Band Hero is a spinoff video game as part of the Guitar Hero series of music video games, released by Activision on November 3, 2009, for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii and Nintendo DS consoles. The game is structurally similar to Guitar Hero 5, and supports full band play (lead and bass guitar, drums, and vocals) including the drop-in/drop-out and in-song instrument and difficulty change menus, and additional multiplayer modes as Guitar Hero 5. The console versions use instrument-shaped game controllers, while the DS version uses either the "Guitar Grip" introduced with the Guitar Hero: On Tour series or a new Drum Skin that come with the game. Like previous games, virtual avatars of Taylor Swift, Adam Levine, and the band No Doubt are presented in the game.

Band Hero received mixed reviews from journalists. Some considered the game to be an appropriately flavored version of Guitar Hero 5 for the "Top 40" pop rock hits, while others felt the game was strictly aimed at teenagers. They also contested the cost of the full game, featuring only 65 songs compared with 85 songs in Guitar Hero 5, and considered if the content would have been better in downloadable form. A day after the game's release, the band No Doubt sued Activision, citing similar misuse of their avatars as the Kurt Cobain avatar in Guitar Hero 5.

Gameplay[link]

Main version[link]

The game is functionally similar to the features of Guitar Hero 5, including bands composed of any combination of four instruments, drop-in/drop-out play, in-song menus to change difficulty and instrument, and additional multiplayer modes compared to Guitar Hero 5's "Rockfest". Band Hero also retains the Band Moment and the Band Revival feature from Guitar Hero 5.^[1] Taylor Swift, Adam Levine (of Maroon 5), and the band No Doubt have been confirmed to be playable avatars in the game.^[2][3][4][5] Artists performed motion capture for their in-game avatars.

A new drum kit controller was introduced with the game. While it features the same five-pad design as the Guitar Hero World Tour drum controller, many changes were made to address weight and size concerns that made assembly difficult. The cymbal pads are more circular than the previous triangular shapes, and the stand's crossbar has been lowered to its base as to allow for the bass kick pedal to be supported by it. Some adjustment to drum head sensitivity has been made based on complaints from the World Tour set, and the game will include a sensitivity adjustment feature. In the United States the new controller will, for a limited time, remain exclusive for the Wii version of the game and will be packaged in the Band Hero game and instrument bundles. The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of the controller will arrive later; Band Hero bundles for these platforms in the US will include the World Tour drum controller.^[6] In Europe, Band Hero Band Kits will ship with new drums on all platforms.^[7]

The Band Hero Drum Kit will be compatible with other Guitar Hero games.

DS version[link]

Band Hero for the Nintendo DS features the ability to play the same instruments as the console-based versions. Though the game is compatible with the DS, DS Lite, and DSi, only players on the DS Lite will receive the "full band" experience due to the nature of the hardware extensions for the unit.

Guitar and bass parts are played with the same "Guitar Grip" previously created for the Guitar Hero On Tour series, though this unit will not work on the Nintendo DSi and Nintendo 3DS due to lack of a GBA slot. The gameplay for guitar and bass is considered to be the fourth iteration of the Guitar Hero On Tour design by developers Vicarious Visions, and have further improvements to meet with different strumming styles.^[8]

A new "drum skin" that fits over the bottom half of the DS unit provides four "pads" for drumming that map to the unit's directional pad and face buttons; this design was selected over use of the touch screen due to the inability of the touch screen to recognize near-simultaneous taps, a factor that would have interfered with the drumming experience.^[8] The drum skin is limited to the Nintendo DS Lite due to the skin's form factor. The decision to design towards the DS Lite rather than the newer DSi was due to the much larger volume of DS Lite units that have been sold relative to the DSi.^[9]

The DS microphone is used for vocal parts. The DS has 30 of the songs from console versions. The game also supports up to four player multiplayer in a similar manner as Guitar Hero 5 using the DS's local wireless connections, allowing any combination of instruments.^[10] However, there is no support for the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection nor plans for additional downloadable content for the DS game.^[8]

Development[link]

A television advertisement, featuring Taylor Swift, Pete Wentz (Fall Out Boy), Travis Barker (Blink-182), and Rivers Cuomo (Weezer), was created for the game by director Brett Ratner in the same manner as previous ads for other recent Guitar Hero games, initially paying tribute to the scene in Risky Business with Tom Cruise dancing in his underwear to the song "Old Time Rock and Roll". Though it appears as if all four performed together, Wentz stated that Swift performed her parts separately using a green screen to impose her into the footage of the other musicians.^[11]

