Music Game Competition Heats Up

With Guitar Hero: World Tour set to launch on October 26th, Activision has released a list of downloadable content that will be immediately available. Activision has also apparently included a trailer for Guitar Hero: Metallica (which will arrive sometime next year), and they recently trademarked the name 'Guitar Hero Modern Hits,' which may be part of their plan to increase the amount of Guitar Hero content they produce. Meanwhile, new Rock Band 2 DLC tracks are coming as well, and the release dates for the PS2, PS3, and Wii versions have been set. Early reports say the Wii version made the platform jump better than the original Rock Band, and that all currently existing DLC will be available for Rock Band 2. MTV's Multiplayer blog took a look at Wii Music, which creator Shigeru Miyamoto calls, "Not quite a game and not quite an instrument."

Comments

Music authoring

[Enderandrew]

I think this will be huge. Guitar Hero: World Tour lets you actually put new music in the game. Plenty of people will be putting in covers of copyrighted music, but I'm think small local bands will use Guitar Hero to promote their music in grassroots type of way. I'd love to see the first band that gets a record contract because their song was a top download through Guitar Hero. It will happen.

Re:Music authoring

[bmorency]

Plenty of people will be putting in covers of copyrighted music, but I'm think small local bands will use Guitar Hero to promote their music in grassroots type of way.

The director of Guitar Hero World Tour said they will remove songs that have a copyright. Here is the link quoting the guy. http://www.joystiq.com/2008/09/29/guitar-hero-world-tour-wont-condone-your-awful-cover-songs/

Re:Music authoring

[Ieatsyou]

Plenty of people will be putting in covers of copyrighted music, but I'm think small local bands will use Guitar Hero to promote their music in grassroots type of way. I'd love to see the first band that gets a record contract because their song was a top download through Guitar Hero. It will happen.

I see labels using it to sign artists. Just the same way myspace music did.

Re:Music authoring

[Anonymous Coward]

Frets on Fire could always do this and it's open source so anyone with a svg editor can replace the frets with penises and the strings with streams of semen.

Re:Music authoring

[corsec67]

The director of Guitar Hero World Tour said they will remove songs that have a copyright.

If they take down all songs that have a copyright,... how do they have any songs at all?

Re:Music authoring

[Plaid Phantom]

And let another group get sucked into the RIAA's machine? No thanks.

Re:Music authoring

[Anonymous Coward]

There are many things this could have been modded:
Offtopic
Troll
Flamebait
Overrated

But redundant it sure ain't. I hope someone gets bitchslapped in meta for this.

Re:Music authoring

[Max Romantschuk]

You mean copyright violations. Basically all works have copyright automagically in most parts of the world.

Re:Music authoring

[dontmakemethink]

The authoring function would be great for indie bands who could presumably make their songs available for GH:WT play.

Then I watched a YouTube clip of a "music studio" demo given by one of the developers. The painfully obvious and much simpler approach would be for bands could simply transfer their actual multitrack audio (separate drum, bass, guitar, vocal and backing tracks) then just program corresponding controller movements for gameplay.

But no, that would interfere with one of the key revenues the game generates, promoting the real music added to the game, which undoubtedly is not free to the copyright owners of the music, all of which are signed to RIAA labels. Instead there is a music editor for you to create music within the game, limited to the game controllers for input, presumably without vocals at all. That's why musicians spend thousands on gear and recording, so they can broadcast their music from a toy studio.

From the demo: "We're trying to provide the community with everything we can" ...except the most important tools for the most in need. Next time pull the RIAA cock out of your ass before deciding what is or isn't good for music.

Another quote to show just how far off point these guys are: "I want to see a band perform live on stage with Guitar Hero controllers." Do these people not know where music comes from?

People wanking away with their fave tunes at home is one thing, but invading the arena of live performance is completely cannibalistic. The next generation of music will be lacking in originality and diversity (even moreso than already) thanks largely to kids being introduced into music as a binary instruction set - hit the wrong button and you're ruined.

