The “Break it Down” Blog

Related Articles

• Rock Band 2 Guitar and Screenshots How Does it Compare to Guitar Hero: World Tour?
• Warning: Lips Mic Not Cross Game Compatible
• Guitar Hero: World Tour Compatible with Rock Band Instruments
• Guitar Hero: World Tour Reviews Suggest Not Better Than Rock Band 2
• Fall 2008 Must-Have Co-Op Xbox 360 and PS3 Titles
• Peak Wood Guitar for Rock Band and Guitar Hero

56 Comments For This Post

1. kim Says:
   June 28th, 2008 at 12:01 pm

   hey what kinda songs are on guitar hero world tour? and u did like guitar hero world tour better didnt u?

2. Riyad Kalla Says:
   June 28th, 2008 at 1:56 pm

   Kim, perfect timing. We just covered the known and rumored lineups coming in World Tour, and personally it’s looking *Really* solid.

   Check it out here.

3. anon Says:
   June 30th, 2008 at 11:45 am

   Couple of comments:

   1. Rock band came with 60-65 songs on it depending on platform (not 40-45).

   2. Rock band 2 will support previously downloaded songs…

   I wonder if I will end up buying both… seems like a lot of money though, especially since I already have rock band and love it…

4. Riyad Kalla Says:
   July 1st, 2008 at 6:48 am

   anon,
   Thanks for the correction, also, honestly, I think these two franchises are going to end up being so frigging similar, you can’t go wrong.

5. Chewman! Says:
   July 2nd, 2008 at 3:24 am

   can’t redoctane sue EA for this?
   i mean EA bought the Guitar Hero name off redoctane, but now they’re blatantly copying the whole idea of Rockband straight off.
   I personally think GH4 looks awesome… but isnt it kind of just a massive rip off of Rockband with a bit of modification?
   -Chewman.

6. John Says:
   July 2nd, 2008 at 10:59 am

   Guitar Hero 4 isn’t copying Rock Band, because the idea of a full band in gaming was out there for years, and Rock Band just made it famous. Guitar Hero 4 isn’t stealing it also because they have teamed up with John DeVecka, and he patented his drum hero technology which is in the arcades. The modifications of GH4 isn’t something to be taken lightly! Elevated cymbals with an extra pad? Durability beyond RB’s wildest dreams? Velocity sensitive pads? Wireless drumset and guitar? Touch sensitive feature on the guitar? Band vs Band mode? Extensive create-a-rocker mode? Guitar customization? Band logo creator? Song creator? 85 songs, up to 100 songs created, and up to 200 songs from other people and downloadable content that will surely prove to be a factor away from GH3? Yes, all these things are great things indeed, and they will be supported by Guitar Hero 4. Many people say this: “Well the song creator is pointless. No one is going to spend their time creating a song that takes weeks.” The truth is, gameinformer and IGN stated that creating a song only takes minutes. Guitar Hero 4 will be a beast of a game, and we can only predict what’s going to happen when Rock Band 2 comes out.

7. Riyad Kalla Says:
   July 2nd, 2008 at 2:19 pm

   Damn John, awesome followup. I really wasn’t aware of alot of these details with regards to the franchise differences.

   Rock Band 2 details have begun to leak out and keeping an eye on the functionality in the game will be one big thing we will do and keep you guys posted on that.

   Artist lineups and game functionality will be key… the drums from Rock Band 2 will be interesting to see as well, who knows how they will go with it.

8. Nichi Says:
   July 4th, 2008 at 1:48 pm

   This was the best informative blog I’ve come across about GH4, which I am btw very excited about. Rock Band just has this… flimsiness to it that Guitar Hero doesn’t. The guitar feels a bit more poorly-made and the drums have NO staying power. My brother mutilated his within a little less than two months, if not less than a month. The bass pedal simply snapped in half. And who the fuck is really gonna buy a whole new drumset? [A: People with disposable incomes, i.e. not most of us].

   I agree that GH4 isn’t exactly ‘copying’ Rock Band. They are simply doing the same thing and BETTER. It’s an open market, and ideas are going to inevitably recirculate. It’s not realistic to expect there to be only one game per idea… how many racing games have you seen out there? They’re all different adaptations upon the same idea, which is FINE. I don’t see what the big deal is about Guitar Hero ‘copying’ Rock Band. It’s fucking retarded.

   They expand upon, and add extra features to, everything that Rock Band has to offer. The instruments are likely to be much sturdier, the character customization [something I've been eagerly anticipating since GH2] is more indepth, the band logo and album cover creators are cool, and the song creating feature is groundbreaking.

   The guitar’s touch-sensitive neck slider looks very very awesome. I like that they’ve evolved their guitar, where I saw Rock Band kind of just made theirs a different color. It’s almost like they spraypainted a load of leftover RB guitars and repackaged them. But I digress…

   The fact that the drums are wireless is also BADASS, because I cannot recall how many times my fiancee and I have tangled ourselves up in the endless sea of god-damn wires attached to the RB drums.

   Not that I’m trying to hate on Rock Band or anything, but really… it just cannot hold a candle to what I’m expecting for GH4. I don’t see Rock Band changing much with their second game… it’ll probably just be some new songs and maybe some jazzier graphics. And honestly it’ll probably just drown in the waves of GH4 hype. Everyone’s going to be so intensely excited about GH4 that only die-hard RB fans are going to stick. At least, that’s how I see it. And if the controllers aren’t compatible, I see a lot of people just opting out of even playing Rock Band and just abandoning it for Guitar Hero 4. I don’t think too many people are going to spend just shy of $200 for a lesser version of a game they already have. Maybe $60 for the game so they can play some new songs or something, but I don’t think anyone is realistically gonna spend another $190 on Rock Band.

   Whatever, I’m VERY excited about this game, to say the least. And I’ll probably never play Rock Band again.

