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It appears that the Guitar Hero craze may be leveling off...


steve_man

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No kidding! It seems that as soon as Activision/Neversoft took over the franchise, they made it their mission to immediately {censored} out as many terrible games as possible.


Before Activision: 3 games in 3 years

After Activision: 12 games in 3 years



This. Some of the recent games have been good, but there's been so much filler (I'm looking at you, Band Hero and Lego Rock Band). Personally I love Guitar Hero, but it's tough for me to play because the game makes my eyes hurt and I can't play more than a few songs at a time. It's one of the few games my wife is interested in and we play together. :thu:

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This. Some of the recent games have been good, but there's been so much filler (I'm looking at you, Band Hero and Lego Rock Band). Personally I love Guitar Hero, but it's tough for me to play because the game makes my eyes hurt and I can't play more than a few songs at a time. It's one of the few games my wife is interested in and we play together.
:thu:

 

+1! Have any of you actually played this game? It's pretty fun. My wife got it for me for Christmas and it's something we've played together. It's much more like air guitar with buttons than playing a real guitar. But, it introduces a competitive element and the music is good. I'd rather kids play this than WOW, Grand Theft Auto, or 1st person shooter games. It reminds me of the games I played when I was a kid.

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+1! Have any of you actually played this game. It's pretty fun. My wife got it for me for Christmas and it's something we've played together.
It's much more like air guitar with buttons than playing a real guitar.
But, it introduces a competitive element and the music is good. I'd rather kids play this than WOW, Grand Theft Auto, or 1st person shooter games. It reminds me of the games I played when I was a kid.

 

Exactly the point I made. Guitar Hero is merely the tennis racket, or indeed air guitar, of our generation. Would you go up to a kid air-guitaring to a song and tell him he's a waste of space and that he should pick up a real guitar?

 

And yes, I have played it. Hard to get the hang of, but it's pretty fun. I actually got a little bit of feeling that I was actually on stage, stupid as that may seem... then again, I've never been on stage in real life :lol:

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My brother-in-law and I spent about 5-6 hours over the holidays playing through Beatles Rock Band. I can't play the guitar in those games, so he did the guitars and I played drums. It was a blast.

 

It's harmless. I wouldn't read too much into these games. Like everything else on the planet, people can take it too far.

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I love Rock Band....mostly the Beatles version. Sure it's weird on some of the heavily orchestrated songs playing Tuba or strings....but at the same time, you get to play along with SITAR tracks too!

 

I'd say I actually enjoy playing bass on a lot of the tracks, especially Hey Bulldog!

 

I have fun playing it, and it has actually improved one facet of my real guitar playing, and that's playing and singing at the same time, which is something I really struggle with.

 

I just hope Harmonix releases Revolver and Magical Mystery Tour as downloadable content. From what I've read, a lot of the DLC for the Beatles version is dependent upon sales, and obviously if it's done poorly the chances aren't good.

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I totally disagree!!

Here is the reason

"Pachter's theory is reflected in the lackluster sales numbers of MTV Games (VIA) and Electronic Arts' (ERTS)?The Beatles: Rock Band, which surprised analysts by only selling 800,000 copies since its release -- falling short of the one million expected in its first month. Concurrently, Activision's (ATVI) Guitar Hero 5 had a sizable but diminishing debut compared to its predecessor -- the fifth entry sold 500,000 in its first month whereas Guitar Hero III unloaded 1.4 million in the same amount of time"

the Beatles - SUCKS, Guitar Hero 5 SUCKS and Band Hero SUCKS - none of those are guitar music oriented stuff - they are all band oriented with LAME/BAD/PATHETIC music.

Van Halen - I'm buying!! AC/DC now that I have both GH and RB I'm getting.

You cannot expect guitar and youngsters (who BTW love a lot of the heavy stuff) to even think once about BEATLES.

Does no on even check the demographic of video gam buyers anymore or are the guys at GH just Beatles fans?

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I totally disagree!!


Here is the reason


"Pachter's theory is reflected in the lackluster sales numbers of MTV Games (VIA) and Electronic Arts' (ERTS)?The Beatles: Rock Band, which surprised analysts by only selling 800,000 copies since its release -- falling short of the one million expected in its first month. Concurrently, Activision's (ATVI) Guitar Hero 5 had a sizable but diminishing debut compared to its predecessor -- the fifth entry sold 500,000 in its first month whereas Guitar Hero III unloaded 1.4 million in the same amount of time"


the Beatles - SUCKS, Guitar Hero 5 SUCKS and Band Hero SUCKS - none of those are guitar music oriented stuff - they are all band oriented with LAME/BAD/PATHETIC music.


Van Halen - I'm buying!! AC/DC now that I have both GH and RB I'm getting.


You cannot expect guitar and youngsters (who BTW love a lot of the heavy stuff) to even think once about BEATLES.


Does no on even check the demographic of video gam buyers anymore or are the guys at GH just Beatles fans?

 

 

While there are parts of your post I disagree with, you do have some valid points. They did make a shift from the Guitar Only or Guitar Heavy songs in favor of a "whole band experience". When they did that, to me it shifted from being fun to play solo. I only every play now if there's a group of folks over, and that's what they want to do.