The Easter Island civilization collapsed because they chopped down all the trees on the island to make boats and shelters, not realizing that trees don't just grow out of stone. Musical talent doesn't either.

Re:Music authoring

[carlzum]

Originals. Lots and lots of awful songs written and performed by GH players. Free up some space on your HD, you don't want to miss out on that :P

Re:Music authoring

[bmorency]

He is talking about songs that users create using the editor.

Re:Music authoring

[Cruciform]

All songs have copyright by their very nature as creations that can be copied.
You can create a very liberal license (make them freely copyable, in fact) but they still have copyright.

Re:Music authoring

[Anonymous Coward]

Why, exactly, would someone get a contract for making an instrumental in a severely limited game editor?

Re:Music authoring

[RaceProUK]

Originals. Lots and lots of awful songs written and performed by GH players. Free up some space on your HD, you don't want to miss out on tat :P

There, fixed that for you ;)

Re:Music authoring

[RaceProUK]

Won't indie bands do what they do now: use MyBook or FaceTube or YouSpace? GH:WT's editor is similar to SSBB's Level Editor and Trackmania's Track Editor: a simple, easy to use tools, with a low entry barrier, to get people interested in music writing/level design/track design. Once you hit the limits of the tools, you move up a level abnd get new, more powerful tools.

Re:Music authoring

[Sparton]

From Wikipedia:

Custom songs will have a limit of 1,200 notes or 3 minutes, whichever comes first.

That's the most important limiting factor for creating songs in World Tour; your time length is less than the track length for the majority of songs in the game, and the note limit can make the song even shorter for more complex arrangements (especially since that note count is likely eaten up by background instruments as well).

At the end of the day, if you thought you were getting a robust music making tool in this game, you're were going to be disappointed anyways. Activision likes money, and as such they won't release something that could effectively be used to circumvent or directly compete with their DLC or releasing of new games.

And all of that dances around the fact that you won't be able to record voice in it, but I'm not sure if that's a bad thing. The amount of space required to keep the recording from being compressed into shit would probably be too much after a couple recordings.

Re:Music authoring

[carlzum]

I didn't say copyright doesn't exist, I just answered the parent's question about what type of music you'll find on GHWT. From the linked article:
"We can't condone people putting up covers of music. It's really there for original content."
He doesn't say anything with a copyright will be pulled, just licensed and copyrighted music. A garage band's automatic copyright can be handled with simple a check box or accept button.

Re:Music authoring

[j0nb0y]

I agree that the studio features could have had more vision, but I disagree that guitar hero is bad for the future of music. Sure, a lot of people are going to be playing plastic instruments. But some of those people are going to want more, and they are going to pick up real instruments. And these are people that otherwise would not have gone near a real instrument.

There will be a famous musician five or ten years from now who says "Guitar Hero inspired me to learn how to play guitar." And then he'll say "ka-ching" and collect a huge check.

Re:Music authoring

[Enderandrew]

I'd write them repeatedly and beg for a patch.

Re:Music authoring

[Sparton]

It depends on what you're looking for in it. Personally, I'd like the opportunity to rearrange some of my favourite Mario, Mega Man, Zelda, and other tunes, while possibly trying to make some of my own small songs (though I'm no real musician). All of that really doesn't require more that what I'm getting.

Re:Music authoring

[dontmakemethink]

There will be a famous musician five or ten years from now who says "Guitar Hero inspired me to learn how to play guitar." And then he'll say "ka-ching" and collect a huge check.

You just made Ashley Simpson smile for the first time since SNL. You're a natural record label executive. Unfortunately you wouldn't last 3 shows on tour, so now the old farts from the muppet show are gumming away at your privates.

Re:Music authoring

[harl]

This feature is a waste. It will mainly be used to create insanely difficult show off pieces. It will only be used by a tiny minority of players.

