The music revivals offer very different ideas and features

Apr 16, 2015 15:07 GMT  ·  By

Guitar Hero versus Rock Band was one of the biggest battles of the video game industry, and it seems that in 2015 we will see a rekindling of the contest between the two music games, which are ready to arrive on the current generation of consoles.

Plenty of time has passed since the two games were commercial and critical hits, but both veteran gamers and newcomers seem to be excited about the prospect of once again using fake plastic instruments in order to play the best songs of the past and present.

Developer FreeStyleGames and publisher Activision have made their official announcement this week, and their new title is called Guitar Hero Live.

The idea is that players will no longer see themselves from the outside, and a shift to the first-person view is designed to make the entire experience more personal and exciting.

Activision is also dropping the old instruments and any backwards compatibility in order to convince gamers to get a new controller, re-designed from the ground up, which should make it easier to learn to play.

Finally, the two companies are betting that players will also be interested in a new GHTV, a network that will run clips non-stop and will allow gamers to simply jump in at any point to play the song over the video footage.

Interestingly, Activision aims to deliver Guitar Hero Live on the Xbox One, the PlayStation 4, and last-gen devices.

Rock Band 4 is focused on continuity

Harmonix is also returning to the music game space, and it is taking an entirely different approach, one that is more focused on the quality of the past and on making sure that long-term fans are satisfied.

The development team says that old hardware will be supported and that a little over 2,000 songs released for previous Rock Band installments can be imported into the incoming title by those who already own them.

Harmonix also wants a smaller focus on the technical side of simulated music playing and a bigger impact in terms of social interactions between those who make up a group.

Rock Band 4 aims to be a platform that will be expanded with both new free content, based on the desires of the community, and with paid downloadable content, linked to the popular songs of the moment.

It's very likely that Harmonix has no plans to create entirely new instruments and will be satisfied to see long-term fans use their devices to connect with new tracks and new ways of enjoying music.

There might not be enough space for both Rock Band 4 and Guitar Hero Live

It's interesting to see that the two classic franchises of the music simulation genre are taking such different approaches for their comebacks.

The problem for both of them is that the current console environment might be actively working against the two new titles.

Many gamers who have played music games when they were popular might be wary of jumping back in because they do not want to invest in either new controllers or song packs.

They might be attracted to Rock Band 4, which gives them a chance to play with things they have already played, but on new hardware.

For those who discover the genre right now, the challenge will be to see which of the two franchises is more suited to their needs.

Guitar Hero Live might have the upper hand because it can deliver a single instrument focus and also plans to introduce a full TV style, 24-hour-long music video stream that gamers can play over.

The success of both will depend on the exact launch dates and on the catalog of songs and bands that will be included, neither of which has yet been revealed.

Regardless, Rock Band 4 versus Guitar Hero Live will be a fascinating competition for the coming years.