Posts tagged Van Halen
Shaba composing music game for Activision
Jul 21st
Spider-Man: Web of Shadows studio now hiring audio techs to make karaoke note tracks for unspecified title.
San Francisco-based Shaba Games is no stranger to following in other developers’ footsteps. The Activision subsidiary has spent the better part of the last decade working on Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater ports and offshoots and made a splash last year with Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, GameSpot’s highest-rated console Spidey game to date.
For its next project, Shaba could be working on yet another of Activision’s well-established franchises. According to a job posting on Gamasutra, Shaba Games is working on a music game. The San Francisco-based developer, located a few miles from the nascent Activision Bay Area, is looking for a staffer “to create MIDI note data based on pre-recorded vocal tracks” and input song lyrics into the game.
The job listing doesn’t specify which game Shaba is working on, but Activision has plenty of rhythm titles to choose from. This year alone, the publisher has released Guitar Hero: Metallica and Guitar Hero: Smash Hits, with Guitar Hero 5, Band Hero, and Guitar Hero: Van Halen still to come, all of which include sing-along gameplay.
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Halo 3: ODST, God of War III top E3 favorites – Survey
Jun 19th
Nielsen study released yesterday reveals the top 12 games presented at the expo that are most likely to be purchased by gamers.
According to a June 8 report by research group Nielsen, New Super Mario Bros. Wii garnered the most online “buzz” at this month’s Electronic Entertainment Expo. However, a report released this week indicates that such ephemeral attention might not translate into hard sales.
The survey asked gamers which games presented at E3 they were definitely or probably interested in purchasing. Some 53 percent of respondents were likely to purchase Halo 3: ODST, with 49 percent for God of War III. On the other end of the list, The Beatles: Rock Band ranked last at 12th with 30 percent.
One interesting factoid by Nielsen is that there were no massive changes in interest in the 12 titles from pre-E3 to post-E3. As the research group puts it, “In other words, games that already tugged at gamers’ hearts held on.”
The results of Nielsen’s June 7 to 14 survey are listed below, along with a video of GameSpot’s Halo 3: ODST demo.
TITLE – RELEASE DATE – PERCENTAGE INTERESTED
1) Halo 3:ODST – September 22, 2009 – 53%
2) God of War III – March 2010 – 49%
3) Wii Sports Resort – WII – July 26, 2009 – 45%
4) Guitar Hero 5 – September 1, 2009 – 42%
5) Final Fantasy XIII – Q2 2010 – 37%
6) Madden NFL 10 – August 14, 2009 – 35%
7) Guitar Hero: Van Halen – Q3 2009 – 34%
Assassins Creed 2 – November 17, 2009 – 32%
9) Need for Speed: Shift – September 22, 2009 – 32%
10) Need for Speed: Nitro – Q3 2009 – 32%
11) NCAA Football 10 – July 14, 2009 – 32%
12) Beatles Rock Band – September 9, 2009 – 30%
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Guitar Hero 5, Band Hero, DJ Hero confirmed for fall ‘09
May 7th
Activision confirms previously rumoured Heroes arriving this autumn, alongside Van Halen; full Greatest Hits/Smash Hits setlist revealed; first shot of turntable controller inside.
Activision today officially announced or confirmed information for a wide range of products with the Hero moniker, including Guitar Hero 5, Band Hero, DJ Hero, Guitar Hero Van Halen, Guitar Hero: Greatest Hits–known as Guitar Hero: Smash Hits in North America. The biggest news is that Guitar Hero 5 was also officially revealed, though no specific details save the release window were mentioned.
Guitar Hero 5 is expected to follow the formula of Guitar Hero World Tour which was released last year on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, Wii, and PC, to positive reviews. It will offer “unprecedented level of control over the way they play the game with the ability to drop in and out of songs and change band members, instruments and difficulty levels on the fly,” according to the megapublisher.
The long-rumored Band Hero was also confirmed. Instead of featuring non-rock instruments, the title will instead be a all-ages, family-friendly entry in the series–the first game in the franchise to bear an E10+ rating from the ESRB. No details were given other than that the game will feature “top-40 hits designed to expand the appeal to a broad family audience who can play together on the guitar, drums, bass and microphone.”
The previously confirmed DJ Hero also got a mention. Swapping pubs for clubs, the new instalment will feature songs spanning hip-hop, R&B, Motown, electronic, and “dance” genres. Rather than creating songs from scratch, DJ Hero will allow players to produce “original mixes of popular songs and music from the world’s most exciting artists and DJs.”
