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Metallica to Star in Next Major Guitar Hero?

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Thu Jun 05, 2008 02:54 PM
from the milk-it-while-you-can dept.
Media Music Entertainment Games News
Many readers have written in to let us know Metallica may be the star of the next major installment to the Guitar Hero franchise. "Edward Woo, a Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst, was going through some SEC filings from Activision, and found the following plan. 'In fiscal 2009, we plan to publish Guitar Hero: On Tour for the NDS; Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, Guitar Hero: Metallica, and Guitar Hero IV across multiple platforms,' the report read. Since the fiscal year ends March 31, 2009, it doesn't sound like we have long to wait for this title. That's four Guitar Hero games coming in the next year. How many can the market take?"
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Metallica to Star in Next Major Guitar Hero? 50 Comments More /

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  • Who cares (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Archangel Michael (180766) on Thursday June 05 2008, @02:55PM (#23673055) Journal
    Really? They're just trying to win back some fans that have long since written them off for their hatred of their fans.

    • Really? They're just trying to win back some fans that have long since written them off for their hatred of their fans.
      Then they'd better make sure none of the material from St. Anger makes it into the game.

      • Then they'd better make sure none of the material from St. Anger makes it into the game.

        I used to really hate St. Anger when it was first released, but now time has passed I really quite like a few of the tracks, namely Frantic and Some Kind Of Monster. I thoroughly suggest you go back and give it another spin! Sure it's not And Justice For All ... but it's not that bad :)

        Free Playstation 3, XBox 360 and Nintendo Wii [free-toys.co.uk]

    • Who do you think decided to make Guitar Hero: Metallica? I kind of doubt it was Metallica. Activision was probably like "Hmm...what major metal band could we use to milk even more money out of our GH franchise?" and their greedy, grasping hands finally rested on Metallica. I suppose it could be the other way around, that Metallica commissioned the game, but I kinda doubt it. They probably thought to themselves "what the hell, it can't exactly hurt us" and agreed to it. So, I don't think it's just Metallica

      • Who do you think decided to make Guitar Hero: Metallica? I kind of doubt it was Metallica. Activision was probably like "Hmm...what major metal band could we use to milk even more money out of our GH franchise?" and their greedy, grasping hands finally rested on Metallica.

        I think you're forgetting one of Activision's biggest considerations.

        "What kind of well known name can we still get for really really cheap?"

        Cue call to washed-up has-beens to cut a deal for a pittance and vague promises about a return to relevance.

        • I dunno about your definition of washed-up is but playing major festivals and doing tours while producing a new album, means id quite like to be washed up too.
      • I only discovered Guitar Hero III last week and I'd like to see them release any albums they can get their hands on as playable tracks - the best Metallica albums, Pantera, Sepultura, etc. I don't mind if they don't take it to the level of the Aerosmith release (mo-cap on the talent, etc), just bring across the songs.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Chabo (880571)
      I wore my "...And Justice For All" t-shirt to the last metal show I went to, and I overheard two guys talking about it behind me, trying not to let me hear:

      Guy1: Aww, Metallica? They fucking suck!
      Guy2: Wait dude, that's Justice. They were awesome in the 80s.
      Guy1: Really?
      Guy2: Yeah, go listen to Justice or Puppets, don't forget they had a bunch of other albums before St. Anger.

      • Re:Who cares (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Negatyfus (602326) on Thursday June 05 2008, @03:42PM (#23673867) Journal
        Hah, gotta love them new kids. Just like them to be ignorant of one of the founders of thrash metal. Metallica were never brilliant musicians in the face of more skilled bands, but their drive for metal made them what they were (and Dave's in the case of Megadeth). I guess I'm old enough now to welcome a new generation of metal kids instead of putting down their choice of bands.

        • Re:Who cares (Score:5, Funny)

          by Red Flayer (890720) on Thursday June 05 2008, @03:59PM (#23674111) Journal
          Heh, reminds me of a great exchange from James:

          [lights come up]
          crowd goes wild, then quiets down
          How many people own our first album?
          crowd cheers loudly
          How many people own 'Kill 'em All'?
          Crowd goes nuts and erupts
          They're the same fucking album, assholes!
          • How many people own our latest album?

            crickets chirp

          • How many people own our first album?
            crowd cheers loudly
            How many people own 'Kill 'em All'?
            Crowd goes nuts and erupts
            They're the same fucking album, assholes!

