WASHINGTON — Five years after it left, Guitar Hero is returning, with new technology and new songs.
The design of Guitar Hero Live’s guitar controller has been overhauled — instead of the five colored frets in previous Guitar Hero games, the new controller includes six frets arranged into two groups of three. The game developers hope the new set-up will make things easier for new players.
When the reboot launches in fall, some of the bands featured aren’t known for guitar pyrotechnics, including The Luminers, Ed Sheeran, and Skrillex.
“Guitar Hero, by its name alone, has always been associated with classic rock tracks,” FreeStyle creative director and studeio head Jamie Jackson told Rolling Stone, “but it’s been 10 years since the first Guitar Hero came out…think about how much the musical landscape has changed since then.”
The new game will be more interactive, with a 24-hour music video network called GHTV — what’s being called the world’s first playable music video network. The channnel will let participants choose different genres to play-along with, and challenge other players online.
The game will be available on PlayStation 3 and 4, Xbox One and 360, Nintendo Wii, and for the first time, mobile devices.
Rolling Stone has published the first 24 songs that will be rolled out, on a set-list that will eventually contain hundreds of songs.
