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Entry #97
Gaming Industry Bullshit Rants - Guitar Hero/Rock Band (Part 1)
6/15/09 by FromADistance
Updated 8/12/09
Previous rants:
Nintendo: Overview
Nintendo DS
Wii _____ Games
Wii games
Virtual Console
Nintendo Wii
Nintendo DSi
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PLEASE NOTE: This rant is more towards the extremely obsessed players and not those who simply enjoy the game, so if you play a lot of these games, don't immediately assume this applies to you.
It's no surprise that Guitar Hero (and later on Rock Band) has become a phenomenon in the gaming industry over the last few years. With the ability to play rock songs on a video game, it's understandable for the franchise to catch so much attention from gamers and even non-gamers.
The idea of Guitar Hero and Rock Band itself isn't so bad. As long as you're having fun and not taking the games too literally, there's no problems with that. I might be contradicting myself here from the Nintendo rants, but even if casual "gamers" who play the game just for fun, there's nothing wrong with that since the games were made to have a good time with your friends.
Sadly, there's a good number of people who take these games far too fucking seriously. These people are the ones who HAVE to play every single note correctly on expert mode, even the hardest songs officially released (i.e. Through the Fire and Flames, Free Bird, etc) and they will keep trying and trying until they perfected it on the hardest mode. Some have succeeded in mastering these songs in the video games but really, was the effort worth it in the end?
iamchris4life, a user on YouTube was well known for the highest score for Through the Fire and Flames at the time. He was also known for being the first to get 100% on that particular song due to its extreme difficulty. However, what did he achieve in the end? Thousands of YouTube comments praising him? A little box on the screen saying "Achievement Unlocked"? As far I'm concerned, all he got for this was 15 minutes of fame.
There's no pot of gold waiting for him or anyone else for perfecting these songs on a video game. Sure, there's no pot of gold waiting for the real musicians to perform these difficult songs flawlessly either, but at least at a concert they'd get legitimate praise, not thousands of YouTube users going "OMG U ROX 4 PALYING DAT SONG 100%!!!!!!!!" Which brings up a good question: Which would impress you more? A video on YouTube showing someone playing a song with a plastic guitar or an actual band playing REAL instruments at a concert? The answer should be pretty obvious.
There was one kid who dropped out of high school so he could focus his life on being a professional in Guitar Hero. Although it was said that the kid was to be homeschooled in return for not going to school, when you think about it, it's one of the saddest excuses you could ever think of to get out of school. What's worse, this kid's parents are SUPPORTING THIS! He's also been given sponsors and such and he's actually getting paid for this! He claims he'll be going to college sometime, but dedicating your life to a video game sure doesn't suggest he'll get in, let alone do well.
Another thing to wonder is if these people are so obsessed with playing these songs on a video game, why haven't they considered getting a real instrument for themselves to play? Not only you'd have more freedom to play whichever song you want to cover (assuming you know which notes to play), but the effort into playing these songs well would be much more satisfying than pretending to play it on a video game. Sure, this would require practice, but the amount of effort you put in to playing a guitar very well would be worth it in the end, most especially if you get in a band and do very well. All Guitar Hero or Rock Band will get you is hopefully some motivation to get you to play a real instrument.
Unfortunately, there have been people who have given up playing real instruments and paid attention to these games when really, playing real instruments should be more encouraged, most especially to those who are spending an excessive amount of time. However, when there are sponsorships, tournaments and Guinness world records encouraging this, you know there's a problem.
Yes, for playing plastic instruments to a video game, people can get these sort of recognitions. Although there are professional gaming tournaments for other games such as Halo and Super Smash Bros. and there's already world record for other games, they really shouldn't highly encourage Guitar Hero and Rock Band.
There's still more to talk about regarding Guitar Hero and Rock Band, most especially the expenses for these games and the DLC, but I'll be covering this on the next rant where the subject on these games will be concluded.
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6/21/09
Tom said that in the future there would be RSS feed for news posts and other users favourites ("Next up on the RSS front will be feeds for user news and user favorites.")
http://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/1 050288
But apparently we'll have to wait :(
And yeah, lol, e-sports is an oxymoron :D
Shame they sorted out favourites before news posts. Ah well.
6/21/09
The staff should really work on RSS feed for blogs, so I don't miss any of your rants :/
I agree with everything you said, the gaming industry should really stop encouraging people to play a plastic instrument which will get you to nowhere. Playing video games in professional competitions (or "e-sports", which is a incredibly ridiculous name) is just stupid. Sure, Starcraft is a great game, but those guys at South Korea are just crazy :P
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hm5GE4 UFDN0
That's a great idea! If no-one suggested it already, you should mention it in the NG Evolution thread. :)
I've heard crazy shit about South Korea and video games before. And yes, you're right, e-sports is a ridiculous name. Oxymoron, much?
