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Guitar Hero: Aerosmith

January 08, 2023

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is a 2008 music rhythm video game developed by Neversoft and published by Activision. It was released on the PlayStation 3, Wii and Xbox 360 consoles, with Budcat Creations solely developing the PlayStation 2 port, Vicarious Visions solely developing the Wii port, and Aspyr solely publishing the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X ports. The game was released on June 26, 2008 in Europe, on June 29, 2008 in North America, August 6, 2008 in Australia and October 9, 2008 in Japan. Guitar Hero: Aerosmith sold as both a bundle with a specially designed guitar controller as well as a game-only package.

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith
Cover of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith.
From left: Brad Whitford, Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Tom Hamilton and Joey Kramer.
Developer(s)Neversoft[a]
Publisher(s)Activision[b]
SeriesGuitar Hero
Platform(s)PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, OS X
ReleasePlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Wii & Xbox 360
  • EU: June 27, 2008
  • NA: June 29, 2008
  • AU: August 6, 2008
Microsoft Windows
OS X
Genre(s)Music,[3] rhythm
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

The game is considered an expansion in the Guitar Hero series, extending upon the general features of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. As with other games in the series, the player uses a guitar-shaped controller to simulate the playing of rock music by playing in-time to scrolling notes on-screen. It is the first game in the series to primarily focus on the work of one rock band, with Aerosmith songs comprising approximately 70% of the soundtrack, while the remaining songs are from bands that have been influenced by or opened for Aerosmith. The single player Career mode allows the player to follow the history of the band through several real-world-inspired venues, interspersed with interviews from the band members about their past. Aerosmith re-recorded four songs for this game, and have participated in a motion capture session to create their in-game appearances. Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is the final installment of the series to only feature guitar and bass as possible instrument choices. The next entry (Guitar Hero World Tour) would introduce other roles to create a full band experience.

While Guitar Hero: Aerosmith maintains the same gameplay as past Guitar Hero games, it has received criticism for being shorter and easier than the previous Guitar Hero titles and difficult to justify its price point; furthermore, with the game's strong focus on one band, reviewers felt that the game's ultimate enjoyment rested on the player's appreciation and fandom for the music of Aerosmith.

Story

A departure from other games in the franchise, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith follows the career of Aerosmith, by playing significant songs in their catalog in a 'rough chronological fashion'.[4] The gameplay follows the band through various periods in its history, spanning from its first show at Mendon Nipmuc Regional High School in 1970 to the 2001 Super Bowl XXXV halftime show, to their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 19, 2001. The player starts as Joe Perry, and will eventually be able to unlock Brad Whitford and Tom Hamilton.[4] The game does not focus on the internal strife and stress within the band; guitarist Joe Perry stated that the game would focus on the positive aspects of Aerosmith's history.[4] Perry has stated that "Having a game built around Aerosmith has been a huge honor and really a great experience for us. We've put a lot of ideas into the game so that fans can have fun interacting with our music, getting inside our body of work and learning about the band's history."[5]

Gameplay

See also: Common gameplay elements in the Guitar Hero series
 
To play the game, players must use a guitar peripheral to play the scrolling notes. Players must hold a colored fret on the peripheral corresponding to the on-screen note and then press the peripheral's strum bar as the note crosses the target.

The gameplay in Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is based on the same gameplay elements from Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.[6] Players use a guitar controller to hold down fret keys and strum on the strum bar in time with the note patterns as they scroll down the screen in order to complete a song. The player's performance is tracked by a Rock Meter, and if it falls too low, the song ends prematurely. Star Power can be collected by completing marked note phrases correctly, and by using the whammy bar during sustained notes; Star Power is released by lifting the guitar controller vertically or by pressing the Select button in order to double the scoring multiplier and dramatically affect the Rock Meter. The player is rated after successfully completing a song from 3 to 5 stars, and can examine statistics related to their performance, and in Career mode, awarded money to be used to unlock ten bonus songs in "The Vault" and additional guitars, outfits, and other videos about the band. Each song can be played at one of four difficulties: Easy, Medium, Hard, and Expert.

The game offers several gameplay modes. Career mode is broken into six tiers of five tracks, each based on a period in Aerosmith's history. Furthermore, within each tier, there are two Opening Acts, featuring non-Aerosmith songs, that must be completed before the Aerosmith songs can be played; the final song in each tier is an encore once the other four songs are completed. As the player completes this mode, they will also be presented with video clips talking about the band and other trivia about the band. The Career mode features one Boss Battle (against Joe Perry) as introduced in Guitar Hero III.[6] Any unlocked song can be played in Quick Play mode, Co-operative mode, with one player on lead guitar and the other on bass, and Competitive mode, including the Battle modes. Unlike Guitar Hero III, there is no Co-Operative Career mode. One significant upgrade from Guitar Hero III is the addition of score balancing in Pro Face Off multiplayer mode, which allows each player to choose their own difficulty while still allowing each side to play the full note chart, instead of switching back and forth within regular Face Off. This is the first Guitar Hero game compatible with Rock Band controllers.