9. Riyad Kalla Says:
   July 4th, 2008 at 2:59 pm

   Nichi,
   A lot of good info in your post. I can feel your pain for paying the $170 for Rock Band and not just busting the instruments but being frustrated with the experience.

   If you notice in the first picture in this post where I’m playing it with my buddy we *had* to use the Guitar Hero guitars cause the Rock Band ones were already busted (hah).

   Also you are the 2nd person I’ve heard say that “Guitar Hero just feels better”, I haven’t played enough Guitar Hero yet to really make a distinction as I’m sort of rythmically-retarded, but I’ll take your guys words for it that they are doing something more accurate.

   Also as for “how different will Rock Band 2 be”, I think you have a pretty good point there too… they aren’t going to reinvent themselves like Guitar Hero has seemed to do and besides slightly better build quality and the faux wood looking Guitar I don’t expect much to change.

   Ahh well, either way, the competition of the two franchises do give us more fun games to play as both companies struggle to win our money over and I also agree with you about the “talking about who copied who is just stupid”… let’s just get some good games!

10. Gary Says:
    July 5th, 2008 at 9:45 pm

    I liked Rock band, but GH3’s guitar gameplay was much much better. And GHIV looks to be much better. And as for Rock Band 2, it will probably be the same thing, with new songs and some small differences. The guitar looks exactly the same but with a new paint job. And the drums look like they will be excactly the same,also with the microphone.I am definately going to buy GHIV. And for those people who complain about a lack of space, heres a *hint* take your rock band instruments and put them in storage because really they will not compare to Guitar Hero IV’s.

11. Gary Says:
    July 5th, 2008 at 9:47 pm

    Oh I meant Rock Band 2 will be the same as the first.

12. Roxas Says:
    July 6th, 2008 at 12:21 am

    I liked the article, but I can’t help but feel that it is incredibly biased, along with some of the other replies. Guitar Hero 3 was great… for the guitar, but in Rock Band the guitar cannot just always be soloing the entire time. The songs need to be fun and playable on all three instruments, especially the mic, and not just the guitar.

    I like the new design of the drums, but I fear the cymbal pads will break in a matter of drum smashing fills during the first song. The poles supporting the cymbals do not look that sturdy, and I wonder where the center of gravity on the drum set is located, because it looks like it will be easy to knock over the drums while playing. I like the new updates but for now, I’ll wait a few weeks after it comes out to decide if I want to trade out my old set.

    On another note, I have to disagree with another poster on the construction of the Rock Band guitar. Not only does GH3’s guitar have a shorter neck, but the strum bar has an annoying click sound to it, that can’t help but make me feel that I’m playing with a fake guitar. It also features raised buttons which can be difficult to maneuver especially on expert. I fear that the new touch slider will increase the delay GH3 already has. It bugs me that the timing is off when switching from Rock Band to GH3 because GH3 does not support a calibration feature.

    The new song creator is really cool, but where does the line cross between rip-offs of familiar songs, and amazing songs that should be copyrighted. I find it appalling that “gameinformer and IGN stated that creating a song only takes minutes”. If this is so, than a full album could be created in just 2-3 hours, compared to the months of work real bands put their heart and soul into. The editor is great but people should know creating something from nothing isn’t just a five minute session on GH4.

    I know we are all assuming a lot on this blog, but we should all definitely wait, including me, to find out if the latest additions are all that they are cracked out to be, and before calling it a Rock Band killer find out what Rock Band 2 has to offer. I’ll be searching for an unbiased view of GH4 when it finally comes out… not everyone are Guitar Hero fan boys…

13. Riyad Kalla Says:
    July 6th, 2008 at 9:48 am

    Roxas,
    Very good tempered reply; it’s true, there is just too much we don’t actually know at this point to make any sort of forgone conclusion… and wild-card issues like build quality can throw a huge wrench into the mix.

    One the one hand, GH’s guitar may feel better to most folks than Rock Band’s (the playing of it, maybe not the physical guitar) but Guitar Hero franchise has never done drums or vocals before, while Rock Band is doing their second pass at an already successful attempt at this… so that’s sort of a toss up right there; who will do it better?

    As for the Guitar Hero drums, they did cite good build quality as a point, but again it’s a good point you made, it’s not like Guitar Hero has ever made drums before, so who knows.

    The best part of all of this, is it’s probably the same Chinese company making *all* these parts anyway

    Also I never even banged around the idea of the copyright infringement issues with the music-creator… I really had no idea how that will work and doubt “a few mins” is a good estimate… I don’t know anything I can make in “a few mins”… barely even a sandwich.

14. Anonymous Says:
    July 6th, 2008 at 3:25 pm

    Aftr readin this, my mind iz made up. It’z Guitar Hero: W.T. handz down.

15. Nichi Says:
    July 13th, 2008 at 3:15 pm

    Alright. First and foremost I’m gonna go ahead and say that I’m still fully stoked about GH4. :]

    I went into playing these games unbiased. Infact, if anything I was probably more inclined toward Rock Band because it had the multiple instruments and songs I hadn’t played before. I’d been playing GH2 then GH3 for months before we got RB, so maybe I was a little worn out with the songs they offered.

    Then finally my brother bought Rock Band for the Xbox 360. We played with him the first night he got it and enjoyed ourselves immensely. I really liked the microphone and my fiancee fell in love with playing the drums. We made our own characters and were maybe a little overly delighted with watching their progress. Infact, I believe we enjoyed it so much that we bought the game within a week of the first time we played it.

    Mistake one was getting Rock Band for the PS2. It hadn’t come out for the Wii yet, so we jumped the gun and went for the PS2 version. Whoops. Sure, there are still the multiple instruments to play. However, we couldn’t create our own characters and the graphics were a little sub-par. I realize this isn’t Rock Band’s fault; the PS2 can’t handle that kind of technology. However, taking away the create-a-character feature takes away a very ’special’ element to the gameplay. You are no longer following your very own band full of your very own characters through their career, you are now simply playing the instruments. Which yes, is fun, but not as fun as it could be.

