Guitar Hero: Smash Hits
 

Mike Griffith, president and CEO of Activision Publishing, announced the Greatest Hits repackaging during today's quarterly earnings call, a collection it plans to ship this year for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii.

Guitar Hero: Greatest Hits will feature favorites from previous entries — Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s, Guitar Hero II, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, etc. — updated for full band play, which Activision introduced with World Tour.

----------------------------------

...Discuss.

Nice

I have mixed feelings. On one hand, there are still old GH tracks that have yet to be upgraded in RB or GHWT, on the other hand it was a matter of time issue. Why not clear out old game catalogs via DLC? I don't know. I'll need to see a set-list or get an idea of how they conclude something as a 'hit'.

Yeah, I'd have preferred this DLC. However, if they leave out the majority of 2 and 80s, I'll be happy. And for the tracks they do include from those games, they'd better get the masters because those covers were godawful.

Now they can sell another disc.

Atually kinda pissed.

Rockband did this for 5 bucks. Probably gonna have to pay 40 for this, and it won't even be everything.

Garbage.

Yeah, should have been dlc

True. But with the way licensing works, Rock Band probably had this planned from the start. How would you get tracks from the PS2 to the 360 or PS3 logistically? DLC would be best, but either way it means re-licensing all the songs which means we pay out our asses.

If Rock Band planned it from the beginning, there would be no relicensing or fee. There would be no missing tracks, either.

I'd point out part of the issue isn't relicensing, though, but the time and effort required to chart the music. Rock Band 2 didn't need to do that, the music was already charted.

Yeah, was going to point that out. With Rock Band they were just making it so you could access the already built in content from a different disc. With Guitar Hero, they're charting out drums, and vocals for songs that didn't initially have that content and probably were never intended to have the content until Rock Band came along. Yeah, it would be great if they just did it through downloaded content, but still.

No interest in this whatsoever.

I will pass.

Also, the likelihood of any of the bonus songs from the first 2 games is probably zero, which sucks since they actually had some decent stuff in there amongst the crap.

Explain why.

Games that are entirely in house like Freezepop have appeared in Neversoft/Activision's versions. I've been told there were others, especially on the DS versions. However, clearly the idea that there's no chance is utterly ridiculous.

If you're going for the more reasonable "they're not hits" argument, then yeah.

In my case, this is kinda moot. I mean, I really don't care enough about GHWT to actually get it right now. Maybe later (I'm not one of the GH SUCKS! crowd, mind....), but regardless. Being able to download the tracks I want would make for a better option.

I'm hoping more GH 1 and 2 songs are filled in for Rock Band, either on the RB3 disc or as DLC. And this time, masters, motherfucker.

So I'm guessing some of these will be the same covers, with bass, drums and vocals added? I'd really like a master of Hey You.

I figure Harmonix (or was it Wavegroup?) owned the covers, so they would need new covers or... master tracks.

They may have sold the "catalogue" along withnames.

Confirmed:

"Them Bones" by Alice in Chains
"Killer Queen" by Queen
"Nothin' But A Good Time" by Poison
"Killing in the Name" by Rage Against The Machine
"I Wanna Rock" by Twisted Sister
"Through the Fire and Flames" by Dragonforce.

All masters, full band play. Greatest Hits will pull from GH1, GH2, GH80's, and GH3 to fill their 40-ish tracklist (10 a game?). Neversoft has yet to define 'hit', as all the tracks above are on-disc music and I'd like to know how they're cherry picking these songs (not that I'm complaining).

40 songs after they've released like...300? come on.

Some songs I want on there from the past GH games. All masters of course:

Hey You - The Exies
Iron Man - Black Sabbath
Smoke on the Water - Deep Purple
Cowboys from Hell - Pantera
Heart Shaped Box - Nirvana
Free Bird - Lynyrd Skynyrd (This is a MUST!)
John the Fisherman - Primas
Mental Health - Quiet Riot
War Pigs - Black Sabbath (Because Rock band version is a cover)
"Thunder Kiss '65" - White Zombie
"Cochise" - Audioslave
"Bark at the Moon" - Ozzy Osbourne
"Cult of Personality" - Living Colour
"Before I Forget" - Slipknot
"The Seeker" - The Who
"Welcome to the Jungle" - Guns N' Roses

I knew the list would be gay in the end. They should just rerelease GH1 and leave it at that.