 

I think this alienated a lot of gamers. I also think they've tried to branch out into other music genres, which doesn't seem to have paid off as well. I agree, most of the fans of the original games want more heavy guitar influenced stuff that is in some style of metal, and could give a crap about vocals. Most of the people I know who have played since the days of GH1 and GH2 hate all of the new ones. Don't like the group play, songs, etc.

 

I think the problem is this: These games can only thrive by making money (DUH!). Adding record companies and bands into an equation that is traditionally limited to folks who are in house at a game development company starts to bring profits down right out of the gate--more hands in the piggy bank.

 

But I will say this. I'll buy every track from The Beatles Rock Band, as they're one of my favorite bands, and it's just another way to enjoy their music.

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While there are parts of your post I disagree with, you do have some valid points. They did make a shift from the Guitar Only or Guitar Heavy songs in favor of a "whole band experience". When they did that, to me it shifted from being fun to play solo. I only every play now if there's a group of folks over, and that's what they want to do.


I think this alienated a lot of gamers. I also think they've tried to branch out into other music genres, which doesn't seem to have paid off as well. I agree, most of the fans of the original games want more heavy guitar influenced stuff that is in some style of metal, and could give a crap about vocals. Most of the people I know who have played since the days of GH1 and GH2 hate all of the new ones. Don't like the group play, songs, etc.


I think the problem is this: These games can only thrive by making money (DUH!). Adding record companies and bands into an equation that is traditionally limited to folks who are in house at a game development company starts to bring profits down right out of the gate--more hands in the piggy bank.


But I will say this. I'll buy every track from The Beatles Rock Band, as they're one of my favorite bands, and it's just another way to enjoy their music.

 

 

excellent response and I agree with it all.

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I totally disagree!!


Here is the reason


"Pachter's theory is reflected in the lackluster sales numbers of MTV Games (VIA) and Electronic Arts' (ERTS)?The Beatles: Rock Band, which surprised analysts by only selling 800,000 copies since its release -- falling short of the one million expected in its first month. Concurrently, Activision's (ATVI) Guitar Hero 5 had a sizable but diminishing debut compared to its predecessor -- the fifth entry sold 500,000 in its first month whereas Guitar Hero III unloaded 1.4 million in the same amount of time"


the Beatles - SUCKS, Guitar Hero 5 SUCKS and Band Hero SUCKS - none of those are guitar music oriented stuff - they are all band oriented with LAME/BAD/PATHETIC music.


Van Halen - I'm buying!! AC/DC now that I have both GH and RB I'm getting.


You cannot expect guitar and youngsters (who BTW love a lot of the heavy stuff) to even think once about BEATLES.


Does no on even check the demographic of video gam buyers anymore or are the guys at GH just Beatles fans?

 

 

Good point, Brewski. When Rock Band came out Guitar Hero had to get the whole band treatment to keep up with the Joneses. I don't really mind this because playing drums is fun. My big beef is with the watered down track listings. I thought Guitar Hero in general was fine until World Tour, when they featured Tokio Hotel, No Doubt and Coldplay--some of the last bands that one would associate with guitar heroes. GH5 was just as bad: Gorillaz, No Doubt (again), Coldplay (again), Elton John (???). Band Hero was intended to be family-based, and the soundtrack fits. But as far as the main games go I really wish they'd get back on track and feature songs from true guitar heroes.

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That's what I hoped/expected would happen when Harmonix sold the Guitar Hero franchise to work on Rock Band: they would go the direction of the band game, while Guitar Hero would stay in the guitar-oriented games. Unfortunately, Neversoft finds it very difficult to come up with its own good ideas and decided to just do whatever Harmonix decided to do.

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If you were someone complaing about the GH/RB series, then you are most likely an idiot, pure and simple. There are a ton of stupid people that think GH/RB = Real skill on guitar/bass. (Vocals and Drums can help you with their IRL counterparts though). But I'd say the percentage of people that thought that was outweighed by the people that thought it was nothing but a fun game with some good music. And there are alot of people that've started real guitar after playing RB/GH, myself being one of them :D

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If you were someone complaing about the GH/RB series, then you are most likely an idiot, pure and simple. There are a ton of stupid people that think GH/RB = Real skill on guitar/bass. (Vocals and Drums can help you with their IRL counterparts though). But I'd say the percentage of people that thought that was outweighed by the people that thought it was nothing but a fun game with some good music. And there are alot of people that've started real guitar after playing RB/GH, myself being one of them
:D



Myself as well. I started playing after getting into GH2 a few years back.

Still waiting for Classical Guitar Hero, though.

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I liked Gh1 and GH2. They were pretty fun at the time, although I wear contacts, and my eyes dry out whenever I play so I can't play long. GH1 and GH2 were actually covers, and I think thats why I enjoyed them more. It actually took more effort to make those games. GH3 is when they started to play the actual recording rather than make covers, so that's when I lost interest.

Anyway, I think anything that inspires you to play guitar or any musical instrument is a good thing, wether it be a cd, concert or guitar hero. More power to the GH series for getting people interested in good music again.

But I agree that these games are oversaturating the market. DJ Hero? Really? Soon we may actually see a Tuba Hero game. It was good for a few years, but maybe it's time to let this fad die.

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Guitar Hero introduced the younger generation to a lot of classic rock. I refuse to one of those people wringing my hands over the fad. It was just a game. People had fun with it.

That sums it up for me. It was a good way to expose kids to cool music they might not have gotten into otherwise. If they want to learn guitar for real, they can still do that, only now they'll be learning good tunes.

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