    Then my brother came to me a month or maybe two later with two halves of a bass pedal and a roll of duct tape. After I doctored the pedal, his game started to experience some OTHER problems. Suddenly we couldn’t play certian songs and sometimes the game would just go narcoleptic and shut off at some very inoppertune times. Eventually my brother snapped his game in half and that was the end of his Rock Band. My fiancee and I still have the game and sometimes we play, but it’s rare. The game takes several tries to play in the PS2 [even after we run a cleaning disc through the system], sometimes the instruments don’t register that they are plugged in, and sometimes it does not work at all. This could be an issue with the eye on his PS2, but this doesn’t happen with ANY of his other games. The point is, we play Guitar Hero 3 much more often and we have had that game for much longer. As of right now, all our Rock Band instruments are simply playing the dust-collecting game and our Guitar Hero guitar gets much more use.

    Now I’ll adress some of the points other repliers have brought up… since that’s all I ever intended this comment to include. But I get carried away exquisitely.

    Riyad,
    Guitar Hero 2 and Guitar Hero 3 are the same game but completely different. Unless Rock Band completely renovates and vastly improves their game in the same manner, I will fail to be impressed. Guitar Hero improved their hammer-ons, added more playable characters, supercharged their graphics, added boss battles, and did a whole slew of other things to make their game more user-friendly and bad-ass. I don’t think Rock Band is going to do as well with improving what they’ve already created, but we’ll see.
    I can simply say I really do hope GH4 and RB2 are compatible, because I’d love to have both. Although, my fiancee and I won’t be plunking down almost $400 for both games, I can tell you that. We’re not rich enough to spend that much on something we don’t even have very much time to play. Not to mention, we don’t want to sacrifice all our living space to house three sets of fake drums, four fake guitars, two fake microphones, and all our furniture. All I have to say about buying two full games is… fuck that.
    Oh and you’re probably right about the equipment being made by the same Chinese company, which I find hilarious. Great point and you made me laugh, so kudos as far as that’s concerned.

    Roxas,
    I realize that a lot of the posters on this page are biased toward Guitar Hero. But there HAS to be a reason for that, right? It’s not a loyalty to Guitar Hero; it is the fact that most of us realize that Guitar Hero is a superior franchise to Rock Band. So if preferring a game that’s less glitchy and more sturdy makes me a Guitar Hero Fangirl, so be it.
    The strum bar feeling ‘fake’ is actually one of the reasons most of my friends prefer it. I’ve never known a strum not to register with this guitar. However, I’ve heard endless complaints from my friends, fiancee, and brother that the Rock Band guitar definitely does not always register. Infact, when given the option, everyone I know opts for the Guitar Hero controller. Sure, it may feel fake, but remember… you are playing a game. The guitar is a fake plastic guitar; the first priority is to make gameplay convenient, not to make the controller feel real. The Rock Band guitar controller may feel more realistic, but it does NOT make gameplay more convenient. And I would much rather play a game with a controller that always registers and feels a little fake than play a game with a controller that feels real but half the time doesn’t register. Double notes? Forget about that shit with the Rock Band guitar!
    Oh, and I kinda dig the shorter neck with the Guitar Hero guitar. And my arms are long as fuck, so whatever.
    I will admit I’m a little concerned about the Guitar Hero drums and their center of gravity. However, I’m sure Activision has considered and adressed this concern. It’s their job to think about everything that could go wrong with this game and try to keep that from happening. So I’m sure this has come to mind and I’m hoping it’s not going to be an issue. I saw a trailer about the drums and I watched someone wailing on them like crazy and they didn’t fall over, so hey! Maybe they’ll be ok. We can only hope.
    The cymbal supports may be thin, but they could be made of a dense material. There’s no say that they’re definitely plastic [but hey, they could be]; they could be a very thick plastic, some form of acrylic, maybe metal. Just some speculations. I’m sure they’re being put through some pretty intense testing and they’ll be made the sturdiest and most cost-effective possible.
    The concerns with the song creator are understandable, however you gotta remember that the quality is going to be far far far below that of actual recording studios. Maybe an album could be created in 2-3 hours [I doubt that but whatever], but the quality would be inferior to anything done in a studio. And Apple’s Garage Band software is more extensive but poses little or no threat to the recording industry, so I’m sure it’s not going to be a problem.

    Peace & Love,
    Nichi.

16. Riyad Kalla Says:
    July 14th, 2008 at 8:51 am

    Nichi,
    Wow… really awesome followup. I like that you brought to the table quite a bit of experience with both Guitar Hero and Rock Band.

    Probably the best part of the post (besides the information) was “And my arms are long as fuck, so whatever.”, so awesome.

    I think the one big benefit that Rock Band’s instrument failures have given to *all* of us (fans of either franchise) is that I would assume both franchises have upped the level of abuse they perform on their instruments in testing to make sure another expensive embarrassment like that doesn’t happen again.

    So like you said, I have to imagine the Guitar Hero: World Tour drum set is going to be pretty sturdy so they don’t come out with the “complete band experience” and immediately fall behind Rock Band #1; they are fighting neck and neck to show each other up, which is awesome for us.

    Can’t wait for this fall.

17. Nichi Says:
    July 20th, 2008 at 3:49 pm

    Riyad,
    I fully agree about the sturdiness of the drums. I believe that GH4 will learn from the mistakes of their competitor, Rock Band, and make their equipment that much more sturdy. I don’t see why a company competing with another wouldn’t make their product better than the previous.
    Oh, and just a note… I saw some screenshots for Rock Band 2… and hey. No, thank you. It’s pretty much the same exact game with some new songs. I guess that’s what you get for scrambling to beat Guitar Hero’s release date, which I fully believe is what’s on their agenda.
    I don’t think I’ll be making that purchase. But I will be eagerly squealing like a schoolgirl to buy Guitar Hero 4.