Development

Billboard announced that the band Aerosmith was "working closely with the makers of Guitar Hero World Tour, which will be dedicated to the group's music."[7] Guitar Hero: World Tour was also confirmed as in development following the announcement of the merger between Activision and Vivendi Games in December 2007.[8]

On February 15, 2008, Activision announced that one of their two new Guitar Hero installments would be Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, and would be released in June 2008.[5][9] Guitar Hero: Aerosmith was developed by Neversoft for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions, the Wii version of the game was being developed by Vicarious Visions, and the PlayStation 2 version was developed by Budcat Creations.[10]

 
Members of the band Aerosmith, including Steven Tyler (left) and Joe Perry (right) performed motion capture in order to create their digital likeness for the game.

The idea for Guitar Hero: Aerosmith came about during the development of Guitar Hero III. Originally, a cover version of "Same Old Song and Dance" was present in the game, but Neversoft president Joel Jewett noted that the quality of the recording was poor. After getting in contact with Joe Perry, Perry was able to provide the original masters for the song, and, according to Neversoft developer Alan Flores, "that sort of established the relationship."[4] This also came at a time where Activision was attempting to expand the Guitar Hero franchise, and fans expressed a strong interest in playing a game focused solely on Aerosmith's works, according to RedOctane's Dusty Welch.[4] Another producer for the game, Aaron Habibipour, stated that Aerosmith was one of the five "holy grail" musical groups as polled by Activision.[11] Newsweek reported that Aerosmith's license allows for exclusive use of their songs within the Guitar Hero series for a limited amount of time, preventing their use within other rhythm games such as Rock Band.[12] This is not the first time Aerosmith have appeared video games. The band was previously featured in both Quest for Fame and Revolution X.

Similar to Slash, Tom Morello, and Bret Michaels in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, each member of Aerosmith participated in motion capture to accurately recreate themselves digitally for the game.[4] Joe Perry, Brad Whitford, and Tom Hamilton (the lead guitar, rhythm guitar, and bass players of Aerosmith respectively) are unlockable characters which can be played as. Additionally, Joseph “Run” Simmons and Darryl "DMC" McDaniels appear in the game as members of their band, Run-DMC.[4] D.M.C. appears as a playable character, with the former being an unlockable character as well. All other members of Aerosmith and Run-DMC are not unlockable and can not be played in the game.[13]

While Aerosmith was able to provide many of the original master recordings to the development team, the band re-recorded the four songs chosen for the game from their first album: "Make It", "Movin' Out", "Dream On" and "Mama Kin".[14] Joe Perry re-mastered the lead guitar on many songs to interact with the gameplay better,[15] while Steven Tyler re-recorded some of the vocals.[15]

The game itself is based much on Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock's mechanics with some improvements; notably, hammer-ons and pull-offs are "less mushy", there are new venues for the game, and while all other gameplay modes from Guitar Hero III are present, there is no co-op career mode.[14] The game's interfaces and menus were redesigned for the game.[11] Additionally, the team re-evaluated the difficulty of the game based on feedback from players of Guitar Hero III who felt that there were "too many brick walls for casual fans".[11]

The developers attempted to recreate as many of historical venues within the game. For example, to fulfill Joe Perry's request that they recreate Max's Kansas City in New York, the developers used old photographs and YouTube videos of the club during the 1970s, to a highly accurate degree, as claimed by those that had attended the club during that period.[15][16] Within these venues, set decorations are inspired from Aerosmith album covers. Five that were confirmed are Pump, Toys in the Attic, Just Push Play, Get Your Wings, and Nine Lives.[11]

During Activision's press conference at the 2008 E3 convention, it was announced that a long-standing dispute between Activision and Electronic Arts over the use of guitar controllers in their respective games had been resolved; Guitar Hero: Aerosmith on the 360 was patched after released to allow the use of the Rock Band controller within the game, while all such instruments will be usable in Guitar Hero World Tour.[17] Guitar Hero and Rock Band guitar controllers for both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 are also compatible with the Playstation 2 version of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith.

