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Games Entertainment Hardware

New Guitar Hero Drumset Showcased 75

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the new-challenge-means-continued-lack-of-sunlight dept.
Kotaku is just one of many to have captured a recent showcase of Guitar Hero World Tour by Activision's CEO, Bobby Kotick. They have a nice video highlighting gameplay on the fancy new drumset. Looks like Guitar Hero is really turning up the heat in the ongoing war with Rock Band for dominance.
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New Guitar Hero Drumset Showcased More

New Guitar Hero Drumset Showcased

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  • Drumming... (Score:4, Informative)

    by Notquitecajun ( 1073646 ) on Thursday May 29, 2008 @04:09PM (#23591281)
    The Rock Band drumming on "expert" probably has the MOST skill required of any of the instruments. The REALLY hard levels require you to be an actual decent drummer to play the thing.
    • Well, how much can you simplify playing drums?

    • Re:Drumming... (Score:5, Funny)

      by Tenebrousedge ( 1226584 ) <`moc.liamg' `ta' `egdesuorbenet'> on Thursday May 29, 2008 @04:30PM (#23591647)
      The rock band drum set requires you to have good coordination and rhythm, which are qualities that will make you a good drummer. The motions used in Rock Band are pretty similar to what actual drumming is like, but not equivalent. Take someone who has only played Rock Band and sit them in front of a real drum set, and they would probably require a significant amount of practice before being able to e.g. keep good time without a soundtrack, show up on time to rehearsal, or have a girlfriend. You know, like real drummers do...

      • Re:Drumming... (Score:4, Insightful)

        by mrbcs ( 737902 ) * on Thursday May 29, 2008 @05:33PM (#23592531)
        Excuse me ... Bull Farking Shit. It amazes me that people buy this thing. I am a drummer with 20 years experience and it's exactly the same motions and training. How do you think drummers learn timing? umm, by playing to albums, cd's etc. You could move that one pad and you'd have an electronic drum set.

        I would bet that you could take one of these drummers, sit them in front of a kit, and they could actually PLAY a song. Not like that joke of a guitar thing. My God! I have no talent or patience to learn an instrument so I'll spend close to the same amount of money to basically masterbate in front of a tv.

        In my not so humble opinion, this is the biggest joke I've ever seen. If you can play this "game" you can play drums. You can buy a decent begginer kit for under $500.

        • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

          by Beardo the Bearded ( 321478 )
          It's not really masturbation.

          It's Simon with a really intricate skin.

          But really, who cares? If someone wants to play Red Steel instead of learning how to fence, that's their prerogative too. Surgeons don't get uppity about Trauma Centre, do they?

          I've been playing Baritone for almost 20 years. I guarantee you that there's a community band out there who would like to have another percussionist join. Heck, we'd like to see someone whose interest in music has been kindled by the fun they had playing Rock Band
          • It's not Simon, because you actually get to see the notes as you have to play them. Simon on the other hand required you to memorize the sequence it played (which often made no musical sense), and be able to keep up. I remember I had a portable Simon, and I actually beat it, because it only had a memory of 20-30 (32??) moves.
          • I call it Klax with licensed music [wikipedia.org].

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by Rakarra ( 112805 )
              It is the 90s.. and it is time for KLAX.

              That game and the Zeldas probably got more playtime on my original NES than any other.
          • Now _that's_ masturbation!

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by Essron ( 231281 )
          I play music too (bass and a little drums) and I love to hate on Guitar Hero on principal, but I have to admit this interface has far more potential to work like a real instrument than the silly guitar doohickey. Could have a lot of value for training a real student without the noise and with fewer lessons.

          Since it appears to track velocity, it probably has a midi output, which means someone will hack it to be a synth controller, which would be really cool and make me, a musician who loves to mock guitar he

        • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

          by poot_rootbeer ( 188613 )
          I am a drummer with 20 years experience and it's exactly the same motions and training.

          Really? These games teach people the proper wrist action to play drums? Dynamics? Paradiddles? The multiple-bounce roll? ANY rudiments at all? No?

