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Home Guitar Hero updates

Guitar Hero coming to your phone ... wait, huh?

1:56 PM on 04.02.2007, Aaron Linde 18 comments

Guitar Hero coming to your phone ... wait, huh? photo
     Guitar Hero

Hands-On Mobile announced today an agreement with Activision to bring Guitar Hero to mobile devices. Like, y'know, cellular phones.

I'll give you a minute to take that in.

The obvious question that the good people at Activision/RedOctane are probably ready and willing to answer is this: how would it work? Guitar Hero is an experience built almost entirely upon its awesome peripheral. Without the controller, what are we left with? Let's drink deep the PR cup, shall we? Hands-On Mobile, you're up:

"Guitar Hero is an epic game experience that has mushroomed into a cultural phenomenon," said Erik Pavelka, Vice President of Business Development, Hands-On Mobile. "We are thrilled to bring this award-winning franchise to mobile and to continue our successful relationship with Activision."
Damn, swing and a miss. But RedOctane won't let me down -- surely the hands that brought us Guitar Hero will explain how this is likely to work:
"The lifestyle of music is strongly immersed into our everyday culture, and having Guitar Hero on mobile platforms will now allow our dedicated fans the opportunity to passionately feel the music, anytime and anywhere," said Dusty Welch, head of publishing at RedOctane. "Hands-On Mobile has extensive experience and success in bringing established franchises to mobile devices, and we greatly look forward to extending the Guitar Hero brand to mobile users."

... Well, nevermind, then. I at least expected something about downloadable content -- as we're bound to see on the Xbox360, Guitar Hero is nothing if not a renewable cash cow if steadily supplied with new songs at a price -- but it seems like they're avoiding the elephant in the room, here. Guitar Hero without a guitar is StepMania, but then, I guess RedOctane might have something up their sleeves -- the World's Smallest Guitar Controller for the World's Smallest Mobile Platform or somesuch. Time will tell.

Dig the full press release after the jump. 

 

Hands-On Mobile(TM) to Rock Guitar Hero(TM)
Announces License Agreement for the Activision(R) Smash Hit

SAN FRANCISCO, Apr 02, 2007 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Hands-On Mobile, Inc.,
the world's leading developer of connected games and applications, today
announced an agreement with Activision, Inc. (Nasdaq:ATVI), to bring the
wildly popular Guitar Hero(TM) franchise to mobile devices.

"Guitar Hero is an epic game experience that has mushroomed into a
cultural phenomenon," said Erik Pavelka, Vice President of Business
Development, Hands-On Mobile. "We are thrilled to bring this
award-winning franchise to mobile and to continue our successful
relationship with Activision."

"The lifestyle of music is strongly immersed into our everyday culture,
and having Guitar Hero on mobile platforms will now allow our dedicated
fans the opportunity to passionately feel the music, anytime and
anywhere," said Dusty Welch, head of publishing at RedOctane. "Hands-On
Mobile has extensive experience and success in bringing established
franchises to mobile devices, and we greatly look forward to extending
the Guitar Hero brand to mobile users."

Since its launch in 2005, Guitar Hero quickly became one of the most
popular console games, with Guitar Hero II(TM) topping the charts as the
best-selling console and handheld game in dollars for the U.S. for the
month of December, according to The NPD Group.

With Guitar Hero, Hands-On Mobile expands its current crop of
top-selling mobile games and applications. These include the Activision
franchise Call of Duty(R), as well as other top brands.

Next page: More Mobile gaming stories




galagabug 's Avatar
galagabug at 04/02/2007 14:02
i smell a bluetooth sg controller hack. i already go everywhere with mine (including the bathroom) so this is great news indeed!
splotki's Avatar
splotki at 04/02/2007 14:05
omg, fuck destructiod get over it already: There are games on phones. Why is it that every post regarding mobile games is written like "Whaaaa???? Games on my CELL PHONE?!?! GIMMY A BREAT!!?!" And the followed by "Games on cell phones are not as good as games on Xbox 360 or Gameboy DS".... No Fucking Duh. It's your goddamn cellphone. It's going to be a game you pay 3 bucks for and play for 2 min at a time while waiting for the bus.... AND THAT IS OKAY! I think this cell phone version of guitar hero is going to be a great little diversion when I’m waiting for the subway or in line at a movie theater. I don't expect it to replace my huge plastic guitar when I’m at home, but that's not the goddamn point.

It's time to start looking at cell phone games WITHIN FUCKING CONTEXT.

Rant completed.
Joseph Leray's Avatar
Joseph Leray at 04/02/2007 14:07
Nowhere did Linde say the game would suck. He was just pointing out the lack of details on how the game would actually work.
Nick Chester's Avatar
Nick Chester at 04/02/2007 14:08
splotki:

I thought you turned into Janet Jackson for a second, but you wrote "breat" not "beat."

The Rhythm Nation has been failed.
DJDuffy 's Avatar
DJDuffy at 04/02/2007 14:14
Guitar Hero on your iPhone...would that would be face melting goodness? Maybe you could use your iTunes playlist with Guitar Hero for your own songs...that would be awesome sauce.
Aaron Linde's Avatar
Aaron Linde at 04/02/2007 14:16
Some games are great time-wasters on cell phones, but Guitar Hero without a guitar is not Guitar Hero. That was my point.

Jesus, splotki. Even though I don't know you, I expected more from you.
BlindsideDork's Avatar
BlindsideDork at 04/02/2007 14:22
Hi Octane was a good old PC game!
trydizon's Avatar
trydizon at 04/02/2007 14:58
i was pushing for sitar hero.
dang.
Dexter345's Avatar
Dexter345 at 04/02/2007 15:25
And so the money-grabbing begins. It's a wonder Harmonix let this series go. Maybe they were too indie to stick with it through the mainstream.
Necros's Avatar
Necros at 04/02/2007 15:42
Guitar Hero II for 360 isn't out for a few more days, and already I can feel the loss of Harmonix on the series. No way would Harmonix make this kind of game. Well, now we can see how far Activision plans to whore out the Guitar Hero name until people can only say phrases like, "Yeah, Guitar Hero I & II were good, and then they came out with Guitar Hero: Punk Edition, Guitar Hero: MTV Edition, and Guitar Hero: American Idol Bonus."

(Disclaimer: I love punk; I just don't think it has a place in Guitar Hero.)
BluDesign's Avatar
BluDesign at 04/02/2007 16:21
I can't wait for Guitar Hero for pagers, personally. I hope our songlist comes from our ringtones we purchased. That'll make rocking out to 30 second snippets on my phones internal 25mb memory a lot cooler.

Who wants to hear "Grand Valse" again?
Mxyzptlk's Avatar
Mxyzptlk at 04/02/2007 22:23
What's next, Spore on cell phones?

Oh wait...
bleep's Avatar
bleep at 04/03/2007 00:53
Heres the peripheral
anomalous underdog's Avatar
anomalous underdog at 04/03/2007 06:37
that chic holding the phone looks cute
TheStripe's Avatar
TheStripe at 01/27/2008 14:50
Activision: Sucking profits from quality games until no more fun exists. Thanks, activision. Make sure to forget to thank Neversoft when this bomb gets snapped up by dumb kids everywhere.
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