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I just played Poison’s “Talk Dirty To Me” 17 times in a row on Guitar Hero III. We got Legends of Rock for the Wii for Christmas and I think I have a problem. I mastered the easy setting right away and was so proud of myself. I’m now trying to master the hard setting. I skipped medium. I laughed at medium, actually. ‘A virtuoso like me doesn’t need medium,’ I thought. And now I’ve just listened to a Bret Michaels impersonator 17 times in a row. It’s sick, really.
Side note: A friend of mine hates the game because he thinks that it’s time kids could be spending learning to play the real guitar. I get that; I really do. But I will defend myself by saying that I do know how to play the real guitar (not well, but that’s beside the point).
Just last night, we went over to a friend’s house to play Rock Band on the Playstation 3. Guess what? I’m a prodigy on the drums, too. At least on easy. I tried to move up to medium on one of my favorite songs (When You Were Young by the Killers) and I just bombed it. I mean, royally.
To make this a real post and not just “look at what a loser I am,” let’s talk about the story behind the game.
Guitar Hero was inspired by an arcade game that has been around since 1998 – GuitarFreaks. GuitarFreaks was (and is) especially popular in Japan. It can sync up with another arcade game called DrumMania so a “band” can be formed. The budget to bring Guitar Hero to life on a video console was a mere $1 million. The (relatively) small investment paid off, big time: as of September, the first Guitar Hero alone had sold 1.5 million copies.
Harmonix Music Systems, the company that developed the game, quickly realized what a smash hit they had on their hands and announced in April 2006 that Guitar Hero II would be hitting stores the following October. It was an even bigger hit – 3.1 million copies sold as of December 17.
So, hello, Guitar Hero III was a no-brainer. Aficionados may notice differences between III and the two preceding titles – that’s because it wasn’t made by the same company. Harmonix, the company that made the first two, was purchased by MTV. Development of the game moved to a company called Neversoft. Don’t cry for Harmonix, though – they went to make Rock Band, which is doing extremely well in its own right. Considering that Rock Band just came out on November 20, it’s pretty impressive that it has already sold almost 400,000 copies. It’s rumored to be coming out for the Wii… I can only hope.
Now is the part where you make me feel better about my new obsession. Tell me about your Guitar Hero experiences. And if you are addicted, what songs do you rock the most on? What songs would you like to see on Guitar Hero IV? (You know there’s going to be one.)
Now, if you’ll excuse me, faux Bret Michaels is calling my name. Gotta go.
Comments (27)
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My husband and I got our best friend Rock Band…and instantly formed our own band – Fist of Feces. I’m on guitar, my husband is on vocals and our best friend is on drums. I’m not quite the prodigy that you are, but I do enjoy playing “Orange Crush” by R.E.M. and Nirvana’s “In Bloom.”
posted by paperback writer on 1-1-2008 at 9:23 am
You’re not the only one, Stacy. I play the real guitar tolerably well, but recently I’ve had a hankering only for the guitar hero/rock band version of it.
posted by Ransom on 1-1-2008 at 9:51 am
I discovered Guitar Hero II this summer when I had my wisdom teeth out. My pain medication made me itchy and sleepy. Playing was the only thing that kept me from simultaneously itching myself while falling asleep.
Now I’m playing III and my brother got a wireless guitar, so we’re doing the career mode. However, I can only play medium and he’s playing hard. He told me “Paint it Black” is on there, but we haven’t got to it yet. I can’t wait for that. I’m also launching a solo career and it only took me 6 tries to beat Tom Morello.
posted by divine madness on 1-1-2008 at 11:17 am
We just got Guitar Hero III, two rockin’ guitars and Rock of the 80’s for Christmas for our very dusty PS2…I love the idea of Rock Band and being able to play w/ other folks…So far we’ve been playing songs on Rock of the 80’s – and I must admit, I SUCK…its amazing to me – i have good hand-eye coordination, but somehow I’m not very good on ‘easy’ mode…I need more practice…
posted by donner on 1-1-2008 at 12:36 pm
Actually, I think that IS Bret Michaels singing on that track–If I remember correctly, he came on to re-record his vocals for the game. I think the instruments are covered, though.
