14 DAY TRIAL // Red Octane and Vicarious Studios are working together to bring all the music playing fun of the Guitar Hero series to the Nintendo DS platform. While it was rumored as far back as last year that Activision thought of targeting new platforms for its Guitar Hero series, the Nintendo DS was ruled out as an option because no one knew how the unique gameplay of the game could be adapted.
The solution came from Red Octane, as Karthik Bala, who is CEO of Vicarious, explains: "We quite frankly didn't know whether it would be possible to bring the core essence of the franchise to handheld and have it actually work. It was 20-something gameplay prototypes that were built, all trying different mechanics and uses of the hardware. Some were pretty cool, others were total disasters! At some point, we hit upon the idea of creating a peripheral that would have the fret buttons plugging into the GBA slot of the DS".
After a bit of tinkering the Guitar Grip was born. It fits in the DS' Game Boy Advance slot and lets the player hit the appropriate fret buttons as he picks the notes with a stylus on the screen. It may sound a bit weird, but the developers say it offers the same experience as any other Guitar Hero game.
The game itself will have the same Career option that players learned to love but no track list has been made available just yet. There will be six guitar player personas available, two of them designed specifically for the DS port. Unlockable content will feature costumes and new venues where you can be a guitar God.
The wireless capabilities of the DS will allow for two player battles and co-op play for those players that grow bored with the single player section.
No clear release date or price is announced for the Nintendo DS version of Guitar Hero but more details should appear as we near the summer months get closer.