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Guitar Hero: Van Halen officially official

By Tor Thorsen, GameSpotPosted May 7, 2009 6:12 am PT

Activision's Will Kassoy confirms long-rumored next band-centric installment of series will arrive in second half of year; Queen, Weezer, Blink 182, The Offspring, and Queens of the Stone Age also on setlist.

Activision has finally made official what has been widely rumored for over a year. The next band-based Guitar Hero game will focus on Van Halen, the legendary hard-rock quartet anchored by guitarist Eddie Van Halen and his drummer brother Alex. From the 1970s to the 1990s, the group topped the charts under two different lead singers, David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar. (Sorry, Gary Cherone.)

Coming soon to a console near you.

"You've heard about this, maybe some rumors, but I am here to officially announce the title, which is coming out in the second half of this year," senior vice president of Guitar Hero publishing Will Kassoy told a press event in Los Angeles this week. No platforms were mentioned, but prior band-centric Guitar Hero games have been released for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, and Wii.

Though he did not name any specific songs, Kassoy promised that Guitar Hero: Van Halen would feature "many of the band's greatest hits." Such multiplatinum tracks as "Jump," "Panama," "Hot for Teacher," and "Why Can't This Be Love" helped the group sell more than 56 million albums in the US, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007.

Guitar Hero: Van Halen will feature a plethora of other acts that inspired the quartet, including 1970s-'80s British supergroup Queen. Kassoy said that it will also feature artists inspired by Van Halen--many of which have members who weren't even born when the band was formed in 1972. These include Weezer, Blink 182, The Offspring, and Queens of the Stone Age, "amongst many, many others," said Kassoy.

The executive went on to explain Activision's big-picture approach to band-focused Guitar Hero games. "Our previous two artist [focused] titles, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith and Guitar Hero: Metallica, have done really well in the marketplace," said Kassoy. "But it's our desire to go beyond just individual band games, and to complement that with artists the bands are really inspired by and that they themselves select to be in this game. The same is true of Van Halen."

173 Comments

  • rohr2

    Posted Aug 6, 2009 5:48 pm PT

    Man my friend is going to go ape scat over this. HE LOOOOVVESS Van Halen and so do I. Me and him are going to have one hell of a time playing eruption.

  • GHK98

    Posted Jun 15, 2009 9:13 am PT

    They gave the honor to Aerosmith, they gave it to Metallica (WHOO!!), and now they're giving it to Van Halen. Other good ones would be Guitar Hero: Black Sabbath, Motley Crue, Bon Jovi, or Guns 'n Roses.

  • Apiopi

    Posted May 28, 2009 1:45 pm PT

    wow....another guitar hero game, the second this year. Wait what? Guitar hero 5 is also this year? My thoughts: 3 games in a year just might ruin the franchise, I mean that's a lot. Perhaps one year in between them is fine, but just a few months...bleh

  • ECW33063

    Posted May 27, 2009 6:04 am PT

    Hey Guitar Hero: Just a suggestion PLEASE have at least these songs...
    "Unchained" and "Ain't talkin' about love"

  • Rockerrav

    Posted May 16, 2009 4:13 pm PT

    This game is going to be sweet!

  • snarple_basic

    Posted May 9, 2009 8:52 pm PT

    @ BattleSword1, I also would like a M rated Guitar game, but I don't think those bands are that different from what we have gotten, heck they might be less. But yea there CGI concerts are a bit tame compared to buying a ticket to a real concert for some bands out there.

  • snarple_basic

    Posted May 9, 2009 8:47 pm PT

    Disc makes sense since Metallica's Deathmagnetic download is costing me 1.5 gb's on my puny 20gb 360 hard drive.

  • snarple_basic

    Posted May 9, 2009 8:45 pm PT

    @ Niccara, I'm Dr. Rockso the Rockin and Roll Clown I do Coooocain!!!

  • xXxOverlordxXx

    Posted May 9, 2009 7:12 pm PT

    Haha i think we all secretly wish they would include that in the special edition.. i do agree with the the guys down there, that disks are annoying to change. I honestly dont mind it to much though. Maybe Guitar Hero could release both DLC and a disk for there upcoming games. that way players that do not have online access could play the songs they love as well as the guys that do and can download...?

  • UFO2012

    Posted May 9, 2009 4:44 am PT

    I wonder if the special edition has a glamrock outfit including wig.

  • Niccara

    Posted May 8, 2009 6:08 pm PT

    Dr. Rockso has forever ruined David Lee Roth for me..

  • nescgi

    Posted May 8, 2009 4:08 pm PT

    I'm not sure why people would rather have DLC tracks than disks. Metallica had what, like 80 songs? That's $160 at $2 a pop or about $110 in track packs.

    Please someone correct me if my logic is wrong here, I don't play rhythm games, but isn't the disk the better value? I mean unless you only care about 1 of the songs, which is another story.

  • necronaux

    Posted May 8, 2009 10:32 am PT

    Glad to hear there won't be any Extreme.

  • Andraus

    Posted May 8, 2009 10:24 am PT

    I Agree with "drtacks37."

    im tired of one disk to another. If guitar Hero coninues selling disks rather than downloads,
    buyers will eventually grow tired of paying 50$ for some songs that the player may play once and never a-gain yknow.

  • BattleSword1

    Posted May 8, 2009 10:19 am PT

    You know what we need? An M-rated guitar game with uncensored songs from Hollywood Undead, Papa Roach, and Seether. I wonder what Activision would think of that.

  • score89

    Posted May 8, 2009 8:58 am PT

    why dont hold on this one, add the songs as DLC, and put Eddie Van Halen as the next boss in a gh5 or something like that,

  • drtacks37

    Posted May 8, 2009 8:39 am PT

    Until we get a gaming system with a multi-disc changer, GH needs to release tracks for download, not stick us with another disc. Rock Band has got it right, download the tracks and play them off of one disc.

  • Megavideogamer

    Posted May 8, 2009 8:32 am PT

    Yep Guitar hero is now "Milkin it hero" Release Guitar Hero Kiss before the series dies. Forget it keep releasing Guiter hero's Until every rock group featuring a Guitar is covered. Or port it over to the Wii from now on.

  • Dalek-max

    Posted May 8, 2009 8:21 am PT

    Oh man they might as well make a Guitar hero game for EVERY band...

  • solidusScott

    Posted May 8, 2009 7:59 am PT

    this franchise is dead

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