          You've got the prickish attitude down, but I think you need to go back to drum school before you can call yourself a drummer.
        • As a guitar player (actual wood and strings, not plastic), I've also viewed Guitar Hero with some distaste for the same reason: "Why not just learn how to actually play the guitar?" I've played the game a few times, and it was more fun than I thought it would be, but I couldn't help thinking the whole time, "I can play this song much better in real life..."

          I've read about an upcoming game called Guitar Rising [guitarrising.com] which looks to have a promising concept for me:

          Guitar Rising is a music video game where the player plays a real guitar as cued by the game's visuals. Following rock music sequences and streaming notes, players play guitar melodies and rhythms. Beginner difficulty levels are designed for non-guitar players and hard difficulties will challenge experienced guitarists. [guitarrising.com]

          • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

            by Reapy ( 688651 )
            Because guitar is hard as fuck. Before I eventually got rock band (play drums all the time now ) I've had zero musical training, and had just bought a guitar and was trying to teach myself via videos/books whatever. All I ended up being able to do is play a few chords and bore myself trying to learn scales. So after a few months I could finally comfortably get into chord positions, and kinda sort switch in a second or two (not fast enough to play a song correctly), I still couldn't play ANYTHING I wanted t

        • Not like that joke of a guitar thing. My God! I have no talent or patience to learn an instrument so I'll spend close to the same amount of money to basically masterbate in front of a tv.


          I think you're missing the point of playing a game.

          Or do I need to enlist in the army before I can play an FPS ever again?

          Then again, joining a hippie farm before playing Viva Pinata again might be an interesting experience.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Spectre ( 1685 )
          I'd have to agree.

          My buddy teaches drumming at the Paul Green School of Rock Music (Kansas City branch).

          A few weeks ago, he had a prospective student come in, say he wanted to apply to the school to see if he could learn to play "real drums".

          When asked what he meant, he said he was doing well at Rock Band on drums in "expert".

          It took all of fifteen minutes to acclimatize to a real drum set, and the kid is already many months ahead of being a "beginner" on the drums.

        • I would bet that you could take one of these drummers, sit them in front of a kit, and they could actually PLAY a song. Not like that joke of a guitar thing. My God! I have no talent or patience to learn an instrument so I'll spend close to the same amount of money to basically masterbate in front of a tv.

          Obligatory anti-anti-Guitar Hero/Rockband response: http://www.ctrlaltdel-online.com/comic.php?d=20070509 [ctrlaltdel-online.com]

        • My God! I have no talent or patience to learn an instrument so I'll spend close to the same amount of money to basically masterbate in front of a tv.

          You just described my favorite past time! and no I'm not talking about Rock Band, were you?

    • Re:Drumming... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by 1729 ( 581437 ) <slashdot1729@nOsPAM.gmail.com> on Thursday May 29, 2008 @04:32PM (#23591683)
      I'm an experienced drummer, and I was completely baffled by Rock Band's drum kit. None of the patterns felt like "real" drumming (both in terms of the kit layout and the rhythmic feel), and the small sticks and plastic pads made it difficult to use proper sticking techniques. I didn't try expert mode, though, which some people claim is actually easier for real drummers.

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by joggle ( 594025 )
        You should consider buying a real pedal modified for the game (see here [rockbandpedal.net] for more info). You can also try the sock mod [scorehero.com] to make the drums more sensitive.
      • Yeah, you really should have played expert. Even just as a musician (but not drummer) I found it confusing at times playing some of the lower difficulties on the drums. You'd hit the snare once for every 4 times it was really hit. Or you'd hit the kick once instead of three times. Give it a try on expert - it can be tough, but it's a lot of fun.
    • I played Rock Band at a party a couple weeks ago. The drums were indeed much harder than the guitar or singing. The bass drum foot pedal is what adds to the complexity (and calf-ache :). The drums also require bigger physical actions to hit a specific drum rather than just push a button right next to your finger and strum on the guitar.

    • Re:Drumming... (Score:5, Funny)

      by Chris Burke ( 6130 ) on Thursday May 29, 2008 @05:06PM (#23592165) Homepage
      The Rock Band drumming on "expert" probably has the MOST skill required of any of the instruments.

