Guitar Hero Live is coming at the end of this month. Its big competitor, Rock Band 4 is out, and it utilises a rather traditional DLC system. You pay for tracks, and they’re yours to play for as long as your like. It’s how it’s always worked, and it will continue to work.
But Guitar Hero Live is doing something different. It’s not offering DLC in the traditional way. The way that you play games separate from the on-disc content is so different, it’s hard to even call it DLC. It is, however, a little confusing and needs a bit of explaining, which developer Freestyle Games has done in a new blog post.
As we’ve told you before, the game ships with GHTV, a new mode that plays playlists akin to a Spotify or radio playlist; you don’t choose the songs, but you can choose whether or not to play along with them. It’s free to play once you’ve bought the game, so there’s no real, extraneous cost involved.
Says Freestyle (via Eurogamer):
“When you hop into a channel, you’ll be playing along to a set of songs personally curated by us. It won’t be done by a robot! For example, you can hop into a show like “Metal Icons” on channel 1 on a Saturday afternoon, featuring songs hand-picked by our supergroup of music fanatics at the studio. And maybe on channel 2 it’ll be something else like “Rock Top Hits.” You can play these for as long as you like. Pick a channel and the endless stream is yours to ride. We’ll even continue to add more channels after launch.”
But what happens I you do want to play a specific song from GHTV, without playing through the whole playlist?
Well, you can. But it’ll cost you. Not, as you’d expect, real money though. Instead, as you play GHTV, you’ll earn tokens – which you can then use to play any of the songs included in GHTV at will.
“In GHTV, you no longer buy a song in the old DLC way – you don’t have to buy a song to sample or play it. You can play any channel for as long as you want. As you play in the channels, you earn in-game currency which quickly adds up, so you can get tokens to play any song from the GHTV library on-demand. And we’re going to load you up with a bunch of play tokens the first time you play and as you rank up. The more you play, the more you earn. This freedom of choice wasn’t offered in the past. We hope people will love it.”
If, however, you’re having a party and want to play all of the songs in GHTV whenever you’d like, you can pay real money to gain unfettered access to whichever songs you’d like, for a limited time.
“…if you have a bunch of friends coming over, we’ll also give you the option to purchase a party pass for a set duration during which you’ll have unlimited, on-demand access to every song in the entire GHTV music library.”
There’s no word on what that party pass costs. As this is a feature that’s available above and beyond the songs included on the disc (or as part of your digital distribution download!), this is the sort of micro-transaction I can get behind. It’s not forced, it doesn’t cut off your access to anything should you choose to not pay money, and much of it is unlockable just by playing the game, the way it should be.
Last Updated: January 4, 2017
Grand Admiral Chief
October 6, 2015 at 13:43
Something very wrong with that horse
Alien Emperor Trevor
October 6, 2015 at 13:52
You’re imagining things. Everything is normal & as it should be.
WitWolfy
October 6, 2015 at 13:51
Sounds like BS to me.. Its like their saying… It’s DLC.. But not really…
AfricanTime
October 6, 2015 at 13:52
is Rock Band out? where?
Geoffrey Tim
October 6, 2015 at 13:58
It’s out in the US and the Uk today. Local release has been confirmed, but has no date or pricing yet.
Hammersteyn
October 6, 2015 at 13:59
8.9% sure? 😛
Grand Admiral Chief
October 6, 2015 at 14:00
Haha
Grand Admiral Chief
October 6, 2015 at 14:00
*89%
Hammersteyn
October 6, 2015 at 14:49
8.9/10
Grand Admiral Chief
October 6, 2015 at 14:59
STILL 89%!!!
Hammersteyn
October 6, 2015 at 15:06
yeah, but he typed 8.9/10
AfricanTime
October 6, 2015 at 14:04
alright, thanks
Greylingad[CNFRMD]
October 6, 2015 at 13:55
esroH kcalB deromrA…ediR…. This actually sounds like a better thought out model of DLC… it’s just sad it’s come this late though, hopefully other publishers will be getting behind it too… I like the idea of the party pack thing a mabob… Let’s hope it doesn’t cost as much as the arm you use to play your guitar though….
VampyreSquirrel
October 6, 2015 at 13:57
Play your favorite songs backwards! New DLC out SOON. XD
Hammersteyn
October 6, 2015 at 13:59
And summon the Devil. or the next best thing if he’s too busy
Kromas untamed
October 6, 2015 at 14:47
Justin Bieber?! 😛
Hammersteyn
October 6, 2015 at 14:49
hahahaha
HairyEwok
October 6, 2015 at 14:04
That image made me have a brain fart. I want to keep turning my head upside down :/
Grand Admiral Chief
October 6, 2015 at 14:06
Press CTRL+ALT+LeftArrow
BurninZ
October 6, 2015 at 14:10
learn something new everyday, thanks!
HairyEwok
October 6, 2015 at 14:11
Thank you for destroying this PC XD
Grand Admiral Chief
October 6, 2015 at 14:12
Bwahahahahaha you fell for it!
HairyEwok
October 6, 2015 at 14:16
At least now I know I can never trust what ever your saying to me ever again, keys and all. XD
Grand Admiral Chief
October 6, 2015 at 14:18
Running Windows 8? Press the Windows key and X for a handy menu
HairyEwok
October 6, 2015 at 14:44
Windows 95 Bruh!
Grand Admiral Chief
October 6, 2015 at 14:59
Lekker man, lekker, 95 RWC VICTORY!
VampyreSquirrel
October 6, 2015 at 14:16
I used to love doing that to PC’s when people didn’t lock them… put the screen upside down and then lock it.
oVg
October 6, 2015 at 14:23
No Internet connection, no GHTV, because… you know, to be a gamer you need internet. If you have no Internet you are not a gamer. Videogames are played by people who have Internet. No Internet? then find another hobby or watch M-TV because Video Games are Internet Games.
You need the Internet to play a videogame in order to watch GHTV, because TV. You cant watch GHTV if you don’t have Internet. You cant play Titan Fall if you don’t have Internet. You cant play Titan Fall if you have Internet and live in South Africa, because you need American Internet.
You cant even play your off-line game if you don’t have Internet, because you need the Internet to fix the broken piece of shit.
I know, in order to stop people stealing my stuff in MGSV Ill pay the people who own the Internet to stop people on the Internet from Interfering with my SP game 😛
Just turn the Internet OFF you Indoctrinated muppets…
RUNS…
Alien Emperor Trevor
October 6, 2015 at 14:41
I bet you ordered your lunch online.
oVg
October 6, 2015 at 15:05
Nope, it was your mom… who made me lunch.
RUNS
Alien Emperor Trevor
October 6, 2015 at 15:10
…
Kromas untamed
October 6, 2015 at 14:48
This rant should have been in the Sun or Star (or whatever newspapers are still alive) to emphasize offline. 😛
Geoffrey Tim
October 6, 2015 at 14:55
There are 40 songs you can play offline, that come on the disc. ;P
oVg
October 6, 2015 at 15:04
Thank fcuk traditional gaming practices are still relevant 😛
Runs away… to BT games to ask why my copy of Destiny does not work 😛
Kromas untamed
October 6, 2015 at 14:45
What about insurance? 🙂
Grand Admiral Chief
October 6, 2015 at 15:03
Oh you
Raidz19
October 7, 2015 at 07:06
so… a boat load of free songs?? why thank you!!