Guitar Hero 5 DLC not compatible with Guitar Hero World Tour

[Kroogah]

http://www.destructoid.com/guitar-hero-5-dlc-won-t-be-compatible-with-guitar-hero-world-145383.phtml

LOL Activision

[G-Boobie]

Gee. I'm completely surprised.

[jajaja]

How is it with previous Guitar Hero games? Does DLC for Guitar Hero 3 works with Guitar Hero 2 for example?

EDIT: I just read the article over at Destructoid.com and it seems to make sense to me why Guitar Hero 5's DLC isnt compatible with Guitar Hero World Tour. If the GH5 DLC are optimized to take advantage of features that isnt available in GH World Tour, then i can see why GH5's DLC wont work with GH World Tour. Maybe it could have been possible to make a system that disabled these extra features though, so the DLC would still work in GH World Tour, but that is just a guess from my side, i dont know if it would be possible or not to do this.

I guess that they still will contunie to release DLC for Guitar Hero World Tour (at least for some time) after that GH5 get released though :)

EDIT 2: I guess that there can be a possibility that Activision made it so that the GH5's DLC wont work with Guitar Hero World Tour on purpose as well, so that more people will buy GH5. Makes sense that they want to sell more of their software though. But i hope for the Guitar Hero World Tour owners that Activision will still contunie to release DLC for GH World Tour even after when GH5 gets released :)

[exit]

Well everyone already knows that they're milking GH for all it's worth now, which isn't very much anymore, it's only a matter of time until they completely burn it to the ground.

[PapaStu]

Well everyone already knows that they're milking GH for all it's worth now, which isn't very much anymore, it's only a matter of time until they completely burn it to the ground.

Only a matter of time? It crashed into the ground with World Tour.

[s1lence]

Only a matter of time? It crashed into the ground with World Tour.


Aerosmith I think beat it to the punch.

[DonMarco]

It couldn't be that hard to include a "legacy mode" to play older song file types. Seems like having GH5 work off an entirely different type of music file defeats the purpose of having hundreds or thousands of songs in the library.

Or maybe this should be expected every fifth game?

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

LOL, "compatibility" is completely determined by the suits and devs at this point.

It's not that it can't work, it's that they don't WANT it to work.

There's nothing overly complex going on in how these files are constructed and if needed there's no reason why they can't include different coding "profiles" for World Tour AND Guitar Hero 5 within a download or via an update.

I gave World Tour a go when it launched, and other than the fantastic World Tour Guitar in comparison to how well Harmonix has handled the Rock Band franchise I was pretty disappointed, I can't see myself investing further in Guitar Hero ... at least not at launch. I'll just wait for the Gamestop summer sales and get the games for $10 and the guitars "pennied" out.

[Oobgarm]

I think this round is what's going to begin the public "revolt" against these games. They're getting tiresome.

No backwards compat is a good start for that.

[Zthun]

I think a lot of people may be misreading the article.


It should be noted again that DLC you've previously purchased is compatible, and it will be possible to "export" songs from Guitar Hero World Tour and Smash Hits to play in Guitar Hero 5.

This is how the software world works. Once you create a new file format, you can't have previous versions be expected to read it. That's the entire point of the new format, it's supposed to have new features that a newer version will support. GH5 SHOULD be expected to play the DLC of GH:WT. I don't see why someone would get upset because GH5's DLC won't work in GH:WT. That's near impossible if they wanted new features.

There ARE some universal data formats, such as XML, which can be modeled to allow previous versions to read it watered down, but if that is not utilized, then you can't expect previous versions to read them.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

I think a lot of people may be misreading the article.



This is how the software world works. Once you create a new file format, you can't have previous versions be expected to read it. That's the entire point of the new format, it's supposed to have new features that a newer version will support. GH5 SHOULD be expected to play the DLC of GH:WT. I don't see why someone would get upset because GH5's DLC won't work in GH:WT. That's near impossible if they wanted new features.

There ARE some universal data formats, such as XML, which can be modeled to allow previous versions to read it watered down, but if that is not utilized, then you can't expect previous versions to read them.

I think that it has more to do with the general simplicity (relatively speaking) of the files we're dealing with.

At this point they obviously have the song construction down to a science/racket ... if they can't make "dual compatible" versions of the tracks on a coding level, they could at least include versions for both GH:WT and GH:5 per each paid download (or at a slightly higher premium).

I suppose there is a bit of a "sense of entitlement" going on with an attitude like that, but come on, people have dumped tons of money into an expensive, peripheral heavy game, it's not beyond the scope of reason that between ONE generation of sequels that they could have BC song files.