It isn't theirs to release, right? Can they do that? Who gets GH1/2/80's money? Harmonix?

The split wasn't the most amicable, but Harmonix have their own series now and didn't raise a stink when this was announced, so Activision probably does own it 100%.

yes they can. The Franchise rights belong to Activison now.

Also, War Pigs ain't gonna happen, D-Mac. It can't happen. They don't have masters usable for the purposes of Rock Band or Guitar Hero.

:(

If Free Bird isn't on there then automatic FAIL.

IGN: Which songs made the cut?

Paul Gadbois: You'll be happy to know that the final setlist includes 48 master tracks from Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero II, Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s and Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock and we are announcing eight of them today. So here it goes:

"Them Bones" by Alice in Chains, Queen's "Killer Queen," "Nothin' But A Good Time" by Poison, Rage Against The Machine's "Killing in the Name," "I Wanna Rock" by Twisted Sister, Joan Jett and The Blackhearts's "I Love Rock N Roll," Heart's "Barracuda." … oh and Guitar Hero III favorite Dragonforce's "Through the Fire and Flames!"

IGN: Will downloadable tracks purchased for Guitar Hero World Tour work with this disc? What about GHTunes songs?

Paul Gadbois: Guitar Hero Greatest Hits (working title on PS3/PS2) will support the entire library of downloadable user-created songs from GHTunes and players can once again create and publish their own songs from the Music Studio.
Currently, downloadable songs for Guitar Hero World Tour will work with that title only.

IGN: Will there be any way to purchase this disc and import the songs into Guitar Hero World Tour (or vice versa) to have all of the tracks accessible at once?

Paul Gadbois: The 48 songs in this game will all be instantly playable and are designed to be playable off the disc only.

BOOOOOOURNS!

Knew it. Fail.

Yeah, it's gonna be 60 bucks too. They won't even jack some cash off of the price for us. :mad:

Speaking as a Wii player who only started playing when GH3 came out, I'm glad about this one, I will be getting this

Yeah, that's like the only benefit is if you don't already have the originals.

Even if the game had 60 tracks it'll still probably be worth it for the musical gamer-collector to actually purchase all of the old GHs.

SNOOZEFEST

Van Halen, GH5, Band Hero for 2009 News

News by Tom Bramwell

Today 16:45
Activision plans to expand the Guitar Hero range several more times before the end of the year according to a source close to the publisher.

Eurogamer has been told that Hard Rock Van Halen (August), Guitar Hero 5 (presumably a working title - September), DJ Hero (October), and Band Hero (November) are among games planned for release on PS3, Xbox 360, Wii and PS2 in 2009.

Following the release of Guitar Hero: Modern Hits, Activision also plans to release at least one more DS Guitar Hero title in 2009, the same source said.

Several of the above games are already in varying states of public undress. Activision Blizzard boss Bobby Kotick has spoken publicly about DJ Hero already, and mentioned Van Halen rather notably at an investor conference in early 2008.
Guitar Hero 5 and Band Hero (a trademark registered at around the same time as "Drum Hero") are supposedly separate titles due for the same spread of home consoles within the space of a few months, although our source was quiet on any specifics.

It would be no surprise, however, if Activision were to significantly ramp up the number of Guitar Hero releases given its importance to the company's bottom line. The impending Greatest Hits standalone disc and a Metallica title just months after Guitar Hero World Tour's late-2008 release suggest the company is eager to keep taking advantage of its breadwinner.

Activision told Eurogamer it does not comment on rumour and speculation.

This could end up rather annoying. Curious about Band Hero and GH5 being different games.

I gotta admit, the one thing I was thinking is that it'd be great to have GH1 songs on my 360, since I always had a bitch of a time with the lag on my TV. I could never fix it on GH2, either, but at least on the 360 it doesn't lag.

So I suppose there's some worth, otherwise.

LOL at Band Hero....

Guitar Hero wanted to go the Rock Band path so after releasing all the instruments and stuff they are just gonna combine the names for a game.

Makes me wonder if perhaps they are gonna go the route of having the next Guitar Hero just playing the Guitar and we have to wait till Band Hero to play the other instruments. Unless they are gonna release all new instruments for songs to play. Like a keyboard or some shit like that.

Anyways...

I forgot what I was thinking about since there are so many new Guitar Hero shit coming out. Still the Metallica one is the only one im looking forward to this year. Other than that nothing...and I laugh at the new DS ones considering you need to the GBA slot to play it and people will be trading there DS in for the DSi which doesnt have that slot.