Promotion

Activision released Aerosmith's "Dream On" to the Xbox Live Marketplace and the PlayStation Store as a free Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock downloadable song. The free download was available from February 16–18, 2008, after which it was removed pending the release of the game.[18]

The members of Aerosmith participated in a special sneak preview event at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York City on June 27, 2008, allowing attendees to ask questions, eat food at the Hard Rock Cafe, and try out the game.[19] Target had Chip Ganassi's #40 car, driven by Dario Franchitti, painted to celebrate the release of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith for a NASCAR race on June 29, 2008.[20]

As with some of the previous installments in the series, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is available as both a standalone disc and as part of a bundle. This bundle includes the Gibson Les Paul controller and a special red faceplate with the Aerosmith logo in white. The bundle also includes a tour book for the game listing the songs featured in the game. The special Aerosmith bundle is available for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii versions.[21] The Playstation 2 bundle includes the Kramer Wireless controller included with Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.[22] There is also a very limited edition bundle for the PlayStation 2 at Wal-Mart. This bundle comes with the game and two wired Gibson SG guitar controllers as bundled with the original Guitar Hero and its sequel.[23]

Soundtrack

Main article: List of songs in Guitar Hero: Aerosmith

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith's soundtrack consists of 41 songs; thirty are playable during Career mode and another 11 songs are unlockable in the vault. Twenty-nine of the songs are from Aerosmith, while the other twelve songs are from bands that inspired or have played with Aerosmith in the past.[24] Most of the songs are master recordings, including four Aerosmith songs that were re-recorded for this game.[14] Four songs are covers—two performed by Wavegroup Sound and two by Steve Ouimette.

Reception

The game has received generally mixed reviews. Many reviews found the game avoided some of Aerosmith's "more popular sugar-coated hits...like 'Amazing', 'Crazy', or 'I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing' [sic]",[29] but felt that other major Aerosmith songs could have also been included.[28][29] Game Informer noted that "creating a band specific game was smart", but that "very little has changed from the base game".[27] They also complimented the great job that Activision did with their motion captures of Aerosmith.[27] The difficulty of the game was not to be found as hard as Guitar Hero III due to the "very riff-friendly guitarist" Joe Perry;[31] while reviewers felt this was a good correction from the previous game, they also noted that the easiness of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith led to some bland tiers, repetitive musical sections, and lack of any significant difficulty curve.[29][31] The length of the game was poorly received, with reviewers commenting that it is difficult to justify the title priced equivalently as other next-generation console full games.[28][29] Eurogamer commented that one's appreciation for the game "lives or dies based on [the player's] fondness for Aerosmith", and that ultimately, with other available music games that offer additional downloadable songs, a game that focuses on a single band would need "to offer gameplay innovations, spectacular fan service, or a lot more material" than what Guitar Hero: Aerosmith provides.[6] Reviews also noted the sparseness of downloadable content.[27]

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith sold more than 567,000 copies in its first week and grossed more than $25 million.[33] The game has seen more than $50 million in sales in the first three months following its release,[34] with over one million copies sold.[35] The band itself saw a 40% increase in their catalog sales in the weeks following the game's release.[36] According to Activision-Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith has made more money for the band than any sales of their previous albums.[37] The game surged in sales in April 2009, with 110,000 copies for the Xbox 360 sold in North America, due to retails discounts on the title following the release of Guitar Hero: Metallica, and actually outsold the newer title.[38] By April 2010, the game has seen more than 3.6 million units sold, 2.7 in North America, and is considered the best selling band-centric music game across both Guitar Hero and Rock Band series.[39][40]

Notes

  1. ^ Ported to PlayStation 2 by Budcat Creations, ported to Wii by Vicarious Visions and ported to Windows/Mac by Aspyr
  2. ^ Published to Windows/Mac by Aspyr

