Gameitall Freestyle games and Activison are doing something different for the upcoming resurrection of the beloved Guitar Hero franchise. While we already know about the new Live mode in which players take to the stage to play in front of a reactive crowd, what was not explained at the time was the new Guitar Hero TV mode.
The new mode seems like a way to remove DLC from the game, built to take advantage of modern internet-connected gaming and new monetization methods. GHTV connects you to a music station, similar to that found on most Cable/Satellite systems, which will provide a full schedule of music “programming” that FreeStyleGames will continually update it with additional songs after launch.
“It’s our always-on, 24-hour music network,” said Jamie Jackson, co-studio head at FreeStyleGames and creative director for Guitar Hero Live. “It’s about trying to kind of build shows that people understand — think of, like, radio and things like that. What we want this to be is as close to your TV guide that you’re used to as possible.”
GHTV will allow you to view shows and sets that change throughout the day, much like you would see on your TV guide or Radio station. The system will allow you to jump into any show that is active at the moment, such as “Rock vs. Metal,” “Summer Hits,” “Top 20 Hits” or other sets similar sets. The system will show you how far along the current show is, when other shows start and even tracks up to a seven day schedule. “If you have a certain genre that you like to play, you kind of know when to tune in,” said James Friscia, director of product management for Guitar Hero at Activision.
“We can update these and change these [shows] really rapidly — you don’t have to download anything; you don’t have to get an update,” said Jackson. “This week, that might have that playlist. Next week’s ‘Rock vs. Metal’ will have a different playlist.”
This sounds pretty awesome so far, so what’s the catch? Well, GHTV will be free to everyone who purchases Guitar Hero Live, although the game will have two forms of currency. The first of which can be earn by completing goals in Guitar Hero Live, these “coins” can be used to purchase mods, stylized notes and highway tracks.
Post-launch songs can be used in 3 ways, you can either wait for it to show up to play, similar to the Radio and TV Guide analogy listed above, or you can spend real world money for an one-off play similar to putting a dollar in a jukebox, or you can purchase the song for permanent on-demand access. A big advantage of this is that the songs will not take space on your hard-drive as everything will be online and based in the cloud, the big drawback is that you will need to be online in order to access GHTV or these songs.
GHTV looks to be a major selling point for the upcoming rhythm game and it’ll be interesting to see it in action when the game launches Oct. 20 on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Wii U, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.