Oh well...life goes on I guess

I bought the DS GH grip for $8 and download the GH games. In other words, I will be playing the new DS ones.

I imagine not all of the titles will make it as real titles. Band Hero sounds like they might have been shopping around a new name for the series. Besides, Shag, they ran promo videos for GH5 a while back, and they had multiple tracks for the different instruments.

And yeah, considering we've known about the DSi for a while, it seems dumb. However comma, there will be TONS of old DS units on the market, so it's not like people won't buy them. It just means the people who traded in will probably feel burned. But then again, that's what you get if you don't think it through.

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It better be released at a slashed price. Still not convinced the setlist couldn't be dropped as DLC.

Knowing them it will still be 60 bucks. :nono:

YESSSSSSS Freebird is in!



This alone might make me buy it.

...

The funny thing about Neversoft spewing so many GHs in such a short period of time is that they could benefit from DLC working in all these damn games. Between GH3 and GHWT? Okay, different engine and all that shit, I'll let them slide. But no compatibility between GHWT, Metallica, and Smash Hits - all sharing the same damn engine? That's bullshit.

lol what a joke

FREEEEE BIIIIIIRD! Confirmed on the Smash Hits site.

Which is kinda ruined since Rhythm Guitar tracks are out. Neversoft would get so much props if they bring that option back like right now. What stings is how many tracks they got that are dependent on such an option. I try not to think about Metallica not having the option out of fear of bouncing off the walls in anger.

And journalists don't ask about it's omission why? Whatever.

The fuck are you on aboot?

No kalyx, it's not ruined ffs.

Yes, I already confirmed this a few posts ago.

Think Iron Man will get in?

This and Hey You by the Exies are a must for me.

Hoping for Hanger 18

And Smoke on the Water.

Yo...

Let me vent, dammit.

Nobody reads what you have to say.

No, but seriously, I did a search on Free Bird. Not my fault you can't spell it. :p

I can't see them not putting Smoke in here, if they know whats'good for them.

Let you be completely retarded?

...And vent.

I don't get the point of rhythm guitar in one of these games.

Especially since it would mandate making many of the lead parts more boring.

The only thing I could see is making a vox/rg mode, but even then, it would strip away guitar parts.

Neversoft's open Bass note made Bass fun, but I often found RG tracks better suited in certain songs. Take "Avalancha" for instance, two guitars is perfect in that song. Shit, "Free Bird" is great for two guitars.

I can't see why we can't have that option. Surely you wouldn't mind.

I'm not saying I mind, or that I'd be bothered if they expanded it. It's more I don't see the point, and I certainly don't get the frothing rage you're offering up.

I would love it if they:

• Did it for all future tracks
• Allowed three guitars (Lead, Rhythm, Bass) even if they kept it at four players only (In fact, I'd insist)
• Didn't detract from the current guitar tracks
• Didn't drop bass as an option

Otherwise, I'm not against it, but I'm not really for it, either. I wouldn't complain, though.

Well I'm against it because options getting cut between iterations of a series usually pisses me off. Smackdown! eats at me for similar reasons.

I can see that. Though to be honest, I don't think they really cut the feature so much as reworked it. It was always bass or RG, and they altered it for full bass support.

One things for sure, one of the big two will bring it back, and make a big deal about it in that 'make returning features seem like a big deal' thing developers do.

Mental Health by Quiet Riot is also a must for this.

Probably Guitar Hero. They don't seem to be concerned about compatibility over at Activision.

Somebody needs to grill them on that silliness. The way I see it, Activision are releasing GHs in a sort of compilation deal. GH3 and Aerosmith were basically compilations of the GH3 engine. GHWT, Metallica, and Smash Hits are compilations of the WT engine. So my deal is this: you know you can do it (even cross engine DLC with Death Magnetic!), so why don't DLC of a certain compilation game work with the other. I fail to see the business end of it... like how you can say certain DLC isn't worth 800mp but you can understand from a business perspective? I don't even see the business perspective in not having DLC work across the board. It's not like Aerosmith was getting it's own DLC, why couldn't GH3 tracks work on there? Is it a sync issue with animation cues on stage? What? Let us know! Because I personally conclude straight-up laziness.

Then again, they had to be grilled before they allowed 'the other guy's' guitar controllers on their game.