A three-song demo was made available on Xbox Live on October 15, 2009, and included "Paralyzer" by Finger Eleven, "Picture to Burn" by Taylor Swift and "Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina and the Waves. The demo was solely the Party Mode, with the three songs playable in random order.^[12]

Soundtrack[link]

Console soundtrack[link]

Band Hero for consoles features 65 songs from "mainstream acts".^[13][14] The game also allows Guitar Hero World Tour’s downloadable content to be used within Band Hero, and is expected to also use similar content for Guitar Hero 5.^[1] In addition, some on-disc songs from Guitar Hero World Tour and Guitar Hero Smash Hits will be importable into Band Hero and Guitar Hero 5 for an undetermined fee, with music licensing limiting those that can be transferred.^[15] Furthermore, 69 of the 85 on-disc songs from Guitar Hero 5 can be imported into Band Hero; similarly, 61 of the 65 songs from Band Hero can be exported for use in Guitar Hero 5 and Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock.^[16][17]

Nintendo DS soundtrack[link]

The Nintendo DS version of Band Hero features thirty songs of the same genre as the console-based soundtrack. Although they feature some of the same artists from the console version, the tracks themselves are different.^[14][18]

Importable content[link]

On release of Band Hero, 35 of the songs from World Tour and 21 from Smash Hits are importable into Band Hero for a small fee (approximately $0.10 per song), and are treated as downloadable content for the game playable in all game modes. Furthermore, 69 of the 85 tracks from Guitar Hero 5 will be importable into Band Hero. All transferred songs will also be playable in the Guitar Hero 5 and will be free if downloaded in either games. However, Guitar Hero 5 or Band Hero is not backwards-compatible with World Tour nor any other Guitar Hero game. The transfer process requires the player to enter a unique code from the World Tour or Smash Hits manual to be able to redownload available songs in a pack (on the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3) or individual songs (on the Wii) that have been updated to include the new features. Players on the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 can delete individual songs after downloading the pack. Some songs are not transferable because of licensing issues—not technical issues—according to Bright. Tim Riley, the head of music licensing at Activision, stated that the company will continue to seek licenses for more songs from previous games and downloadable content to be exported into Band Hero, but cannot guarantee that these songs will be licensed for future Guitar Hero games.

Downloadable content[link]

While Band Hero does not have its own separate library of downloadable content, it supports downloadable content from the Guitar Hero 5 DLC library. In addition, 152 of the 158 available downloadable songs for Guitar Hero World Tour are forward-compatible with Guitar Hero 5 and Band Hero; the existing content is automatically upgraded to include all features new to these games and was immediately available to players upon release of Band Hero.^[15][19][20] Downloaded songs can be used in all game modes, provided all participating players have the song, including in the game's Career mode when players are given the option to select any song to play. The entire Band Hero DLC library is also available in Guitar Hero 5, and vice versa, so both games embrace the same DLC library. But, some download songs have specific focus on Band Hero, like the "Celebrity New Years Track Pack" which includes Taylor Swift, Maroon 5 and No Doubt songs, and the "Band Hero Track Pack" with Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato, and Selena Gomez & the Scene songs.

Reception[link]

Band Hero has received mixed to positive reviews from gaming critics. Most recognized the game as having the same feature sets as Guitar Hero 5, including any benefits or flaws that may come from that. Reviewers praised the reuse of the Guitar Hero 5 features such as the Party Play mode that allows for players to jump in and out, the improved Career mode, and the improved GHTunes.^[23][25][27] Some identified that the target market of the game appears to be towards teenage girls, such as the featuring of Taylor Swift, the color schemes used in the game, and other parts of the song selection.^[26][28] Reviewers noted that setlist would be the strongest measure of whether players should purchase the game.^[26][24][28] The reviewers also commented on the smaller setlist, which contains only 65 songs compared to Guitar Hero 5's 85.^[25][27]

