Guitar Hero and Me

I've gone about this game a couple of times, but I figure I'd give a little history about me and the game, and how I came to be so hooked on it. I'd seen the game a few times here and there. They had it set up once in the arcade at a Wal-Mart before, and I'd seen it run from the checkout but I paid it no attention at all. Just wasn't interested in a video game about guitar playing.

Well, last year during a break from stocking, the store had Guitar Hero Encore: the 80's setup on the PS2 as a demo. I figured I'd try it. I played Mental Health (Bang Your Head) by Quiet Riot which is the first song on the game. I set it for easy, and failed out pretty quickly. But there was some fun in there, so I played it again. I did this for my entire break. Then I came back on lunch and finally got through Bang Your Head and went on to No One Like You by Scorpions.

I went on like this for as long as they had the demo setup to play, taking every moment I had to play this game. I ended up playing all 30 songs on the game, and I moved on to medium and began mastering them on medium. I started having to play the career mode to unlock the songs since they had no memory card in the system and shut it off periodically. I got so proficient at medium, that I began playing the hard level before they finally took down the demo.

But by then, it was getting close to Thanksgiving and the release of Guitar Hero 3. So I played Guitar Hero 3 for a very short time before some geniuses backed up too far from the system, knocking the PS2 to the floor and busting the disc. No more GH3. But not to worry...another game was to fill that void.

Let's talk about Rock Band. I love this game too, but there's a little story behind it and why it isn't Guitar Hero. Guitar Hero was created by two companies: Red Octane that made the peripherals (the guitar controllers) and owned the rights to the game and Harmonix, that did the programming of the game itself. Well, in 2007, Red Octane was bought by Activision and Harmonix was bought by MTV. This meant that Activision owned the rights to make the game, but none of the original coders, and MTV got the coders but not the game.

This means that Guitar Hero 3 was put out by a different company than the one that made the first 3. Rock Band, by contrast was put out by the original company, but they couldn't use the name or original program. I got to play a demo for Rock Band on a PS3 that was setup in the Christmas area of the store, and I fell in love all over again. This one had not only the guitar which was fun, but also drums. And the drums were just like playing the real drums (which I do play) and it gives you the option to select bass or guitar on any level with the free play mode (the only one open on the demo version).

This game was awesome with its different modes and I even got the family up there playing along too. But then too many rough players happened. The guitar broke; wouldn't work at all. Then the drums stopped working to the point that the game was no longer playable. It was taken down as well, and no other guitar games were put up to demo, and that was understandable.

The damage, however, was done. I was hooked. I at least wanted a PS2 to get all of these games to play, but getting one proved to be a fruitless venture. Darth Vader had a PS2 and PS3 but was unwilling to part with his PS2, even to sell it. I learned later this was likely due to the fact that not 100% of the PS2 games are playable on the PS3, so I can follow his wanting to keep it just in case.

We had wanted a Wii for quite some time, and encouragement for the future came in the form of an article that said that Rock Band (while not available for the Wii last Christmas) is supposed to come out for it in the future. They were delayed because they couldn't figure out a good way to use the Wiimote (that little piece gives everyone fits).

I was torn for awhile on whether to get GH3 for the Wii, or continue to hold out for the PS2. I finally decided that we have a Wii, and getting the Wii version would take no convincing of the Queen, and I'd have the game a lot sooner than waiting for the PS2 that may never come. Besides, given that you can still get an 8-bit Nintendo, I can get a PS@ someday if I'm really wanting the original games, and play then.

So now I have GH3, and I started on medium, finished it, and have moved on to hard and expert, though I often waffle back and forth between all three levels working to master the 70 songs in the total game. With the glorious addition of the additional controller, 2 player capability is wide open, and the Engineer and I played co-op for a couple hours before I had to leave on Saturday night. It was very fun, though he won't let me play bass.

The big joy in this realm though, is that a new GH game is scheduled for June, and it is supposed to be based on the music of Aerosmith, of all things. Haven't listened to a wealth of (well, any) Aerosmith, so that should be interesting. They have a knack for picking catchy songs in the games, so I am fairly certain we'll get hooked on it too. Can't wait.

There is also a GH4 in the works hopefully for Christmas of this year. Of course, no info is out about that except that one artist spilled that a song of his will be on it. It's a big franchise with unlimited sequel possibilities, so I doubt it is something they'll stop making anytime soon. Given how big it is, I doubt we'll ever get so desperate for more games that we'll go to the PS2 for it's first three. After all, there is potential that by the end of the year, we'll have 3 games anyway.

So I'm hooked on this game, lock, stock and barrel. I've had games that I played for months on end before (Lego Star Wars is a prime example that I played non-stop for months on the GameCube), but I'll bet that this one will outdo them all. I enjoy playing the real guitar, and I enjoy playing video games. With a game that offers an outlet to do both at once, I can't see my interest waning on it.

But I would also like to add that the Queen has her own game going and while she doesn't seem to want to admit, she seems to enjoy it rather well too. She's finished the easy level and is going back to master it before moving onto medium.