posted by Ohne Hosen on 1-1-2008 at 12:36 pm
ha! i played GHII all the way through on easy in one sitting….GHIII took a bit longer and i only had to repeat one battle that my boyfriend couldn’t handle…medium hasn’t been too bad….especially once you start getting perfect scores on the songs…i like “dead!”-my chemical romance and “my name is jonas”-weezer….way too much fun….it’s best when you get a group together and have a 2 player competition!
posted by stef on 1-1-2008 at 1:05 pm
You should go to “Score Hero” if you think you’re really good at Guitar Hero. You post your scores and they rank you. My brother and his friends were like 9th on the posting for some song on Guitar Hero 2 for like 3 weeks.
Have you gotten “Throught the Fire and Flames”? Now that right there is the longest most annoying and difficult song out of all the Guitar Hero series.
posted by Rachel* on 1-1-2008 at 2:35 pm
Hi, my name is Kathryn, and I got drunk and played Guitar Hero III one night at a friend’s house, then proceeded to go out and buy it because it’s so darn addicting.
“When You Were Young” is the song I rock out to the most. I wish I were better at “Knights of Cydonia”. That song is hard.
posted by Kathryn on 1-1-2008 at 4:13 pm
I don’t mean to be nitpicky, but I believe that you mean November 20th of last year. It’s still only January of this year.
Happy New Year!
posted by Pointy-Hatted Geek on 1-1-2008 at 4:56 pm
It was still 2007 when I wrote it ;) Maybe Jason will see this and change it.
posted by Stacy on 1-1-2008 at 5:38 pm
We just got Guitar Hero III for Christmas after not having played any of the prequels. My husband is a bass player and I know guitar basics, so we beat it on easy the first day. It is definitely addictive, but it’s causing me some major wrist damage.
My favorite song to play is “My Name is Jonas,” but I like “When We Were Young” and “Ruby” too. I would like to see more Weezer in future editions…and some Beatles :).
As I write, by the way, my husband is guitar battling Satan on medium. Wish him luck!
posted by Becky T. on 1-1-2008 at 5:42 pm
Wow. That is nitpicky. Who cares?
posted by serena on 1-1-2008 at 5:57 pm
Sorry about that, Stacy. “Of this year” has been eliminated.
posted by Jason on 1-1-2008 at 6:15 pm
I’d love to see some radiohead on GHIV. Particularly, Paranoid Android.
posted by Laura on 1-1-2008 at 6:28 pm
New Year’s Eve, 2005: My boyfriend experiences Guitar Hero for the first time. My brother received it for Christmas and I’d been playing it for the past week. My boyfriend is in awe of me as I rock out through the end of “Bark at the Moon” on medium.
New Year’s Eve, 2007: I play rock band with him and his sister. He plays all the guitar parts on expert. He has transcended Guitar Hero now, as he can play some of the songs on expert without even looking at the screen. However, I am still better all around, as I can do vocals and bass on expert, guitar on hard, and drums…well, I need to play them a little more to work my way up to medium.
posted by Liz on 1-1-2008 at 7:37 pm
Let me preface by saying I’m very addicted to this game. My two biggest achievements so far are getting two notes away from perfect on Weezer’s My Name is Jonas on expert level and simply getting through Freezepop’s Less Talk More Rokk on expert in GH2.
Holiday by Weezer is my favorite song to rock out to these days. That would be amazing if it could make it to the next game.
posted by David on 1-2-2008 at 2:56 am
Don’t feel bad – I’ve been addicted to Guitar Hero I, II, III, and 80’s versions. It temporarily satisfies my dream of being a rock star! Impressive moves going straight to hard – Rock on!
posted by Stephanie on 1-2-2008 at 7:12 am
was anyone else annoyed that White Lion got credit for the song ‘Radar Love’ on Rock the 80s?
posted by Ben on 1-2-2008 at 7:55 am
My friend, Jimmy, broke his knee while playing Guitar Hero. Then he made a website about it.
guitarherobrokemyknee dot com
posted by Kelly on 1-2-2008 at 8:26 am
Forget Guitar Hero! Guitars are a coastal phenomenon. Out here on the frozen plains, we need more passion, more fire! I challenge all of you to a rousing round of Accordion Hero II.
