Video: The drums of Guitar Hero World Tour [update]
by Dustin Burg 
{ May 23rd 2008 at 1:45PM }
The not at all English website InsiderGamer posted a new Guitar Hero World Tour video that gives us a better look at the game's drum set, the design process behind it and a first look at Blink 182's Travis Barker in a mo-cap suit. For realz! You can view the video after the jump and take in all the World Tour drumming that it has to offer including velocity sensitive drum pads, which we admit are so very next gen. And would it be wrong for us to think that these drums may possibly be better then what Rock Band has to offer? If it is, forget we ever posed such question.
[Thanks, L1B3RATION]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Eric @ May 23rd 2008 2:02PM
those drums are pretty badass, to bad it means more money. Which I do not have.
+++volume+++ @ May 23rd 2008 2:05PM
I'm pretty impressed... I wonder what EA's got up their sleeve.
"Yeah, playing the guitar is cool...but hitting stuff? Awwwesomme."
+++volume+++ @ May 23rd 2008 2:10PM
Wait....didn't EA publish, develop, or whatevered Rock Band? No? Any of the above?
goboColossus @ May 23rd 2008 2:50PM
Officially, they were titled as "distributer."
Though, they seem to be a bit more involved than that title suggests. Especially after that "Rock Band 2" survey deal. MTV Games doesn't seem large enough to handle all of the production aspects taken on by a publisher, I'm sure Electronic Arts at least threw in some money...
Digital Limit @ May 23rd 2008 2:12PM
EA isn't behind Guitar Hero - that's Activision. But yeah, I really like what they're doing with this. The velocity-sensitive thing leads me to believe they're overall going to be a lot more consistent than the Rock Band drumkit. I am so excited, w00t.
mountaineer014 @ May 23rd 2008 2:14PM
Before we get all excited, none of the drummers played the actual GH4 drums. Stewart Copeland is playing a drum kit but NOT the GH4 one. Look again, I think we are being slightly decieved.
blakbuzzrd @ May 26th 2008 11:26AM
Exactly. There's plenty of hard banging on the real drums, but none of it is on the peripheral.
That's whatcha call misdirection.
Matthew @ May 23rd 2008 2:30PM
Once again, Activision brings us -> HYPE.
Chad Smith and the godly Stewart Copeland were brought in to test it out, but I saw no testing. And there's definitely no tv or console lying around to try it out on.
therpham @ May 23rd 2008 2:28PM
You can have all the hardware you want, but if the software feels as bad as Guitar Hero 3 did, then no dice.
tan @ May 23rd 2008 6:28PM
tis' the rock band guitars that were not too good!
Matthew @ May 23rd 2008 2:30PM
Oh yeah, that pedal is going to slide all over floor.
Real drum pedals are anchored to the bass drum. Even RBs set got that kinda right.
Deezul @ May 23rd 2008 2:40PM
Yeah, on carpet, that bass pedal is going keep slipping. Just throw a bar across the bottom Activision.
Now if I could keep my foot from sliding on the RB pedal. I always end up sliding "up" the pedal.
Mike @ May 23rd 2008 2:33PM
GHWT is gonna kick ass. Leave Rock Band in the dust where it belongs. I wonder if they are gonna have drum battles like they did guitar battles with Slash and Tom Morello in GH3. Cant wait to find out who they will be.
dancingtosirens @ May 23rd 2008 3:02PM
Drum battles?
worse idea ever.
Im not picking this game up.
I might get the drumset someday if I can use it as a MIDI controller like I used my RB drumset, but other then that, no dice
Matthew @ May 23rd 2008 3:10PM
Why does RB deserve to be "left in the dust"?
Sounds like a scorned GH fanboy....
Kizzle @ May 23rd 2008 3:23PM
"GHWT is gonna kick ass. Leave Rock Band in the dust where it belongs."
You're either an idiot or an Activision or Neversoft employee. You're also in the minority so I won't pick on you too much.
GH3 ruined the franchise, and now every game they put out is just going to be copying off what Rock Band did. By the time GH4 arrives, we'll be hearing about Rock Band 2 info that will, once again, render GH obsolete.
Knight Marquise @ May 23rd 2008 7:17PM
Kizzle,
He's hardly in the minority. The RB drum set sucked hind tit; fact. They're shit, they're loud, & they suck. This drum kit smokes the RB set, and I'll happily toss RB out my door when this hits the store shelves.
Banana Kid @ May 23rd 2008 3:24PM
Most exciting to me is that these guys being in the video is pretty much confirmation that they'll have songs in the game. I figured the Police were sticking to Rock Band at this point, and it's good to see they aren't.
If this game can put together the songlist and do the DLC right, I might abandon Rock Band. The guitar in Guitar Hero just feels better, and carrying that over to drums would be awesome.