I think the designers are beginning to forget that they are making a game.

People who have the ability to make music already make music. With better tools and instruments.

Remember no vocals and they promised to delete copy written songs that people reproduce.

Can't wait

[Endo13]

I've been looking forward to GHWT for a while now. Really excited about it. But the Wii Music wasn't something I've read about before, and the article on it linked here looks pretty interesting.

Frets on Fire FTW! (GPL)

[Anonymous Coward]

http://fretsonfire.sourceforge.net/

Re:Frets on Fire FTW! (GPL)

[RiotingPacifist]

hows that going, when i gave it a try last time it was too hard to get setup right (the delay needed setting manualy and was hard to judge as lag varied a bit), and seemed to use alot of CPU. Is it playable by joe blogs yet?

Re:Frets on Fire FTW! (GPL)

[ClioCJS]

now what would i do with my guitar controllers? throw them away?

Re:Frets on Fire FTW! (GPL)

[TheRaven64]

Someone installed it on the (Windows) PC in our coffee room and people were playing it for a few months. Apparently it was fun. Certainly entertaining to watch people holding a keyboard like a guitar.

Re:Frets on Fire FTW! (GPL)

[Anonymous Coward]

I think it works just fine out of the box, no tinkering needed. I say Joe has a nice new toy.

Re:Frets on Fire FTW! (GPL)

[compro01]

Use them? FoF works just fine with the PC/xbox360 controller and likely fine with the other console's if you care to grab an adapter.

Re:Frets on Fire FTW! (GPL)

[CSMatt]

FoF works with the Guitar Hero and Rock Band controllers too, so keyboards aren't really necessary.

Bah

[Brenky]

I, for one, hope GHWT bombs (at least in a critical sense - I know it'll sell like hotcakes). Neversoft had the gall to call themselves the first music game in which you could play as guitar, bass, drums and vocals months after Rock Band was released. Harmonix is a pioneer of music games, and just because they couldn't get Hendrix or Halen doesn't mean the quality of the game is any worse. I take my music game rivalries very seriously.

Re:Bah

[Sparton]

Neversoft had the gall to call themselves the first music game in which you could play as guitar, bass, drums and vocals months after Rock Band was released.

[Citation needed]

I take my music game rivalries very seriously.

I find that rather unfortunate. It's the same idea with two slightly different packages, and at the end of the day, both developing companies are just interested in rehashing the same concept for more money. Why not just enjoy the experience and different track lists of both?

Re:Bah

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/05/28/activision-ceo-introduces-guitar-hero-world-tour/

Watch the video.
That's Bobby Kotik, CEO of Activision.

Half a year after Rock Band was *released*

Re:Bah

[BathTub]

Citation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rmjq-IWPnK4

That review of Wii Music...

[Toonol]

...Makes it sound really interesting, and confirms that it really lives in an entirely different genre than the other games mentioned. It sounds more like a musical playground than a competitive game. (You give yourself a score based on how well you think you sounded? That's great!).

Guitar Hero is a racket

[wilsoniya]

I know the guitar hero nuts out there will disagree aggressively on this, but here goes. I sat through 3+ years of my college life playing GH games at my roommates' expense. They bought game after game--each version of the game was nearly identical to the others, the only thing substantially different being the songs. It hit me that people were paying $50 (and $60 for current gen consoles) for only new songs. Now I know the games come with a bunch of songs, but only a handful are actual versions; the majority are covers. In the age of consoles w/ harddrives and the existence of myriad music downloading services it seems odd to buy an entire game just to get some new songs.

Of course, there's nothing odd about this--it's by design. If folks are willing to shell out $50/$60, you bet your ass Activision will take it. I realize newer versions allow songs to be downloaded, but I don't believe this is very prevalent.

