ds Archive

Doesn’t the above ad for Guitar Hero: On Tour disturbingly remind you of those oozinator commercials from a couple years ago?

Earlier this week, Activision announced an upcoming Nintendo DS version of their oversaturated venerable Guitar Hero franchise. It’s no secret I’m not a fan of Activision’s desire to milk the once innovative Guitar Hero series for all the short term money it can before tossing its charred husk into the infernal furnace of irrelevance, but I’ll admit the fret buttons add-on they’ve devised for the DS version looks fairly intriguing. I was expecting a touch screen equivalent, but having actual physical buttons will go a long way in simulating the “real” Guitar Hero experience. It looks a bit awkward to hold and strum though, much like reading a book one handed.

Some of the “new gameplay features,” though, are a little suspect.

Fans can also join together to play co-op mode using a local wireless network, or battle each other in a Guitar Duel using new Battle Items unique to the DS platform. For example, players must blow into the microphone to extinguish a pyrotechnics effects gone wrong, or use the touch screen to autograph a crazed fan’s shirt in the middle of their set.

Really? Blowing into the DS microphone “to extinguish a pyrotechnics effect gone wrong”? Such shenanigans might have been neat in 2005 for the launch of the DS when it was called Feel The Magic XY:XX, but in 2008 for a music rhythm game? No.

We’ll see this summer if it’ll work out.