6/15/09
As a response to your response to my comment about the Virtual Console... Note that while upgrading is necessary, you can still do 2 things. First, if you already HAVE the homebrew channel installed before upgrading, than it will still be there.
Secondly, if it is installed, then you can downgrade from any version to any version using some easy to obtain online tools. I did just that: I installed the homebrew channel when I was running firmware version 3.something, then I upgraded to 4, and I downgraded afterwards back to 3.
From 3.1 or 3.2, you can install virtual console games. This isn't just a "hack" install: this is the full thing. Meaning, the Wii recognizes the games as if you had bought them, so when you choose to upgrade, they remain playable and there, as if you had legally obtained them. So, in other words, if the Wii has the homebrew channel installed before you upgrade to V4, you can do basically whatever you want.
Also, I agree 100% with this rant. I think that in addition to all of this bullshit about professionalism, Guitar Hero is also helping to popularize major-label bullcrap to one of the few economic sectors who actually had a chance to reject this sort of propaganda. To figure out what I'm talking about... Well, lets just say that I wrote my own rant. It's not about video games, but it's about music. It's also kinda long. Read it if you want. If you don't, then that's ok. Note that you might disagree heavily with what I have written, and that's ok too.
http://nav-rambling.blogspot.com/2009 /06/american-musical-tastes.html
Remove the spaces if NG adds any.
Also, just know that I have read all of your rants, and I basically agree completely with all of them ;)
Oh right, that I wasn't aware about. I wasn't too sure at first since I've been cautious about what the Wii will do to certain things after my friend wasn't able to use the Freeloader anymore.
Ah, I'll give your rant a read sometime. Not sure when exactly, but I'll keep it in mind.
6/15/09
That kid dropping out of school to pursue professional Guitar Hero was one of the main reasons I quit the games. Others include the moronic fanboys, and the high price for downloadable content/extra versions.
Hopefully you'll cover in the next one how Band Spin-Offs are the dumbest thing ever.
Don't worry, I'll be onto it. :)
6/15/09
ur gay lol!!!
heh
6/15/09
Southpark covered this topic really well, where they tell of the father of Stan like: "Real instruments is only something for old people, get lost!"
I never really tried to play GH or any other game like that (even though Rock Band sounds like it could be fun, but it's much too expensive and I don't have enough space in my living room).
It seems like GH is the western equivalent to beatmania (see a video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXrX5A OxDaU ). I heard that some people only play this game and nothing else.
So instead of playing let's say Team Fortress and then playing some Civilization next week and then going back to TF, they only play Beatmania in their free time (well, not every minute of their free time, but when they play a video game it's always Beatmania).
I still don't know if I should envy this kind of dedication or if I should pity those people.
I PITY THE FOO'!
6/15/09
I didn't think I'd like GH, first one I played on GH 2. I started to play it, about a year ago. I still enjoy it, I think its great. I agree that people take it to seriously, I remember when I used to suck. I was playing online, and the guy I was playing with was getting way to angry. It's like shut the fuck up and enjoy a fun game.
As to your next rant about DLC, Rock Band is great with DLC. The fact that every DLC I buy goes to the next game is awesome. Unlike GH, I have a few songs for GH because it doesn't pass to the next game.
You can also buy all the songs from Rock Band 1 to Rock Band 2, for like £5.
There are some DLC that draws the line and you'll see what I'm talking about soon enough.
6/15/09
As for the guy hitting 100% on Through The Fire and Flames I think you were a bit harsh. It's impressive yes and his video will come across as always. Succeeding at the task at hand is what makes games like these fun to play for some. Besides if you're going to bash that you might as well bash people who like to beat a game 100% Complete or people who do Speed Runs... it's impressive entertainment and should be praised, I mean look at the guy with the highest score in Pac-Man.
As for the rest of your rant, yes there are people who take this way too fucking seriously... and should be playing REAL FUCKING INSTRUMENTS! I enjoyed this rant and I can only wonder what Part 2 would be? You pretty much covered a lot except those who think playing Guitar Hero is just as good as those who play real instruments or think a group of friends who play this game are a real band.
Also it's all the same game with just an addition of instruments and new songs. This franchise knows how to print more money than the Halo series.
Although someone was bound to get 100% on Through the Fire and Flames eventually, I just feel it's far too much effort to put in for a little reward. I can understand your logic on 100% and speed runs and that might be something I'll go over sometime. I don't really agree with getting 100% on games, unless you're not having to spend much more time than necessary. As for speed runs, not a big fan of them either, but it's fine for short games such as Portal.
You're right, the franchises do know how to make more money than Halo, but that's the sort of thing I'll be going over on the next rant. :)