The new guitar seems neat. They're probably not expecting to set the world on fire with this new button layout though, most people won't want to learn how to play GH again. I'm still waiting on more Rock Band news, see what those guys are working on. My 600ish song library needs a new home on a new console.

Im ready for new Guitars. My old ones are wore out and busted from years of use. However my first reaction to the new button placement is a Darth Vader NOOOOOOO!

I dont like the idea of all the buttons way down at the top of neck. The colored buttons also made it easier to learn. Moving your hand down the neck of the guitar as the notes got higher or lower worked for me. Now with all the buttons so close and at one end, Im not sure how that is going to translate to almost feeling like you are playing the real thing. IF IT AINT BROKE DONT FIXT IT!!!!

Waiting to see what the Rock Band crew brings forth. I bought way more music for rock band anyway and would love to not have to buy all that music again.

So, the idea of having fretboard verticality in this game is actually really cool and makes it more like playing an actual guitar and allows for new ideas that are intriguing.

Everything around that idea looks like shit in this game. And the notes I'm seeing on screen don't really even correspond to the song that is playing.

The new guitar seems pretty cool. If it's all FMV like that though, that seems super lame. Maybe they'll pull it off though, we'll have to see.

@scullinator: As someone who plays guitar for a living, I can say this new design should feel much more like playing a real guitar than the old design. When you play guitar, the less horizontal hand movement, the better. You always want to try to move vertically and keep your left hand in one position.

This kinda made me realize how much I want a new Samba De Amigo game.

I loved GH and RB back in the day but after years of not using my instruments, I finally decided to get rid of them and I don't think I will be buying new instruments any time soon. It's fucking cool as long as it's new and there's a lot of hype about it, but once that hype dies down you just have a bunch of very expensive dust collectors.

Pretty disappointed about this. Been playing guitar for 8 or so years, and it would never have happened without Guitar Hero and Rock Band.

Postponing purchase decision without playing the new guitar/hearing what Jeff has to say but this seems really terrible.

The new guitar looks cool and more realistic controls but damn that FMV stuff looks lame

Wow, that looked terrible. FMV bandmates making bro faces.. thank god when you're playing these games you don't really have time to watch the background.. also the Sewer Shark style intro with everyone making eye contact and nodding is super awkward. No customizing your character I guess, since its first person.. I'm torn on what looks like forced-up/down strum - its good to get closer to real guitar but I know that's going to be annoying. The guitar looks alright and I'm totally into the next-gen of plastic instrument games, but I think I'd be embarrassed to play this.

Addendum - the custom songs are only in the PC version, so buy that if you want the super-expanded library.

That said, I've had the 360 version since it came out and still come back to it all the time. It's not going to replace real guitar lessons, but it's definitely the closest gaming has come so far.

@athleticshark said:

...good lord, no. Not even close. Green Day was probably better left unreleased but it's fucking insane to suggest the blame is "equally" on GH and Rock Band for oversaturating the market and turning people sour on the genre at a rapid pace. GH pumped out relentless products of questionable quality like Aerosmith and Rocks The 80's and Greatest Hits and whatever the hell else they did (I did like the Metallica game but even that was half Metallica half whoever else).

Not to mention charging more for their DLC and (at least initially) refusing to support RB instruments. It left a bad taste in everyone's mouth during the peak popularity of the genre and sent it into a tailspin. What did Rock Band do in the same timeframe? Some track packs (no harm done there as they were just a workaround for users unable to download content), 2 core games, and an incredibly high quality Beatles game that is still unmatched as far as presentation in rhythm games.

Like I said, I could do without Green Day. But by that point the genre was already dying. If anything, I give Harmonix a lot of credit for actually releasing Rock Band 3 (the absolute pinnacle of the genre) after Green Day came out, when it probably would have made more sense for them to scrap it and move on to something else.

the controller looks pretty neat but the game looks pretty bad

I dunno, I feel like I'd miss not having to change position at all or stretch much, 5 buttons wide seems cooler than 3. Either way, it seems like Rock Band 4 will be more traditional (if I get a PS4 anyway) or I could just get around to practicing my real guitars. Hmm.

I can't believe they used the "raspberry jam" screen effect from FPSs in this game, it's hilarious. "Oh no, I played so poorly it's killing me!".

I prayed for a new DJ Hero. The lord works in mysterious ways.

I'm sitting here thinking about how they'd do DLC. Like, are they gonna rehire those band members for every piece of DLC they do? How about the extra's in the audience? The venue? This entire setup will kinda destroy the customisability of previous GH games, right up where I don't even think you'd be able to name your band and customize the band's logo.

The guitar really looks interesting, but man... The technical limitations of doing full FMV bum me out, let alone the acting.

I think the FMV stuff is cool, but I don't see this in anyway being a difficult game. Now they did change difficulties, but with only 6 buttons and using 3 fingers makes it seem like the game is way easier than 6 buttons all lined up

So can I not create my own custom band members?

Boooo....

So no back compat with old peripherals then

I can't believe they're using FMV...and that GH TV thing is just ridiculous. Why do I want the note highway on top of a video I'm watching? Seems like they just didn't want to hire any animators or something...

This is almost too goofy for me.

I might dislike almost everything about the FMV, but I am Way on board with the new button layout.

I always hated the 5 buttons because my pinky/ ring fingers could never keep up with my index and middle fingers, and I could never go past "hard" and could barely manage that.

color me optimistic.

So apparently you're the *third* guitarist of Kings of fucking Leon.

Why do they have a video of someone kind of sucking at the game though? Like I thought there was going to be a big turnaround - look at him destroy this solo now! But.. no .. the person playing kinda does bad all the way to the end.

That looked fucking terrible

They say that for DLC, it's just good to be the music video. So it's basically SingStar Guitar... yeah! Remember SingStar Guitar?

