FOR THOSE ABOUT TO ROCK, WE SALUTE YOU!

Guitar Hero is a series of music video games published by RedOctane in partnership with Activision. The series is notable for its use of a guitar-shaped peripheral to simulate the playing of music, represented on-screen by colored notes that correspond to fret buttons on the controller. The games support individual play as well as cooperative and competitive modes for two players. The series has used a range of both licensed and independent rock music tracks from the 1960s to present, many of which are master tracks from the bands. In total, five games have been released for video game consoles, while games have been released for mobile phones and the Nintendo DS handheld gaming system.



The series was developed by Harmonix Music Systems from 2005 to 2007 before development duties of the series were transferred to Neversoft, whose first effort, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock was released on October 28, 2007.



The Guitar Hero franchise has become a cultural phenomenon, making many appearances in popular culture, and the games have become extremely popular as party games and hobbies. The series has sold over 14 million units, earning over £1bn.

History

Harmonix

The original Guitar Hero was released on the PlayStation 2 in November 2005 and was developed by Harmonix.
Guitar Hero is unusual because it comes packaged with a guitar peripheral modeled after a Gibson SG rather than using the console's standard controller. Playing the game with the guitar controller simulates playing an actual guitar, except it uses five colored "fret buttons" and a "strum bar" instead of frets and strings. The development of Guitar Hero was inspired by Konami's GuitarFreaks arcade game, which at the time, had not seen much exposure in the North American market; RedOctane, already selling guitar-shaped controllers for imported copies of GuitarFreaks, approached Harmonix about creating a game to use an entirely new Guitar controller. The game was met with critical acclaim and received numerous awards for its innovative guitar peripheral and its soundtrack, which comprised 47 playable rock songs (most of which were cover versions of popular songs from artists and bands from the 1960s through modern rock). Guitar Hero has sold nearly 1.5 million copies to date.



The popularity of the series increased dramatically with the release of Guitar Hero II for the PlayStation 2 in 2006. Featuring improved multiplayer gameplay, an improved note-recognizing system, and 64 songs, it became the fifth best-selling video game of 2006. The PlayStation 2 version of the game was offered both separately and in a bundle with a cherry red Gibson SG guitar controller. Guitar Hero II was later released for the Xbox 360 in April 2007 with an exclusive Gibson X-Plorer guitar controller and an additional 10 songs, among other features. About 3 million units of Guitar Hero II have sold on the PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360.



The final game in the Guitar Hero series to be developed by Harmonix was Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s for the PlayStation 2, which was released in July 2007. The expansion reskinned the visuals from Guitar Hero II, and featured a shorter track list with no bonus songs, and was not as well received as the previous two games.



Both RedOctane and Harmonix were experiencing changes in 2006. RedOctane was bought by Activision in June while it was announced in September that Harmonix would be purchased by MTV Networks. As a result of the two purchases, Harmonix would no longer develop future games in the Guitar Hero series. Instead, developing would go to Neversoft, a subsidiary of Activision known for developing the Tony Hawk's series of skateboarding games. Neversoft was chosen to helm the Guitar Hero series after Neversoft founder, Joel Jewett, admitted to the RedOctane founders, Kai and Charles Huang, that his development team for Tony Hawk's Project 8 went to work on weekends just to play Guitar Hero.

Neversoft

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock was released in late 2007 for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, PC, and Mac platforms. The title is the first installment of the series to include wireless guitars bundled with the game and also the first to release a special bundle with two guitars.



Guitar Hero World Tour, previously named Guitar Hero IV, will be the fourth full game in the series and it is scheduled to be released on October 27, 2008 for PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii. Guitar Hero World Tour was confirmed as in development following the announcement of the merger between Activision and Vivendi Games in December 2007. Activision's CEO Bobby Kotick announced on April 21, 2008 that Guitar Hero World Tour will branch out into other instruments including vocals. Further information on the first trailers for the game showed that the game will also include drums and will be packaged with a new drum set controller. Guitar Hero World Tour will also feature custom song creation that can be shared with others.



On September 4, 2007, Billboard announced that the band Aerosmith was "working closely with the makers of Guitar Hero IV, which will be dedicated to the group's music." On February 15, 2008, Activision announced that Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, an expansion game to the series, would be released on June 29, 2008.



Activision's 2008 SEC filings cited that they plan to release Guitar Hero: Metallica by the first quarter of 2009. In addition, Metallica's next album, Death Magnetic, will be available as downloadable content for both Guitar Hero III and Guitar Hero World Tour simultaneously with the release of the album.