            I guess 'No Life 'Til Leather' has been retroactively made to not count. Is this because:
            1. James was too drunk at the time to remember recording it;
            2. Original bassist Ron McGovney shows up to demand royalties any time someone mentions it;
            3. Despite having all the necessary characteristics of an album, 'Leather' was self-produced and distributed, and

        • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

          by Lonewolf666 (259450)
          Metallica were indeed of one of the founders of thrash metal, and in their earlier years I count them among the best musicians in the genre (as it was back then). Certainly up to "Justice For All", and the Black Album was OK too.

          But after that, they sort of lost their drive and did some so-so hard rock stuff. I think they never quite recovered from that, and the metal scene in general has produced a lot of really good bands since.
          Overall I think thrash/speed/black metal has grown up some and it is more diff
      • Honestly I didn't much care for Metallica when they were "good", so now I'm just basking in self-righteousness. It's more a genre thing though; I find most metal to be pretty numbing after a few minutes.
        • I'm not much into the crazy stupid stuff like Iron Maiden, but some Metallica can actually be pretty good - the only album I have is S&M though, which is them playing along with an orchestra, which obviously helps to make the whole thing more majestic and refined. Not all their songs are just them thrashing away at 180bpm :P The band members do seem to be dicks though.
    • If their guitar hero performance will be anything like the last show of theirs that I saw, then James Hettfield will forget some lyrics and be pelted in the face with plastic bottles before begging for sympathy(citing "self-esteem"). Then, when they stop their real show and pull out the gimmicky little acoustic set, their little ditties would be drowned out from crowd-booing.

      That was in San Diego, at Coors Ampitheater, in '98 or '99 on the Re-Load tour BEFORE the abomination known as St. Anger was releas

      • Re:Who cares (Score:4, Interesting)

        by jgarra23 (1109651) on Thursday June 05 2008, @03:46PM (#23673931)
        My faith was restored, so to speak, by Some Kind of Monster, and I am still a fan, but not as much as I used to be.
        I'm actually surprised by this comment. While I thoroughly enjoyed SKoM, I had a completely different experience from it.

        I saw a band that was really a clique (Hammet, Hetfield & Ulrich) in disguise, ganging up on Dave Mustaine and throwing him out, ultimately alienating and doing the same to Jason Newsted and ultimately turning on itself when they ran out of punching bags. They also non-verbally admitted their bad-rep amongst the metal world by having to bribe Robert Trujillo under the guise of giving him a million bucks to join when really it's that the only people who were willing to audition just didn't have the talent to play live riffs (Danny Lohner? Gimme a break, he's WAAAY overrated).

        There are other issues but then I'll just be going on & on... it's really sad because I really enjoy their pre-Black music. I'll never forget that I was actually excited before Load came out. I was so excited... man... I don't even know what to say about all that. I wrote them off when they sued their fans. I don't really care- it's like an abusive relationship with them always. They will use you up until they can't squeeze any more out and then they will sue you for the rest. You want to have a side project? Fuck you.

        None of that anger is reflect towards parent post :) I wish I was as forgiving as you in that respect.
  • will they sue me if I record a video of myself rocking out to Metallica on Rock Band and post it on youtube?

  • Obligatory bash.org (Score:5, Funny)

    by phorm (591458) on Thursday June 05 2008, @02:59PM (#23673109) Homepage Journal
    As seen here [bash.org]

    Metallica is pretty good at following the money. Much better than actually caring about their fans.
    • The only reason why I logged in was to see if I had any mod points to give you. However, it is obvious I do not so I am limited to a sophomoric "MOD PARENT UP!!!"
  • Hate those sell outs. Bet they sue anyone who tries to play the game without paying them a royalty every time they play a song.
  • A lot of people are going to point out that they hate Metallica because of the anti-Napster stuff they did in the late 90's. I would like to point out that there are also a lot of disaffected fans from the 80's who hate them for selling out with the black album in the early 90's. Metallica has made so many enemies over the years that they have people hating them NUMEROUS reasons.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by effigiate (1057610)
      I'll call this one beforehand - Score: 5 Flamebait

      Metallica hate is so pervasive that, at this point, it seems "popular" to hate Metallica for any number of dumb reasons. My two biggest complains are:

      1. Metallica killed Napster - Did you really expect to be able to freely download any song you like, as easily as you like, forever and ever? Metallica may have been the first major band to bring a lawsuit against Napster, but I woudln't of given Napster another three months before someone else stepped

