Guitar Hero isn't dead yet
With the release date of Rock Band drawing closer, many people are starting to muse that this will mean the end of the Guitar Hero franchise, due to competition from a "superior" rhythm game. I'm not so sure they're right, though. Rock Band does have the potential to do very well, but assuming Activision heeds the lessons learned by Harmonix and Red Octane, and doesn't do anything too stupid (like charging full price for Guitar Hero 80s, a no - frills expansion pack - we'll let this one slide), the Guitar Hero franchise will be around for a long time.
Why do I think this? There are 2 main reasons - the first being price (more people can afford GH's $80 price than RB's ~$150), but the second, and one that's been overlooked in the press is that by focusing on only one instrument, GH has a lot more music it can draw from to put into the games.
Elaborating on the second reason, let's assume that the Rock Band franchise will never (or very, very rarely) include songs that do not have parts for all 4 instruments - vocals, lead guitar, rhythm guitar / bass, and drums. I think this is a pretty reasonable assumption, as it sort of defeats the purpose of including all the fancy peripherals if you're not going to use them. From this, instrumentals are pretty much excluded from the RB series. That means no Satriani, Vai, Malmsteen (*shudder*), or any other famous instrumental guitarist. No "Classical Gas", no "Satch Boogie", none of the Metallica instrumentals, etc.
The second part of this reason comes in the limitations of Rock Band's peripherals themselves, specifically the drum controller. As most of you know I listen to a lot of noise (read: metal), quite a bit of which involves the use of "double bass" - two kick drums on the kit instead of one. Looking at RB's drum controller, there is only single kick pedal by default, which is fine, but I haven't heard anything mentioned about the possibility of connecting an additional one through a port on the controller (I don't think think the drum controller has any extra ports, though I could be wrong). Assuming that a controller with two kick pedals is never introduced, that eliminates a LOT of songs that could be put into a Rock Band game. Not just obscure stuff either - Metallica, Pantera, Slayer, and a host of other big metal bands have songs that can't be played with Rock Band's drum controller.
Knowing this, Activision and Neversoft should capitalize and include songs in Guitar Hero that cannot be played in Rock Band. Looking at the songlist for Guitar Hero 3, it appears they're doing just that. Three of the "big" songs - Slayer's "Raining Blood", Dragonforce's "Through the Fire and Flames" and (the song I'm buying the game for) Metallica's "One" are all songs you couldn't play in Rock Band, due to the lack of a second kick pedal on the drums. Kudos to Activision and Neversoft for picking these tracks, and hopefully they'll be able to keep it up in the future.
Why do I think this? There are 2 main reasons - the first being price (more people can afford GH's $80 price than RB's ~$150), but the second, and one that's been overlooked in the press is that by focusing on only one instrument, GH has a lot more music it can draw from to put into the games.
Elaborating on the second reason, let's assume that the Rock Band franchise will never (or very, very rarely) include songs that do not have parts for all 4 instruments - vocals, lead guitar, rhythm guitar / bass, and drums. I think this is a pretty reasonable assumption, as it sort of defeats the purpose of including all the fancy peripherals if you're not going to use them. From this, instrumentals are pretty much excluded from the RB series. That means no Satriani, Vai, Malmsteen (*shudder*), or any other famous instrumental guitarist. No "Classical Gas", no "Satch Boogie", none of the Metallica instrumentals, etc.
The second part of this reason comes in the limitations of Rock Band's peripherals themselves, specifically the drum controller. As most of you know I listen to a lot of noise (read: metal), quite a bit of which involves the use of "double bass" - two kick drums on the kit instead of one. Looking at RB's drum controller, there is only single kick pedal by default, which is fine, but I haven't heard anything mentioned about the possibility of connecting an additional one through a port on the controller (I don't think think the drum controller has any extra ports, though I could be wrong). Assuming that a controller with two kick pedals is never introduced, that eliminates a LOT of songs that could be put into a Rock Band game. Not just obscure stuff either - Metallica, Pantera, Slayer, and a host of other big metal bands have songs that can't be played with Rock Band's drum controller.
Knowing this, Activision and Neversoft should capitalize and include songs in Guitar Hero that cannot be played in Rock Band. Looking at the songlist for Guitar Hero 3, it appears they're doing just that. Three of the "big" songs - Slayer's "Raining Blood", Dragonforce's "Through the Fire and Flames" and (the song I'm buying the game for) Metallica's "One" are all songs you couldn't play in Rock Band, due to the lack of a second kick pedal on the drums. Kudos to Activision and Neversoft for picking these tracks, and hopefully they'll be able to keep it up in the future.