I would link you up with the wonderful people at Schadenfreude Interactive, but Jason would want a piece of the action so you’ll just have to google phobe.com/ sfi/accordion. Prosit!
posted by Tom on 1-2-2008 at 8:44 am
I feel so much better that I’m not the lone grown-up with a GHIII infatuation. We got it for my 9-year-old daughter for Christmas. I don’t play video games at all — but decided I had to at least give it a shot. I had the week off between Christmas and New Year’s and I spent many hours playing the game (my strumming arm actually got sore!) I’ve worked halfway through my “Easy” career.
My daughter has beat “Easy” and moved on to “Medium.” She seems to favor “Talk Dirty to Me,” and was singing it in the car the other day. My husband and I had to talk to her about when and where it was appropriate to sing that song. (Not at school…PLEASE!) I have to say my favorite song (to play) so far is “Paint It, Black.” I’m looking forward to “Cliffs of Dover.”
My husband is a musician, and was able to start with the medium settings. We’re already making plans to buy Rock Band. My daughter always wants to play “family” games, and it’s hard to find common ground. I think we’ve finally found something we can all enjoy.
I’ve officially entered the gaming world at 38.
posted by bre on 1-2-2008 at 9:08 am
Welcome to the orange button!
And to the haters: I’m sure all of you were good enough to play lead guitar for Guns n Roses and Dragonforce after one week. But since you weren’t, and most of you will never be, shut up. We want to rock!
posted by Kenny on 1-2-2008 at 9:25 am
Rookies… ;)
I bought Guitar Freaks well over 5 years ago. Even bought a cheapo 2nd guitar for 2 player mode. I knew a cool thing when a saw it. (I’m a sucker for oddball video game controllers)
Guitar Hero was a no brainer for us. My 12 year old son plays nothing but “Expert” mode at this point. We have GH 1,2 and 3 and Santa brought us Rock Band. We haven’t played RB much yet, but when we’ve played it has been a blast.
Rock Band has a great feature for less experienced players. If you fall out, a more experienced player that is dong well enough can bring you back into the song.
FRED
posted by Fred on 1-2-2008 at 10:36 am
I, too, believe very strongly that kids should be playing real instruments. Being in a garage band to me is a necessity of adolescent life.
That being said, I’m a total hypocrite and love the games. I swear, my bass skills have transferred right over to Rock Band, which can only be honing them…
posted by cousin on 1-2-2008 at 1:35 pm
I’ve been playing real guitar for 9 years, and I truly think my guitar hero obssession has helped improve my guitar skills. I’m kind of forced to use my pinky in hard mode, so now when I play guitar I actually use my pinky…something i’ve been trying to master for years.
I think Yes’ “Yours is no disgrace” would be an epic song to include!
posted by Ashley on 1-2-2008 at 8:03 pm
I actually just played Guitar Freaks V4 and Drummania V4 today (school trip to this little arcade place called Funplex)
posted by Jenny on 1-2-2008 at 8:35 pm
I’m a guitar player in a CT band: “First Ave.” I’m also a huge video game nerd. The first time trying the game out it was very tough for me because I knew how to play most of the songs on the REAL guitar. I had to disassociate from thinking that I was playing guitar to telling myself that I was playing a game. (Also, I play lefty and I didn’t realize there was a “lefty flip” setting at first… so I was thinking backwards…)
Once I did that… it was AWESOME. I’ve got only 3 songs left to beat on Expert mode… Eric Johnson is kickin my butt. hehheh.
Anybody want to check out my band you can click my name or listen at:
http://www.myspace.com/firstave
ROCK ON!
posted by Tim on 1-7-2008 at 9:56 am