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Guitar Hero 6 Scrapping Playable Celebrities?

by Jeff Cork on May 18, 2010 at 03:32 AM

Activision has taken its share of lumps from how it's treated the Guitar Hero franchise over the years, but they're in a fairly unenviable position. Players expect new gameplay gimmicks and features, but when things don't work out there's a big backlash. Guitar Hero 5 got blasted from fans and some of the game's artists for the way the game and Activision handled celebrity likenesses. Bands like No Doubt grumbled about how players could use the band to play songs that they would never perform, often with grotesque results. (Kurt Cobain rapping, anyone?) For the upcoming Guitar Hero 6, it seems as though Activision is taking a different approach.

According to GoNintendo, the latest issue of Official Xbox Magazine drops some new details about Guitar Hero 6, including information about those celebrity likenesses. Details are scant, but it appears as though bands and artists like Queen, Kiss, Black Sabbath, and others will appear as nonplayable entities. Players will be able to unlock the alter-egos for at least some of these celebrities though, such as Lars Ulrich's "Warrior Lars" persona. These characters apparently come with their own gimmicks, such as having the ability to get a 6X multiplier in Warrior Lars' case.

If true, this at least sounds like a clever way to get artists on board and mitigate potential legal troubles. Sure, Lars might not sing along to a girl band, but Warrior Lars? That guy is crazy.

Other details purportedly in the article include the inclusion of CBGB's as the only real-world venue in the game as well as Gene Simmons appearing as Guitar Hero 6's narrator. That guy is also crazy.