What was the biggest lesson your learned during development of the game? What one thing you want people to take away from the game?
We really opened up the set list with Band Hero and tried a bunch of stuff we never would have put in a Guitar Hero game. I think that process taught us how much fun you can have with this music. I really want people to realize that when you get a group of people together and throw in the Band Hero disc, people are going to have a good time. It's really hard not to; the music is just so much fun to sing and play.
It was recently announced that the new drum kit was coming bundled with Band Hero, and that it would be Wii exclusive for a limited time. Why was this decision made, and how long until the kit is available for the other consoles?
We’re so excited to bring this new drum kit, complete with a slimmer design and a sturdier base, to our Wii community. The new kit features quieter and more responsive drum heads, a new kick pedal with two built-in ports, and a slot to store your drum sticks. We haven’t announced plans to release the new drum kit for other systems just yet.
Will the Band Hero Super Pack come bundled with the guitar and mic controllers from Guitar Hero 5, or are there new controllers to go with the new drum kit?
The Band Hero superbundle will come with this year’s new guitar, also featured in the Guitar Hero 5 guitar bundle, as well as a drum kit controller and the wired Guitar Hero microphone.
Does Band Hero on Wii have any exclusive features, like the Mii Freestyle or Roadie Battle modes in Wii Guitar Hero games?
David Nathanielsz, Vicarious Visions: Yes! We spent a lot of time focusing on Wii exclusive modes for Band Hero and packed it full of special features. Band Hero includes both the Mii Freestyle and Roadie Battle modes that were part of Guitar Hero 5 on the Wii but we’ve also added two other exclusive features for Band Hero Wii. DS Party Play lets you manage your set list and all your music by wirelessly connecting a Nintendo DS while in Party Play. Party Play is all about quick and easy gameplay, where you can jump-in or drop-out without stopping the gameplay. With any DS connected to the Wii you can manage all of your music while everyone else is rocking away. You can add songs, remove songs, change up the set list, see all the artist and song information and even get trivia about the music in the game — all without ever interrupting the party. It’s very easy to manage all the music with the touch-screen interface on the DS and it doesn’t require any kind of game card to use the feature on the DS.
We’ve also got an exclusive feature called Fan Requests on the Wii that uses connectivity between Band Hero for the Wii and Band Hero for the DS Lite. If you have a copy of the Nintendo DS Lite version of Band Hero you can wirelessly connect it up to Band Hero Wii and access dozens of fan requests in the game. You’ll download these challenges to the DS, which you can take on the road and try to get the best score possible. When you’re done, you can connect back up to the Wii and unlock exclusive characters, content and even more fan requests. Fan Requests can be done on their own, but they are also tied into the career mode on Band Hero Wii and add hours of gameplay to Band Hero.
Will other new features from the Guitar Hero series like tap notes, party play, vocal star power and band moments be in Band Hero? What about standard features like the Rock Star Creator and Music Studio?
All of the new features from Guitar Hero 5 like the ability to easily jump in with Party Play, band moments, new competitive modes--all of it will be included in Band Hero. The Music Studio and Rock Star Creator are also included and we've even added some new outfits and clothing to put on your rock star. We also have a new game mode in Band Hero called Sing-Along that allows people to easily jump-in and sing along to their favorite songs without failing or being scored. You can use any mic that is plugged into the console at the time.
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