References

  1. ^ "Guitar Hero: Aerosmith (PC)". Amazon. Retrieved 2008-10-09.
  2. ^ "Guitar Hero: Aerosmith Bundle (PC & MAC)". Amazon. Retrieved 2008-10-09.
  3. ^ . GamePro. Archived from the original on 2008-07-18. Retrieved 2008-07-22.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Snider, Mike (2008-02-14). "Aerosmith plugs into 'Guitar Hero' popularity". USA Today. Retrieved 2008-03-03.
  5. ^ a b "World Renowned Recording Group Aerosmith Rocks This Way to Guitar Hero(R): Aerosmith(R)". Activision, Inc. 2008-02-15. Retrieved 2008-02-15.
  6. ^ a b c d Bradwell, Tom (2008-06-26). "Guitar Hero: Aerosmith". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2008-06-27.
  7. ^ Graff, Gary (2007-09-04). "Aerosmith Hitting The Studio In November". Billboard. Retrieved 2008-07-24.
  8. ^ Elliot, Phil (2007-12-03). "Activision Blizzard fact sheet reveals some unannounced titles in the pipeline". Game Industry Biz. Retrieved 2007-12-03.
  9. ^ Goldstein, Marteen (2008-02-15). "Rock This Way With Guitar Hero: Aerosmith". Shacknews. Retrieved 2008-02-15.
  10. ^ Kollar, Philip (2008-02-15). "Next Guitar Hero Game Aerosmith Only". 1UP.com. Archived from the original on 2012-06-29. Retrieved 2008-02-15.
  11. ^ a b c d Tolito, Stephan (2008-04-17). . MTV Canada. Archived from the original on 2008-11-16. Retrieved 2008-04-17.
  12. ^ Croal, N'Gai (2008-04-29). . Newsweek. Archived from the original on June 1, 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-20.
  13. ^ Sarkar, Samit (2008-06-02). "Hands-on Impressions: Guitar Hero: Aerosmith". Destructoid. Retrieved 2008-06-03.
  14. ^ a b c Thomas, Aaron (2008-03-27). . GameSpot. Archived from the original on 2009-06-29. Retrieved 2008-03-28.
  15. ^ a b c . Team Xbox. 2008-03-28. Archived from the original on 2008-03-30. Retrieved 2008-03-31.
  16. ^ "Aerosmith Biography: From Clive Davis to Guitar Hero: Aerosmith". Max's Kansas City. 2008-09-11. Retrieved 2008-09-11.
  17. ^ Tolito, Stephan (2008-07-16). . MTV. Archived from the original on 2008-08-28. Retrieved 2008-07-16.
  18. ^ Burg, Dustin (February 15, 2008). . joystiq. p. 1. Archived from the original on February 15, 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-21.
  19. ^ Leebove, Laura (2008-06-28). "Aerosmith Unveils 'Guitar Hero' In New York". Billboard. Retrieved 2008-06-28.
  20. ^ Hayward, Andrew (2008-06-18). "Guitar Hero: Aerosmith to Sponsor NASCAR". 1UP.com. Archived from the original on 2012-07-28. Retrieved 2008-07-01.
  21. ^ . Gamestop. Archived from the original on 2008-07-08. Retrieved 2008-07-09.
  22. ^ "Guitar Hero: Aerosmith Special Edition Bundle (Game+Guitar)-PS2". IGN. Retrieved 2008-07-09.
  23. ^ "Walmart.com: Guitar Hero: Aerosmith w/ 2 Wired Controllers". Wal-Mart. Retrieved 2008-08-31.
  24. ^ "Amazon.com: Guitar Hero Aerosmith Wii: Video Games". Amazon. Retrieved 2008-07-14.
  25. ^ "Guitar Hero: Aerosmith Reviews". GameRankings. Retrieved 2008-06-30.
  26. ^ "Guitar Hero: Aerosmith (xbox360: 2008)". Metacritic. Retrieved 2010-03-21.
  27. ^ a b c d Miller, Matt. . Game Informer. Archived from the original on July 6, 2008. Retrieved 2008-07-06.
  28. ^ a b c Thomas, Aaron (2008-06-30). "Guitar Hero: Aerosmith for the Xbox 360 Review". GameSpot. Retrieved 2008-07-01.
  29. ^ a b c d e Accardo, Sal (2008-06-30). "Guitar Hero: Aerosmith (X360)". GameSpy. Retrieved 2008-07-01.
  30. ^ Steven Hopper (2008-07-07). . GameZone. Archived from the original on 2008-07-12. Retrieved 2008-07-08.
  31. ^ a b c Brudvig, Erik (2008-06-29). "Guitar Hero: Aerosmith Review". IGN. Retrieved 2008-06-29.
  32. ^ G4 TV. "X-Play's review of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith". X-Play. Retrieved 2008-07-10.
  33. ^ Hyatt, Brian (2008-08-07). . Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on August 5, 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-02.
  34. ^ Halperin, Shirley (2008-09-02). "'Rock Band' vs. 'Guitar Hero': Fall's Biggest Music Battle". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2008-09-03.
  35. ^ "The Rock Stars Of Video Game Marketing". CBS News. 2008-09-18. Retrieved 2008-09-18.
  36. ^ Quan, Denise (2008-08-20). "Is 'Guitar Hero' saving rock 'n' roll?". CNN. Retrieved 2008-08-20.
  37. ^ Klepick, Patrick (2008-09-15). "Activision: 'Guitar Hero' A Bigger Money-Maker For Aersomith Than Any Album". MTV. Retrieved 2008-09-10.
  38. ^ Brenkon, Nick (2009-05-14). "April NPD Sales: Wii Fit, Nintendo DS Top Slow Month". Shacknews. Retrieved 2009-05-14.
  39. ^ Patten, Dominic (2010-03-30). "A Hard Day's Night for Music Video Games". The Wrap. Retrieved 2010-03-30.
  40. ^ Hatfield, Daemon (2010-05-12). "Are Single-band Music Games a Success?". IGN. Retrieved 2010-05-13.