Guitar Hero: On Tour was released on the Nintendo DS handheld system in July 2008. The game includes a peripheral, dubbed the "Guitar Grip", a rectangular device that fits into the second slot of the Nintendo DS. The peripheral only features the first four fret buttons and a strap so the Nintendo DS can be held sideways comfortably for play. The game also includes a guitar pick shaped stylus for use with strumming in the game, which players move across the touchscreen. A sequel, Guitar Hero: On Tour Decades, was announced at the 2008 E3 conference, and will allow players to share songs from either game via the DS's wifi capabilities.

Mobile Game

Guitar Hero III Mobile was released for mobile phones and Blackberrys in 2007 and 2008, and was developed by MachineWorks Northwest LLC. The base version of the game includes 15 songs from both Guitar Hero II and Guitar Hero III, and has released a three-song add-on pack every month since January 2008. The title has been downloaded by users one million times, with both Verizon and Hands-On Mobile claiming that over 250,000 songs are played a day on the platform. Another mobile phone game, Guitar Hero III: Backstage Pass was developed by Hands-on Mobile, Inc. and released in July 2008; in addition to the usual Guitar Hero elements, the game adds simulation of the management of the player's band on its way to success.

Gameplay

The core gameplay of the Guitar Hero games is a rhythm game, the guitar controller is recommended for play, although a standard console controller can be used instead.The game supports toggling the handedness of the guitar, allowing both left-handed and right-handed players to utilize the guitar controller.



While playing the game, an extended guitar neck is shown vertically on the screen (the frets horizontal), and as the song progresses, colored markers indicating notes travel down the screen in time with the music; the note colors and positions match those of the five fret keys on the guitar controller. Once the notes reach the bottom, the player must play the indicated notes by holding down the correct fret buttons and hitting the strumming bar in order to score points. Success or failure will cause the on-screen Rock Meter to change, showing how well the player is playing. Should the Rock Meter drop below the red section, the song will automatically end, with the player booed off the stage by the audience. Successful note hits will add to the player's score, and by hitting a long series of consecutive successful note hits, the player can increase their score multiplier. There is a window of time for hitting each note, similar to other rhythm games such as Dance Dance Revolution, but unlike these games, scoring in Guitar Hero is not affected by accuracy; as long as the note is hit within that window, the player receives the same number of points.



Selected special segments of the song will have glowing notes outlined by stars: successfully hitting all notes in this series will fill the "Star Power Meter". The Star Power Meter can also be filled by using the whammy bar during sustained notes within these segments. Once the Star Power Meter is at least half full, the player can activate "Star Power" by pressing the select button or momentarily lifting the guitar into a vertical position. When Star Power is activated, the scoring multiplier is doubled until Star Power is depleted. The Rock Meter also increases more dramatically when Star Power is activated, making it easier for the player to make the Rock Meter stay at a high level. Thus, Star Power can be used strategically to play difficult sections of a song that otherwise might cause the player to fail.



Notes can be a single note, or composed of two to four notes that makes a chord. Both single notes and chords can also be sustained, indicated by a colored line following the note marker; the player can hold the sustained notes keys down for the entire length for additional points. During a sustained note, a player may use the whammy bar on the guitar to alter the tone of the note. In addition, the games support virtual implementations of "hammer-ons" and "pull-offs", guitar-playing techniques that are used to successfully play a fast series of notes by only changing the fingering on the fret buttons without having to strum each note. Sequences where strumming is not required are indicated on-screen by notes with a white outline at the top of the marker instead of the usual black one, with Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock adding a white-glowing effect to make these notes clearer.



While the song is playing, the background visuals feature the player's chosen avatar, along with the rest of the band performing in one of several real and fictional venues. The reaction of the audience is based on the performance of the player judged by the Rock Meter.



The main mode of play in the Guitar Hero games is Career Mode, where the player and in-game band travel between various fictional performance arenas and perform sets of songs. It is by completing songs in this mode that the songs are unlocked for play across the rest of the game. Players can choose their on-stage character, their guitar of choice, and the venue they wish to play in. In this mode, the player can earn money from his/her performances that is redeemable at the in-game store, where bonus songs, additional guitars and finishes, and bonus content can be unlocked. After successfully completing a song, the player is given a score, a percentage of how many notes they hit and a rating from three to five stars, depending on his/her final score on the song.



The four difficulty levels for each song afford the player a learning curve in order to help him/her progress in skill. The first difficulty level, Easy, only focuses on the first three fret buttons while displaying a significantly reduced amount of notes for the player to play. Medium introduces the fourth (blue) fret button, and Hard includes the final fret button while adding additional notes. The addition of the orange fret button forces players to move their fingers up and down the neck. Expert does not introduce any other frets to learn, but adds more notes in a manner designed to challenge the player and to simulate the player's hands to move in a sequence similar to a real guitar.