We’ve been blown away by the effort Activision and Neversoft have put into making Guitar Hero 5 actually worth playing — but their most recent move may be their wisest yet. A recent IGN preview of the title revealed the game will allow players to import “some” of the tracks from World Tour and Smash Hits into GH5 (and Band Hero) for a small fee. In addition, 125 of World Tour’s 128 DLC tracks will automatically work in the two upcoming rhythm titles. Of all the features to borrow from Rock Band 2, the removal of bothersome disc-swapping is one of the best.

For those who aren’t particularly thrilled by this piece of news, try this one on for size: Johnny Cash will be a playable character in Guitar Hero 5. There’s a video of the black-suited man performing “Ring of Fire” after the jump. We suggest checking it out — but only if you like things that are completely badass.

Continue reading Guitar Hero 5 allows song imports from previous games, features playable Johnny Cash

Guitar Hero 5 allows song imports from previous games, features playable Johnny Cash originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 08 Aug 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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First, if you used to have a teen daughter before the head explosion thing, we’re sorry about your loss. If you didn’t, you may need a little additional explanation. Songstress Taylor Swift is sort of like Hannah Montana with a slight country twang (or more accurately, Hannah Montana if she didn’t pretend not to have a slight country twang), and she’s just joined Band Hero.

No, you may not care, but if you’ve got a daughter of any age, we’ve got big news: You’re going to be buying Band Hero. Or at least you would have, had her head not just exploded.

Taylor Swift joins Band Hero, your daughter’s head explodes originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 04 Aug 2009 13:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Click for life-size DS!

If you and your bandmates are ready to take your five-star show on the road, get ready to grab your DS Lites and crank the speakers up to elev … well, push the little volume switch all the way to the right. Activision’s Band Hero is coming to the DS, and includes four-player ad-hoc for full-band rocking. Players can use the On Tour guitar attachment, drop some vocals on the system’s built-in mic, or use the drum skin attachment pictured above to supply the percussional accompanyment.

There’s just one minor caveat — if you’ve already upgraded to the DSi, then you’re S.O.L. Not only will the guitar attachments not be able to plug into the GBA cartridge port that the system doesn’t have, the drum skin won’t fit on the handheld’s svelte frame. Sorry, early adopters!

Band Hero DS attachments revealed, gameplay details originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 23 Jul 2009 13:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Activision just announced the launch of the Band Hero site, with a contest whose prizes include both a console Band Hero bundle and a DS Band Hero bundle. The official rules for the contest reveal a bit more about the DS offering (which isn’t hard, since we’ve previously known nothing at all about it).

Predictably, the Band Hero DS Lite Band Kit includes the Guitar Grip peripheral included in previous Guitar Hero On Tour games. However, it also includes a “drum skin” peripheral. We … can’t imagine how that would work on the DS (does it sit on top of the touch screen?) so we’ve emailed Activision for more details. Band Hero wouldn’t be the first DS game to simulate drumming, but we don’t know how it would work with a peripheral.

Band Hero DS includes a ‘drum skin’ originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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