guitar, and not having to do not would take some burden off the player, but it takes some of the appeal away for me. But maybe that won't matter to the general audience, who knows.

Right, Rock Band and Guitar Hero both had their established characters, who had personalities without ever having to say a word. Going the FMV route is super risky because, due to budget and time constraints, I'd assume they have a limited roster (probably just these guys we see in the video), which means they have to get it just right for each band member so that you don't get tired of them/annoyed by them, which we've already seen is a concern for many commenters.

It makes me wonder who they're making this for. The legacy of the plastic-instrument genre is full band karaoke. From what it looks like so far, this is only for guitar, which would be a step back. Either that, or they have every band member's perspective, which is more time and money spent on getting every single angle, and the video from the drummer's perspective has to suck (Unless they include bonus stuff like catching Frisbees Weezer-style in the middle of a song). In this post-Rock Band world, I don't see a lot of people buying any plastic instruments just to be played by yourself in your room. Those days are gone.

You know, I couldn't care less for a new Guitar Hero or Rock Smith game. I don't care how fancy they made the plastic guitars, Rocksmith has spoiled me by letting me play an actual guitar along with music.

The old style of music game is kind of broken for me now.

Edit: Also the question I have now: Does this mean DLC packs will be effectively downloading whole music videos now instead of just the song and the note tracks? DLC songs are going to be hard drive hogs if so.

Does blood squirt off your torn up hands and fly in your face like that when really playing a guitar?

If you have social anxiety or anything like that, I bet this game is a god damn nightmare! A stadium full of people upset and going what the hell as you try to play a video game. Stupid FMV. At least animated people hurt somewhat less!

Speaking as someone who has no desire to own any sort of plastic instrument ever again, that new guitar is very tempting.

I can't believe all this FMV hate. It's actually the only thing making me want to play this. Maybe I'm also just more interested in this than Rock Band 4 because I don't want to buy an XBONE to get my 100s of dollars of bad decisions on the playlist.

Wow.. that controller. I know I would've called myself an asshole 2 years ago when I was a Rock Band fan but just why wouldn't you buy a real guitar AND Rocksmith? It's equally enthralling and has a great selection of dlc.

I actually think the "yo man get your shit together" reactions from your band mates are hilarious. Actually, most things in FMV come off as hilarious.

FMV used to be the cheap option, but now Activision is going to spend millions for it in this.

Fully support the product but after rocksmith I cannot go back.

i think id like this a lot more if it had 10 buttons, 2x5

Yea, I'm willing to give new games a shot but playing the pro guitar stuff with the fancy real fender they released has made it impossible to go back to buttons on a plastic guitar. I've tried Rock Band 3 at least 4 times in the last year and after 2-3 songs I start thinking, "this is pretty damn lame compared to when I was doing this with a real guitar" and kind of give up.

So how many extras will they have hired for that FMV? Assuming the band members are at least actual musicians...and how much it must cost setting up a big fake-set in (well I imagine several locations for other songs). In fact the multitude of songs means that they'd need to pay a band to sing them each time, then multiple takes for "Dude you suck" or "Dude you rock" cuts from the other band member.

Is this cheaper than hiring people to make character models? I mean it's kinda neat but I always liked the cartoony caricatures of rock stereotypes from the old games.

I like that they are trying a new look but i know how Activision run their franchises into the ground, will see what Harmonix do with Rockband instead.

Looks interesting, but I will definitely need to see more. I'm wondering about the variety in the game. If the crowds are based on venues and there are only a small number of venues, I think it could get old very fast. Also, I'm wondering how responsive the guitar controller is. It's hard to tell in the videos.

nothing satisfies my consumerist needs like freshly molded plastic products :)

I look forward to FMV booing.

I sort of like the guitar, a nice change to gameplay at least. BUT this breaks compatibility between Rock Band and Guitar Hero and that I do not like. I was expecting to pruchase both games, and have one controller of each to use in both games, but now I guess I'll have to go without bass when we're playing Rock Band 4.

Focusing on the middle of the screen while everything else is moving around is nauseating.

anyone else think that looks a lot like a Schecter?

Possible they'll use the cameras on each system then put up an animated backgrounds? Uploading custom music videos to social media anyone?!

"which actually creates more realistic-feeling chord shapes with your left hand"

The only chord you could get close to would be an F fifth and maybe a E5.

It's more like they are pushing the sale of plastic guitars again. If Rockband 4 allow you to play with existing plastic guitars then they will win.

Looks pretty cool. I just hope GH and Rock Band doesn't flood the market like they did before. Then maybe the genre will have more legs.