18. Nichi Says:
    July 21st, 2008 at 11:22 pm

    http://www.drumrocker.com
    now you will buy rock band 2
    ok probably not, it’s $300, but it is $300 of pure awesomeness.

19. Oprah Says:
    July 21st, 2008 at 11:25 pm

    WOOHOO!!! FIRST POST!!!

20. Mike Says:
    August 8th, 2008 at 7:49 pm

    Just ran accross this thread and wanted to comment.
    I bought GH3 when it came out, loved it
    Then RB came out, I bought it- Was blown away
    Being as RB is made by the people who created GH, it is a quality game that has a lot of thought put into it. GH3 feels simply like an exercise in mashing buttons as fast as you can. RB has a more refined quality to it. GH4 is a blatant rip of of RB. Hopefully there will be more than 5 songs available for DL on it (GH3) -unlike RB which has dozen(s). Now the GH fanboys that seem to dominate this thread will disagree but GH seems like it was thrown together by a bunch of college kids. The art and graphics are horrible- they look like they were simply coded for PS2/XBOX and upconverted for the more advanced systems. The programmers were to lazy to even create unique bonus characters- they simply took the wireframe models of the regular chars and reskinned them- left all the same animations intact (AXEL-> ROCK GOD), gee it makes earning all that money for a new char worth it. Put some production value into your game neversoft!! The GH fanboys are pumped about GH4 claiming how much better it is already than RB, but think- neversoft has had all this time to take RBs ideas and try to improve on them to top RB. The chinese do the same thing- reverse engineering. So much for original ideas on the part of GH. Hopefully with RB2 they will improve the instruments and perhaps come out with new ideas that will improve the experience. Unlike GH which will simply takes old ideas and “reskins” them (kinda like they do with their char models). The most fresh idea I have heard about in GH4 is the fact there is a touch sensitive feature on the guitar. Whoever wrote this article put a bunch or “Pros” for GH4 and made them seem original (i.e char creation, longer whammy bar, ect) these are all thing RB already had. Anyways this kind of competition is good for players as it stimulates innovation amongst companies with their products. Hopefully RB2 will come out with something new and intersting with their release. Unlike GH which will be covering much of the same ground RB has already.

21. brannon Says:
    September 2nd, 2008 at 9:31 pm

    one thing ive noticed on rb is the guitar is when you play fast notes it never does right i thought it was me until i bought the les paul controller it gets them every time unless you mees up but i do not like the buttons on it a GH STRUMMER with RB buttons would ROCK I also like RB dufficuty easy is easy med is med to hard hard might as well be expert and expert well lets say F U there should be a inbetween for some of us with a slower learning curve pratice mode is not enough

22. brannon Says:
    September 2nd, 2008 at 9:35 pm

    oh yeh i cant play on hard with RB but i can on GH3 demo i downloaded it also feels better than RB i dont which is better but if i cant play it i dont wont it thats all i know

23. Brian Says:
    September 16th, 2008 at 4:07 pm

    I love how this is a comparison between the NEW Guitar Hero and the OLD Rockand. That and of course when people state that RB 2 is just like the old and how GH is so much different. That is mostly because Guitar Hero is not even a Guitar game anymore you idiots. It should be called “Band Hero” if anything. That or “Rock Band The Rip-Off”.

    Aside from that there is such a lack of information in this blog especially when I read “No idea if the Rock Band instruments will work, but since they are all probably broken anyway…” At least he admits to not even trying the new Rock Band.

    40-45 songs? You’re off buy a hundred or so songs. Especially when you take in the fact that you can not only use those few hundred songs that you could have downloaded before, but you can also convert the songs that came with the old Rock Band to Rock Band 2. Speaking of paultry how about that selection of songs to buy from GH3. OOps I my bad, the track packs I mean since you can only buy single songs from Rock Band. And who bought more than one track pack from GH3? I guess if you’re in to Coldplay and random no name Artists you may just have to buy GH3.

    That about wraps up all of the glaringly obvious facts that this guy left out in his review…. Oh yea and did I meantion the Ion drumset? I would sell my left testicle for that thing, but fortunately they only ask for $300 so I don’t have to worry about that.

24. Josh Says:
    September 17th, 2008 at 12:41 am

    You need to get all of your fucking information straight before you publish, this biased, misleading trash.

    I’ve read half already (and don’t care to read anymore), and noticed you complain about Rock Banders being “locked into” the franchise with the DLC they’ve purchased. You’re implying GH4 is better in this regard because DLC from GH3 will be compatible.

    WOW. Guess what? ALL DLC for BOTH Rock Bands is compatible as well as ALL of the songs (okay, except 4) that came with the first Rock Band (costs 5 bucks to export songs from your cd).

    I love how you bitched about Rock Band’s instuments being broken all the time. Well, it’s true, But EA sure worked their tails off to offer FREE replacements which was quite loyal to their customers.

    Here’s how I see it: After Harmonix sold GH to Activision and moved on with Rock Band the next 2 GHs released were garbage. Sure, a few good songs here and there but the actual *playability* of the songs was crap. I personally hate the GH boards compared to Rock Bands. The RB boards are more natural (from a real guitar player’s perspective) and GH’s boards feel wrong on timing and are difficult just for the sake of being difficult. I’m tired of typing, BUT if you want know what I’m talking about with the boards play GH3’s “Cherub Rock” then play RB’s “Cherub Rock”. Well?

25. Tyler Says:
    September 17th, 2008 at 2:13 am

    I’ll just take this a bit at a time. The people that say that GH3’s hammer-ons were better are completely wrong. You can hold a hammeron down until it passes the line at the bottom, and it will automatically hit it for you. This is, although being a game, supposed to emulate playing a guitar. Make you feel like a rock star, so to speak, in your mind. Neversoft (creator of GH3 and GH:A) has put a lot of artificial difficulty into their guitar charts. Extra chords that shouldn’t exist, for instance, and then they threw the timing window wide open to “help” the people playing. These people see Rock Band, and decide to try it out, seeing as how they beat GH3 on Expert, or what have you. They play the guitar, and notice themselves missing a lot of notes. So, automatically, Rock Band sucks. No question about it. If you can’t get 100% on the song without trying, it sucks. I apologize to anyone that doesn’t fall under this stereotype, but still.