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by Nightspirit (846159)
        I think my hatred is more of a generational type thing. As a teen in the 90s, metal was actually pretty mainstream for quite some time with the release of the Black album. Then rap and alternative started to explode and (mainstream) metal started to die. Us metal-heads were looking for one good Metallica album to come out to save the genre and then they cut their hair and released Load; essentially the death kneel for the metal era. Now, I know lots of good metal was being released at the time, but at the t

      • The point with the Napster thing is that it's extreme hypocrisy, since Metallica became famous in the first place by encouraging fans to pirate cassete tapes. I'll do an one-person act to illustrate:

        Old Metallica: We're the metal millitia!! Fuck the system!! Pirate our music!! Stick it to the man!! We'll never make an MTV videoclip!! Whiplash motherfucker!!

        New Metallica: Hai guys, did you see our newest videoclip on MTV? Oh and pirating is stealing, play nice and pay for things like a good citizen.

      • I would disagree about adapting their music to the time. Everything they pull out sounds like a rehash of Ride The Lightning. This band is done a long time ago already. Plus, they let their celebrity eating their brain cells. That's never good.
      • I hate Metallica because they bitched on Dave Mustaine, and he was their best musician. Megadeth rocks and they just can't stand it. If it weren't for them selling out then they wouldn't be more popular than Megadeth because they suck. a lot.

        It wasn't "growing," they didn't do it for the music. It was a commercial plot to make money and get girls with fewer tattoos.
      • They're wankers. The thing was in the 80s they were so proud of their fans for promoting them and made sure to say how they weren't selling out and not an MTV band. Oh they only made a video of "One" because of the message of the song and the existing film footage from Johnny Got His Gun.
        And then the next album was full of MTV friendly 3 minutes songs with corresponding pointless videos. Metal lite for their new MTV fans.
        I don't really care, I'm sure that the lure of the money would have made me change just

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by coren2000 (788204)
      The Black Album was absolutely terrific, anyone who argues this point is silly.

      So what that a bunch of metal-heads didn't get another Thrashing and hate "nothing else matters"... the rest of the world got one of the top "rock and roll" albums of all time, and arguably the best ever rock ballad.

  • Where's the real Guitar Hero? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Alzheimers (467217) on Thursday June 05 2008, @03:06PM (#23673221)
    All this talk about Guitar Heroes -- where's the G3 edition?

    -Satriani
    -Vai
    -Petrucci
    -Malmsteen
    -Gilbert
    -Johnson

    These are the REAL Guitar Heroes.

    As good as some of the early Metallica tracks were , their reputation with fans is completely shot and TBH their last few albums make them sound washed up and done.

    Now, if they made a game where fans could shoot Lars Ulrich in the face with a bazooka, that would probably sell.
    • Don't forget Devin Townsend. Not to take away from anyone you listed but he's just that good.
    • I'm just an average guy, but I've never heard of any of those names.

      "Guitar Hero: Metallica" means something to me.

      "Guitar Hero: Malmsteen" means nothing to me, and I'd dare say nothing to lots of other people, too.

      • They never had the mainstream success of some of the other bands, but have put out classic albums. Steve Vai 'Passion and Warfare' is pretty much standard issue to guitar geeks, even if they are of the 'I hate the LA sound of the 80's' school, because it just doesn't get better, or even as good as Steve Vai very often. I highly recommend it. Metallica, and I am a fan, dream of growing up to play like Steve Vai, and I say that with much respect, but absolutely seriously.
    • GH3 does have "Cliffs of Dover" on it, but nothing from those other guys. As much as I like Satch, Vai, Yngwie F'ing Malmsteen, etc., they're guitarists' guitarists. They don't have broad appeal, and their music is mostly solo. GH is more riff oriented, which is why you get songs like "Hit me with your Best Shot" or "Talk Dirty to Me." Personally, what I find most peculiar is the absence of any Led Zeppelin...

    • -Satriani
      -Vai
      -Petrucci
      -Malmsteen
      -Gilbert
      -Johnson

      These are the REAL Guitar Heroes.

      They also aren't well-known to your average "button guitar" player. Also, in case you didn't know, a REAL Guitar Hero is featured as an unlockable bonus track on Guitar Hero II [wikipedia.org].

