The new issue of Game Informer Magazine has the scoop, reported by a poster on the NeoGAF forum and picked up by Kotaku: Guitar Hero IV will feature drumming and vocals. What an original idea! 

To be totally fair, it does seem like a logical next step, and it's not like Harmonix invented the idea, either. Drum and guitar sims have existed in arcades in both Japan and the West for a long time now. Still, it's hard not to look at this with a cynical eye when you consider that this will come out roughly a year after the release of a successful game that already did a great job with the same thing. It will be released by a company that didn't do such a hot job with a similar product - Guitar Hero III was not just a bloated, garish sellout, it also felt rhythmically wrong somehow, like they weren't even bothering to keep time when they construct the note charts. To top it off, there's no way this will be compatible with Rock Band's drumkit, so you'll have to shell out another $200 for another set of plastic drums. Even if it manages to improve on some of the problems with the Rock Band kit - specifically, noise and sturdiness - it's still tough for the average gamer to justify.

The article also says there will be a create-a-song feature in GHIV, which sounds admittedly cool on its surface. But ultimately we'll have to see how actually functional it is; composing a full song with only five buttons might be more trouble than it's actually worth.

But Activision does show that they're still on the forefront of musical taste with their lineup of already-announced artists for the new game: Van Halen, the Eagles, Linkin Park, and Sublime! It's like a frat party in 2001!

WORLD RENOWNED RECORDING GROUP AEROSMITH ROCKS THIS WAY TO GUITAR HERO®: AEROSMITH®
Epic Collaboration Creates First Music-Based Game to Feature One Band

Santa Monica, CA – February 15, 2008 – Fire up the fret board, crank the amp to 11 and get ready to rock this way with Activision, Inc.’s (Nasdaq: ATVI) Guitar Hero®: Aerosmith®, the first game built around the legendary music of America’s Greatest Rock ‘N Roll Band: Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Brad Whitford, Tom Hamilton and Joey Kramer.  Slated for release this June, this latest installment from the franchise with the #1 best-selling video game in 2007, puts players in the shoes of Perry (guitar), Whitford (guitar) and Hamilton (bass), as they rock out alongside frontman Tyler and drummer Kramer.  Gamers will experience Aerosmith’s GRAMMY® winning career, from their first gig to becoming rock royalty, in a way that no other entertainment vehicle offers.

Steven Tyler says, “Any band that can go from ‘Don’t Want to Miss A Thing’ (Aerosmith’s #1 smash hit) to the ass-kicking ‘Sweet Emotion’ to the cheekiness of ‘Love in an Elevator,’ to the classic ballad ‘Dream On’ shows why Activision chose us to headline this game based on the diversity of the Aerosmith catalog. Not only is songwriting a bitch, but then it goes and has puppies.”

                                                 Fuck Yeah.

Start putting out heartland-ish rock and you're bound to attract an audience partially made up of drunken brodudes. That’s the lesson to take from former D Generation frontman-turned-roots-rocker Jesse Malin’s show last night at TT’s, during which it was hard to tell if the group in the center of the room yelling out over a few of the singer's acoustic numbers and his occasionally verbose song introductions were disciples or haters. Not that Malin, who often seems like he’s imagining himself playing to bigger venues, seemed to care. He was off in his own world for much of the affair. My friend who came along put it best when she said afterwards: “It’s hard to imagine him off the stage.”

It was thanks to this detachment that last night turned out to be pretty enjoyable, despite the vibe emanating from a portion of the crowd. Malin and his crew (which included Dresden Doll Brian Viglione, lipstick-less and looking like he was enjoying himself immensely on drums) stuck mostly to his excellent first record, The Fine Art of Self Destruction (my review! of the album here) and his more radio-ready, recent release, Glitter in the Gutter. From the former: the slow-building “Brooklyn” thrilled whenever it picked up and Viglione sprung into action, his long black hair shooting about wildly. From the latter: the touching tribute to Malin's deceased mom, "Broken Radio" -- a duet with Bruce Springsteen on the album -- sounded just fine without the boss. And you gotta love a guy who’ll do a stripped-down, keyboard-accompanied “Bastards of Young” cover and amble around the stage like he’s karoake-ing to his favorite song.

Unfortunately, it was a short while after Viglione’s other half, Amanda Palmer, showed up to TT's that the performance stalled for me. It wasn’t her puffy, dyed hair obstructing my view that was the problem. Rather, it was Malin’s sudden self-indulgent turn, telling us about how he ran into Yoko Ono on the street in New York and then turning it into an opportunity to comment on the Sixties in general. “They really tried hard,” I think he said of that era at one point.

sure would've been nice if I took some pictures, huh?

You, too, can step into Brad Whitford's shoes

Besides the album, Aerosmith is also working closely with the makers of "Guitar Hero IV," which will be dedicated to the Boston group's music. "I don't know much about the technical part of it," Perry says, "but artistically we're working hand in hand."