Guitar Hero Live PS4 PS3 PlayStation 4

Well, this is all unexpected, isn't it? Activision released an atrocious teaser trailer for Guitar Hero Live yesterday, the next entry in its dormant shredding series – but we thought that it was just a mood piece. Actually, it turns out that British developer FreeStyleGames is making a full motion video game – yes, the next Guitar Hero has been inspired by the most awkward of 90s arcade titles, like Mad Dog McCree.

Here's the elevator pitch: the game plays out in first-person. You are a nervous lead guitarist sitting back stage, and your band mates are getting pumped up. You need to grab your instrument – waltzing past groupies and roadies along the way – and then you're up on stage in front of a crowd of thousands. The familiar note highway appears, but if you start missing notes, the audience – acted out by real people – will react.

In some ways it's a great idea, but judging by the three minute trailer embedded below, it just looks embarrassing. The camera swings around so that you can see your band mates, who will attempt to pick you up if you're hitting bum notes. "Come on, man – what's going on?" they'll scream across the stage as you stumble through the opening riff. "This is better," they'll exclaim when you get back on track.

The new guitar

The game's changed, too: you'll now be working with a new controller, featuring six buttons. There'll be two rows of three buttons, coloured black and white. This, apparently, will make it easier for newcomers to pick up – you'll only need to work with one row on easy – but will add depth courtesy of chords for more advanced players. Given that there's only six buttons, though, there's going to be a limit on the number of bar chord shapes that you'll actually be able to create.

If all of this sounds wholly unappealing so far, then GHTV at least sounds like an interesting addition. This is the second half of the package, and will see you rocking along to music videos curated into MTV-style shows. You'll be able to jump straight into matchmaking from this area, and compete in multiplayer battles, too. A great idea – but none of the DLC from previous releases will carry across, so it remains to be seen how much content there'll be.

And that's it. The game and guitar will launch on the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 later this year, and will retail for £89.99/$99.99. Artists on the disc will include Ed Sheeran, Green Day, Fall Out Boy, The Killers, and more. We still can't get over the fact that someone's making an FMV game to be honest – but check out the trailer embedded below. It's actually happening, guys – this is a real product that's going to release in 2015.

[source eurogamer.net]