Wii, DS to Rock With Guitar Hero

Gamespot has the word that, in a conference call on Activision's plans for the coming fiscal year, they announced Guitar Hero games for the DS and Wii. The titles could be coming any time between April of this year and March of next, and there are almost no details to relate otherwise. Presumably, Guitar Hero's new development home of NeverSoft will be handling the creation process. How do you think they'll incorporate the motion-sensing properties of the Wiimote into the axe? Any Nintendo classic songs you'd love to see included on the Wii version?

Re:Wii Continues To Be A Third Party Disaster

[timster]

Or, you could say that the Wii gets a major title, previously unavailable on Nintendo systems, due to its huge sales and popularity. You could say that nobody ever said a Wii game had to feature the Wiimote, just like lots of great DS games don't use the stylus. You could say that, if you weren't trolling.

Too Many Heroes

[Applekid]

For what it's worth, I think having a whole bunch of the same games for different consoles causes trouble, and one has to look at DDR and Beatmania for evidence.

Japanese releases of DDR get different songs versus US and European releases. The games go through localization which basically winds up with songs in one country's version of a game and not another's. Imagine if that was pulled with other games: a platformer that the developer made 20 different levels to play in but only 8 of them are common to all the regions and the rest are "region exclusives."

Now with alternate platforms, essentially the SAME game but tuned to different hardware doesn't carry with it the data that drives it. DDR Ultramix on the Xbox includes songs that aren't found on the PS2 analog, so if you're a real fan of a series and gotta have it all you have to get both consoles. Contrast to some other franchise games: if you like Mario games, get a Nintendo branded system and you'll get them: you don't have to worry about 2 months later a new new version of your new game to be announced for a different platform with extra goodies that you should have gotten to begin with.

It's already started with the 360 version of Guitar Hero II. It's going to feature songs not in the PS2 version. Sure, other games do things like that too (like Metal Gear Solid), but with rhythm games the controllers aren't interchangeable between platforms and you end up with a closet full of junk and a game you might pay $50 for only to get maybe $10 worth of new content.

Re:Guitar Hero?

[MindStalker]

Have you ever seen the Wii remote, its got a handy plug in the back of it for extensions, plug the wiimote into the back of the guitar and you seriously reduce the complexity of the guitar making it even cheaper to produce.

Re:Nintendo-themed songs.

[Fozzyuw]

Aside from the Legend of Zelda theme and the Super Mario Brothers theme, are there any Nintendo Franchises with theme songs conductive to being played on an electric guitar.

Good God, if they make "Guitar Hero: Mario Mix", like they did with DDR, then I think I'll personally go down to the Guitar Hero's offices with a stereo set on repeat and play them the Mario theme song.

Seriously, the first 'techno' Mario theme I heard how long ago, was kind of cool and nostalgic the first time but that's it. Nintendo's idea that such theme music is akin to pop, rock, or any other kind of often played music is one reasons they keep their systems feeling 'kiddy' to other gamers.

Sure, a 'secret' unlockable theme song, I'll accept that, as long as I'm still rocking out to Iron Maiden, Deep Purple, Foo Fighters, etc. But in the case of Mario DDR, it was like 10 version of Mario theme music, an a handful of classical music remix, like Beethoven. It really made me feel like not wanting to touch anything Mario with a 10 foot pole. Heck, I even enjoy Mario games in general.

As for the Wii Remote, I'm sure they'll just require you to purchase a whole new guitar controller. If they wanted to do something right... they would create an adapter for the PS2 controllers to plug into the bottom of the Wii-remote. But, they want to sell accessories, so I doubt that will happen. But, now that the Wii is getting Guitar Hero, I guess I can safely sell my PS2, as it's the main reason I'm still keeping it around... that, and to play God of War 2. hehe

Cheers,
Fozzy

Wonderful!

[Garse Janacek]

I've been waiting for this news for a long, long time.

However, what's with the assumption that the DS will get Guitar Hero? The actual quote is "In fiscal 2008, we'll double our offerings on DS and the Wii, including Spiderman, Shrek, Transformers, and Guitar Hero." -- it seems a peculiar assumption to make that every single one of those things is coming to both platforms. It was just a list of things they'll be bringing to Nintendo systems. Unless the company confirms this, I think it's a very odd interpretation to assume that this means the DS will get Guitar Hero.

That said, though... Guitar Hero on Wii. That single game was the biggest reason I've been tempted, for a long time, to buy a PS2 (there are other games I might play, but nothing else that was worth buying the system). Now, I know I can have it anyway if I just hold out a little while longer.

Now, if I could just find a store with the Wii in stock... :-P