14 DAY TRIAL // Activision representatives have confirmed that the downloadable content set to be offered for Guitar Hero 5, the music simulation title arriving on September 1, will not be playable by those who own Guitar Hero World Tour or another older version of the series. This basically means that all the gamers who are interested in new songs will at some point be forced to pick up Guitar Hero 5, allowing Activision to make quite a lot of money.
A company official told Destructoid that “Guitar Hero 5 downloadable content will be compatible with future Guitar Hero and Band Hero games. However, the advancements and innovations made to the franchise do not allow for downloadable content to be backwards compatible with Guitar Hero World Tour.”
Of course, Activision will trot out the new features in Guitar Hero 5 and the upcoming DLC as a reason for the lack of backward compatibility but it would have been nice to at least allow those who own older titles to play the tracks without the new elements. After all, they could understand the limitations and be willing to pay Activision the money for the DLC.
On the other hand, the publisher is saying that almost all the songs that can be played in previous Guitar Hero videogames can be imported into Guitar Hero 5 for a fee and they will be provided complete with all the new features, like band moment and Expert + drum action.
Guitar Hero 5 from Activision will be up against The Beatles Rock Band from Harmonix and MTV Games this holiday season, competing for the gaming dollars of those interested in music simulators. The new Guitar Hero comes out on September 1 and the fresh Rock Band will launch on September 9. Expect sparks to fly and sales records to be broken.