Here's how Guitar Hero Live fakes rock 'n' roll

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Turns out there's quite a bit of movie magic behind Guitar Hero Live's impressive stage shows. As you can see in this behind-the-scenes trailer, those rock concert scenes really did have a big, live audience… standing in front of an even bigger green screen and cheering / jeering at a huge camera-wielding robot.

It may drain some of the magic to see that Activision didn't just get thousands of shrieking twenty-somethings together and strap a GoPro to a guitarist's head. But can you imagine having to call "cut" and send everybody back to their marks when the bassist trips over a cord, or when it's time to start filming the "guitarist totally sucks" scenario?

The video also expands a bit on Guitar Hero Live's new controller, which features three rows of two buttons each, instead of five Skittles-colored buttons straight down the neck. Not only does it let you kinda make chords, it's apparently closer in line with what most folks do with their fingers when they play air guitar. All our Guitar Hero Live details live here if you want to know more.

Though I'm hoping FreeStyleGames creative director Jamie Jackson is a giant of a man, because that controller looks more like Ukulele Hero with him holding it.

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Connor Sheridan
Connor Sheridan

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and now I'm a staff writer here at GamesRadar.

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