Just the original music video? Thus killing the concept that the base game will have? Kinda proves my point. What a waste XD Here's hoping Rock Band stays closer to the previous incarnations.

As someone who plays actual guitar I like the new guitar design. They can really get the feeling of playing chords now, without having to make it TOO realistic.

Well, here we go again.

The blonde lip biting moment made me burst out laughing.

I'm not convinced about the FMV. I don't want the experience to be more immersive. The guys in that band look like douches.

It has to do with the FPS-style red tinge. You'll notice when the player does poorly enough the entire screen blurs red and that's when it switches to the other video track of pissed people. Once you do good enough, the screen blurs white and the video switches back.

The change up on the gameplay is a nice change but I hate how Activision handles DLC so... where the fuck is Rock Band 4?!

That new guitar controller is a really cool idea. It almost seems like guitar hero, rock band, and rocksmith could all be filling separate niches in the same genre.

Happy the rhythm games are returning, but I'm gonna hold out for Rock Band 4.

FMV, really?

Not that I have any interest in playing this anyway, but the idea of having to watch a bunch a cheesy FMV cutscenes while playing the game totally took the wind out my sails in regards to the new controller layout.

I like Guitar Hero, I like Rock Band.

But I wish there was one master music game.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but the FMV gameplay is actually a major turn-off. It looks distracting as hell to me. The button layout is a cool idea, though.

But, fucking Activision, did they REALLY have to announce this game a couple of months after Harmonix announced working on a new Rock Band? Are we seriously doing this again?

While Harmonix should be pissed I actually think they're in a great position here. If the two videos are indicitive of what the actual game is going to be it looks TERRIBLE.

Personally, I don't care about the whole FMV thing. That part never mattered to me in Guitar Hero, so I don't know why they feel the need to focus on it beyond "consumer research and marketing" or whatever.

I'm looking at this from the point-of-view of someone who played a LOT of fucking Guitar Hero and was good at it on Expert. So far, the new fretboard layout seems a bit exciting, as I'm interested in a higher challenge curve. Moving to six buttons overall instead of five is a nice change of pace, as it means more chord options. There isn't going to be hardcore emulation, but that's fine. It gives the actual movement of your fingers a bit more of a tangible feel, I assume.

The problem I have is that the videos we've been given seem like the calibration is off by at least 20ms or so, and it's annoying the fuck out of me. When the notes ran down the paths in previous Guitar Hero games, there was a solid and tangible feel to them, a bit of looseness as well. You felt like you were really nailing those notes. Rock Band's notes-on-path always feel very...blocky? There was a precision that they required that took me away from the part where it's a fucking game, basically. I don't mind the precision necessity - another layer of challenge - but I always felt like there was too much precision. Even Rocksmith plays a bit loose with its overall sensitivity of "strum notes-to-notes on screen" calibration.

Also, that fade-in/fade-out shit when you are failing? Nuh uh. Get rid of that shit. It was already fucking with my head.

I'm interested to hear more. However, the thing that matters the most is the tracklist. If they can't give me a solid tracklist (and I mean on a Veteran/Expert status), then I don't give a shit. I want some shit on the level of "Tornado of Souls" or "Impulse," sure. However, I also want shit like what they had on Warriors of Rock. "Just Another Parsec..." by RX Bandits is still one of my favorites to play. Hell, even Steely Dan on World Tour was fun.

Totally agree with this. Activision lost me after the 5th new game where I couldn't bring over my old music. The fretboard means that absolutely nothing from old GH will transfer over, not even old songs, and they will be making a split with the instruments that Harmonix will have to make for RB4. The live crap and the music video crap also don't appeal to me in the slightest. When I'm playing the game, I'm paying attention to the note highway, who cares what's going on in the background? That's exclusively for the people watching it, not players. Making it look like an old episode of Pop Up Video isn't going to sell me on it. Harmonix : doin' it right :: Activision : dafuq?

I'll wait for reviews, but this looks so stupid right now.

lol it's pretty funny that they're highlighting doing terribly in their gameplay video. the FMV is fine, doesn't matter much really. unless they go heavy on story and the characters are all incredibly off-putting of course.

also the plastic instrument war is apparently back.

As much as I've always been #teamharmonix, the "two strings of three buttons" setup is significantly more intriguing to me than another round of one row, five buttons. Introducing simplistic chords is a good way of keeping things video-game-simple while also making it feel more like the real thing.

Not for me, but good on them for reinventing what Guitar Hero is.

I was never too big on the original guitar hero guitar. I couldn't manage to slide my hand well ever (might have just been my lack of practice). But I like the idea of not really needing to slide my hand as much as just sorta do more chord looking movements.

Hmm. I don't know about this. It's cool that they're trying something new with the series, but I just don't trust Activision to not run this into the ground again.

If you're gonna revitalize Guitar Hero, you gotta do something interesting, and hey, it at least makes Guitar Hero not seem as disgusting as it's been to me since Harmonix left it. But if Rock Band's keeping the guitars five frets across, it's obviously gonna be open to fairly divisive competition. At best, this idea makes it a lot more open for people to try harder difficulties if the problem was that most people that play this game are the most comfortable with using three fingers instead of moving the pinky around.

Who knows; this doesn't necessarily seem as crazy as the Tony Hawk game did, so maybe this idea really can sell units. With all that said though, it does seem like frivolous style changes, both FMV and the guitar to an extent, if the grand scheme of the game is to still do the same thing you did in Guitar Hero and Rock Band games before.

If Harmonix had done FMV I feel like people would be falling all over themselves saying how goofy and funny it was

You're 100% right, Harmonix have a disgusting fan base who fellate anything they did.

That said remember how embarrasing the RB3 intro was?