Following the announcement of Guitar Hero Live earlier today, Eurogamer posted a preview of the upcoming music game, confirming some new details in the process.
With the new, heavier guitar controller featuring two rows of three buttons, the way notes fly at you on screen has changed. Instead of five rows of multi-colored notes, you have just three rows in Live, with each note coming in two colors: black (top row) and white (bottom row).
According to Creative Director Jamie Jackson, “If you come at it from a purist’s point of view, [the buttons are] probably the biggest change.”
Noting that there was a lot of head-scratching and prototyping when changing the controls, he added, “I hope the purists see there is a lot of fun there. And I hope they also see it will give them something to learn again. If I have a new game, I don’t want to just go straight in at the top. I want to learn. I want to have an experience of feeling like I’ve made my way to the top.”
Much like Harmonix’s stance with Rock Band 4, FreeStyleGames isn’t looking to release a new game every year. Instead, as Jackson explained, they want to build on the song library with GHTV, the 24-hour playable music video network:
We recognize times have changed. It’s not our intention now to put a disc out every year. It’s our intention that we’re going to launch this game in 2015 and with GHTV we’re going to be able to constantly give you new music really quickly. And we can see what you enjoy as well and we can respond to that. If we in the studio discover some music we think is really rad, we can give it to you as well.
Don’t expect a new guitar any time soon either, as it’s “the one we want to have for a long time.”
Unlike Rock Band 4, with all the new changes to Guitar Hero Live, it means all your past Guitar Hero songs and guitars won’t be compatible with the new title.
Jackson discussed this move:
It’s not 2010 any more. There are not many other games that let you use stuff you bought back then in their games now. The difference with this is, it’s completely different gameplay. So, quite simply, the DLC you bought just won’t work. The guitar is different. The way we’ve presented it is different.
Basically, as he added, “Guitar Hero Live is a completely new game.”
[Source: Eurogamer]