If I were Activision I would make a free downloadable version of the game built around downloadable content. An iTunesesque version, if you will. They could also release a SDK* (Song Dev Kit) so artists could sell their tracks via the service (or give them away if the artist is NiN-like). I believe this scheme would create a large song library, making users happy, whilst enable Activision to sit on their asses and light their stogies with $100 dollar bills.

_________
* Yes, I realize music authoring seems to be forthcoming in the GH.

Re:Guitar Hero is a racket

[Enderandrew]

People have demonstrated via DLC they are happy to spend $2 a song. If you get 80 new songs with a game for $50-$60, then that is a bargain. Not to mention that with each new game they also add new gameplay such as guitar battles, online co-op, online battles, etc. The new guitar hero is adding quite a bit, such as music authoring, a new guitar slide bar, drums, full band gameplay modes, battle of the bands game modes, etc.

Re:Guitar Hero is a racket

[Sparton]

Now I know the games come with a bunch of songs, but only a handful are actual versions; the majority are covers.

Not anymore. All 86 tracks in Guitar Hero: World Tour are master recordings. All 84 tracks in Rock Band 2 are master recordings as well.

In the age of consoles w/ harddrives and the existence of myriad music downloading services it seems odd to buy an entire game just to get some new songs.

Two things wrong with that. Firstly the PS2, which is still largely popular, doesn't have a hard drive, and the other popular inexpensive console, the Wii, is a joke in terms of storage size. Secondly, with a new game coming out with a consistent set list (of varied tunes), that means that every player of the game who has played it enough will be on the same playing level in terms of experience with songs as any other player. If everyone just downloaded what they wanted, almost no-one would ever be on the same footing in a competition (friendly or otherwise), because they likely wouldn't have downloaded the song.

I realize newer versions allow songs to be downloaded, but I don't believe this is very prevalent.

Baldfaced lies. Every PS3/360 owner I know that has this game for that console also downloads tracks, and I'm a Wii owner who's waiting for this game, and I can't wait to download some new tracks as they arrive. Obviously I won't be able to store much, and it'll take over a third of my Wii's memory to actually be able to play the songs, but I can handle that for a few dozen songs.

If I were Activision I would make a free downloadable version of the game built around downloadable content. An iTunesesque version, if you will. They could also release a SDK* (Song Dev Kit) so artists could sell their tracks via the service (or give them away if the artist is NiN-like). I believe this scheme would create a large song library, making users happy, whilst enable Activision to sit on their asses and light their stogies with $100 dollar bills.

In addition to the player experience issue I stated above, there are still a lot of people in the West who are resistant to "being nickel and dimed" for their entire gaming experience. Also, when the player decides all of the tracks he's going to have, you're a lot less likely to choose songs you don't already like or have heard a lot of good about. This is bad, because it reduces exposure of the player to new songs. One of the greatest things about Guitar Hero (and Rock Band) is that you get exposed to new artists, giving the player a richer experience and the opportunity to discover new favourites.

Re:Guitar Hero is a racket

[bigstrat2003]

This is bad, because it reduces exposure of the player to new songs.

No, this is good, because it means you don't have to get songs you hate in order to get songs you like. Rock Band 2 still fails for me by having songs like Chop Suey, Down With The Sickness, Battery, etc. If I could get the game without those noise compositions, I'd be elated.

Re:Guitar Hero is a racket

[Sparton]

If you don't like some of the tracks, then just use an unlock all cheat and play whatever you want. That's why games have methods of doing this; if you don't want to appreciate all of the content in the game the way the developers envisioned, you can. For everyone else, this is a huge opportunity to appreciate new music with your friends.

Re:Guitar Hero is a racket

[bigstrat2003]

I want to play World Tour. I can't play World Tour without sucking it up and playing shitty music. We have a problem with this scenario, and I hope it gets solved by adding a "turn song off" feature one day.

Re:Guitar Hero is a racket

[Sparton]

Then I suggest finding a bunch of like-minded people and bitching very loudly to the developers. We're* not going to know if it's worth the man hours to create a feature like that if you don't tell us, 'cause most people are happy to just unlock all cheat and choose from there.

