New Guitar Hero DS trailer is epic failure
Remember when Harmonix developed the Guitar Hero series and everything about it was just awesome instead of making you want to throw up in your mouth a little? Everything that's wrong with the franchise is expertly summed up by this video explaining the control system of the upcoming Guitar Hero on Tour DS port... a video which actually stars an avatar of Activision's doucheyness: a shrieking castrati emo rocker. And if that doesn't put you off the game for good, the control scheme just might. Yeesh. How do you ruin a rock solid franchise this quickly?
Guitar Hero on Tour [Gametrailers]
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I.....umm, umm, your doing it wrong.
Hit the singer with a stick, he's not only killing the game he's killing some rock band who's name momenterily escapes me, I'm terrible with rock band faces, is he actually someone important?
but yeah it had potential on the DS and I'm not going to rule it out until i see it but possibly some kind of accelerometer on a cord or something for the strimming would have been better (to make it go all air guitar)
Wow. How did this get past anyone in quality control?
The emo "guy"'s voice not only ruined that, it invokes a level of cheesiness, that, acting as a black hole, eviscerated anything cool about the game with infintite gravitational, whiney suckage. I mean, I wanted to immolate him after hearing him 3 times! Drop the cheezy catchlines!
Also, on the note of announcing, why is every commercial & movie pitched by the same monotone, boring, FBI thug-like voice actor? Does someone, somewhere actually think that makes something "edgy"?
I hate that smug voice. They use it for everything to the point where you don't even pay attention to what they are pitching anymore. If they really wanted your attention, they'd use the voice of someone who actually sounds like they'd play the game.
I thought that was an ad for Moviefone.
It had the dynamic feel of those bud light "real american genius" commercials, but more annoying.
God damn that really is some spectacular fail.
Yes, this is horrible for all the reasons mentioned above. Also, the guitar "pick" looks like it has a metal tip, that can't be right can it? Who would want to scrape that all over the touchscreen of their DS?
This is what a Guitar Hero commercial looks like when written and produced by 30-something upwardly-mobile ad execs who've never actually played the game, but saw the award winning beer commercials it copies and figure that this'll get Activision off their backs so they can go hit happy hour.
Oh no, that looks an awful lot like Scott Whelan, the lead singer / addict for Stone Temple Pilots.
Can someone tell me that's not him? Please tell me that's not him.
No wonder I'd rather play Rock Band at this point...
Does part of the game involve punching that guy in the face repeatedly? If so, I'm in.
having to yell "ROCK OUT" is crap. Can you imagine having to do that when you're sitting on the train with people around you?
Lastly, when they're talking about having to do a "signature", it looks like the kid is writing "G-A-Y"!! HAHA!!
"Oh no, that looks an awful lot like Scott Whelan, the lead singer / addict for Stone Temple Pilots."
It looks like him, but doesn't sound anything like him. The ad-dicks definantly wanted him to look like "that guy from STP and that Slash side project". I can't be super-sure, but to the highest degree of accuracy I can claim without looking at that guy's wallet, it is not Scott Whelan.
But on the ad, man oh man, that is so fail I had to stop watching halfway, because I know I'm going to have to show my brother, but I don't think I could survive two entire sceenings of it.
Just goes to show the value of a good creative team, Harmonix made GH1 and GH2 with a spirit of rock-loving good times, then the corporate gods got greedy, sacked them, hired the dolts behind the increasingly anti-fun Tony Hawk games, and they released the drab GH3, which was by-the-numbers copy/paste without a soul, except where they innovated (read: sprinkled in some epic fail).
Meanwhile, Harmonix moved over to the other evil corporate god, EA, but managed to expand the undilluted pro-rock, pro-fun atmosphere of the first GH in Rockband.
This commercial is really just the concise version of everything wrong with Neversoft/GH3.
Wow. I'd like to believe that this got pitched as a joke after several good ideas were rejected by whoever makes those kind of decisions at Activision. I can definitely imagine PR guys trying to think of the crappiest ad possible and coming up with this, and then remembering it when the meeting was going super badly.
The weird part is that if they amped up the cheesiness a lot more, say with star wipes and other aggressive dissolves, big 70s/80s style graphic overlays and such it could actually be funny. Or if they just leaned a little harder into the whole creepy rocker + wholesome young boy thing it could have been funny instead of embarrassing for everyone.
"The weird part is that if they amped up the cheesiness a lot more, say with star wipes and other aggressive dissolves, big 70s/80s style graphic overlays and such it could actually be funny"
Heh, thats exactly what my brother thought when I showed it to him.
They fell too far short of 'the top' if they were going for over-the-top cheese, and that is just hard to watch.
On a side note, I didn't see Neversoft's logo at the end, so I guess they pawned this off of Vicarious Visions alone this time, which makes this what, a third generation copy of a game with no soul?
It was so cheesy it started to get funny. I think the best ending would have been to have the player smash a real guitar on the singer's head.
THAT would have been edgy.
This has the feel of a bad 80s PSA.
... don't copy that floppy ...
Oh god, we've gone so far into ironic cheesballism that we've circled back around into suck.
FAIL'D.
This looks absolutely ridiculous. I'd rather not scratch the shit out of my DS, thanks.
(I don't think I'd be able to play it, anyway. What are the options if you're left handed?)
If anyone's looking for a Unicorn chaser after this, a teaser trailer for Beyond Good and Evil 2 is posted:
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/34509.html
"""Oh god, we've gone so far into ironic cheesballism that we've circled back around into suck."""