      Ah, so it's the opposite of real life.

      Now now, drummers, don't get mad, I have a lot of respect for you. My father is a drummer after all, and I wouldn't even be here if drummers were capable of following the "rhythm method".

      • Re: (Score:1, Interesting)

        by Anonymous Coward

        Ah, so it's the opposite of real life.

        I play both drums and guitar. I really cant say one's easier than the other.... they're just different instruments to me. Imho, the competition between them is just in the heads of some musicians, especially those who get special satisfaction out of "being a drummer", "being a guitarist", instead of what it should be: "Making Music".

        think in terms like "drummers" it's necessary to be better than the other band members.

        What i do know though, is that i gotta jump around
        • think in terms like "drummers" it's necessary to be better than the other band members.

          Oh, I agree man. I didn't want to start a fight or anything. Getting your ask kicked by a drummer sucks, you know? It's not just the pain and humiliation. It's that you never know when the next blow is going to come.

          Yeah, I got a million of em. ;)

    • I played the drums way back in middle school, but not much since. I also have a friend who is really good at the drums, but he's completely baffled by the Rock Band set. The reason, it seems, is that good drummers don't really follow notes by rote, but listen to the music and come up with a pattern that works with it.

      That said, if you can play the harder levels of drums in the game, you probably have what it takes to be at least an adequate drummer on a real set.

  • pretty worthless preview... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by psychicninja ( 1150351 ) on Thursday May 29, 2008 @04:12PM (#23591319)
    It doesn't even show Chad playing the drum pads. All that told us is that they're pressure sensitive... great. I would have like to have seen his reaction to playing it; not just his reaction to hearing about what it was.
  • well then all gh4 needs is a great soundtrack now and i think they would win in a competion. If they keep the gh note style it would defenitly look better

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by flitty ( 981864 )
      I'm TOTALLY looking forward to a Chad Smith/ Neal Pert "boss battle", playing drum solo's that they concoct in the depths of hell. Also, looking at the track listing for all the Activision GH's (80's, GH3, and Aerosmith), i'm not hopeful for a decent set list. Seriously, go look up the GH:80's track listing and tell me someone wasn't fired for those choices. If they weren't, they should be.
  • Here's the obligatory I don't need another plastic drum set in my house comment. Plus, with Activision blocking the Les Paul compatibility with Rock Band for ps3 patch, I don't feel the need to support GH or have incompatible instruments sitting around.

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by hardburn ( 141468 )

      I was thinking about that problem the other day. The Rock Band set is a normal USB HID device, and I wrote a program a while back to play sounds on a normal computer when the pads are hit (link for the interested [perlmonks.org]). Presumably, the GH kit will also be a USB HID device, so if they're not compatible, then it should be possible to easily create an adapter using an AVR USB device that translates codes between the games. For that matter, it should be possible to do the same for guitars.

    • I've been thinking this myself. I think that most of the people that want rock band have bought / will soon purchase rock band. As an owner of rock band, this new game looks cool and everything, but I really don't need yet *another* set of drums and guitars and mics laying around. That crap already takes up a ton of space in my tiny living room. What am I going to do with 2 sets? eesh.

  • Harmonix is screwed (Score:5, Insightful)

    by AKAImBatman ( 238306 ) <akaimbatman@gmaYEATSil.com minus poet> on Thursday May 29, 2008 @04:19PM (#23591451) Homepage Journal

    Looks like Guitar Hero is really turning up the heat in the ongoing war with Rock Band for dominance.
    Especially when it comes to the most popular console in this generation: The Wii.

    Harmonix got a lot of bad press [ign.com] lately for declaring that the Wii version would have no online play, no band tour support, no custom characters, no DLC, no support for the GHIII guitar, and just about every other major feature removed or gimped.

    Harmonix has tried to pass the blame on to every possible target, especially Nintendo and Activision. Yet Activision already had most of the features in GHIII that Harmonix removed from Rock Band. Now with GHIV, Activision is announcing every feature that Harmonix claimed was impossible to support on the Wii, AND they have the full band support. Which further makes Harmonix look like they're trying to gyp customers.