    Now, onto RB2 vs. GH:WT. RB2 has 84 songs on disc. GH:WT has 84 songs, and 2 guitar battles. Not to mention, the vocalist can’t play Satch Boogie on disc. So, 83 actual full band songs. RB2 allows you to move 55 of the 58 songs on the original disc for a fee of 400MSP; very cheap compared to the DLC that’s released. Later on, most likely around GH:WT’s release, RB2 will have 20 bonus DLC for free.

    RB2 drums are not the same as before. Not only does the pedal have a metal plate on it, the pads are also velocity sensitive, and withstand a lot more punishment than the original. GH:WT drums have cymbals to hit, which make it even harder for beginners. Which is why the RB2 cymbals are “optional.” It’s definately not just to say that they have more cymbals than GH:WT, because that takes a lot of development time.

    The RB2 guitar is nothing special, it’s pretty much the same. I haven’t used it to be sure, but.. if it’s improved at all, that’s definately a good thing. The GH:WT guitar has a touch-strip to help with some solos, and to give extra sound options to the guitar. Now, back to the emulating real guitar. Some sections, you can slide you hand back and forth fast enough, and you will all of the notes, with no punishment to your meter or multiplier. If you were to try that on a real guitar, you’d get sound, sure. But not a song. (Unless the song is just sliding, but that’s just being a smartass and a horrible song.) This is going to be produced by Red Octane, which produces high quality peripherals.

    The Music Creator looks decent, but from what I’ve seen, all it will be used for by the majority of players will be to make some of the “uber songs” on Youtube, to fail their friend and to mess around with. Fun, maybe; actual intent, definately not.

    DLC is an important aspect of the game. This is where RB2 is definately winning at right off the bat. There’s almost 350 songs on RB, if not that. There’s surely something in that that everyone will like and play. GH:WT doesn’t quite have all of the genres people have requested. I’m sure they’ll release DLC at times to please this audience, but until then..

    Not to mention the people that are looking for a lot of difficulty will be hard pressed to find it in GH:WT from what I’ve seen. Satch Boogie, presumably the hardest song (except the guitar battles, possibly) looks very simple, especially if the strip is involved.

    Maybe I’ve put “information on the table” for you, as well.

26. WSO420 Says:
    September 19th, 2008 at 11:03 am

    Ok, I own all of the GH and RB games, I love them all and am not a fanboy for either camp, so I am not inclined to be biased either way… here is what I have to say….

    Comparing the interfaces: I prefer the RB interface because the thin bars are much easier to recognize which notes are chords and which are quick changes, especially after playing RB and going band to GH it is almost torturous to discern the chrods VS quick changes. This will be more of a pain on the drums than guitar for GH I would imagine… so I am begging, ACTIVISION, PLEASE UPDATE YOUR DATED INTERFACE!!!!!

    Guitars: Although the GH guitars are definitely more sturdy, the RB guitars just play and feel more realistic, especially when sliding up and down on Hard and Expert. If you are experiencing ANY problems with your original RB equipment they have opened up their warranty program to cover ALL replacements through October regardless of whether you have a receipt or have modified them to keep them working. The new RB guitars have magnetic sensors for the strum bar similar to the drum kit’s bass pedal and trust me it is 100% accurate and befefits from no clicking of any kind. I still have yet to get my hands on the new GH guitar but I am not sure how well the touch sensetive part of the nech will be. Ever tried to use a touch pad with wet or sweatty fingers?? They simply do not work. I think it may not be used by 99% of gamers… kind of like RB’s high frets… which appear to do the same thing, i.e. tapping solos, etc… Hopefully it works out for the GH camp… could just be a lame attempt to “keep up with the Jones’s”. RB2’s guitars will have a mini camera and mic to auto-calibrate the system… why not GH:WT… they have Red Octane in their camp for Christ’s sake!!!!!

    Drums: Again, the warranty program is open for RB owners and the replacement sets are 200% better than the originals the they shipped. Please note also that the RB2 drums come with a metal plated kick pedal(I already modded my old pedal so I am goo to go, but if you have the plastic pedal, just go ahead and add a metal plate to it) As far as the layout of the drums… I bought RB2 and plan on getting GH:WT but will use the RB drums because of the layout. The drum pads for RB match up with what is on the screen from left to right and you can add the symbals if you are so inclined. GH has left us with only 3 pads and raised up 2 cymbals. I admit I have not played GH:WT yet, but I would just prefer to have the drum layout matxh what I see on the screen.

    Vocals: There is nothing to compare here, my only complaint is that no one added the controller buttons to it (unless you count RB’s $60 mic that is in the stores now). No one made a wireless one or added a vocal effects switch (though we may not want wireless if creates a vocal lag, so wired may be the way to go).

    DLC: The persom who posted this originally stated that GHIII tracks will be compatible with GH:WT, that is not true… none of the DLC is set up for multiple instruments. It would be great if they allowed you to port them over just for the Guitar even… doubt that will happen since they would not allow you to play any GHII DLC on GHIII either… this is not good news if you bought a whole bunch. On a good note: all of my RB DLC works perfect on RB2… and yes they got my $5 to move my RB songs to DLC and play on RB2 I will report that it works flawlessy and those songs are even incorporated into the Tour mode and the Challenges right along with the tracks on disc and all of the DLC. The bad news is that 3 songs were not included in the RB export feature, they are good one’s too: “Paranoid” as made famous by Black Sabbath (Cover), “Run to the Hills” as made famous by Iron Maiden (Cover), “Enter Sandman” by Metallica.