Review did note that the "Top 40" songs do not always make for challenging songs, as many featured simple chord repetition throughout the song or simply following pre-programmed electronic keyboard or drum beats.^[26][24][28] However, most songs were found to feature at least one difficult instrument portion that would be fun to play.^[26][24] Reviews also noted that the censoring of songs in order to affirm a family-friendly rating is awkward, such as censoring the word "whiskey" from Don McLean's "American Pie" (8 times), and can ruin the enjoyment of some songs.^[25] Greg Miller of IGN further noted that these censoring are at odds with the straight-up inclusion of other songs such as "Gasoline" by The Airborne Toxic Event which, Miller claims, is about sex.^[27]

Some reviews saw Band Hero as a good addition to the Guitar Hero franchise, and pointed out the strength of the game is improved in part due to the ability to import and export songs between Band Hero, Guitar Hero 5, and content. Justin Haywald of 1UP.com, in consideration of the equivalent nature of featured, considered that players now had a choice of "'Top 40' Band Hero or 'Hard Rock' [Guitar Hero 5]" skins to select for playing the music on, and positive direction for the series.^[23] However, others saw the simple rebranding of the game, and that some may see the product as little more than a "full-price track pack".^[25][28]

The game has sold 596,000 units in North America through January 2010, according to data from NPD Group.^[29] Prior to the end of 2009, Activision had expressed plans to publish a sequel to Band Hero in 2010.^[30] However, as a result of overall decline in music game sales, in part due to the large number of SKUs released by Activision during 2009, such plans have been shelved, as Activision only plans to release continuing sequels to Guitar Hero and DJ Hero in 2010.^[31]

Lawsuit by No Doubt[link]

A day following Band Hero's release, the band No Doubt filed a lawsuit against Activision. In a similar manner as Guitar Hero 5, where the avatar of Kurt Cobain could be used to play any of the songs in the game and leading to questionable virtual performances, the same was found to be true for the No Doubt avatars in Band Hero. No Doubt's lawsuit claims their contract limited their performance to the three songs within the game, and were never told their avatars would be used in that manner. Activision has stated they believe that the manner of use of the band's avatars in the game is within the bounds of their contract.^[32][33] The publisher has since filed a counter-suit against the band, alleging contract breaches; Activision claims that it was "publicly known" that in-game characters in the Guitar Hero series, once unlocked, could be used for all game modes, and that No Doubt's request came well after the game's code was finalized.^[34] Courtney Love, who has expressed an intention to follow legal action for Cobain's appearance in Guitar Hero 5, said to NME that she will join No Doubt in their lawsuit against Activision.^[35]

In April 2010, the court issued a tentative ruling against Activision, dismissing their claims of freedom of speech protection over No Doubt's rights of publicity.^[36] In February 2011, the 2nd District Court of Appeal in California upheld the initial ruling, allowing No Doubt's case to proceed against Activision.^[37] Activision attempted to appeal this decision at Los Angeles Superior Court, but the judge ruled against this in May 2012, assuring the case will be heard by jury later in 2012, though also denied a preliminary injunction sought by the band.^[38]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Band Hero site
• Activision
• RedOctane

Tony Hawk

Hawk in November 2006
Personal information
Full name	Anthony Frank Tony Hawk
Nickname(s)	The Birdman
Born	(1968-05-12) May 12, 1968 (age 44) Carlsbad, California, United States
Height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Weight	170 lb (77 kg)
Sport
Country	United States
Sport	Skateboarding
Medal record Summer X Games medal record Competitor for  United States Gold 1995 Rhode Island Vert Gold 1997 San Diego Vert Gold 1997 San Diego Vert Doubles Gold 1998 San Diego Vert Doubles Gold 1999 San Francisco Vert Doubles Gold 1999 San Francisco Vert Best Trick Gold 2000 San Francisco Vert Doubles Gold 2001 Philadelphia Vert Doubles Gold 2002 Philadelphia Vert Doubles Silver 1995 Rhode Island Park Silver 1996 Rhode Island Vert Silver 2001 Philadelphia Vert Best Trick Bronze 1998 San Diego Vert Bronze 1999 San Francisco Vert

Anthony Frank "Tony" Hawk (born May 12, 1968), nicknamed "The Birdman" is an American professional skateboarder and actor. Hawk gained significant fame for completing the first 900 as well as his licensed video game titles distributed by Activision. He is widely considered one of the most successful and influential pioneers of modern vertical skateboarding.^[1]

Raised in San Diego, California, Hawk was described as being "hyperactive" as a child. His parents supported his skateboarding because it served as an outlet for his excessive energy, and as Hawk's skills developed, he became a professional skateboarder at age fourteen. In 1999, he became the first skater to land a 900. In 2002, he created the Boom Boom HuckJam, an extreme sports exhibition and tour which launched in Las Vegas.