*I say this as a game developer in general, not one from Harmonix/Red Octane.

Re:Guitar Hero is a racket

[CSMatt]

I sat through 3+ years of my college life playing GH games at my roommates' expense. They bought game after game--each version of the game was nearly identical to the others, the only thing substantially different being the songs. It hit me that people were paying $50 (and $60 for current gen consoles) for only new songs.

That's nothing new. Madden has been doing the same thing for a decade.

Market Saturation

[HBI]

I think we've reached that point. Also, the music industry is making money off this. I thought we hated the RIAA?

Re:Market Saturation

[glwtta]

I thought we hated the RIAA?

If the RIAA had no influence on things we like, would there be a reason to hate them?

Re:Market Saturation

[HBI]

Because they sue people mindlessly to sow fear?

Guitar Praise

[hansamurai]

Don't forget about Guitar Praise, the Christian Guitar Hero clone available for the PC and OSX!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guitar_Praise

Re:Guitar Praise

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't forget about Guitar Praise, the Christian Guitar Hero clone available for the PC and OSX!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guitar_Praise

Holy Jesus! That rocks! Will playing that help me pick up some of those xtian chicks who'll only let me fuck them up their ass so that they can "stay a virgin"? If so, count me in!

Re:Guitar Praise

[Anonymous Coward]

Everyone knows the best bands are affiliated with Satan.

Re:Guitar Praise

[phorm]

Well, one thing they do generally have in common is RIAA or related contracts, so I suppose that could be construed as an affiliation with the Devil, yes...

Guitar Hero vs Rock Band

[Enderandrew]

I've never seen Neversoft claim they were the first full band game. If they made the statement, then it was inane because everyone knows it isn't remotely true. They were however the first to do guitars and start the genre to begin with.

I will say having played Rock Band and Guitar Hero, I prefer Guitar Hero for a couple reasons. The guitar portion of Rock Band is far too easy. I sit there all day waiting for notes to play, where as drums provides a reasonable challenge. There is a great disparity there. Next, Rock Band added drums, but it didn't do much in creating gameplay around the instruments.

Guitar Hero: World Tour has developed a better guitar, better drums, and has better gameplay to boot.

Not to mention everyone I know with Rock Band has complained about cheap instruments breaking, especially the drums.

The one advantage Rock Band had (and might have with the next generation) was more DLC. Guitar Hero says they are going to step up here and offer more DLC. We'll see.

Re:Guitar Hero vs Rock Band

[Muffinmasher]

Really? Neversoft invented guitar controllers and the music game genre? I'm pretty sure they had to pay Konami a not insignificant amount in royalties to be able to make their games.

Re:Guitar Hero vs Rock Band

[Anonymous Coward]

You do realize Neversoft's first guitar game was "Guitar Hero 3", right?
Harmonix -- the developers of Rock Band -- were the ones who developed GH 1 and GH2.
Before then, Konami were on the scene.

As for RB guitar being easy, they chart more correctly compared to the later GH games.
Neversoft frequently add notes where there are none in the songs e.t.c., just to make it more difficult.

Why don't you go play Green Grass and High Tides on Rock Band, Hard or Expert level and tell me it's easy.
No, really -- do it!
You have no idea as to the quality of the GHWT instruments since they're not out yet.
It'll be fun to see how their drums hold up to Average Joe's drumming style.

They do have some sweet tracks in GHWT though, which is the main reason I'm getting it.
I already own RB1, and am waiting for RB2 to arrive on my doorstep next week.
500 songs across the RB franchise before the year's end is pretty sweet.

Re:Guitar Hero vs Rock Band

[Mr_eX9]

You must not have played Rock Band 2...the window of opportunity for strumming guitar notes seems much smaller. The setlist also has a better difficulty curve for guitar, instead of just [easy song, easy song, easy song, ..., green grass and high tides]. But you're right, Guitar Hero definitely has a much more competitive vibe than Rock Band. What's up for discussion is whether that's a good thing or if it's just obnoxious...