Several publicity images of the DJ Hero Turntable Controller were unveiled along the announcement. The deck features green, red, and blue buttons akin to those found on Guitar Hero instruments, with the middle button noticeably larger than the other two. DJ Hero is heading to the Xbox 360, Wii, and PlayStation 3 and/or PlayStation 2.
While Prince may’ve knocked back the franchise’s advances, Activision’s Will Kassoy officially confirmed the existence of Guitar Hero: Van Halen earlier this week at a press event. Kassoy promised the game will feature “many of the band’s greatest hits,” although it is still unclear which platforms it will appear on.
In a separate announcement, Activision also confirmed the complete 48-song set list for Guitar Hero: Greatest Hits (subtitled Smash Hits in the US), combining songs from previous titles in the series including Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero II, Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock and Guitar Hero: Aerosmith. The full list is below.
Guitar Hero
Blue Oyster Cult – Godzilla
Boston – “More Than A Feeling
Deep Purple – Smoke On The Water
Franz Ferdinand – Take Me Out
Helmet – Unsung (Live)
Incubus – Stellar
Joan Jett & The Blackhearts – I Love Rock N“ Roll
Ozzy Osbourne – Bark At The Moon
Pantera – Cowboys From Hell (Live)
Queen – Killer Queen
Queens Of The Stone Age – No One Knows
The Donnas – Take It Off
The Exies – Hey You
White Zombie – Thunder Kiss ‘65
Guitar Hero II
Alice In Chains – Them Bones
Avenged Sevenfold – Beast And The Harlot
Danzig – Mother
Foo Fighters – Monkey Wrench
Iron Maiden – The Trooper
Jane“s Addiction – Stop!
Kansas – Carry On Wayward Son
Lamb Of God – Laid To Rest
Lynyrd Skynyrd – Free Bird
M“tley Cr“e- Shout At The Devil
Nirvana – Heart-Shaped Box
Rage Against The Machine – Killing In The Name
Reverend Horton Heat – Psychobilly Freakout
Rush – YYZ
Stone Temple Pilots – Trippin’ On A Hole In A Paper Heart
The Police – Message In A Bottle
The Sword – Freya
Warrant – Cherry Pie
Wolfmother – Woman
Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s
Anthrax – Caught In A Mosh
Extreme – Play With Me
Judas Priest – Electric Eye
Poison – Nothin’ But A Good Time
Ratt – Round and Round
Twisted Sister – I Wanna Rock
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
AFI – Miss Murder
DragonForce – Through The Fire And Flames
Heart – Barracuda
Kiss – Rock And Roll All Nite
Living Colour – Cult Of Personality
Pat Benatar – Hit Me With Your Best Shot
Priestess – Lay Down
Slayer – Raining Blood
Guitar Hero: Aerosmith
Aerosmith – Back In The Saddle
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Guitar Hero: Van Halen officially official
May 7th
Activision’s Will Kassoy confirms long-rumored next band-centric installment of series will arrive in second half of year; Queen, Weezer, Blink 182, The Offspring, and Queens of the Stone Age also on setlist.
Activision has finally made official what has been widely rumored ever since March 2005. The next band-based Guitar Hero game will focus on
Van Halen, the legendary hard rock quartet anchored by guitarist Eddie Van Halen and his drummer brother Alex. From the 1970s to 1990s, the group topped the charts under two different lead singers, David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar. (Sorry, Gary Cherone.)
“You’ve heard about this, maybe some rumors, but I am here to officially announce the title, which is coming out in the second half of this year,” senior vice president of Guitar Hero publishing Will Kassoy told a press event in Los Angeles this week. No platforms were mentioned, but prior band-centric Guitar Hero games have been released for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, and Wii.
Though he did not name any specific songs, Kassoy promised Guitar Hero: Van Halen would feature “many of the band’s greatest hits.” Such multiplatinum tracks as “Jump,” “Panama,” “Hot for Teacher,” and “Why Can’t This Be Love?” helped the group sell over 56 million albums in the US, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. The band was
inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007.
Guitar Hero: Van Halen will feature a plethora of other acts who inspired the quartet, including 1970s-80s British supergroup Queen. Kassoy said it will also feature artists inspired by Van Halen–many of which have members who weren’t even born when the band was formed in 1972. These include Weezer, Blink 182, The Offspring, and Queens of the Stone Age, “amongst many, many others,” said Kassoy.
The executive went on to explain Activision’s big-picture approach to band-focused Guitar Hero games. “Our previous two artist [focused] titles, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith and Guitar Hero: Metallica, have done really well in the marketplace,” said Kassoy. “But it’s our desire to go beyond just individual band games, and to compliment that with artists the bands are really inspired by and that they themselves select to be in this game. The same is true of Van Halen.”
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