External links

  • Aerosmith - Official site of the Band
  • Guitar Hero: Aerosmith at MobyGames

January 08, 2023
guitar, hero, aerosmith, 2008, music, rhythm, video, game, developed, neversoft, published, activision, released, playstation, xbox, consoles, with, budcat, creations, solely, developing, playstation, port, vicarious, visions, solely, developing, port, aspyr, . Guitar Hero Aerosmith is a 2008 music rhythm video game developed by Neversoft and published by Activision It was released on the PlayStation 3 Wii and Xbox 360 consoles with Budcat Creations solely developing the PlayStation 2 port Vicarious Visions solely developing the Wii port and Aspyr solely publishing the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X ports The game was released on June 26 2008 in Europe on June 29 2008 in North America August 6 2008 in Australia and October 9 2008 in Japan Guitar Hero Aerosmith sold as both a bundle with a specially designed guitar controller as well as a game only package Guitar Hero AerosmithCover of Guitar Hero Aerosmith From left Brad Whitford Steven Tyler Joe Perry Tom Hamilton and Joey Kramer Developer s Neversoft a Publisher s Activision b SeriesGuitar HeroPlatform s PlayStation 2 PlayStation 3 Wii Xbox 360 Microsoft Windows OS XReleasePlayStation 2 PlayStation 3 Wii amp Xbox 360EU June 27 2008NA June 29 2008AU August 6 2008Microsoft WindowsNA October 17 2008 1 OS XNA November 3 2008 2 Genre s Music 3 rhythmMode s Single player multiplayerThe game is considered an expansion in the Guitar Hero series extending upon the general features of Guitar Hero III Legends of Rock As with other games in the series the player uses a guitar shaped controller to simulate the playing of rock music by playing in time to scrolling notes on screen It is the first game in the series to primarily focus on the work of one rock band with Aerosmith songs comprising approximately 70 of the soundtrack while the remaining songs are from bands that have been influenced by or opened for Aerosmith The single player Career mode allows the player to follow the history of the band through several real world inspired venues interspersed with interviews from the band members about their past Aerosmith re recorded four songs for this game and have participated in a motion capture session to create their in game appearances Guitar Hero Aerosmith is the final installment of the series to only feature guitar and bass as possible instrument choices The next entry Guitar Hero World Tour would introduce other roles to create a full band experience While Guitar Hero Aerosmith maintains the same gameplay as past Guitar Hero games it has received criticism for being shorter and easier than the previous Guitar Hero titles and difficult to justify its price point furthermore with the game s strong focus on one band reviewers felt that the game s ultimate enjoyment rested on the player s appreciation and fandom for the music of Aerosmith Contents 1 Story 2 Gameplay 3 Development 3 1 Promotion 4 Soundtrack 5 Reception 6 Notes 7 References 8 External linksStory EditA departure from other games in the franchise Guitar Hero Aerosmith follows the career of Aerosmith by playing significant songs in their catalog in a rough chronological fashion 4 The gameplay follows the band through various periods in its history spanning from its first show at Mendon Nipmuc Regional High School in 1970 to the 2001 Super Bowl XXXV halftime show to their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 19 2001 The player starts as Joe Perry and will eventually be able to unlock Brad Whitford and Tom Hamilton 4 The game does not focus on the internal strife and stress within the band guitarist Joe Perry stated that the game would focus on the positive aspects of Aerosmith s history 4 Perry has stated that Having a game built around Aerosmith has been a huge honor and really a great experience for us We ve put a lot of ideas into the game so that fans can have fun interacting with our music getting inside our body of work and learning about the band s history 5 Gameplay EditSee also Common gameplay elements in the Guitar Hero series To play the game players must use a guitar peripheral to play the scrolling notes Players must hold a colored fret on the peripheral corresponding to the on screen note and then press the peripheral s strum bar as the note crosses the target The gameplay in Guitar Hero Aerosmith is based on the same gameplay elements from Guitar Hero III Legends of Rock 6 Players use a guitar controller to hold down fret keys and strum on the strum bar in time with the note patterns as they scroll down the screen in order to complete a song The player s performance is tracked by a Rock Meter and if it falls too low the song ends prematurely Star Power can be collected by completing marked note phrases correctly and by using the whammy bar during sustained notes Star Power is released by lifting the guitar controller vertically or by pressing the Select button in order to double the scoring multiplier and dramatically affect the Rock Meter The player is rated after successfully completing a song from 3 to 5 stars and can examine statistics related to their