Product Description

Last year's Rock Band one-upped this popular guitar-shredding sim by offering living-room rockers new instruments to jam on. This year, Guitar Hero strikes back with an impressive drum kit, microphone, and virtual recording studio allowing players to make and share their very own tracks. Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PS2, Activision, T.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #814 in Video Games
• Brand: ACTIVISION
• Model: Band Kit 2
• Published on: 2008-09-30
• Released on: 2008-10-26
• ESRB Rating: Teen
• Platform: PLAYSTATION 3
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 13.00" h x 16.50" w x 28.00" l, 36.00 pounds

Features

• Battle of the Bands mode lets up to eight players get their groove on
• Comes with exciting extras that enhance your experience
• Use the innovative Music Studio to compose, record, edit and share music
• Features a humungous selection of master recordings
• Offers more localized downloadable music than ever before

Amazon.com Product Description
Start a Band...the Guitar Hero Way

Guitar Hero World Tour transforms music gaming by expanding Guitar Hero's signature guitar gameplay into a cooperative band experience that combines advanced wireless instruments with online and offline gameplay modes including online Band Career and 8-player "Battle of the Bands," which allows two full bands to compete head-to-head online. The game features a slick redesigned guitar, an authentic electronic drum kit, and a microphone, as well as a Music Studio music creator that lets players compose, record, edit and share their own rock ‘n’ roll anthems.

Wireless Instruments

New to GHWT is a redesigned, more responsive guitar controller, which features a touch-sensitive slide bar on the neck that allows the player to play through certain song passages without needing to strum. Check out the drum kit featuring three drum pads, two raised cymbals, and a bass kick pedal. The drum controller combines larger and quieter, velocity-sensitive drum heads with soft rubber construction to deliver authentic bounce back and is easy to set up, move, break down and store.

Be the Next Great Songwriter

Music Studio lets players express their musical creativity by giving them access to a full complement of tools to create digital music from scratch utilizing the guitar controller and drum kit. Players can create their tracks and then play them in-game or share the recordings with the entire Guitar Hero community through GHTunes. GHTunes allows other gamers from around the world to download and play the community's original tracks. Available to PlayStation 3 gamers is Line 6's guitar tone technology, enabling them to use amps, cabs, and effects from the Line 6 POD.

Create the Band

Budding rock stars can live out their rock ‘n’ roll fantasies by playing either a single instrument or any combination of instruments, in addition to the full band experience. When rocking as part of a band, up to four players can jam together in quickplay or as they progress through a career. Both band and single-player careers feature non-linear progression giving artists the option to change difficulty and instruments with a variety of different gigs available at any time.

Never Jam Solo Again

Virtual musicians in need of band mates can take their careers online forming worldwide ensembles so no rock star ever has to play a gig solo. Plus, GHWT adds a "Battle of the Bands" modes, which allows eight players to join online and challenge each other band-to-band to establish global supremacy.

Customize Everything

The character creator allows gamers to create a rock star with style as unique as their own. Absolute customization from the clothes, to the facial and body structure, to the tattoos and accessories, players are encouraged to unleash their inner rock legend. The Rock Star Creator doesn't just allow players to build the ultimate rock god; the in-depth creators include the ability to customize guitars, drums and microphones. Adding yet another layer of personalization, gamers can create custom logos for their instruments, band, or album covers.

A Set List for the Ages

The Guitar Hero World Tour set list is comprised entirely of master recordings from some of the greatest artists of all-time including Van Halen, Linkin Park, The Eagles, and Sublime. There are over 85 tracks, plus frequent downloadable singles and track packs. In addition to the killer track list, the game will feature rock icons such as Hayley Williams of Paramore and Travis Barker of +44 and blink-182.