Full GH set up on the Smash Hits site:

Blue Oyster Cult--Godzilla
Boston--More Than A Feeling
Deep Purple--Smoke on the Water
Franz Ferdinand--Take Me Out
Helmet--Unsung (Live)
Incubus--Stellar
Joan Jett and the Blackhearts--I Love Rock'n Roll
Ozzy Osbourne--Bark at the Moon
Pantera--Cowboys from Hell (Live)
Queen--Killer Queen
Queens of the Stone Age--No One Knows
The Donnas--Take it Off
The Exies--Hey You
White Zombie--Thunder Kiss '65

Yeah, I loved that. And the funny thing is, fanboys were blaming Harmonix.

They shouldn't even need to be grilled over this. I mean, the guitar thing was so they'd sell their own models. What's the point of this one, really? You'd think people would be more prone to buy DLC if they could use it cross platform. I mean, when I found out DLC o Rock Band would be compatible with RB2, I started buying more. I was worried about spending too much on an obsolete platform, and Activision.Neversoft only heightens that concern.

Seems it would only benefit them to do it in the same way they're currently pushing their song editor and saying you can download from GHTunes cross platform. Seems like they know there's a market, but they only want to apply it to free content. But why? I mean, it's not going to HURT them.

SWEET. Definately buying this now.

They should just release the entire Songs for the Deaf album. Queens of the Stone Age is the goods.

Ok, most of the songs I liked from GH are in. But no Spanish Castle Magic? No Iron Man? Cochise? Sharp Dressed Man?

At least some of the missing ones are available in other games too.

I wouldn't want any of the ones that are in rockband. Give me stuff I havn't played full band.

Well I'm sort of agreeing with you. If it's in a game I've got, no worries. But if not, fuck.

I really think they should have just made the whole thing DLC.

Since I haven't played any of those GH's, I will get this when I find it on sale or something.

You got a PS2? Pick up GH1 and a cheap guitar. They're all covers, but they're quality and the bonus songs are mostly pretty good. It's how I got into The Bags. \m/

I do not own a PS2 anymore.

They're only 100 bucks now. Plus a used one would be even less.

I do not want a PS2.

I will channel the spirit of Kane86 and shit in your hand :mad:

I will PM you my address.

* Avenged Sevenfold - "Beast And The Harlot"
* Rage Against The Machine - "Killing In The Name"
* Rush - "YYZ"
* Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Free Bird"
* Foo Fighters - "Monkey Wrench"
* Iron Maiden - "The Trooper"
* Nirvana - "Heart-Shaped Box"
* Lamb of God - "Laid To Rest"
* The Police - "Message In A Bottle"
* Wolfmother - "Woman"
* Kansas - "Carry On Wayward Son"
* Stone Temple Pilots - "Trippin' On A Hole In A Paper Heart"
* Warrant - "Cherry Pie"
* Alice in Chains - "Them Bones"
* Danzig - "Mother"
* Jane's Addiction - "Stop!"
* Reverend Horton Heat - "Psychobilly Freakout"
* The Sword - "Freya"
* Mötley Crüe- "Shout At The Devil"

I started this series with GH2, so a lot of memories with some of these tracks.

Got a PS2? Play the original. So much better than 2, 80s or 3. 2 and 80s had really shitty covers for some reason and 3 had fairly shit bonus tracks except for Lacuna Coil. The only things the other have on GH1 are easier hammer on/pull offs and 2 player mode actually had you playing different note charts.

My god, if they don't put hanger 18 in there, I'm going to go on a jean punching rampage.

The Trooper is good, but it's too short.

Oh shit, jeans pronounced dead, cause of death: hecka punches! :eek:

DROPPIN' HAMILTONS LIKE ALAN BURR!

Master track of the Trooper = SOLD.

God. Stop whining.

But it's not fair. :'(

What were we talking about again?

Just rent it for now and buy it when it's cheap. Problem solved.

80s was my favorite game so im hoping for...

No One Like You - Scorpions

Hoping for Quiet Riot's Mental Health.

Metal Health*

:roll:

I only went through 80's once on Frets on Fire, but I seem to remember Bang Your Head being really fun. Play With Me is an obvious choice as well.

Play With Me should definitely make it on here. Though I'd prefer an Extreme track that wasn't from their firstalbum.

Too bad this won't have John the Fisherman.

MOREEEEEEE THAAAAAN WOOOOOORDSSSSSSSSSSS