performance and in Career mode awarded money to be used to unlock ten bonus songs in The Vault and additional guitars outfits and other videos about the band Each song can be played at one of four difficulties Easy Medium Hard and Expert The game offers several gameplay modes Career mode is broken into six tiers of five tracks each based on a period in Aerosmith s history Furthermore within each tier there are two Opening Acts featuring non Aerosmith songs that must be completed before the Aerosmith songs can be played the final song in each tier is an encore once the other four songs are completed As the player completes this mode they will also be presented with video clips talking about the band and other trivia about the band The Career mode features one Boss Battle against Joe Perry as introduced in Guitar Hero III 6 Any unlocked song can be played in Quick Play mode Co operative mode with one player on lead guitar and the other on bass and Competitive mode including the Battle modes Unlike Guitar Hero III there is no Co Operative Career mode One significant upgrade from Guitar Hero III is the addition of score balancing in Pro Face Off multiplayer mode which allows each player to choose their own difficulty while still allowing each side to play the full note chart instead of switching back and forth within regular Face Off This is the first Guitar Hero game compatible with Rock Band controllers Development EditBillboard announced that the band Aerosmith was working closely with the makers of Guitar Hero World Tour which will be dedicated to the group s music 7 Guitar Hero World Tour was also confirmed as in development following the announcement of the merger between Activision and Vivendi Games in December 2007 8 On February 15 2008 Activision announced that one of their two new Guitar Hero installments would be Guitar Hero Aerosmith and would be released in June 2008 5 9 Guitar Hero Aerosmith was developed by Neversoft for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions the Wii version of the game was being developed by Vicarious Visions and the PlayStation 2 version was developed by Budcat Creations 10 Members of the band Aerosmith including Steven Tyler left and Joe Perry right performed motion capture in order to create their digital likeness for the game The idea for Guitar Hero Aerosmith came about during the development of Guitar Hero III Originally a cover version of Same Old Song and Dance was present in the game but Neversoft president Joel Jewett noted that the quality of the recording was poor After getting in contact with Joe Perry Perry was able to provide the original masters for the song and according to Neversoft developer Alan Flores that sort of established the relationship 4 This also came at a time where Activision was attempting to expand the Guitar Hero franchise and fans expressed a strong interest in playing a game focused solely on Aerosmith s works according to RedOctane s Dusty Welch 4 Another producer for the game Aaron Habibipour stated that Aerosmith was one of the five holy grail musical groups as polled by Activision 11 Newsweek reported that Aerosmith s license allows for exclusive use of their songs within the Guitar Hero series for a limited amount of time preventing their use within other rhythm games such as Rock Band 12 This is not the first time Aerosmith have appeared video games The band was previously featured in both Quest for Fame and Revolution X Similar to Slash Tom Morello and Bret Michaels in Guitar Hero III Legends of Rock each member of Aerosmith participated in motion capture to accurately recreate themselves digitally for the game 4 Joe Perry Brad Whitford and Tom Hamilton the lead guitar rhythm guitar and bass players of Aerosmith respectively are unlockable characters which can be played as Additionally Joseph Run Simmons and Darryl DMC McDaniels appear in the game as members of their band Run DMC 4 D M C appears as a playable character with the former being an unlockable character as well All other members of Aerosmith and Run DMC are not unlockable and can not be played in the game 13 While Aerosmith was able to provide many of the original master recordings to the development team the band re recorded the four songs chosen for the game from their first album Make It Movin Out Dream On and Mama Kin 14 Joe Perry re mastered the lead guitar on many songs to interact with the gameplay better 15 while Steven Tyler re recorded some of the vocals 15 The game itself is based much on Guitar Hero III Legends of Rock s mechanics with some improvements notably hammer ons and pull offs are less mushy there are new venues for the game and while all other gameplay modes from Guitar Hero III are present there is no co op career mode 14 The game s interfaces and menus were redesigned for the game 11 Additionally the team re evaluated the difficulty of the game based on feedback from players of Guitar Hero III who felt that there were too many brick walls for casual fans 11 The developers attempted to recreate as many of historical venues within the game For example to fulfill Joe Perry s request that they recreate Max s Kansas City in New York the developers used old photographs