Deck @ May 23rd 2008 3:41PM
I ridiculous as more instruments in games goes...and I think its absurd..those drums actually seem pretty kick ass. Now we didn't get to see them in action on the game but they look potentially really cool.
Sure it could all be hype...or there is potential here, especially with the sensitivity on how hard you hit them.
Mike @ May 23rd 2008 3:55PM
Im neither Kizzle. But, where else are games gonna go? Of course, they are gonna go with instruments like Rock Band did. They take what Rock Band did. Add a REAL soundtrack and capitalize off what Rock Band didn't have. Guitar Hero and Rock Revolution are gonna copy it, its just if they are gonna make it better or worse than Rock Band which isn't a high bar to surpass. Come on Kizzle think a bit, or have you played so much 360 that your brain is fried?
Southside18 @ May 23rd 2008 4:07PM
Those cymbals still look very breakable. I have had people unleash some serious punishment to my Rockband drums and they have stood up to the challenge.
I am not saying that I am anti-GH by any means. I have been along for that ride since the first one came out on PS2. They kind of lost me after my RB guitar wouldn't work with the GH game. Not sure who's fault that is (Harmonix or Activition). But buying all this hardware is just getting a little crazy.
No matter what, they always say imitation is the greatest form of flattery!
Jonman @ May 23rd 2008 6:23PM
The hype that we've been led to believe (and I do believe it, just commenting that we probably don't know the full story) is that it's been Activision to blame for the instrument incompatabilities. Harmonix had a patch that would have made Rock Band work with GH3 guitars, but Activision blocked it.
Anyone else should feel free to jump in and contradict me if they know better.
ericdrum @ May 23rd 2008 4:07PM
A game kit with head angles where you can actually use traditional grip? I'm in.
jackdurden @ May 23rd 2008 4:18PM
They were playing 'Dammit' by blink-182 in the video, awesome! I love that song!
SovietSpartan @ May 23rd 2008 9:09PM
Dude thanks for pointing that out. I thought it was just some random riff. I just looked up the tabs and its like the most easiest song in the world to play! Thanks again bro, now to go rock out on a real guitar until GH4 and RB2 appear!
Dragod @ May 23rd 2008 5:19PM
The thing that bothers me is that it's wireless. I assume that the Guitars are going to be wireless, as well... Anyone who doesn't play their Wireless Les Paul every day knows that just letting it sit for a week drains the battery. I honestly have to replace the batteries every time I want to play with the Les Paul... I've started using my Xplorer almost exclusively because the button detection is better and I don't have to worry about batteries.
This is the one thing that I really don't like about the new consoles and accessories... Everything is wireless, which means batteries. Even before batteries, wireless costs $10 more. I don't even use my Wireless controllers unless I have friends.
I really really really REALLY hope there is a half decent option for wired accessories. For GH3, I wasn't going to buy the same guitar twice, so I got the wireless. It was nice, until I realized how poor the battery life was.
Hopefully we see all wired instruments, no removable guitar necks, and a very much improved game... I can dream, can't I?
longhairbilly @ May 23rd 2008 7:55PM
I don't have room for this shit anymore..
JohnHeist @ May 23rd 2008 9:47PM
WAY better.
Velocity sensitive = rubber, so the cymbals will be too. They will not be easily breakable by any means.
Also thankfully I'll be able to hear the damn game over the drum sounds (Haven't even played the drums, but played guitar on it at a friends house while he drummed.)
taco @ May 24th 2008 3:01AM
the velocity sensitivity seems like it will only really matter in the song creation, or possibly in fill sections if they do it like rock band does. if they start registering a hit that is too soft or too hard as a miss, that will get REAL frustrating.
Other than that, the only thing that will make or break GH4 is the songs on the disc and frequency/quality of DLC.
Gabriel @ May 24th 2008 4:54PM
I can definitely see the appeal of velocity-sensitive drums (IF they get the game right). As for implementation in the game, you don't want the drummer to keep banging away as hard as he can. Really talented drummers work at multiple levels of velocity. Most times it takes very little force to get the drums to make the right sound. All they'd have to do to implement this skill into the game is to have a meter that shows minimum and maximum velocities and if you go above or below those velocities for too long, you're penalized for it. (I'd give them a little time to adjust, since the requirements are different for different parts of a song.) This would make drums a lot more bearable at parties, since people wouldn't be banging away so hard all the time. I wouldn't be surprised if Rock Band one-upped Guitar Hero, though, with their a new drumset of their own.
Cerixus @ May 30th 2008 12:45PM
@dancingtosirens:
You've obviously never experienced a drum battle. It's amazing fun on RB. Seriously.