      "Yeah, but can he play Buckethead on 'Expert'?" --Stan Marsh, "Guitar Queer-o" episode

      Also, for "real" guitar players who have a Comcast box, an early live Buckethead performance is available for free on-demand.

  • I don't like anything Metallica has done since the black album (and yes of course this includes their assault on Napster and Metallica fans). Rockband currently has the following Metallica tracks available:
    * Enter Sandman
    * Ride the Lightning
    * Blackened
    * And Justice...

    All of their new music has become radio friendly and lost it's edge, so I would be less likely to buy a game that features their newer content...
    • Oddly enough, I like (parts of) Load, Reload and St. Anger. Something is clearly wrong with me (time to check myself into an asylum), but hey. In any case, I would still prefer more older tracks in the lineup, and my guess is they will be throwing older stuff in there too. Or, at least, I hope... won't be buying it if I can't play Call of the Ktulu and The Thing That Should Not Be.
      • I dunno, Load and Reload had some decent/good songs. Unforgiven II had a beautiful guitar riff which was the sole reason I learned to play guitar. For my money, it's the early Metallica that I can't stand... never did see why anyone gets so worked up about it. The band didn't really get good until the black album, imnsho.
        • C'mon, Master of Puppets was excellent - but the production sucked. Listen to their 'S&M Live' album (OK, I could do without the orchestra, but otherwise...) and liten to MofP and some of the other older tracks - they are great, and while there is no 'Enter Sandman' until TBA, there's a lot of quality there.
  • I'm going to Rock Im Park tomorrow and the thing that pisses me off more than anything is that some of my money is going to Metallica. Most overrated band in history.
  • Why release more band-centric Guitar Hero games when World Tour is coming at the end of the year? Why would we want to buy a game based around one band's music when Activision should be focused on actually supporting DLC for World Tour. Guitar Hero is the kind of game that doesn't need multiple installments. It's not a genre where much innovation can be seen from title to title. New songs do not warrant a new game, which is where DLC becomes attractive. World Tour will be introducing many new gameplay eleme
    • Besides, does anyone really enjoy swapping discs in and out in order to play varying tunes?

      People like the Singstar series just fine.
  • Gamer plays Guitar Hero at party, more than 40 in attendance, arrested for 'performing a derivative work' via Playstation

  • *yawn* (Score:3, Funny)

    by katterjohn (726348) <katterjohn@gmail.com> on Thursday June 05 2008, @04:00PM (#23674131)
    Talk about Enter Sandman

  • I guess this version... (Score:3, Funny)

    by slapout (93640) on Thursday June 05 2008, @04:09PM (#23674295)
    ...won't have downloadable songs :-)

  • Metallica is Irrelevant (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Phoenix666 (184391) on Thursday June 05 2008, @06:00PM (#23675849)
    I was a Metallica fan back in the day. Hearing Master of Puppets was blissful release from the Top-40 land I grew up in. When Napster came on the scene I downloaded all the bootlegs I could find; Napster was a fan's cornucopia, such as there has not been since. One fellow Metallica fan I downloaded from also had tracks from Plastic People of the Universe, which was one of the weirdest and most interesting bands I'd ever heard.

    Then Lars testified that his fans were pirates, and joined the RIAA's jihad against music lovers everywhere. I took out all my Metallica albums and memorabilia and burned them.

    There is nothing Metallica can do to get back in my good graces. I'm sure I'm not alone.
    • I'm right there with you. When I was young, I was camping out in order to get the best tickets. Now I won't spend $1.99 for the guitar hero tracks. I'll never give those fuckers a dime again.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Omestes (471991)
      @they suck comments - apparently they're still doing something right if people are still buying their music, merchandise, and concert tickets...

      Just because people spend money on it, doesn't mean its good. Ms. Spears sells how many damn albums?

      @generic, parroted napster comments - how about i take what you use to make a living and give it away to everyone else for free so you see no revenue; remember, napster was one of the first "mainstream" ways to steal music and few groups, like metallica, actually own
    • @they suck comments - apparently they're still doing something right if people are still buying their music, merchandise, and concert tickets...

      You're right, adults only care about commercial success when deciding whether or not something is good or not.

      @generic, parroted napster comments - how about i take what you use to make a living and give it away to everyone else for free so you see no revenue; remember, napster was one of the first "mainstream" ways to steal music and few groups, like metallica, act

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by coren2000 (788204)
      I am offended by all types of enjoyable activities you insensitive clod!

      Life should be a no-fun zone.

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