Throughout his career, Hawk has made numerous appearances in films and other media, as well as his own series of video games. He has also been involved in various philanthropic activities including his own Tony Hawk Foundation which helps build skateparks in underprivileged areas, and also including collaborations with other athletes in the charity Athletes for Hope.

Early life[link]

Hawk was born in Carlsbad, California, to, Frank Peter Rupert Hawk. ^[2][3] When Hawk was young, he was described as being "hyperactive,"^[3] and his mother says that he was "so hard on himself and expected himself to do so many things."^[1] One time, Tony struck out in baseball and was so distraught that he hid in a ravine and had to be "physically coaxed out" by his father. His frustration with himself was so harsh that his parents had him psychologically evaluated at school. The results were that Tony was "gifted," and school advisors recommended placing him in advanced classes.^[1]

Hawk attended Jean Farb Middle School from 1980 to 1981, and recently went back there for the show "Homecoming" where he set up a ramp and did a demonstration.

He turned pro by the age of 14^[1] and was the National Skateboard Association world champion for 12 consecutive years.

The 900[link]

On July 27, 1999, Hawk was the first skater to land a 900. He successfully landed the trick, which involves completing two-and-a-half revolutions with the skateboard, on the eleventh attempt. After completing the trick, he commented, "This is the best day of my life."^[4] Nearly 12 years later Hawk was still able to land his famous 900 and posted a video of the trick via his Twitter account stating "I'm 42 and I did a 900 today."^[5]

Endorsements[link]

Boom Boom HuckJam[link]

In 1998, Tony Hawk started freestyle motocross, skateboarding, and BMX with a show in Las Vegas and then on to 31 cities around the USA and eventually to Six Flags amusement parks.^[6]

Video Game Series[link]

A video game series based on his skateboarding debuted in 1999. Since then, the series has spawned 16 titles, including main series titles, spin-offs, and repackages. The latest game of the series is the Tony Hawk: Ride, which involves riding on a skateboard-shaped controller.

Hawk's role in the series was usurped by customizable player characters in later installments,^[7] but he has remained a prominent character. In the 2003 game Tony Hawk's Underground, he is a minor non-player character whom the player meets in Tampa, Florida and skates against. Impressed with the player's skills, Hawk grants them entry into a skate competition.^[8] He later appears in Moscow to teach them the "360 Varial Heelflip Lien" move.^[9] Hawk and other skaters are briefly playable near the end of the game when they skate in a promotional video for the player's skate team,^[10] and in all gameplay modes except the story mode.^[11] He appeared as a kid in the Backyard Sports series Backyard Skateboarding.

Amusement Park Ride[link]

A series of amusement park rides known as Tony Hawk's Big Spin were built in three Six Flags parks in 2007 and 2008. The ride was originally billed as the "total Tony Hawk experience" and was designed to have the look and feel of a giant red-and-black skatepark. It offered a full "extreme sports" experience, with monitors in the queue lines displaying highlights of the history of action sports and a large spinning Tony Hawk figure crowning the ride. The ride was later demolished to make way for a new ride known as Superman: Ultimate Flight (Six Flags Discovery Kingdom) announced to be open in Spring 2012. Additionally, a water park ride called Tony Hawk's Halfpipe was opened at Six Flags America in Bowie, MD.

Film and television appearances[link]

In 1986, Tony Hawk was a featured skateboarder and skater-double for Josh Brolin in the movie Thrashin'. In 1989, he appeared as a skateboarder in Gleaming the Cube. In 2002, he appeared in Neal H. Moritzs's and Christopher Gilcrest's film xXx playing the role of one of Xander Cages stuntman friends, and later in the movie, a skateboarder at a party. In 2004 he played himself in the Australian skateboarding movie Deck Dogz. In 2006, Tony Hawk appeared in a cameo on the film Drake & Josh Go Hollywood as himself; when Drake & Josh steal his car to escape from two crooks with the Geo (iPods) that carry illegal information for counterfeiting money. Tony Hawk also asks for the cops to give Drake & Josh a police escort to Sunset Studios, for a performance on TRL. Hawk has had a cameo in the movie, The New Guy. Hawk appeared in Jackass: The Movie with Mat Hoffman and Bam Margera, skateboarding in a fat suit and Jackass 2, while skateboarding through an obstacle course. Tony appears in the film following the 2006 Gumball Rally, 3000 Miles, again with Bam Margera. He also plays the police officer who arrests Ryan Dunn in the movie Haggard: The Movie. Hawk also made a brief cameo appearance in Lords Of Dogtown as an astronaut, where he is shown comically falling off the skateboard as he is a "rookie". He played himself in an episode of Rocket Power.