    The truth is that Harmonix had a contracted developer do a cheap-o port of Rock Band to the PS2. Since the PS2 had the weakest hardware of the last generation, they replace the game visuals with FMV and hoped that no one would notice. (Thus the lack of character creator.) At some point, some Harmonix or MTV exec got the bright idea that doing a quicky port of the PS2 revision (which is completely inappropriate for a console of the Wii's caliber, regardless of its graphical capability in comparison to the 360/PS3), thus resulting in a ton of missing features. Especially things that didn't make sense on the PS2. (e.g. No networking meant no online play or DLC. And the more massive FMV wasn't a problem since no one could download new songs anyway.)

    Honestly, I think Harmonix would do a lot better if they just owned up to their mistakes and worked to correct them in the future. Instead, they keep blaming Nintendo for all their problems. As a result, I've decided that Harmonix does not need my $170. I'll be saving it for GHIV.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by morari ( 1080535 )
      My thoughts exactly. The fact that Guitar Hero IV will be coming to the Wii with features intact only solidified my distaste (to put it nicely) for the Wii port of Rock Band.

      Besides, I heard Guitar Hero IV is going to pit you against Ted Nugent on Stranglehold as a Boss Battle. Beat that, Rock Band! :P

    • The reason why features were stripped out of the Wii versions of both games is that the Wii itself doesn't support the features very well. How in the world is Activision going to support downloadable content on a system that only allows 512 MB of accessible space? 4 songs can add up to be 100 MB. Now they are saying they'll allow "Create A Song", downloadable content, dynamic customizable characters, "just like the other versions"? Where are they going to hold all of that on the Wii??

      I don't think Activ
      • You can plug in an SD card to the Wii, and even use it to play MP3 files in some games, so it's possible for games to access the files off of the SD storage and it's not just for backing up. Harmonix can just use that as storage.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by AKAImBatman ( 238306 )

        4 songs can add up to be 100 MB.

        4 songs for 100MB is not a problem. That's ~80 songs per 2GB SD Card. The problem is that the Rock Band FMV would be a lot more than 100mb/4 songs. That's the real reason why Harmonix thinks Nintendo "needs a hard drive". High-quality, FMV-based songs would chew through the available storage at an ungodly rate.

        I don't think Activision or Harmonix had much choice of a choice but to strip these features out.

        Activision didn't strip anything out. Online play exists in GHIII. Vari

        • Worse yet, they expect everyone to pay PS3 and 360 prices for a PS2 game.
          Cause buying a $170 game is so much more noticeable than buying a $160 game.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Atomm ( 945911 )
      I am with you. I am having a blast with my WII and GH3, even if I am terrible at it. I was going to buy Rock Band and was still considering it, even though I was disappointed with the PS2 port. However, now that GH4 is going to include everything Rock Band has and more, not to mention I have a GH3 Guitar already, I'm going to save my money for GH4: World Party! Rock On Guitar Hero!
    • Lets not forget that in the Wii version of GHIII, the songs do not play in stereo.
      • They fixed that. And sent replacement discs to everyone who had the problem.

        There's definitely plenty to be upset at Activision for, but at least they own up to their mistakes after being caught. Harmonix just sticks their fingers in their ears and sings, "LALALALALALANINTENDOLALALALALAICANTHEARYOULALALALA".

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by morari ( 1080535 )
          They also sent everyone who suffered from the mono sound a complimentary faceplate for their guitar controller. It may not be much, but it was a decidedly unexpected bonus. It almost made me feel as if they cared about the consumer... ;)
  • impressed. That video was really impressive, and the fact that they have Travis from Blink 182 (yes, let the hating begin now) doing mo-cap is awesome.

    Obviously Guitar Hero has the budget to do this kind of thing, and it's all publicity and hype for their set, but I think they're doing a pretty good job on this. It still just rubs kind of weird when you realize that the closer and closer they get to the real thing, the more people are just going to want to play the real thing. I don't know about you, but

    • I would be happy to hate Travis from Blink 182 for you. Seriously.

