What a day for rock fans and gamers alike – a brand new guitar-shaped controller got a reveal, and we’re getting some classic Green Day tracks in Fortnite Festival, an expansion to the battle royale that brings back fond memories of Guitar Hero and Rock Band.
PDP – Performance Designed Products – is known for snazzy wired controllers in all colors and patterns for most platforms. The studio recently revealed a new controller in the shape of a guitar, in a swish black design, with two configurations for Xbox and PlayStation. The controller is essentially made for Rock Band and Fortnite Festival.
It seems that you can also use it on PC, as eagle-eyed fans have pointed out a PC icon next to the other symbols. The peripheral is reminiscent of Guitar Hero controllers, with a more modern feel. It has a USB-C charging port, a 3.5mm audio jack, and up to 36 hours of use just from one charge. Also, you can fold it for easy storage, which is crazy. While we don’t have one for Switch or mobile just yet, we’re sure some players will quickly figure out how to use it on the platforms.
Using a guitar controller is definitely the right way to play this rhythm game, as it feels quite weird doing it with a normal controller or on a mobile screen, and what better way to test a new controller than with some heady pop-punk beats? Three smashing tracks from the band’s hit album Dookie, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, are coming to Fortnite Festival. The three featured songs are Basket Case, Welcome to Paradise, and When I Come Around – apparently largely uncensored.
By the way, Tré Cool and co’s songs are not for the faint of heart – Welcome to Paradise has the highest difficulty so far for drums, and scores a 6/7 on lead and bass guitar. Good luck, fellow Green Day fans.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Billie Joe and the boys in a video game. They have songs featured on many soundtracks and have DLC for Rocksmith and Beat Saber, and 2010 saw the release of Green Day: Rock Band on Wii and other consoles. Does this mean we’ll get a classic black shirt and red tie combo as an outfit? Can I be the American Idiot in Fortnite? Only time will tell.
I, for one, hope this opens the doors to more classic emo-rock bands in modern games. I just wanna be in the Black Parade again, ok? Anyway, if you like music games, we can recommend some rhythm games to you.