    Bottom line: Those who own Rock Band or Rock Band 2 should take advantage of the warranty extensions that EA is offering to fix their problems. I have no doubt that GH:WT will be amazing so I will get that too, but I can say for a fact since I own it that RB2 is F’n awesome and everyone should get it. The only major difference I have not addressed is the music creator… which again most people will not use. The question is, will it create enough good content out there for people to truly enjoy?? I know how crappy the custom tracks for the PC version of GHIII are and don’t expect much better from GH:WT so I think it will be a non-factor.

    In the end because of the reasons I listed above I imagine that a year from now we’ll look back and say RB2-9 and GH:WT-8.

27. WSO420 Says:
    September 19th, 2008 at 11:25 am

    One more thing to note about RB2… they did not change the gameplay at all… it is perfect. The new lineup of songs are a bit more challenging than the first. The game modes have been improved and refined, for instance when you start a career you are not locked into a specific instrument or character and it is the same career whether you play solo, with friends or get band mated from online to fill out oyu roster for band specific challenges. You can switch instruments at any time and if you are playing a long set, you can exit and then resume from where you were at. Lastly there is a option to use your HDD as a cache to noticeably speed up load times and have the song previews come up almost instantly now. Some welcome changes, but they did not try to re-invent the wheel, just improve upon it and make it more user friendly. Kudos Harmonix for being King of the Hill for now(?)

28. joe Says:
    September 30th, 2008 at 12:13 am

    its been confirmed that Rock band 2 instruments, and Guitar hero instruments, will work fine together . Id recommend looking for the kit that lasts longer which i believe is Guitar hero, as there has been numerous occasions of Real videos of them braking especially the drums.
    And obviously Rock band 1 drums aren’t the way to go either even if they are cheaper we all know the problems with them. So that leaves us with GH:WT drums as there the only drums left and that Ion Drum set that looks so amazing Omg 3 ! cymbals no way. Isn’t all that as the cymbals are just mapped to a color. I.e the green cymbal works the same as the green pad blue and yellow are the same and work with the same colored pad. Were as GH:WT actually has Cymbals for their own color unlike The highly hyped Ion Drum set were all thinking will put GH:WT Drums in the water. I really cant be bothered to even start on the guitar!! aha. (Or the Mic of course)

29. Editor Says:
    September 30th, 2008 at 8:29 am

    Also anyone interested, Peak has released it’s fully wooden guitar for Rock Band and Guitar Hero.

    Combine that with the Ion Drum set, and I think you are only a few hundred dollars away from basically real instruments… or cheap ones atleast.

30. Andy Says:
    September 30th, 2008 at 5:52 pm

    First and fore most, this has been the most informative thread I have found so far. Second, ill have to same I am one of those who likes both games. However, as of right now I like RB’s game better than GH’s. Mostly due to the fact that you get to go through challenges play different gigs and venues. Especially with RB2 introducing band managers roadies etc… where as GH just has you play down the list of songs in different difficulties, a little plain and boring. Playing the same songs over can get old, but when there for different achievements and different venues to play them in I don’t seem to mind nearly as much. On a different not I have always like the hard ware of guitar hero better. My first guitar from RB had the “strum recognition problem” and so did the second one. Also my Kick pedal has broken and it just so happens that I am just out of the 60 day warranty period. Go figure. While my GH2 controller is still going strong. But on to my true purpose of writing.

    You say that the instruments will be compatible with each other, which I am very excited about because who wants two drum sets and 4 guitars, nobody. However, I have noticed that one of the symbols for GH is dedicated to the orange button. Well in RB the kick pedal is considered the orange button. So I was wondering if this would cause a problem using the GH drums on RB. Since my kick pedal is broken and I would like to have a second guitar I was thinking of getting the whole GH:WT package. But if the drums will be a problem then I will just get the medal pedal plates that are being sold on Amazon, and just deal with the drums I have already. So if anyone knows how that’s going to work I would be very appreciative.

31. Tyler Says:
    September 30th, 2008 at 5:59 pm

    @Joe The drums for RB2, as I said, are way better than the ones for RB1. Try those, instead of the ION, if you want some.

    @Andy A Neversoft Rep said that they would have a way to remove one of the notes to allow you to use your RB1/2 sets on GH:WT. That obviously won’t be totally true until we see it working in game this October.

32. Lane Says:
    October 13th, 2008 at 9:42 pm

    it’s spelled CYMBALS.

33. Editor Says:
    October 14th, 2008 at 7:44 am

    Lane,

    Thanks for the heads up, one of these days I’m going to learn how to spell and it will be glorious. Until then, I will continue to make myself look like a 3rd grader

34. Tom Says:
    October 19th, 2008 at 4:59 pm

    Didn’t feel like reading through all the comments but I felt I should mention that Rock Band 2 is supposed to have the same pressure sensitive drumming style as the new Guitar Hero for maximum loudness (or softness) in your playing. Also Rock Band 2 has functionality with its (expensive but not not mandatory) electric drum set. They are releasing an actual electric drumset for about $300 that you can use with the game, or with a drum brain and use it as a real drum set. The drums will be the basic drums, just revamped from the original ones, plus there is an extra 4 ports on the drum set now to add up to 3 cymbals and another bass peddle (the latter due for support through a later patch).

    I’m not a Rock Band fanboy, I actually don’t own any previous versions of either games but I was planning on picking one up so I started doing some research. Also all the instruments are fully compatible with each game (including the future slated release of Rock Revolution from Konami) as long as your playing on PS3 as SCEA has went through a process to make it mandatory for this compatibility although I’m not sure about 360 as the compatibility thing was a product of Sony’s doing.

    Other than that each game looks fairly equal besides differences in very similar modes like the Battle of the Band mode in whic Guitar Hero will pit both bands at the same time and Rock Band will do a lineup.

35. Riyad Kalla Says:
    October 19th, 2008 at 8:22 pm

    Guys,

    Something that popped up that might help folks on the fence decide, is considering which game has a gameplay style that more closely matches how you like to play.