and YouTube videos of the club during the 1970s to a highly accurate degree as claimed by those that had attended the club during that period 15 16 Within these venues set decorations are inspired from Aerosmith album covers Five that were confirmed are Pump Toys in the Attic Just Push Play Get Your Wings and Nine Lives 11 During Activision s press conference at the 2008 E3 convention it was announced that a long standing dispute between Activision and Electronic Arts over the use of guitar controllers in their respective games had been resolved Guitar Hero Aerosmith on the 360 was patched after released to allow the use of the Rock Band controller within the game while all such instruments will be usable in Guitar Hero World Tour 17 Guitar Hero and Rock Band guitar controllers for both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 are also compatible with the Playstation 2 version of Guitar Hero Aerosmith Promotion Edit Activision released Aerosmith s Dream On to the Xbox Live Marketplace and the PlayStation Store as a free Guitar Hero III Legends of Rock downloadable song The free download was available from February 16 18 2008 after which it was removed pending the release of the game 18 The members of Aerosmith participated in a special sneak preview event at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York City on June 27 2008 allowing attendees to ask questions eat food at the Hard Rock Cafe and try out the game 19 Target had Chip Ganassi s 40 car driven by Dario Franchitti painted to celebrate the release of Guitar Hero Aerosmith for a NASCAR race on June 29 2008 20 As with some of the previous installments in the series Guitar Hero Aerosmith is available as both a standalone disc and as part of a bundle This bundle includes the Gibson Les Paul controller and a special red faceplate with the Aerosmith logo in white The bundle also includes a tour book for the game listing the songs featured in the game The special Aerosmith bundle is available for the PlayStation 3 Xbox 360 and Wii versions 21 The Playstation 2 bundle includes the Kramer Wireless controller included with Guitar Hero III Legends of Rock 22 There is also a very limited edition bundle for the PlayStation 2 at Wal Mart This bundle comes with the game and two wired Gibson SG guitar controllers as bundled with the original Guitar Hero and its sequel 23 Soundtrack EditMain article List of songs in Guitar Hero Aerosmith Guitar Hero Aerosmith s soundtrack consists of 41 songs thirty are playable during Career mode and another 11 songs are unlockable in the vault Twenty nine of the songs are from Aerosmith while the other twelve songs are from bands that inspired or have played with Aerosmith in the past 24 Most of the songs are master recordings including four Aerosmith songs that were re recorded for this game 14 Four songs are covers two performed by Wavegroup Sound and two by Steve Ouimette Reception EditReceptionAggregate scoresAggregatorScoreGameRankings71 25 Metacritic70 100 26 Review scoresPublicationScoreEurogamer6 10 6 Game Informer8 10 27 GameSpot7 0 10 28 GameSpy3 5 5 0 29 GameZone8 0 10 30 IGN7 6 10 31 Official Xbox Magazine US 8 0 10X Play3 5 32 The game has received generally mixed reviews Many reviews found the game avoided some of Aerosmith s more popular sugar coated hits like Amazing Crazy or I Don t Wanna Miss a Thing sic 29 but felt that other major Aerosmith songs could have also been included 28 29 Game Informer noted that creating a band specific game was smart but that very little has changed from the base game 27 They also complimented the great job that Activision did with their motion captures of Aerosmith 27 The difficulty of the game was not to be found as hard as Guitar Hero III due to the very riff friendly guitarist Joe Perry 31 while reviewers felt this was a good correction from the previous game they also noted that the easiness of Guitar Hero Aerosmith led to some bland tiers repetitive musical sections and lack of any significant difficulty curve 29 31 The length of the game was poorly received with reviewers commenting that it is difficult to justify the title priced equivalently as other next generation console full games 28 29 Eurogamer commented that one s appreciation for the game lives or dies based on the player s fondness for Aerosmith and that ultimately with other available music games that offer additional downloadable songs a game that focuses on a single band would need to offer gameplay innovations spectacular fan service or a lot more material than what Guitar Hero Aerosmith provides 6 Reviews also noted the sparseness of downloadable content 27 Guitar Hero Aerosmith sold more than 567 000 copies in its first week and grossed more than 25 million 33 The game has seen more than 50 million in sales in the first three months following its release 34 with over one million copies sold 35 The band itself saw a 40 increase in their catalog sales in the weeks following the game s release 36 According to Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick Guitar Hero Aerosmith has made more money for the band than any sales of their previous albums 37 The game surged in sales in April 2009 with 110 000 