[D Mac]

Perhaps it was one bad PR cycle too many, but it looks like famous musicians as playable characters will be a thing of the past in the Guitar Hero franchise. This is according to the first details on Guitar Hero 6, coming out of the latest issue of Official Xbox Magazine (via GoNintendo). While they won't be playable, that doesn't mean famous musicians won't be featured in the game at all -- in fact, both Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich and KISS frontman Gene Simmons are both confirmed to appear in the game. Simmons will narrate a brand new "Quest Mode," where players will "recruit" other rock stars and unlock their "song sets" along the way. You can also unlock the musician's "alter ego" (such as Lars becoming "Warrior Lars") which give you bonus powers, like x6 point multiplyers instead of x4. The fact that you apparently unlock "song sets" also seems to suggest that bands in Guitar Hero 6 might feature more than one song, but that's just speculation for now. There are a few more confirmed details, though, including Queen, Black Sabbath, and (naturally) KISS confirmed to have songs in the game; the return of past (fictional) Guitar Hero characters; the ability to carry over previous DLC songs; the ability to sustain open bass notes; the legendary CBGB as the only real-world location in the game; and a few more intangible details like a supposedly "back to basics approach" and "much bigger focus on rock 'n' roll."

WARRIOR LARS