      But seriously, this interface has far more potential to work like a real instrument than the silly guitar doohickey. Could have a lot of value for training a real drummer without the noise and with fewer lessons.

      Even more seriously, since it appears to track velocity, it probably has a midi output, which means someone will hack it to be a synth controller, which would be really cool and make me, a musician who loves to mock guitar hero, have

  • Stupid (Score:1, Flamebait)

    by TheRealMindChild ( 743925 )
    Anyone who actually plays the drums can spot this as garbage from planets away. It isn't even set up like a real set... it is set up as a midi instrument like one of these [webidz.com] instead of an actual drum set, like one of these [artdrum.com].

    You need a foot pedal. Your snare should be between your hi-hats (I don't even see any... am I supposed to ride the crash?) and your toms, which are best on a DIFFERENT level than your snare.

    It is a glorified midi drum kit. Not a drum set.
    • First link SHOULD have been here [webidz.com]

    • Re:Stupid (Score:5, Funny)

      by Cornflake917 ( 515940 ) * on Thursday May 29, 2008 @06:20PM (#23593071) Homepage

      Anyone who actually plays the drums can spot this as garbage from planets away. It isn't even set up like a real set
      Damn, I never would have guessed. Well, at least the guitars are still completely identical to real-life guitars.
    • Get this: it does not matter. Of course you do realize that every drummer's setup is different. The great thing is that after a certain level of expertise, it really doesn't matter where your drums are located. You get used to them and hit where you need to. You can ride your crash, not a problem. You can ride your floor tom for all that matters. I'm more concerned about the pads and how natural they feel compared to actual skins. That is, my real kit has mesh skins for practice, but I'll prefer real skins
    • What's your opinion of the more advanced electronic drum kits [grandmas.com].

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by Atriqus ( 826899 )
      Yeah, and while we're at it, everyone should stop playing GTA since it doesn't even come close to operating a gun, or a helicopter, or a.... what was that? Nintendo has a bowling game and you don't actually throw a 12 pound ball at your television?! Heresy I tell you!

      Oh, and that was sarcasm. I thought it was obvious, but since you're so dense as to completely miss the fact that it's just a damn game, I thought I'd point it out for you...

      You Welcome, BTW. :)
      • Ill reply to you since you are the last reply that I see, and an obviously someone who enjoys getting mad.

        GTA simulates what you would do if you were to steal a car and go on a killing spree. What would make stupid if it was Big Bird going on a killing spree using a blimp.

        The Wii bowling simulates actual bowling... just like you would expect. You move your arm in an underhanded throwing motion to knock down the pins as best you can. Stupifying it would be like throwing a banana down the street to knock d
  • I'm not sure if US arcades ever saw it, but the various incarnations of the Konami series DrumMania have done an excellent job of drum simulations.

    There's a machine in my local arcades [I'm in NZ].
    • I have seen those here in the states. I used to be a drummer, though its been 5 years since i sold my kit, and yes those do an excellent job of imitating a drum kit, but for obvious reasons that a little big to put in the average person's living room.
  • Will the GH drum kit hold up to real world use?

    I have gone through 2 Rock Band pedals (and 1 guitar) in the last 6 months or so. The first one snapped in two - both the pedal *AND* base. My son just informed me this morning that the second one had developed a large crack in the pedal but the base was still holding (for now). They have been very good about replacements so far, so I am not too upset, but when you pay almost $200 for a game you don't want to keep sending it back to get fixed.

    My question to

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by DarkJC ( 810888 )
      If there's one thing I have faith in for GH4, it's the build quality of the instruments. Hardware is what Red Octane does, and so I would expect stuff that lasts a long time. Remember that it was Red Octane that brought the hardware to Harmonix and said "make a game for this". Everyone gives credit to Harmonix for the software of GH1 and GH2, but Red Octane deserves credit for quality hardware. It's something that doesn't get noticed until things go wrong, and with the fiasco that has happened with the Rock

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