I was reading down the comments thinking "you people need to relax" and generally hating on the haters hating, this comment snapped me out of it.
It's not a 30 second TV ad, its an online do-a-mahickey...it's not like they presented this as a super bowl commercial.
Anyways, the idea that we have come back full circle is so right on. First it's ironic/goofy niche joking, then it turns into a wider spread small scale joke, then it busts big.... then people who are unaware of the goofy original subtext run it into the ground.
This very thing is happening with neon bright colored shtuff. Once oakley releases throw back 80's green neon sunglasses for $300 it has jumped the shark.
First of all, I can't believe that wasn't a spoof. Seriously. Are we sure it was, in fact, made by the team behind GH?
Otherwise, I hate to dispense group think like "Executives being responsible for GH3's failure!" But it might actually be valid. Activision probably performed some market research on the Guitar Hero franchise and decided that the target demographic was ages 8 to 16. If you watch that trailer as if it was a children's commercial, it is par for the course.
But as an adult/gamer, it is insulting. Insulting is the best word I can think of for the epic failure exhibited by that commercial. Do they think we don't recognize that the pick is just a refashioned stylus? Do they think we have such a small understanding of rock that we sum up the entire genre by some shouting idiot? Does anyone over the age of 14 really need an explanation of how it works after looking at it for five seconds?
Seriously, none of my questions are answered by that commercial. What kind of songs are on it? How many? What kind of sound quality will the tiny DS speakers have? Ugg.
I was mad when GH3 shoved advertisements down my throat for Red Bull, Pontiac, etc... This just turns me off the series for good.
When that wannabe rocker opened his mouth I turned the sound off. I could only watch 30 seconds of the video.
I could see this being the real deal. I can see the executives cheering for this ad, thinking that it is the best.
wow..hope I don't have nightmares tonight.
In the "ignoring the forest for the trees" department:
Since when do horn-throwing testosterone-laden metal-heads dress like whiny emo twits?
Narrator: "If you can't yell, press any key on the control panel."
Emo Rocker: (singing, kind of) "Sometimes, you can't yell."
Totally wonderful.
"Sometimes, you can't yell."
Sometimes, you can't keep your stomach insides from coming out, either.
i dont know why everyones britches are in such a bunch! it just gives me the same vibe as the HeadOn commercials....soooo F-ing annoying that its *kinda* funny.
and: i dont know what about that guy constitutes the "emo" tag. all i know is id rather be "emo" than a shrieking, balding, post-80s loser ACTOR!
EPIC FAIL!
In fact this fail may be more epic than this fail:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIyw9e1bGhw&feature=related
This is amazingly bad. I agree that it would be marginally improved by amping up the cheese factor. That wouldn't be too hard to do, they could've just used whoever was actually singing, instead of the lip-syncing douche. It sounds like Stan "The Touch" Bush or Dave "Real Men Of Genius" Bickler. Also, something about the narrator's pronunciation says "English as a Second Language", but I may be wrong.
Right. So anyhow, about the actual game, it looks fun to me. Those worried about scratching up their DS screen clearly never played Ouendan or Elite Beat Agents, the two current best rhythm games on the system (Guitar Hero being a rhythm game that bears much more resemblance to DDR than to anything having to do with making music, after all) - you beat the touch screen up WAY more with those than it looks like you do with this. Besides, if you don't have a screen protector for your DS you're already doing it wrong.
The multiplayer "attacks" are a lame idea, but at least they're not a new lame idea, just one ported over from the consoles. Multiplayer really isn't the reason I'd be interested in this anyhow, so it doesn't bother me much.
The included peripheral and the basic gameplay concept of strumming and "whammy-ing" on the touch screen all seem solid to me. I can't remember the track list I read about right now, but if it's decent, I see no reason not to pick this up for some decently simulated Guitar Hero action on the go.
Yeah, it's an awful commercial. Really, really bad. But the game looks fine, IMO. (Aside from screaming "Rock Out". Obviously, we'll all be reaching for the alternate button on that one.)
It's like a Mr. Show commercial come to life.
In 30 years, tweens on future YouTube will watch this with ironic glee.
@#25
I believe the narrator is the famous Don LaFontaine. He does narrations for just about anything.
Terrible ad is terrible.
I just lost about half my enthusiasm for buying this game.
Oh, seconding what the anonymous poster said about screen protectors. You can get a set at Game Stop for five bucks, along with a free stylus. You need 'em if you're going to be playing anything touch-screen intensive, like Trauma Center or Anno 1701 or Brain Age.
No, Scott Weiland is way cooler than this dude.
And I love my DS, but I'm totally not buying this.
Ooooooo ROCK OOOOUUUUTTTT!!!
Anyways, this is the music software you want for the DS.
#4 read my mind. It's the Guitar Hero version of Real Men of Genius, only worse.
This is like two girls one cup that you can show mom and dad, if your a horrible son or daughter that is.
Are we all sure this wasn't created by the Brothers Chaps? Because if this was a Strong Bad short featuring Limozeen it would have been great!
I was actually really tickled that, in at least one shot, the DS's battery is dying (it's glowing red).
This trailer is exactly what makes all guitar hero games stupid. Fake rock, fake fun, bad music.
@#30
No! That is not Don La Fontaine!
Even he has scruples about what he works on.
...well, except he did do Gymkata.
To be fair, they listed some pretty sweet features. I’m actually looking forward to the versus mode now.Well, you've got to check out the side-by-side competition between rockband 2 and guitar hero: world tour on www.clashorama.com. The ultimate battle of the bands here http://www.clashorama.com/index.php?id=188