Rock Video Games

Hey Hey My My, Guitar Hero Will Never Die

For me, when it came to the original Guitar Hero, there really was more to the picture than meets the eye (to quote one of my all-time favorite guitarists). I have to freely admit that I was at first skeptical of Guitar Hero and its companion/rival Rock Band. At the time, I thought that it sounded like a great concept, to be able to rock out to my favorite songs without learning how to play an actual guitar, but I made the mistake of assuming that the game play would be too clunky and wouldn’t be “lifelike” enough. It’s easy to see why I felt this was, having been burned by Virtual Reality games of the past. I had also thought that unless successful right off the bat, it would also have trouble obtaining the licensing rights for many popular songs. I thought that if I went through the trouble of purchasing it for my Playstation 2, I would get bored quickly and that before long it would be gathering dust stored away in one of my tv stand drawers.

But I’m happy to say that I was wrong. Very wrong. It took me a while to see the light; my roommate had to convince me to give it a shot. And some initially trouble timing the frets, I found myself picking up on the game play factor very quickly. The difficulty levels allowed for some flexibility in this regard, as did the songs (anything by The Ramones is pretty easy to pick up on). And before long, I became a full-fledged convert.

And if sales are any indication, I’m not alone either. And with sales running high for both the Guitar Hero and Rock Band series, both Activision and Harmonix are able to expand the options available as well. And bands are more than happy to be a part of the process, partially because of the money-making opportunity (reportedly Guitar Hero: Aerosmith made more money for the band than any of their studio albums) but also because the band members themselves actually enjoy bringing their music to a wider audience. Although neither series has been able to obtain the rights of some of the most popular bands (including Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd) there seems to be more than enough groups and record labels who are willing to work out a deal.

Some seem to think that these types of games don’t have much of a future, and that popularity will eventually wane due to market saturation (a big example of this being the oft-discussed Guitar Hero Greatest Hits compilation). But I feel that by focus on current popularity they re missing the larger point: if Wii sales are any indication, a lot of people prefer video games with active controllers. And when it comes down to it, as long as rock and roll never dies, a lot of people can’t resist imitating their favorite axe grinders.