VS. 
Moving on. Game Informer's cover story this month is Guitar Hero 4 (Known as Guitar Hero World Tour, now.) This sparks an official side battle in the gaming world, that has my full and rapt attention from the console war. Enough of "What's better? Xbox or PS3". Now it's "How many drum peripherals can I store in my living room before my girlfriend gives me the 'It's them or me' speech?" The answer is two. Two drum peripherals.
Rock Band up until now has held our rapt attention. After Activision bought the Guitar Hero license from Harmonix it looked like the series was headed the Tony Hawk route at first. Grungy graphics and look, mediocre and childish setting and backdrops. Guitar Hero III provided a challenging and fun to play diversion for its passable faults, but Harmonix dropped their trump card with Rock Band shortly after GH III, and buried the game. Rock Band allowed friend to get together, drink and sing like morons to tons of great songs (Some not so great ones), with promises and constant delivery of good downloadable content, including full album downloads (most recently The Cars self-titled album).
Rock Band has been status quo for months now, swirling in their sea of revelry based on the steady sales and weekend parties. I personally played the HELL out of that game. A much more casual experience than the finger-breaking riffs of GH III, but at it's later levels, it was still challenging and rewarding. However, Guitar Hero World Tour has several secret weapons. Let's break it down:
1) "Better" Drum Kit: I say better in quotes because till my sticks are hitting those pads I will never know. But it looks better. A snare pad, two toms, two cymbals and a bass pedal? CYMBALS? One thing Rock Band lacked was dedicated cymbal pads. Didn't hurt the game none, hurt the experience a bit. I've been a drummer for years, so seeing dedicated cymbals makes me pop a little chubby for the kit. ADVANTAGE: Guitar Hero.
2) Advanced Studio: The Advanced Studio feature looks to allow players to create their own band music, play and upload it to an online service to share and rate with other players. Wow. Suddenly putting the loops in the hands of John Q. Public. I used to mess around in ACID and Fruity Loops, but this is intriguing. Likely, it'll be a thing the hardcore take seriously, and the casual weekenders never touch. This is not a problem in my eye, because my main concern is depth. There's a lot of notes on guitars...alot...so I've been told. Can they replicate the experience of playing a professionally made game track, much less an actual song track, accurately and in a fun way? ADVANTAGE: TBD
3) Mystery New Guitar: So they say the new guitar will more accurately recreate the feeling of playing a guitar. Rock Band gave us 5 more fret keys down at the neck, a bigger/more authentic looking guitar to play with and an effect switch that really made a difference on those solos. I love the Rock Band guitar, despite it's iffy strum-bar. So, all this talk of a new guitar is once again speculation. I've seen the drums, I can get excited about that...Right now I'm giving it to Rock Band. ADVANTAGE: Rock Band.
And finally 4) Market Share: Guitar Hero and Rock Band rode a tough battle last winter. Ultimately Rock Band won it out it seems, in reviews and lasting sales, despite it's high price tag. They came out with a spattering of accessories here and there, including the Rock Band Stage Kit, which is neato supreme. BUT, Guitar Hero has a triple-whammy. Coming out soon is Guitar Hero On Tour, a DS version of Guitar Hero that, from the hands-ons I've read, seems to have the formula down fairly well, with a pretty unique peripheral. This will rekindle public fire for the series, and slide them right up the charts in time for a release in late fall. Guitar Hero On Tour drops June 22nd, and I for one will own a copy. Shortly after that (the 27th of June, to be exact), there will be Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, a game that emphasizes and celebrates the music of the band. Not limited to music by Aerosmith, it will include several tracks from other artists as well. Two games, one week...all leading up to the release of World Tour.
So looking back, Activision is trying to destroy the Rock Band market share with releases and promises. They look poised to do so. Right now Rock Band only has it's DLC to give it momentum, and despite being a rabid fan of The Cars, DLC alone can't feed this rhythm-game hungry man. I bought Beatmania and Unison for pete's sake. I'm interested to hear more from Activision BUT...my heart belonged to Harmonix after Frequency and Amplitude, so I am rooting for them just a HAIR more.
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