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Guitar Hero II Announced
Gamespot reports on the official announcement of an encore to the extremely popular Guitar Hero title from Harmonix. From the article: "RedOctane today confirmed the band was indeed getting back together, as it announced that Guitar Hero II would arrive on the PlayStation 2 this November. While the song list hasn't been announced yet, the publisher confirmed that there would be more than 55 tracks in dire need of shredding. There's also a multiplayer co-op mode that will let players collaborate, each playing lead, rhythm, or bass guitar portions." IGN is running an interview with the gents behind the game, giving us heads up on their plans for the sequel. Rock on!
Yeah, but where's my accordion hero?
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*Guitar Hero (the first one) is quite possibly the best and most fun game I've played in quite some time (meaning at least a decade). The truth is, I haven't seen anyone pick it up, give it a good try, and then want to put it down. It's one of those addicting games that makes you try harder and harder with each song.
*I play guitar, and sure it's much more "skill-building" to play a real guitar, and this experience really is nothing like playing for real, but it's still a heck of a fun time.
*The only thing I would reccomend for the second incarnation is to get as many "actual" performers to do the songs, or at least the vocals, as possible. It's the only drawback to the original, and would REALLY make the 2nd game so much cooler.
Secondly it would be nice to have a higher quality guitar. That thing looked and felt totally cheap, it was like a kid's toy. I would have felt like I was rocking a lot harder if the guitar was bigger and had taken itself a little more seriously.
Van Halen - How you can have a game called Guitar Hero and not have a Van Halen track is beyond my scope.
Still a cool game though.
My only complaint with Guitar Hero is that the song list is devoted half to the 80's, a little from the 70's and still a little less from 2000-present with one song from the 90's (by Helmet). If they're going to keep the same band (who did phenomenal work), they shouldn't do the same stuff. Why do we need more hair band metal when a good portion of the original IS hair band metal?
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Why doesn't someone make a game like this for piano/keyboard playing?
You know, hook up a MIDI keyboard and go to town. That would be an awesome teaching tool because you learn on the real thing. Much more fun than learning to play the traditional way because it's really boring when you are just starting playing any instrument (which generally lasts many months if not years).
A high tech Guitar Hero would be nice too. I mean something that uses a real (electric) guitar and determines how you are playing by sound and/or the pickups.
The ratio of people to cake is too big
Actually, I do own an acoustic guitar. I have fun with it. (Granted, my first love is percussion and yes, I do own a drumset.)
However, I still have lots of fun playing Guitar Hero. Why? Because Guitar Hero isn't about playing guitar. It simulates performing for a crowd. I, sadly, do not have the time right now to join a rock band and put in the time I'd really want to in order to sound good to perform at large venues. Guitar Hero simulates performing on stage to an extent. Plucking on my guitar in my living room doesn't simulate playing in front of a crowd.
It's kind of funny that several elitist musicians bash on the game because it's a "cheap plastic toy", and that people should, instead, buy real instruments. However, I have known two people personally (which is not by any stretch a large number) who got Guitar Hero, enjoyed it so much, that they then went out and bought their first guitar and started to learn how to play one legitemately.
I would think ANY musician would agree that something that gets more people into playing music is a GOOD thing, and that they should embrace something like Guitar Hero not as a replacement for guitar playing, but rather an entry point for new guitar players.
(And in fact, one of my friends who enjoys Guitar Hero the most is also an amazing classical guitar player. If he can get over the fact that he's playing a plastic toy, I think anyone can.)
The co-op mode is great and the new addition of playing different song parts is even better. I'd really like to see Guitar Hero combined with a Karaoke Revolution type thing where you can either play the guitar and have to sing along or else you can play the guitar and someone else could sing.
Are we eventually going to get to a point where we can have all our friends over to play Guitar Hero type songs as a full band? One guy has the guitar, another has the bass, another on drums and a singer! That would be great party fun.
"Guitar Hero (the first one) is quite possibly the best and most fun game I've played in quite some time (meaning at least a decade)."
:)
This may be true of you, but some of us were enjoying other rhythm games like Dance Dance Revolution, Pop'n'Music, Samba de Amigo, etc, for years before this came out. I can appreciate that you like guitar more, but don't ignore the rest of the genre
DDR is hardly like ballroom, but it's a heck of a lot of fun.
--
Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
I'll tell you why. I've been playing guitar for close to 15 years. I own an accoustic, two electrics, a couple of amps, a few effects pedals.
And yet, I still love Guitar Hero. Why?
It's the same reason I enjoyed Gran Turismo, despite the fact that I own a real car. I can do things in Guitar Hero that I can't do in real life. I can sit down and instantly start playing a song just like the original guitarist. I can crank up the difficulty if I want more of a challenge and to get more of a "I'm really playing a guitar" feel, or I can dial it back and jam with my wife who can't even play an E chord on a real guitar.
I can do it in front of an audience that roars its approval on a massive shredding solo, without the grueling practice, coordination, and drama of a real band.
And just like Gran Turismo encouraged me to drive my car a little faster than I should, Guitar Hero has encouraged me to sit down and learn to play some of the songs on my real guitars. But like all good video games, it's there when I want a quick, easy, enjoyable experience.
It does exist! I have it. :)M idi/Portable/Arrangers?sku=707430
It only shipped with one Keyboard Model though. The Yamaha EZ250i USB keyboard.
It emulates the MIDI ports, so not quite as good as a real MIDI keyboard, but at least you can play the game.
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Keyboards/
---- Move SIG...For great justice!
What's so special?
It was actually released in the US and contained a large list of songs people in the US recognized. Two things Konami never did.
I love all my Bemani games, don't get me wrong (I've spent thousands of dollars importing IIDX, Pop'n, and Drummania) but Red Octane and Harmonix did what Konami wouldn't do. Konami is very dead set on their Japanese roots, and most people won't play guitar games with songs they don't recognize here in the US.
So, the difference is...Guitar Hero is marketed towards Americans. Guitar Freaks is marketed towards Japanese. That's not to say Americans wouldn't enjoy Guitar Freaks, but that's not their target audience. Especially since I don't believe Guitar Freaks ever got any release outside of Japan.
I just hope Red Octane pays attention to the 10 or 20 percent of us that are left-handed. Turning the controller upside-down just doesn't cut it. The whammy-bar is in the wrong place, and the strap is wrong. And I'm too left-handed to play right-handed.
I took guitar lessons a few years ago, and discovered that I could only play left-handed. It was much easier to buy a real lefty guitar than fake it any other way. I hope it's possible for RO to build a lefty controller; I'd gladly buy one.
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My plan is to just get a used/price-reduced PS2 this fall when the PS3 finally comes out. I'm not a big fan of Sony either, but if I can get the game system cheap enough, I don't think I'll feel bad about buying it for just one game :)
It always puzzles me when fellow "guitarists" act sort of snobbish towards Guitar Hero. These same people have no problem playing games like NBA Street and Burnout, but suddenly, when the game is about guitar, the utmost realism is demanded. Dude, being a good guitarist, like being a good race car driver or sports player, is hard and requires time, skill and motivation, and often times this is very frustrating and intimidating to newcomers. I've not spent a lot of time in demographic research, but something tells me most people wouldn't find that a fun idea for a game.
I'm a guitarist, and I like Guitar Hero. It's obviously very unrealistic, but I don't want that kind of realism in my games. I already spend many of my waking hours in that kind of realism, and if I ever want to spend more time in it, I can walk over, pick up one of my guitars and dive right back in. But if I want some instant gratification, entertaining, DDR-style gameplay with a novelty twist (say, a plastic guitar), Guitar Hero fits the bill.
"You and your third dimension."