Guitar Hero 5 launching Sept. 1

Activision's latest rhythm rocker abandons traditional Halloween release window to get a one-week jump on The Beatles: Rock Band.

The Guitar Hero franchise has traditionally seen flagship installments launch right around Halloween in the US, with Guitar Hero III and World Tour coming in about a week before and Guitar Hero and Guitar Hero II about a week after. However, such will not be the case with Guitar Hero 5. Activision Blizzard has revealed through the game's official Web site that the latest four-piece rhythm game will take to the main stage on September 1, exactly one week before archrival The Beatles: Rock Band strums its opening tune on September 9.

Along with revealing a release date, the Guitar Hero Web site also offered the first details on Activision's 5 Tickets, 5 Concerts sweepstakes. As its name implies, the sweepstakes offers gamers the chance to win five tickets to five different concerts. Players are tasked with sleuthing out the answers to a number of band-centric clues that can be found through various Web sites, blogs, and TV shows.

Guitar Hero 5 will be available for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, and PlayStation 2. The game will include 85 new master recordings, with songs thus far announced including The Rolling Stones' "Sympathy for the Devil," Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower," The White Stripes' "Blue Orchid," Tom Petty's "Runnin' Down a Dream," Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire," and Kings of Leon's "Sex on Fire."

As with World Tour, Guitar Hero 5 lets gamers accompany playable tunes on the guitar, bass, drums, or microphone. The publisher is also lifting the restriction on the one-instrument, one-player rules that have defined the series. Instead, rhythm rockers will be able to use any combination of instruments for any given song, with Activision giving the example of two guitars and two sets of drums rocking out together.

Activision has also said that all Guitar Hero World Tour downloadable content will be compatible with Guitar Hero 5. The publisher also said that all-new features introduced with Guitar Hero 5 will be retroactively applied to tunes from the older game.

For more information, check out GameSpot's brand-new preview for Guitar Hero 5, as well the below interview with Neversoft project director Brian Bright.

162 Comments

  • Ryland04

    Posted May 30, 2009 5:37 pm PT

    So many Guitar Hero games this year, this one is gonna be mad, AND Dj Hero!

  • cyznik23

    Posted May 28, 2009 11:28 pm PT

    awesome...
    please put sum megadethh!!!!

  • rockstar_88

    Posted May 28, 2009 10:24 pm PT

    The Beatles: Rock Band comes out Sept 9th? That's REAL news.

  • Simulator_Shock

    Posted May 28, 2009 8:47 pm PT

    They say Guitar Hero 5 but this is more like GH 27

  • gnrlstuart

    Posted May 28, 2009 2:25 pm PT

    i dont think this whoring of the franchise is too bad. i mean they are making these games compatible, and more apealling to a casual market.
    in my opinion, i would much rather have a more up to date game than one which dosent even have proper instruments outside of the states. so european, japanese and oceanic gamers have one choice.

  • Pete5506

    Posted May 28, 2009 1:13 pm PT

    This fall is going to be filled with good games

  • Glage

    Posted May 28, 2009 1:11 pm PT

    "Glage it actually is 1 week before its released look at a calendar, sept 1 is on a Tuesday and the 9 is on a Wednesday of the following week"

    Which makes it a week and a day, not exactly a week...

  • Slammer612

    Posted May 28, 2009 12:52 pm PT

    @spikeyste
    I guess you dont get the point. If I like lets say 4 songs out of the entire list of GH songs I have to buy the entire game to get them. If I like 2 songs out of a pack RB releases, I can buy those 2 and not the rest and save my money on more songs I like. Saying if you dont like it dont buy it is the weakest defense you could produce

  • Lostboy1224

    Posted May 28, 2009 12:43 pm PT

    Wow, another rock band game coming. Hmmm....well still waiting for Bioshock and Modern Warfare 2

  • Solid_Heroes

    Posted May 28, 2009 12:29 pm PT

    Glage it actually is 1 week before its released look at a calendar, sept 1 is on a Tuesday and the 9 is on a Wednesday of the following week

  • cheezwiz45

    Posted May 28, 2009 12:04 pm PT

    Oh dear. It seems that Activision are going to drive the franchise to the ground. If only Harmonix were still developing . They only just released Metallica and Smash Hits is coming very soon as well, not no mention Band Hero and DJ Hero.

  • Glage

    Posted May 28, 2009 11:34 am PT

    "the latest four-piece rhythm game will take to the main stage on September 1, exactly one week before archrival The Beatles: Rock Band strums its opening tune on September 9."

    Em... I'm pretty sure September 1st isn't exactly a week before September 9th.

  • drivinggod2005

    Posted May 28, 2009 11:33 am PT

    There's too many of them now. I just don't see the point of this series anymore.

