Activision Confirms Guitar Hero: Rocks the 80s

[Crash02]

[Activision Confirms Guitar Hero: Rocks the 80s]
Major publisher Activision has officially confirmed Guitar Hero: Rocks the 80s for the PlayStation 2, to debut this summer, and featuring 30 new songs specifically themed around the decade - from Flock of Seagulls through Dio to Bow Wow Wow.

The title is apparently the final Guitar Hero game to be developed by original creator Harmonix - the developer is now owned by MTV and working on multi-instrument music game Rock Band for publishing via MTV Games, with distribution and marketing by EA.

Activision publishing label RedOctane will officially put out the game, which "...will feature visually stunning retro rock venues and hipster characters", according to the firm. The Guitar Hero franchise continues to be a major one for Activision, with recent positive financial results being partially ascribed to Guitar Hero II's success.

The initial list of confirmed songs for Guitar Hero: Rocks the 80s are as follows:

- I Wanna Rock (by Twisted Sister)
- I Ran (by Flock of Seagulls - pictured)
- Round and Round (as made famous by Ratt)
- I Want Candy (as made famous by Bow Wow Wow)
- Metal Health (as made famous by Quiet Riot)
- Holy Diver (as made famous by Dio)
- Heat Of The Moment (as made famous by Asia)

Dusty Welch, head of publishing at RedOctane, commented of the announcement: "The 80s features an amazing variety of rock genres from hair metal to punk to new wave, and our dedicated Guitar Hero fans will definitely appreciate the opportunity to play all the new and exciting content we've added... As we delve deeper into the history of rock, we'll continue to offer a fresh experience and even more explosive tracks with the Guitar Hero franchise."


[Retailers Start Listig Guitar Hero 80s Edition]
When games start showing up in retail databases, we're usually pretty close to an official unveiling. Typically, the entry will disappear from said retailer at the request of the publisher, but the "damage" is already done -- people know it's coming. In this case, it's the long-rumored Guitar Hero 80s Edition, originally mentioned in EGM.

GameStop and EB Games have a listing for a "Guitar Hero 2 Rocks the 80's Expansion Pack," priced at $39.99 and aiming for a July 17 drop date. We're suspect to believe any release date issued by a retailer, but the reduced price makes sense, as we don't expect Red Octane will be introducing any major feature updates here, just new songs.

Will Red Octane make these songs available for Xbox 360 owners via Xbox Live? So far, Microsoft isn't allowing companies to distribute expansion packs as standalone releases, leaving XBL the only option.

[can622]

cool thanks for the info

[Bloodytl]

All i can say is: About time. I grew so tired of hearing nothing but bands that began with "The" flooding GH, i was ready to give up on the series actually. Could use a couple slayer tunes though, only then will this enthusiasm remain.

[Jag]

OMG. Finally! I too was getting tired of the past Guitar Heros's so called "Best of Guitar" Songs. Though for PS2 I'm definantly buying this. Thanks for the info.

VIVA 80'S!!!

[zach592]

i thought GH 3 was gonna come out, is that not the case?