Funny, I've had just about the opposite experience with my instruments. My RB1 guitars do just fine, but I had to replace my GH3 guitar because the buttons died after 9 months. And on my new GH3 guitar the green button sticks sometimes...anecdotal evidence is funny, no?

I did snap my first RB drum pedal though...fortunately it was covered under warranty and I bought a metal reinforcement for the new one.

Also, No, Harmonix made fake plastic guitar popular outside of Japan. And I'm not sure what GH does so radically differently from RB to "create gameplay around the instruments" and "[have] better gameplay." Care to fill me in?

Re:Guitar Hero vs Rock Band

[RaceProUK]

If the GH:WT instruments are as good quality as the GHIII Les Pauls, then they'll be fairly good, apart from a few early teething troubles.

Re:Guitar Hero vs Rock Band

[Enderandrew]

Rock Band is devoid of gameplay besides allowing you to play song.

Guitar Hero offered a plot, unlocking levels, equipment, characters, etc. The guitar battles are especially nice. Guitar Hero will allow you to co-op the campaign, where as Rock Band will not let you do the World Tour online.

Re:Guitar Hero vs Rock Band

[Mr_eX9]

GH3's story, if you must call it that, is just a cookie-cutter series of completely forgettable cutscenes that might as well not be there. I for one don't want a story getting in the way of playing the songs. It's a music game, not an RPG...story is completely irrelevant. I also thought the guitar battles were really stupid for this reason.

RB1 has more diverse character/instrument customization than GH3, though GH:WT may outdo RB2's largely recycled customization.

GH3 and RB1 both had online quickplay and offline-only co-op/world tour...don't compare apples to oranges. Now RB2's Tour mode is 100% online and GH:WT's Career will be as well.

Re:Guitar Hero vs Rock Band

[Anonymous Coward]

It's this kind of posts that make me lose faith in the gaming community.

Harmonix developed the first 2 guitar hero games, and then they expanded upon it with Rock Band.

Activision has been horrible with their management of Guitar Hero, so horrible that they drove away the original developers and had to bring in their own. Activision's president also at one point managed to say "Yeah, Guitar Hero World Tour will be the FIRST game to allow you to play all 4 instruments in a band!" which was an outright lie,Rock Band had been out for at least 8 months.

Also, Activision is horrible for the music game market because they "lock up" exclusive artists, which in the long term is bad for the genre. It's kind of what happened when EA Sports locked in the NFL franchise - EVERY OTHER sports franchise slowly withered away. Obviously music is wide enough that this won't be as easy as locking up one brand, but having exclusivity on Metallica, Aerosmith, Jimi Hendrix and Guns N Roses is a big deal in a "rock" genre.

Another issue is taste - clearly Neversoft has none in regards to what a game that originally began as a "rock star simulator" means.

The original Guitar Hero was awesome because it made you feel like you were indeed playing the songs. I play guitar and I strongly believe that Harmonix "gets it" in regards to how to simulate that you're playing the instrument.

Neversoft is firmly locked in the "This is a GAME and our players want DIFFICULTY" camp, and I just hate that. I can assure you that playing Dragonforce's "Through the Fire and the Flames" is not as hard in the real guitar as in the GH3 game (tho it is incredibly hard).

Anyway, it really saddens me that Harmonix worked hard for the brand recognition of Guitar Hero, and then when they wanted to expand upon their vision they were unceremoniously removed from their own franchise, and now that they have been building on Rock Band for a year, Activision has followed them with a copycat version.

Also I hope the people who say "GO LEARNZ A REAL INSTRUMENTS LOLZ" die in a fire.