    What I mean is that Rock Band seemed to have a more free, open-ended game progression style… you just played songs and kept gong through your career.

    I had a friend with Guitar Hero 3 tell me that you have to play certain songs in certain order on certain difficulty levels to progress through the game, and in his case that meant hitting a particular song that he could never pass which effectively brought his Guitar Hero 3 gameplay to a dead stop, since he couldn’t get past it.

    NOTE: I have never played Guitar Hero 3, so I’m really not sure if I just misunderstood what he said… anywhere here that’s more familiar with Guitar Hero please clarify.

    Just pointing out that besides arguing about the instruments until the sun comes up, the real deciding factor for a lot of folks might be the actual game itself and how it’s structure.

36. yo Says:
    October 27th, 2008 at 7:20 am

    Ok ok ok so everyone is all hyped up over both games. But, no offense to you guitar hero fans out there but…after activision took over the GH franchise, it just went down the line, after activision took over the makers from GH1 and GH2 still wanted to make games. so they brought up the Rock Band franchise. Also, when Rock Band came out, GH was pretty much donefor unless they add other instruments too. after reading all of these comments or at least most. i agree that this blog was biased. the only thing that GH4 has that RB2 doesnt is the song maker…other then that it’s pretty much the same…except the drumset. what “realistic” drum set has 3 pads and half or not even half of a cymbal??? personally i like the idea of a full band for the guitar hero franchise but when you really think about it, it just doesn’t add up. they should at least call it “From the makers of GH3: ?????? Hero!” i have Rock Band and the other day i picked up RB2. I’d like to say RB2 KICKS ASS!!! it’s friggin amazing! good song choice, sturdier drumset with metal reinforced kick pedal(haha pedal to the metal that was really corny but i just had to say it), more realistic design to the guitar, mic doesn’t really change all too much but now you have the option of letting other people hear you sing. it also features a drum trainer mode, it’s not just the practice tutorial stuff. it helps you out with drum beats, fills and also a freestyle mode where you can play along on the drums with your own songs on the 360 or ps3(i got a ps3). Harmonix also mentioned by the holidays they will have over 500 songz on RB2. also if you happen to pick up RB2 please please please please DO NOT throw away the manual inside the RB2 game case. there is a code on the back of the manual that will allow you to get 50 free songs for RB2. again…this is my opinion.

37. john Says:
    October 27th, 2008 at 10:35 pm

    my ps2 doesnt read two of the purchased ghwt. neither of them read or load. my ps2 reads every other game. wtf??? how do i get this fixed???

38. Riyad Kalla Says:
    October 28th, 2008 at 5:30 am

    john,
    That royally sucks. Is your PS2 modded by chance? I wonder if there is protection software on the GH:WT disk?

39. Me Says:
    October 29th, 2008 at 2:37 am

    Have to say I agree with Yo here. Guitar Hero hasn’t been the same since the “break up.” Guitar Hero 3 just wasn’t on par with the first two. The game and it’s interface was just muddied up for the sake of “improvement.” I was quite relieved to later find out that it wasn’t the same company anymore and the real brains behind GH1 and 2 were going to make their own game.

    As far as Rock Band 2 is concerned, Yo is right, again. It’s totally awesome. Instruments are much improved, online and local play are much improved, auto lag calibration is a Godsend and all the Rock Band 1 songs are still available (for $5, which is less than you waste in a month, so don’t complain).

40. Seaninator Says:
    November 7th, 2008 at 5:26 pm

    This article was pretty good. Its helping top off my final decision which was to buy Guitar Hero World Tour over Rock band in the first place.

    The only thing that made me a tad uneasy about that was because IGN rates Rock band over Guitar Hero World Tour, but I think i’m sticking with my first decision of buying Guitar Hero World Tour!!

    Main reasons being:
    * Better controllers
    * Quality Drum pedal (drums)
    * Touch-sensitive neck slider (guitar)
    * I prefer the play list.

41. Riyad Kalla Says:
    November 7th, 2008 at 5:54 pm

    Seaninator,

    Before you do that be sure to check out our Guitar Hero: World Tour review summary.

    Overall, from all the sites out there, Rock Band 2 received higher scores for:

    * More accessible gameplay
    * Tons of DLC

    and World Tour got dinged for:

    * Fairly commonly reported drum problems
    * Less commonly reported neck-slider issues
    * Neck-slider over all is too hard to be practically useful, it’s more gimmicky than anything.

    Besides those bullets, the reviewers on both sides noted how similar the two games are.

    If you are a first-timer, RB2 might be a better bet, if you are a seasoned Guitar Hero-ist and loved the previous titles, then World Tour might be a good fit there.

    Personally, I’d check with what my friends had first, and then just get whatever they had cause the multiplayer in both titles is a lot of fun.

42. Guy McMan Says:
    November 17th, 2008 at 6:23 pm

    I personally prefer Rock Band 2 for a few reasons, symols are optional, so if you’re a crappy drummer, you still have a hope, backwards-compatibility w/ RB1 is sweat, I have over 200 songs, and like, 500 are available! The interface is alot easier on the eyes, as the GH flashy necks and round notes can make it really hard to distinguish between chords and 18th notes. Plus some of the ghwt peripherals are having major reliability issues. In attempt not to be biased, I’ve borrowed both games and peripherals from my friends (go to xbox.com and check the GT ExoKiller4, both RB2 and GHWT are in play history).

43. FRUIT SALAD!!! Says:
    November 17th, 2008 at 7:04 pm

    This article is quite innaccurate. Previous DLC isn’t compatible with GHWT. My RB1 peripherals are still kickin’ and they’re almost a year old. GHWT peripherals are proving to be extremely unreliable (1/3 don’t work out of the box). I could go on FOREVER!