The Full Set List

• 311 - "Beautiful Disaster"
• 30 Seconds To Mars - "The Kill"
• Airbourne - "Too Much Too Young"
• The Allman Brothers Band - "Ramblin' Man"
• Anouk - "Good God"
• The Answer - "Never Too Late"
• At The Drive-In - "One Armed Scissor"
• Beastie Boys - "No Sleep Till Brooklyn"
• Beatsteaks - "Hail to the Freaks"
• Billy Idol - "Rebel Yell"
• Black Label Society - "Stillborn"
• Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - "Weapon of Choice"
• blink-182 - "Dammit"
• Blondie - "One Way or Another"
• Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band - "Hollywood Nights"
• Bon Jovi - "Livin' On A Prayer"
• Bullet For My Valentine - "Scream Aim Fire"
• Coldplay - "Shiver"
• Creedence Clearwater Revival - "Up Around The Bend"
• The Cult - "Love Removal Machine"
• Dinosaur Jr. - "Feel The Pain"
• The Doors - "Love Me Two Times"
• Dream Theater - "Pull Me Under"
• The Eagles - "Hotel California"
• The Enemy - "Aggro"
• Filter - "Hey Man, Nice Shot"
• Fleetwood Mac - "Go Your Own Way"
• Foo Fighters - "Everlong"
• The Guess Who - "American Woman"
• Hush Puppies - "You're Gonna Say Yeah!"
• Interpol - "Obstacle 1"
• Jane's Addiction - "Mountain Song"
• Jimi Hendrix - "Purple Haze (Live)"
• Jimi Hendrix - "The Wind Cries Mary"
• Jimmy Eat World - "The Middle"
• Joe Satriani - "Satch Boogie"
• Kent - "Vinternoll2"
• Korn - "Freak On A Leash"
• Lacuna Coil - "Our Truth"
• Lenny Kravitz - "Are You Gonna Go My Way"
• Linkin Park - "What I've Done"
• The Living End - "Prisoner of Society"
• Los Lobos - "La Bamba"
• Lost Prophets - "Rooftops (A Liberation Broadcast)"
• Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Sweet Home Alabama (Live)"
• Mars Volta - "L'Via L'Viaquez"
• MC5's Wayne Kramer - "Kick Out The Jams"
• Metallica - "Trapped Under Ice"
• Michael Jackson - "Beat It"
• Modest Mouse - "Float On"
• Motorhead - "Overkill"
• Muse - "Assassin"
• Negramaro - "Nuvole e Lenzuola"
• Nirvana - "About a Girl (Unplugged)"
• No Doubt - "Spiderwebs"
• NOFX - "Soul Doubt"
• Oasis - "Some Might Say"
• Ozzy Osbourne - "Crazy Train"
• Ozzy Osbourne - "Mr. Crowley"
• Paramore - "Misery Business"
• Pat Benatar - "Heartbreaker"
• R.E.M. - "The One I Love"
• Radio Futura - "Escuela De Calor"
• Rise Against - "Re-Education Through Labor"
• Sex Pistols - "Pretty Vacant"
• Silversun Pickups - "Lazy Eye"
• Smashing Pumpkins - "Today"
• Steely Dan - "Do It Again"
• Steve Miller Band - "The Joker"
• Sting - "Demolition Man (Live)"
• The Stone Roses - "Love Spreads"
• Stuck In The Sound - "Toy Boy"
• Sublime - "Santeria"
• Survivor - "Eye of the Tiger"
• System of a Down - "B.Y.O.B."
• Ted Nugent - "Stranglehold"
• Ted Nugent's Original Guitar Duel Recording
• Tokio Hotel - "Monsoon"
• Tool - "Parabola"
• Tool - "Schism"
• Tool - "Vicarious"
• Trust - "Antisocial"
• Van Halen - "Hot For Teacher"
• Willie Nelson - "On The Road Again"
• Wings - "Band on the Run"
• Zakk Wylde's Original Guitar Duel Recording

Customer Reviews

Good, with a caveat
I preordered this game from Amazon, but impatience got the better of me, and I bought it from Wal Mart on opening day. My review is based on that band kit, but I will be taking it back today. Why, you ask?

I played this game through two songs (Sweet Home Alabama and The Joker) and realized something wasn't right. I'm normally a 95% player on medium (On Rock Band 2) and a 90% player on hard. Yet I was scoring in the 60's on medium. After checking my calibration settings, I went over into the training mode, and realized that I couldn't even make it through the basic training because the red pad was not registering every time, and was not registering hard hits at all!

I switched over to the song recording mode, and it verified that the red pad was intermittent at best, thus the reason it's going back, and I will hope the one from Amazon is a better copy.

Now, let me say, overall, I give the feel of the drums two very big thumbs up. The pads felt much better, and they were much quieter than I was used to. However they get a thumbs down on quality. And before you think that this is just one bad experience, check around. There is a very big issue, first with the sensitivity of the pads (Apparently a program is coming out to allow you to change the sensitivity using your home PC) and second with the pads working intermittently. This second issue (Which I experienced) seems to be the most concerning, and from other sites, it looks like I am just the tip of the iceberg. I'm reading about people having to go through 2, 3, even 4 drum sets to get a good one. Many of the stores are not sold out, but are returned out. And this apparently stems from the wires to the drum pads simply being held on with silicone which is not holding everything together.

