Not sure how else you can really describe the fact that the next iteration of the Guitar Hero franchise will come equipped with a story mode which depicts an epic quest across a mythological world of rock. Kotaku, whose source is the latest issue of Nintendo Power, has the whole story, and I'll let you decide if any of the following seems...borrowed.
"The Beast defeats the demigod of rock and the demigod of rock is entombed in stone and his legendary guitar is banished," Bright said. "[The guitar] is the source of his power. And so you are going through and assembling an army of warriors to be able to defeat the beast. Along the way, you'll have to recover the legendary guitar…" Guitar Hero characters like Lars Ümlaüt and Johnny Napalm also appear to have the ability to transform into a blue-skinned goblin and a half-man, half-boar warrior, respectively.
The inclusion of this "otherworldly tale, narrated by KISS frontman Gene Simmons," certainly sounds like Activision is taking a few cues from a game they once had on their publishing slate before expunging it in favor of Spyro the Dragon 650. This is also an interesting development given those old rumors that Activision attempted to re-imagine Double Fine's latest project into a Guitar Hero installment before shelving it altogether.
Update by Kroms: In case anyone's actually interested in this - and I can't see why you would be - Activision have just released a trailer and a tentative list of artists and songs. Note how the trailer opens with Black Sabbath's "Children of the Grave", which you may know as the song played during Brutal Legend's first gameplay segment. Note, too, that the artists featured in the game include legends such as AFI, Slipknot and My Chemical Romance, which you may know as bands not appearing in Brutal Legend, because Brutal Legend's song list wasn't made of stupid. Rumors of Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit or Kabbage Boy a hint of irony about this whole deal appearing in the game remain unconfirmed.
You could of course buy this. Alternatively, you could just buy a brand new copy of Brutal Legend for $20 off of Amazon. It's not the greatest game Schafer's ever made (the RTS elements are controversial, you can progress in the game without picking up some helpful solos, some other stuff), but it's fun and can, at times, be pretty cool. Seriously and for reals.
Source: Kotaku
I for one found the actual gameplay in Brutal Legend to be quite unpolished and not that good. It seems to be a recurring thing in Schafers action games, they're funny, but the gameplay isn't that great.