guitar hero
A Quick Note To Activision
May 30, 2008 Filed in: Gaming
Let me take a break from the problems of the world,
political races, and environmental talk and address
something small.
Hi, Activision? Yeah, it's me, an obsessive-compulsive Guitar Hero fan. We need to chat. Sit down.
Really, sit down.
So some buddies from church showed the wife and me Guitar Hero II early last year. It was good. Freaking hard, but good. A couple weeks later, the wife and I bought both Guitar Hero II and Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s. I guess I should have guessed something was happening at the time because Rocks the 80s had 30 songs to GHII's 66. Maybe it should have been called Guitar Hero Encore: Cash-In, but I let it slide. After all, it was being marketed as an expansion pack, albeit an expansion costing $50.
Still, Rocks the 80s was fun.
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock set off some more warning bells. The title seemed slightly pretentious considering only one of the unlockable characters could be considered a rock legend, but perhaps you were referring to groups like KISS, The Who, Cream, Aerosmith, Sex Pistols, Santana, Metallica, and more appearing in the set list. Fine. Maybe Yahtzee's suggestion to call it Legend of Rock is too harsh.
Then there were the poorly animated cut-scenes. It's Guitar Hero. We don't need a story, especially one as silly as the one you included. There was a nice anti-corporate message to the story, but you did a great job undermining that message by cramming product placement in some of the most unlikely places. I mean, an Axe Body Spray guitar? C'mon. At least the companies advertised in the previous Guitar Hero games had something to do with music.
Still, the game is fun, and I'm a forgiving sort of guy.
Then I started seeing more and more silly Guitar Hero products come out, like Guitar Hero Carabiner, Guitar Hero: Air Rocker, and Guitar Hero III Mobile, but this takes the cake:
May I ask you a serious question, Activision? Did any of you – I don't know – watch this before releasing it to the public? Did any employee say, "You know, that looks kind of stupid. Perhaps we should just show some gameplay footage instead?" If so, promote the dissenter, please. Really, I felt like the Guitar Hero: World Tour trailer was pretty bad, but this transcends bad.
Do even know who your core audience is? Harmonix seems to get it. Remember them? They used to make the Guitar Hero games until they moved on to bigger and better things. I know you acted like you've never heard of them at the D6: All Things Digital conference, but the GH: World Tour interface is a carbon copy of Rock Band (just with round notes instead of rectangles).
Here's where I'm going with all of this. You are slowly doing to Guitar Hero what Traveler's Tales did to Crash Bandicoot and Universal Studios did to Spyro after their respective creators sold them to move on to bigger and better things. You are sucking the soul out of the series. You are transforming Guitar Hero from an innovator into a me-too toy. You are alienating your core audience.
Look, I plan on picking up Guitar Hero: Aerosmith at the end of June. After that, though, all bets are off. The chances of you getting me to yell "Rock On" into my DS are pretty slim, and the prospect of the wife and I picking up a Rock Band clone that will cost another $180 is also slim. Let's not even mention additional market saturation from Konami's Rock Revolution.
Those of us who have enjoyed Guitar Hero over the past few years want to believe. We want to think future Guitar Hero games are going to be worth it, but do something for us first. Rediscover the game's soul.
Hi, Activision? Yeah, it's me, an obsessive-compulsive Guitar Hero fan. We need to chat. Sit down.
Really, sit down.
So some buddies from church showed the wife and me Guitar Hero II early last year. It was good. Freaking hard, but good. A couple weeks later, the wife and I bought both Guitar Hero II and Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s. I guess I should have guessed something was happening at the time because Rocks the 80s had 30 songs to GHII's 66. Maybe it should have been called Guitar Hero Encore: Cash-In, but I let it slide. After all, it was being marketed as an expansion pack, albeit an expansion costing $50.
Still, Rocks the 80s was fun.
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock set off some more warning bells. The title seemed slightly pretentious considering only one of the unlockable characters could be considered a rock legend, but perhaps you were referring to groups like KISS, The Who, Cream, Aerosmith, Sex Pistols, Santana, Metallica, and more appearing in the set list. Fine. Maybe Yahtzee's suggestion to call it Legend of Rock is too harsh.
Then there were the poorly animated cut-scenes. It's Guitar Hero. We don't need a story, especially one as silly as the one you included. There was a nice anti-corporate message to the story, but you did a great job undermining that message by cramming product placement in some of the most unlikely places. I mean, an Axe Body Spray guitar? C'mon. At least the companies advertised in the previous Guitar Hero games had something to do with music.
Still, the game is fun, and I'm a forgiving sort of guy.
Then I started seeing more and more silly Guitar Hero products come out, like Guitar Hero Carabiner, Guitar Hero: Air Rocker, and Guitar Hero III Mobile, but this takes the cake:
May I ask you a serious question, Activision? Did any of you – I don't know – watch this before releasing it to the public? Did any employee say, "You know, that looks kind of stupid. Perhaps we should just show some gameplay footage instead?" If so, promote the dissenter, please. Really, I felt like the Guitar Hero: World Tour trailer was pretty bad, but this transcends bad.
Do even know who your core audience is? Harmonix seems to get it. Remember them? They used to make the Guitar Hero games until they moved on to bigger and better things. I know you acted like you've never heard of them at the D6: All Things Digital conference, but the GH: World Tour interface is a carbon copy of Rock Band (just with round notes instead of rectangles).
Here's where I'm going with all of this. You are slowly doing to Guitar Hero what Traveler's Tales did to Crash Bandicoot and Universal Studios did to Spyro after their respective creators sold them to move on to bigger and better things. You are sucking the soul out of the series. You are transforming Guitar Hero from an innovator into a me-too toy. You are alienating your core audience.
Look, I plan on picking up Guitar Hero: Aerosmith at the end of June. After that, though, all bets are off. The chances of you getting me to yell "Rock On" into my DS are pretty slim, and the prospect of the wife and I picking up a Rock Band clone that will cost another $180 is also slim. Let's not even mention additional market saturation from Konami's Rock Revolution.
Those of us who have enjoyed Guitar Hero over the past few years want to believe. We want to think future Guitar Hero games are going to be worth it, but do something for us first. Rediscover the game's soul.