I really really can't wait until they get this set completely fixed, but since Activision is requiring YOU to pay for shipping if it's broken out of the box, might want to delay, at least for now.

Also, since I bought this game based on the promise of cross-compatibility, it should be stated that the drums do NOT work with Rock Band 2 at this point! Hopefully it's just a matter of a patch coming out, but it's a little disconcerting.

*******EDIT 11/10/08*******

As I was still having problems with a cymbal, I did contact the nice support people, who sounded quite exasperated, but immediately sent me out a tuning kit. This kit allows you to modify the sensitivity of each drum pad (Or cymbal, or pedal) to where you want it to be. Too sensitive, it may trigger when you hit another pad. Not sensitive enough, it may not trigger it all.

Now, I previously stated that some sites had talked about loose wires causing problems. In an effort to be thorough, and since my cymbal wasn't working, I did take apart the cymbal to look at the sensor. At least for my cymbal, I noted that the wires were definately SOLDERED. I was relying on information previously supplied by someone else in stating that the wires were not soldered, and I still do not know the condition of the wires on the drum pads themselves. As I said, this was my individual yellow cymbal. Since then I have sent it back through the RMA process, which, yes, did require me to send it (insured and traceable!) at my own expense.

Also, as of this date, the GH:WT drums are still not working with Rock Band 2, which is still a bit frustrating!

Great game !! and Did I mention lots of fun?
So we were out yesterday and we found a local store that was open late and they were selling GHWT on the day of release and we thought we could pick it up, so we did and then when we got home we started thinking wether to open the box or not?!

First this is maybe our 4th or 5th rythem/music game. we have GH3 RB1, and some other karoke games. Our greatest concern was that we dont need anymore instruments than we already have (3 plastic guitars, 5 mics and 1 wired drum set)
RB2 or GH-WT? it really depends how much your willing to spend because you can always get both!! but I think if you already have RB1 just pick up the RB2 standalone game the instruments though much improved dont warrent the investment from my point of view. GH-WT instruments on the other hand especially the drum kit have something relatively new to offer.
So the big question for us was do we open it or not? should we get RB2 instead? we decided to go ahead and open the box!! and we are glad we did, very positive experience so far.

The actual hands- on review broken down to diffirent sections:
1. standalone game: GH-WT is a great addition to the GH series with a lot of really great tracks, graphics are cleaner but cartonish as usual( which has some kind of special appeal to it). There is also the compostion mode which allows you to creat your own playble tracks, I looked into briefly and I would say it has a lot of potentialin it. There is also the added bonus of publishing your tracks online which may help uleash your inner composer.

I still havn't tried online play so maybe I'll update this section later.
Overall the game alone is really worth getting but the important part is wether to get the band kit or not?
2. Instruments:
A. The Guitar has a nice feel to it, it has been redesigned with removable face plates which can make it really customizable. they also added a slide bar which could be helpful for nailing some of the difficult solos.

B. Drum set: You get a wireless drum set that feels and looks really well made, its heavier than RB1 set(which makes it feel even more solid) but not too heavy though, and it Looks better than the new RB2 drum set. The presence of cymbals also adds a nice touch of authenticty and enhanced game play. I tried it with RB1 and until now its not compatible with it( treated like a regular controler not as a drum set)

c. Microphone: its your standerd wired rythem game mic nothing fancy here.

RB Vs GH instruments compatibility:
I only tried the GH kit on RB and doenst work, ill be cross testing soon and updating this review.

So overall its highly recommended if your into rythem games and if your not then maybe its time to get started! its really great for when you have friends or relatives over or maybe a family activety with your kids.
what are you waiting for? add to cart :)

Update: I faced some issues with the performance of the drum kit so I contacted activision and they sent me a cable to adjust sensitivety, now its working great no issues, so beafore you take it back give it a shot.

Faulty Equipment
Let me say that I own Rock Band 2 as well as purchasing this first thing Sunday..I used to be a bigtime Guitar Hero fan.
However, I soon round out, like many others, that the drum kit doesnt work well. Not only that...it does a HORRIBLE job at letting you know how other people are doing, so you may randomly fail while playing through a song and you could be thinking that you were doing awesome. Not so. Dissapointment...now I'm stuck with this broken drum and they are asking that I pay shipping charges. Not going to happen. I'm going back to Rock Band 2 and never picking this up again.