I was perusing Kotaku.com and stumbled across this little gem. I almost busted a gut when I watched the stuff leading up to the actual demo of the game. One quote in particular. I'll wait until after you watch the video before I slap it out for you. It is awesome. Here's the Video.
Ok, now that you've had a chance to watch the video, or at least I am making the assumption. Did you catch the quote, "This is the first time you will be able to play all the instruments," said by the Activision CEO Robert Kotick. Then the response from Kara Swisher, "I think they call that Rock Band." Then Robert Kotick replies, "Well we are calling it Guitar Hero World Tour." Right there, they admit to it being just another version of a Great Harmonix game. The Activision rep straight up says it there. It took all my strength not to fall out of my chair laughing, cause he just proved the point all together.
On top of that, it would seem that they are trying to slam as many celebrity appearances to help promote a game that doesn't look that great. Tony Hawk and Paula Abdul. Really? You think that will distract from the same game play as Guitar Hero but with drums that sound like they are way off. Listen to them, it doesn't sound like that guy is actually playing to me. Well outside of the loud bass hit every once in a while, but just look at how his other hits go. Maybe it is just me.
Also it seems like they needed ringers that they placed in the audience. They three other guys are suppose to be average audience members, but I'm doubting that. The guitar I can believe. There are a lot of Guitar Hero players out there. That I get, but with all the Rock Band I've played, I highly doubt that some random dude in the WSJ audience is going to have a decent voice with a bit of talent like the singer had. Unless I was mislead in that they were just average audience members and Tony Hawk. It could be. But still.
That being said, I might give this game a look now that they have pretty much admitted to it. It's a pet peeve of mine when people won't own up to what is truly going on. Like a required donation to get the "free" gift they are offering up. Just say that for legal tax reasons it has to be phased that way, and you will get the donation from me. But now I'm going off on a tangent that I'm sure you don't care about. Here's the original link.