Here is a very interesting rumor to start off with some IAAPA coverage: Guitar Hero will be at IAAPA and there will be a twist in who is involved in the game. According to the source at bemanistyle.com, the game has been developed by Raw Thrills but it will be published by Konami. Konami of course makes Guitar Freaks so if they are in fact involved with the new GH Arcade, that will not just be a big surprise, it also makes me wonder if the gameplay will mimick any certain aspects of Guitar Freaks. Here’s a little more according to bemanistyles anonymous source:
our source has stated the cabinet is going to feature 8-10 speakers, more than 500 LED lights and a 32″ monitor. The cabinet is also reportedly slated to take advantage of Internet connections to provide online cash tournaments sometime starting in 2009.
The online thing would deal with none other than the Play Mechanix/Raw Thrills Coin-Up network and offering cash prizes could easily draw many GH fans to any arcade with an online enabled cabinet to play.
Just keep in mind that it’s still a rumor – I have contacted some sources about this to see if there is anything else to it but so far I have not heard anything back (which isn’t terribly surprising as it’s Sunday night) but we’ll keep you posted as soon as we find out more.
Tiny update: While I tried to get some confirmation on this, all I could find out is that Konami is going to be at the Betson booth, which is why they are not on the IAAPA map. Raw Thrills also shares the Betson booth so the union on Guitar Hero would be pretty easy to handle. That and our friend Editor in the comments below confirms it so now we just are waiting for the pics and video.
Another update: I have received confirmation that American Idol and Guitar Hero are there at IAAPA. That’s not much considering it’s starting tomorrow but at least it’s no rumor. We’ll have all the info we can get on it when it becomes available.
[Thanks to Bemanistyle] [Discuss on the Forum]
Yay – we can talk about it now the news has broken – yep, Konami owns the rights to the technology for AC application so they worked with Activision and Raw Thrills. More big news about Konami expected soon.
Now to find that guy from Capcom and prove to him arcade is not dead in the US!
Its amazing that they are just getting around to producing a cab for GH, but other than that it will be a huge success in us arcades no doubt.
Yeah, this could be big. Don’t forget that they’ve got American Idol coming to arcades and depending on how that is made it could be pretty big too. Then there’s Justice League and uBeat, and who knows what else will be showing up. 🙂