Hawk was featured as an extra in the "Weird Al" Yankovic video "Smells like Nirvana". He can be seen sitting in the bleachers during the crowd sweep near Dick Van Patten. He also made a cameo appearance in the Simple Plan music video for "I'm Just a Kid", he can be seen, in a crowd, watching kids at a high school skating..

On television, he has also appeared in Action (TV series), What I Like About You, The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, The Tom Green Show, The Naked Brothers Band and Zeke and Luther, So Random, and All That. Hawk was a guest on the kid's show on Nickelodeon, Yo Gabba Gabba.^[12] In 2000, he played himself in Max Steel. He also guest voiced on The Simpsons episode "Barting Over", where he played himself, along with fellow San Diegans Blink-182. In the episode, Hawk lends Homer a new board from his brand where complete rookies are able to perform at the top levels. He ends up having a comical play off with him after Homer begins to show him up. On the PBS Kids show Cyberchase, he guest starred as Slider's long-lost father, Coop. In the CSI: Miami episode "Game Over" he played a game programmer who was murdered. In 2008, he played on Million Dollar Password. Hawk also played on Fox's Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader. Tony Hawk helped design the world famous Canvey Island skate park in 1982 and has hosted Cartoon Network's "Hall of Game" sports award show on February 25, 2011. Hawk was also on the Live-Action/Animated Talk Show Take Two With Phineas and Ferb. Hawk appeared on the internet cooking show Epic Meal Time on October 28, 2011 to celebrate the show's one year anniversary, where he can be seen in the final scene eating a deep-fried pizza cake. He also guest starred on the ABC comedy, Last Man Standing. He also played a skater in Police Academy 4: Citizens On Patrol.

Skate videos[link]

This section requires expansion.

• 1984: The Bones Brigade Video Show (Powell-Peralta)
• 1985: Future Primitive (Powell-Peralta)
• 1987: The Search for Animal Chin (Powell-Peralta)
• 1988: Public Domain (Powell-Peralta)
• 1989: Ban This (Powell-Peralta)
• 1992: Feasters (Birdhouse)
• 1992: Untitled (Birdhouse)
• 1993: Ravers (Birdhouse)
• 1998: The End (Birdhouse)
• 2001: One Step Beyond (Adio)
• 2007: The Beginning (Birdhouse)

Personal life[link]

Hawk with Lhotse Merriam in 2007.

Hawk married Cindy Dunbar in April 1990.^[13] They had a son, Riley Hawk (born December 6, 1992) whom they named for one of Hawk's ancestors.^[14] Riley also skates for Lakai Limited Footwear and Baker Skateboards.^[15] The couple divorced in 1993.^[3] Hawk married Erin Lee in 1996. They had two sons, Spencer (born March 26, 1999) and Keegan (born July 18, 2001). Lee and Hawk divorced in 2004.^[3] Hawk married Lhotse Merriam on January 12, 2006, on the island of Tavarua, Fiji.^[16] The couple's first child, a daughter named Kadence Clover Hawk, was born on June 30, 2008. The couple announced their divorce on February 7, 2011.^[17]

Tony launched the Tony Hawk Foundation, which has given away more than $3.4 million to help build well over 400 skateparks around the U.S.A. The Foundation supports projects in low income areas and helps underprivileged kids. In 2007, Hawk, Andre Agassi, Muhammad Ali, Lance Armstrong, Warrick Dunn, Jeff Gordon, Mia Hamm, Andrea Jaeger, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Mario Lemieux, Alonzo Mourning and Cal Ripken, Jr. founded the charity Athletes for Hope^[18] which helps professional athletes get involved in charitable causes and aims to inspire all people to volunteer and support their communities.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Tony Hawk

• Official website
• tonyhawkfoundation.org
• Tony's Birdhouse Skateboards website
• Tony Hawk at the Internet Movie Database