copies for the Xbox 360 sold in North America due to retails discounts on the title following the release of Guitar Hero Metallica and actually outsold the newer title 38 By April 2010 the game has seen more than 3 6 million units sold 2 7 in North America and is considered the best selling band centric music game across both Guitar Hero and Rock Band series 39 40 Notes Edit Ported to PlayStation 2 by Budcat Creations ported to Wii by Vicarious Visions and ported to Windows Mac by Aspyr Published to Windows Mac by AspyrReferences Edit Guitar Hero Aerosmith PC Amazon Retrieved 2008 10 09 Guitar Hero Aerosmith Bundle PC amp MAC Amazon Retrieved 2008 10 09 Guitar Hero Aerosmith Page GamePro Archived from the original on 2008 07 18 Retrieved 2008 07 22 a b c d e f g Snider Mike 2008 02 14 Aerosmith plugs into Guitar Hero popularity USA Today Retrieved 2008 03 03 a b World Renowned Recording Group Aerosmith Rocks This Way to Guitar Hero R Aerosmith R Activision Inc 2008 02 15 Retrieved 2008 02 15 a b c d Bradwell Tom 2008 06 26 Guitar Hero Aerosmith Eurogamer Retrieved 2008 06 27 Graff Gary 2007 09 04 Aerosmith Hitting The Studio In November Billboard Retrieved 2008 07 24 Elliot Phil 2007 12 03 Activision Blizzard fact sheet reveals some unannounced titles in the pipeline Game Industry Biz Retrieved 2007 12 03 Goldstein Marteen 2008 02 15 Rock This Way With Guitar Hero Aerosmith Shacknews Retrieved 2008 02 15 Kollar Philip 2008 02 15 Next Guitar Hero Game Aerosmith Only 1UP com Archived from the original on 2012 06 29 Retrieved 2008 02 15 a b c d Tolito Stephan 2008 04 17 Guitar Hero Aerosmith Lowdown Why The Boston Band Is Getting Its Own Game MTV Canada Archived from the original on 2008 11 16 Retrieved 2008 04 17 Croal N Gai 2008 04 29 The Guitar Heroes at Red Octane Lock Up Aerosmith With An Exclusive Arrangement Leaving Harmonix and Rock Band to Dream On Newsweek Archived from the original on June 1 2008 Retrieved 2008 06 20 Sarkar Samit 2008 06 02 Hands on Impressions Guitar Hero Aerosmith Destructoid Retrieved 2008 06 03 a b c Thomas Aaron 2008 03 27 Guitar Hero Aerosmith First Look GameSpot Archived from the original on 2009 06 29 Retrieved 2008 03 28 a b c Guitar Hero Aerosmith First Look Preview Xbox 360 Team Xbox 2008 03 28 Archived from the original on 2008 03 30 Retrieved 2008 03 31 Aerosmith Biography From Clive Davis to Guitar Hero Aerosmith Max s Kansas City 2008 09 11 Retrieved 2008 09 11 Tolito Stephan 2008 07 16 Activision Guitar Hero World Tour Is Compatible With Rock Band Instruments MTV Archived from the original on 2008 08 28 Retrieved 2008 07 16 Burg Dustin February 15 2008 Guitar Hero Aerosmith announced and a free GHIII DLC download joystiq p 1 Archived from the original on February 15 2009 Retrieved 2009 04 21 Leebove Laura 2008 06 28 Aerosmith Unveils Guitar Hero In New York Billboard Retrieved 2008 06 28 Hayward Andrew 2008 06 18 Guitar Hero Aerosmith to Sponsor NASCAR 1UP com Archived from the original on 2012 07 28 Retrieved 2008 07 01 Guitar Hero Aerosmith Bundle Xbox 360 Gamestop Archived from the original on 2008 07 08 Retrieved 2008 07 09 Guitar Hero Aerosmith Special Edition Bundle Game Guitar PS2 IGN Retrieved 2008 07 09 Walmart com Guitar Hero Aerosmith w 2 Wired Controllers Wal Mart Retrieved 2008 08 31 Amazon com Guitar Hero Aerosmith Wii Video Games Amazon Retrieved 2008 07 14 Guitar Hero Aerosmith Reviews GameRankings Retrieved 2008 06 30 Guitar Hero Aerosmith xbox360 2008 Metacritic Retrieved 2010 03 21 a b c d Miller Matt Guitar Hero Aerosmith Game Informer Archived from the original on July 6 2008 Retrieved 2008 07 06 a b c Thomas Aaron 2008 06 30 Guitar Hero Aerosmith for the Xbox 360 Review GameSpot Retrieved 2008 07 01 a b c d e Accardo Sal 2008 06 30 Guitar Hero Aerosmith X360 GameSpy Retrieved 2008 07 01 Steven Hopper 2008 07 07 Guitar Hero Aerosmith Review GameZone Archived from the original on 2008 07 12 Retrieved 2008 07 08 a b c Brudvig Erik 2008 06 29 Guitar Hero Aerosmith Review IGN Retrieved 2008 06 29 G4 TV X Play s review of Guitar Hero Aerosmith X Play Retrieved 2008 07 10 Hyatt Brian 2008 08 07 Rock Games Battle for Bands Rolling Stone Archived from the original on August 5 2008 Retrieved 2008 08 02 Halperin Shirley 2008 09 02 Rock Band vs Guitar Hero Fall s Biggest Music Battle Entertainment Weekly Retrieved 2008 09 03 The Rock Stars Of Video Game Marketing CBS News 2008 09 18 Retrieved 2008 09 18 Quan Denise 2008 08 20 Is Guitar Hero saving rock n roll CNN Retrieved 2008 08 20 Klepick Patrick 2008 09 15 Activision Guitar Hero A Bigger Money Maker For Aersomith Than Any Album MTV Retrieved 2008 09 10 Brenkon Nick 2009 05 14 April NPD Sales Wii Fit Nintendo DS Top Slow Month Shacknews Retrieved 2009 05 14 Patten Dominic 2010 03 30 A Hard Day s Night for Music Video Games The Wrap Retrieved 2010 03 30 Hatfield Daemon 2010 05 12 Are Single band Music Games a Success IGN Retrieved 2010 05 13 External links EditAerosmith Official site of the Band Guitar Hero Aerosmith at MobyGames Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Guitar Hero Aerosmith amp oldid 1130558079, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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