  • guardianangel10

    Posted May 28, 2009 11:22 am PT

    wow this is getting out of hand, they just released gh metallica.
    lol watch gh go down the drain before this game even comes out

  • sweet1234

    Posted May 28, 2009 11:08 am PT

    Guitar Hero: Most Wanted

  • jimjim350

    Posted May 28, 2009 11:05 am PT

    activision ever heard of DLC?

  • PeteGam9

    Posted May 28, 2009 10:39 am PT

    Great, another Guitar Hero I won't play.

  • glesniak

    Posted May 28, 2009 10:36 am PT

    Yawn... Rinse and repeat. Thats all GH is nowdays. ZZzzzZZzzzz....

  • Trogeton

    Posted May 28, 2009 10:30 am PT

    Great the release is a while from now, I will already have purchased Metallica and Greatest hits I should have the money when it is released

  • n4m3l335

    Posted May 28, 2009 10:27 am PT

    I'm starting to get bored of GH's releases. My faith was shaken when 80's edition came out. Now this is getting ridiculous. I do applaud the ability to have 2 guitar lines/more than one player per instrument, but music games are starting to get stale. But I give props to Activision's use of innovation over Rock band. I mean, all Rock band added to their sequel was chord hammerons. GH added notes-on-hold notes, finger tapping sections, open notes, drum rolls, etc. Hopefully this version will let us download the original setlist from GHWT to GH5

  • mister_dan

    Posted May 28, 2009 9:43 am PT

    Attack! Attack! are featured on GH5 i think. it's nice to see some less known bands get featured on mainstream video games. saying that... they've also had their songs featured on both 90210 (the television series), and the new trailer for Fuel. You and Me is the track going on Guitar Hero... it's on myspace.com/attackattackband as well. seriously. they're mint.

  • UnderQuarantine

    Posted May 28, 2009 9:36 am PT

    @ Nachoking2k2:
    You've included Assassins Creed in games that doesnt need sequels? Do u not pay any attention to story? And it was (i think) initially planned as a trilogy anyway.
    Burn.

    And after purchasing 3 GH games already, i cba with this one now. Too much money for too little added.

  • tonicmole

    Posted May 28, 2009 9:29 am PT

    After Guitar Hero World tour and Rockband 2 I just don't see the point in buying new games. There is no story to continue, no new twist that can be added. What are they expecting?

  • link899

    Posted May 28, 2009 9:21 am PT

    Whats next, Guitar Hero Underground?

  • Hedfix

    Posted May 28, 2009 8:50 am PT

    Must be about time to go out and buy number 4 then.

  • launchpad08

    Posted May 28, 2009 8:41 am PT

    september 1st EXACTLY one week before september 9th... must be a bakers week

  • mddg_mmcc

    Posted May 28, 2009 8:08 am PT

    @ Maiku187: True. But this is nothing more than a track pack / expansion pack, so they should label it as such.

    @ The complainers of the complainers: Forgive us for being afraid of the precedent being set here, which extends beyond this game alone. Guitar Hero has officially joined the ranks of all those other franchises that have sold out, and put profit over progress.

  • negrizz

    Posted May 28, 2009 7:50 am PT

    Sex on fire!!! yeah!!! that song is great!

  • Nachoking2k2

    Posted May 28, 2009 7:43 am PT

    Eh nobody cares. Getting really sick of these companies milking their games that were successful and don't need a sequel. Mainly activision and 2k. Oh, COD World At War, not good, well let's just make a sequel to COD4. Oh Bioshock sold well? let's make a 2nd one. Mass Effect? Assassins Creed? Games that don't really need sequels. It'll be the same game and a waste of money. Basically $60 expansion packs.

  • Mj-Healy

    Posted May 28, 2009 7:22 am PT

    Beginning to get sick of this. Wasn't the biggest fan of World Tour.

  • willpak

    Posted May 28, 2009 7:10 am PT

    Sept. 1. Great. I'm pretty new to GH (WT was my 1st) and Metallica and Van Halen are a waste of time. Milking it? Maybe. But thats only because of these artist specific titles. Just keep releasing various setlists, those are the best.

  • insanitycheck3

    Posted May 28, 2009 6:46 am PT

    It is really a good news-2009-05-28 06.45.41.645000

  • hyper_trunkx

    Posted May 28, 2009 6:38 am PT

    sigh, im done with these games..

  • ImYour13thStep

    Posted May 28, 2009 6:34 am PT

    UUUGGG not another one. I mean Yahoooooo and Yippie (ya right). Least my wife will keep entertained

  • spikeyste

    Posted May 28, 2009 6:05 am PT

    @Slammer612

    :
    I will stick with Rockband. Releasing a game every 2-3 months for 60 a pop is dumb, and just taking advantage of the fans of the series. I picked up GH:M and before that was GH3. I like RB just because out of DLC I can hand select what songs I want weekly if any, and not forced to buy a bunch I have no interest in.


    lol, you're not being forced to buy GH, if you like the setlist then good, go buy it, if it doesn't warrant paying for the game then don't bother. it's not rocket science!