44. Kristoffer Says:
    November 25th, 2008 at 6:12 am

    Hey!! I am a giant fan of ALL the Guitar Hero games i havel them all not World Tour yet but i wanna know which one is better? Rock Band of Guitar Hero: World Tour? Personal i put my money on World Tour since Activision has more experince with games like these than rock band has… dont know where rock band is from btw…. but anyway i think the company who made rock band is stealing Guitar Hero’s ideas Anyway all the Guitar Hero gamews is great!! Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero 2, Guitar Hero: Rock The 80’s, Guitar Hero 3 and Guitar Hero: Aerosmith Ive finished them all and love em Now there is gonna be a Guitar Hero: Metallica coming soon too

45. Riyad Kalla Says:
    November 25th, 2008 at 7:43 am

    Kristoffer,

    From the reviews online both games seem to be a pretty safe bet, unfortunately Guitar Hero: World Tour is having some growing-pains with regard to some glitches in the instruments.

    First reports of issues with the drums started trickling in, and then reports that some of the touch-sensitive sliders on the guitars weren’t working quite right either came in.

    Besides that, I’d say both games are probably fun as hell.

46. ben dover Says:
    November 27th, 2008 at 2:06 am

    MUPPETS!!!

47. Rich Says:
    November 27th, 2008 at 5:07 am

    I have a question. I originally started out with the Wii but recently purchased an XBox 360 60 gb primarily due to my inability to wait the extra 2-3 weeks to purchase games such as GH World Tour. So, I now have the XBox, Rock Band 1, Rock Band 2, and GH World Tour for XBox along with all of the wireless guitars, etc. While I prefer the XBox versions (and I like the idea of being able to download songs even though I never do) I have nieces/nephews who love the Wii. That being said, I have decided to try to sell my XBox and games. Does anyone know the best way to sale this stuff in a bundle? I looked on ebay and couldn’t find anyone who offered this package so I dont really know how to go about pricing, etc. If you have any advice I would really appreciate your help. My email is rrich12@aol.com. Also, I have played almost every song on every version of the wii and Xbox so if you have any questions about these let me know and I will gladly answer them.
    Enjoy the Holiday!
    Thanks a lot,
    Rich Richardson

48. ryan a Says:
    November 27th, 2008 at 3:47 pm

    I have gh4 for wii and i was playing online and all of a sudden the orange symbol stopped working so i unplugged it then plugged it back in nothing ive been fiddling with it all week nothing is happening what should i do

49. FAIL Says:
    November 30th, 2008 at 1:16 am

    Kristoffer is retarded. The people who made Guitar Hero 1 and 2 made Rock Band you idiot. Activision is the n00b here, with only Guitar Hero 3 under their belt. Learn before you post.

50. FAIL Says:
    November 30th, 2008 at 1:22 am

    Also, this review FAILS big time for comparing Rock Band to GH:WT. It’s called Rock Band 2 you dumbass.

51. Riyad Kalla Says:
    November 30th, 2008 at 4:05 pm

    FAIL,

    Check the date of the post, it was made well before RB2 was released. The title is accurate.

52. Tyler Says:
    November 30th, 2008 at 4:19 pm

    Riyad Kalla,

    Well, yes, it was made before RB2 was released, but it was made before WT was released too.. By that logic, wouldn’t it be called “Guitar Hero 3 Blows Away Rock Band” even if that’s not true?

53. Riyad Kalla Says:
    November 30th, 2008 at 4:31 pm

    Tyler, it was an article covering the original news when GH:WT was announced; as far as a full review or comparison of the two franchises, we haven’t done one… nor do I think we want to go down that road, the fans seem to be violently supportive of *their* favorite

54. Bill Says:
    November 30th, 2008 at 4:32 pm

    Great information, I wanted to find a game for the family this Christmas and after having played Guitar Hero previously and Rock Band, Rock Band 2 seemed to be the better group game for us.
    With the release of GH:WT though it has opened up some other possibilities for group play. I ended up having to to a bunch of research to decide which way to go and the kickers for me was the amount of DLC in Rock Band 2 and the ease of getting into the game right away.
    GH:WT seems to have some real fanboys who have been following since the original GH which is great, but being a follower doesn’t mean you are making a better choice. Guitar Hero World Tour also appears to be much more challenging (depending on where you read about it and at what level) than Rock Band 2 which made the decision easier as I have two younger children.
    I compiled a page of information for folks to compare as well and if you need more information it can be found here, http://www.squidoo.com/RockBand2orGuitarHeroWorldTourWhichWaytogo

    Bill

55. Austin Says:
    December 7th, 2008 at 7:05 pm

    This is honestly not a fair seeing as most comments were posted before the release date of either of the games. I own rockband 1 and guitar hero world tour. I can say from
    experiance that the only thing the original rockband has that is better than world tour is band world tour mode. Other than that it just depends on your choice of soundtrack and prefernce of the user interfaces of both the games. Dlc plays a major role in some peoples decisions but what about the people who won’t pay for music on a computer much less a video game. On the ps2 versions of the games, DLC doesn’t exist. I haven’t had the oppurtunity to play rb2 that much but from what I see is that it is basically the same gameas the original with new songs redesigned menus and the addition of solo world tour mode. I like rockband alot. I think what they did a year ago was awesome. But I also think they opened the door for gh to come In and put up a tough fight if not a winning fight against the band game gods over at harmonix.
    I defintly think guitar hero has the better instruments and always will (red octane duh)
    Guitar hero world tour:9.0
    Rockband 2:8.5

56. Timelordess Says:
    January 31st, 2009 at 5:12 am

    i Actually went out and brought guitar hereo world tour bassed on the face i LOVED ROCK BAND!!! and I TOOK I BACK, the drums were unresponsive ,everytime you strummed the guitar there was this loud very annoying squeek!!!!, never tried the mic…..
    i didn’t pay £160 quid for it not o work so took it back and brought ROCK BAND 2 instead which is far better and also had 85 songs and you can use the rock band 1 songs for 400 msp!!!! so in all over 100 songs……
    WAY BETTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    timelordess ia my xbox gamertag join me online wooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Leave a Reply