[Zthun]

I think that it has more to do with the general simplicity (relatively speaking) of the files we're dealing with.

At this point they obviously have the song construction down to a science/racket ... if they can't make "dual compatible" versions of the tracks on a coding level, they could at least include versions for both GH:WT and GH:5 per each paid download (or at a slightly higher premium).

I suppose there is a bit of a "sense of entitlement" going on with an attitude like that, but come on, people have dumped tons of money into an expensive, peripheral heavy game, it's not beyond the scope of reason that between ONE generation of sequels that they could have BC song files.

It is a very nice feature to be able to have this (rock band did), but song features are built into the file format and regardless of how simple it is, there's no way to make it backward compatible without an update to the previous version (which is the BEST solution here). Again, what could have been done is the universal format where newer featured areas could have just been ignored, but that's not the case here.


they could at least include versions for both GH:WT and GH:5 per each paid download

That would work but just creates a big headache on the developer side. An update to WT would be the solution to go with.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

An update to WT would be the solution to go with.

Occam's Razor. The simplest solution is often the most correct.

[Zthun]

Occam's Razor. The simplest solution is often the most correct.

I agree the majority of the time, but in this case the simplest solution is to say, 'GH5 songs will not be compatible with GH:WT.' Now we're back to the drawing board. :grrr:

[Kitsune Sniper]

Aerosmith I think beat it to the punch.

Excuse me, but it was AAAAAAAAALL Encore: Rocks The 80's fault.

[Baloo]

Guitar Hero was never a true video game to begin with. The whole Guitar/Rock Band hype's going to be another fad like FMV was all over again.

[Gapporin]

Guitar Hero was never a true video game to begin with. The whole Guitar/Rock Band hype's going to be another fad like FMV was all over again.

But at least with FMV, we got a wide variety of titles within the genre.

[Kitsune Sniper]

Guitar Hero was never a true video game to begin with. The whole Guitar/Rock Band hype's going to be another fad like FMV was all over again.

A fad that's been around for over eleven years? Who knew Beatmania would still be around after that time, eh?

I don't see any difference between using a guitar-like controller and a joystick. It's still a game, even if you don't want to accept that.

[kaedesdisciple]

Guitar Hero was never a true video game to begin with. The whole Guitar/Rock Band hype's going to be another fad like FMV was all over again.

The term video game is typically defined as, "...an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a video device."

Therefore, saying that Guitar Hero was never a true video game to begin with is incorrect.

Back on topic, this does not surprise me at all. My wife, friends and I will continue to play and enjoy our Rock Band catalog in light of this.

[alexkidd2000]

These games will be around for a long time. Maybe not so popular but alot of people (myself included) love to play these games still. Its not really just about playing the game its also about chilling out and listening to music. Being interactive just makes it a more intimate experience.

It is unaceptable if World Tour content will not work in Guitar Hero 5.
I think its fine that 5 content will not work in World Tour.

[Lady Jaye]

It's not surprising, I think the only GH DLC that was compatible with more than one version of the game was the album Death Magnetic, which works with both GH: World Tour and GH:Metallica...

Anyways, I prefer the way that Rock Band integrates DLC into the game, not just for quickplay mode.

[CelticJobber]

As long as DLC from GH:WT works in GH5 and you can import most songs from WT and Smash Hits into it, I really don't see what the big deal is. If anyone likes the game enough to have bought GH:WT with all the prehipherals and DLC for it, I'd assume they'll be upgrading to the sequel anyway.

GH5 has the best songlist I've ever seen in one of these games, and I'm definitely looking forward to it. I like Rock Band too, but the Guitar Hero series seems to have alot more polish to it, IMO.

[Zthun]

As long as DLC from GH:WT works in GH5 and you can import most songs from WT and Smash Hits into it, I really don't see what the big deal is. If anyone likes the game enough to have bought GH:WT with all the prehipherals and DLC for it, I'd assume they'll be upgrading to the sequel anyway.

GH5 has the best songlist I've ever seen in one of these games, and I'm definitely looking forward to it. I like Rock Band too, but the Guitar Hero series seems to have alot more polish to it, IMO.

Exactly. It should also be added that GHWT users won't need the new hardware, just the game - the WT hardware should work with GH5.

[rbudrick]

Yes, I agree it is getting milked for all it's worth. However, if they keep adding awesome new features like the awesomeness of World Tour, then I have no complaints. As long as it keeps getting better, no problems here. However, the 80s edition and the Aerosmith ones were not necessary. However, I did get the Wii Aerosmith one for 10 or 15 bucks new at Sears Essential, so I have no room to even complain on that one.

-Rob