  • Gamer_4_Fun

    Posted May 28, 2009 6:03 am PT

    Forget it.

  • OnlyTbone

    Posted May 28, 2009 5:58 am PT

    eh... when the next GTA coming...

  • MrHatnClogs

    Posted May 28, 2009 5:52 am PT

    If they keep this up they will have more more games than the Final Fantasy series!

  • Chrysus

    Posted May 28, 2009 4:59 am PT

    Same old, same old. As the last one proved with the DLC why do we need yearlly updates of this game?

  • jokerman_28

    Posted May 28, 2009 4:44 am PT

    The Beatles: Rock Band looks cool..

  • Slammer612

    Posted May 28, 2009 4:02 am PT

    I will stick with Rockband. Releasing a game every 2-3 months for 60 a pop is dumb, and just taking advantage of the fans of the series. I picked up GH:M and before that was GH3. I like RB just because out of DLC I can hand select what songs I want weekly if any, and not forced to buy a bunch I have no interest in.

  • extrasafeivy

    Posted May 28, 2009 3:48 am PT

    Why not patch GH:WT so it can play with the 4 guitars, 4 drums etc? And Im sure the party play option can be patched in too. Dont see why we have to pay £40 again for another set of songs. Not complaining, just wondering why they cannot patch these things in. Motorstorm did it with plenty new game options as did Burnout.

  • Metalscarz

    Posted May 28, 2009 3:34 am PT

    So many whiners. Don't like it? Don't buy it. The phony "industry experts" constantly complaining and bashing every single tidbit of gaming news is becoming tiresome. Every news article, review, preview is filled with posts of negativity. Why? Thank the lord the vast majority of you actually have no say over what transpires in the game development world. The internet has given us all a voice. And you use it to complain nonstop about a business trying to making money. If they take the wrong approach, they shall fail. Regardless of what inane negative ramblings of ignorant children get posted here.

  • Maiku187

    Posted May 28, 2009 3:29 am PT

    People complaining about how the games should be DLC are clearly missing a point. What about ppl without a connection to the internet. Rock Band misses out with these ppl while they are free to go to the shop where they can happily buy an expansion pack for about the same price?

  • Mahoganyjoint

    Posted May 28, 2009 3:28 am PT

    i hate guitar hero with a passion, a big passion. They release this game way to often

  • playa42018

    Posted May 28, 2009 3:21 am PT

    No instrument restrictions and backwards compatibility! Now all they need to do is make the UI less ugly.

  • SDFan18

    Posted May 28, 2009 3:05 am PT

    All the complainers in here are funny. No one is putting a gun to your head and demanding you buy every guitar hero. You wanna play the game, play it. If not, shut up about it. You aren't going to change anything.

  • TrevinJames

    Posted May 28, 2009 12:54 am PT

    Thank god you don't have to pay to move your DLC over to the new game.

    But do you think they should slow down on this Guitar Hero stuff? It's getting a little out of hand.

  • megafitch

    Posted May 28, 2009 12:39 am PT

    Activision are going overkill on Guitar Hero just like they did to the Tony Hawk Series, gets boring after 3-4 games of similar stuff over and over....

  • damaster101

    Posted May 27, 2009 11:47 pm PT

    What do they do with all that damn money they make?This game is ridiculous they give you piles of plastic **** to fill your room with"here you go!" and 15 guitar hero disks to swap till your hearts content.Also who the hell wants to bring too drum sets together and play at the same time?Your just playing each others tunes and cramming each other in the corner!

    Activision can go eat a fat one.

advertisement

Hot Stories

Newsmakers

Featured Stories

Submit News

Got tips? Send them in!

Related Game

Guitar Hero 5 Boxshot
Guitar Hero 5

Game Stats

  • Rank:
    642 of 79,010
    (up by 59)
    PS3 Rank:
    104 of 950
    Highest Rank:
    5 in 2009
    Tracking:
    1,137 Track It»
    Wishlists:
    324 Wish It»
  • Users Now Playing:
    125
  • Top 5 User Tags:
    1. activision
    2. guitar hero 5
    3. neversoft
    4. guitar
    5. guitar hero
  • Teen Rating Description

    Titles rated T (Teen) have content that may be suitable for ages 13 and older. Titles in this category may contain violence, suggestive themes, crude humor, minimal blood, simulated gambling, and/or infrequent use of strong language. Learn more

Full Game Details »Close
Also on

Recent News

See All News »

Site Blogs