Hot on the heels of, well, pretty much every other Guitar Hero release, comes news of Guitar Hero 5.  The game was announced, to no one's surprise, just over a week ago and now we have the first details, including a couple screenshots showing off the new art style, and even some of the artists featured on the soundtrack.

The biggest addition is allowing players to mix and match instruments as they like.  No longer will you be restricted to two guitars, drums, and a microphone.  Go all rhythm with 3 drummers and a bassist, test your harmonies with four singers, whatever you like!  Party Play mode will include easy drop in drop out, and changing difficulty levels on the fly, even mid-song.  That sounds quite co-op friendly!

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In lieu of Co-Op Casual Fridays today, we bring you another installment of Billy's Soapbox.  This article focuses on two co-op and casual friendly games: Guitar Hero and Rock Band.

Guitar Hero wasn't the first music game, but it was arguably the most influential.  However, the team behind the original Guitar Hero has split, and now there are two series, Guitar Hero and Rock Band.  Both series are amazing as far as co-op goes, and the genre has definitely reached a point of maturity.  Hundreds of songs are available for gamers to rock out to.  One of many differences between the two franchises is how new music is delivered to the player.  Guitar Hero leans to a disc based approach, with a small amount of DLC interspersed between new game releases.  Rock Band is on the other end of the spectrum, almost entirely focusing on downloadable content.

So which is best?  Each method has its own benefits and drawbacks, that much is certain.  Today, we'll take a look at disc based content.  Examples of this include Guitar Hero Metallica, the upcoming Guitar Hero Smash Hits, and the AC/DC Track Pack for Rock Band.  First we'll consider the good, then the bad, and we'll do the same for downloadable content delivery in a future article.

The final song list for next month's Guitar Hero Smash Hits has made it to the internet.  Previously, the songs included from the original Guitar Hero, as well as Guitar Hero 2, had been revealed.  Now, the contributions from GH3, Rocks the 80s, and even a song from the Aerosmith disc are all included.

It appears the manjority of the songs in Smash Hits are from GH and GH2, which is certainly a wise decision.  Only eight songs from GH3, and a half dozen from GH 80s are included.  Highlights from these games include Living Colour's "Cult of Personality" and Twisted Sister's "I Wanna Rock".  Check out the full set list after the break.

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Yup, that's another plastic music game doohickey.

Activision has released a huge amount of information about a whole slew of upcoming music games.  Not content with one big release, they've got a quartet of games ready to go for the always crowded fall video game release schedule.  (Insert your own witty comment about quantity vs. quality here.)

First up is the imaginatively named Guitar Hero 5.  This sounds like the most co-op friendly of the lot, with an emphasis on drop in/drop out shredding action.  Also, changing instruments and difficulty levels on the fly will be implemented, which is certainly a party friendly idea. 

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Now let's see some JAZZ HANDS!

So you have all these awesome plastic instruments laying around, and you've upgraded them all to be wireless.  Tired of that ugly corded microphone for Rock Band or Guitar Hero?  Wouldn't it be cool if those sexy new wireless microphones for Lips worked with the full band games?

The announcement that Lips microphones would be patched to work with Rock Band 2 came last year, but has yet to happen.  Now, it looks like another game will get compatibility with those mikes first, and that game is:

GUITAR HERO METALLICA.  

*crickets chirping*

Not a joke, folks.  Nothing says "I'm an awesome heavy metal god" like sparkly, color changing, wireless microphones, right?  Maybe you can pretend the sparkles are fire, lightning, or explosions, eh?

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Aerosmith was the first.  Metallica will soon be the second.  The Beatles are on the horizon.  Now, it appears that another successful band will hit your home consoles in rhythm game form.  Guitar Hero Van Halen has been rumored for quite a while, and now it seems the rumor is gaining strength.

Retailer Game Crazy now lists a title, imaginatively called Guitar Hero Van Halen.  The release date, according to the listing, is 8/31/09.  That puts it just over a week in front of the 9/09/09 release of The Beatles: Rock Band.  Van Halen vs. the Beatles at the same time on the video game sales charts?  It's a good time to be a music game fan, and a bad time to be a music game fan's wallet.

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