Re:Guitar Hero vs Rock Band

[BathTub]

Here is where they claimed to be the first. It's actually very funny.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rmjq-IWPnK4

Re:Guitar Hero vs Rock Band

[BathTub]

Have you even played Rock Band, pretty much all of those features are in it. except for Guitar Battles, which were so reviled that Neversoft has removed them and replaced with a more traditional guitar play off.

Re:Guitar Hero vs Rock Band

[harl]

They were however the first to do guitars and start the genre to begin with.

You sir are completely wrong. Konami had a stand up arcade version. They also had a guitar game with controllers for the PS. Yes the original PS. Last Century.

Re:Guitar Hero vs Rock Band

[harl]

You have identified the exact moment the franchise jumped the shark for me.

I don't want to have to look at the other players notes. I don't want to have to plan. I just want to have some fun playing an overly simplified guitar.

If GH3 has game play then RB has game play, in tour mode. The items RB has that you mention as being game play are plot, levels, equipment, and characters.

RB vs. GH

[Cruciform]

I used to love playing Guitar Hero 1. 2 was okay, and the boss fights in 3 annoyed me.

Then my roommate got Rock Band. The guitar has a nicer feel, and it seems easier to read at speed.

BUT! The Rock Band song selection just sucks for me. Even most of the DLC is crap. Sure I used to listen to Judas Priest as a kid, but it's like everything that I listened to between 15 and 30 doesn't exist in the Rock Band world.

I understand though. Rock Band is about mainstream.

If the new Guitar Hero controllers are high quality stuff, I think they may see my dollars again yet :)

Audiosurf.

[Anonymous Coward]

Audiosurf > *
I mean with other games you can only listen to the music they include! What kind of crap is that? Audiosurf FTW.

Nothing beats...

[bakedpatato]

"Still Alive", "Skullcrusher Mountain", and "Livin' on the Corner of Dude and Catastrophe" for Rock Band. heck,if "Still Alive" comes out for any of the new games (GH:WT I'm looking at you) then that's a strong reason to get said game :)

For some reason when i hear words metallica

[unity100]

internet, download all at the same time, the word metallica gives me a lot of irritation and annoyance.

my ps2 DOES have a harddrive, you insensitive clod

[ClioCJS]

...in fact, with HDLoader, I only boot with 1 disc, and play any game I want. Just sayin'.

Guitar Rising

[compro01]

And lets not forget the guitar game for the guys who actually play, Guitar Rising.

Re:Guitar Rising

[j0nb0y]

Unfortunately it seems to have been pushed back to 2009 =[

"Dude. Wait... What?"

[ClioCJS]

Seriously?! Is this a new feature? I thought I checked that avenue out thoroughly 6-12 months ago.

I have a USB-form-factor dual-PS2-controller converter I got from Lik-Sang (before they got legal-fragged) that should work quite well with my PS2 Guitar Hero guitars.

I don't look forward to bringing my guitars up and downstairs depending on whether I am on the downstairs PS2 (36-inch SDTV) or whether I am on the upstairs computer (52-inch HDTV). In fact... Hmmm... Can you convince my why taking my guitars upstairs would be worth it? Is it just to save the money on the games? Are there any non-financial reasons?

I guess ... Making my own songs would be one -- can I do that?

I know I can look this up but I'm never gonna. And this info could be useful to other readers. So tell me the scoop. I'm interested and wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

Re:"Dude. Wait... What?"

[bmorency]

I'm not sure about the ps2 controller with the usb converter but if you plug in your xbox 360 guitar to your computer there is a driver you can download from microsoft to use it. You can try it though. Here is the link for the driver. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=0e989b12-576b-42f2-b7c1-2a17ce25188b&displaylang=en

Re:"Dude. Wait... What?"

[Anonymous Coward]

As far as I know, the Xbox 360 style controllers that are either labelled for use on the Xbox 360 console or on the PC are identical, except the "PC version" comes with a driver CD.

I used to use a standard Xbox controller on my PC by rewiring it with a USB cable and using the XBCD. Unfortunately I discovered the XBCD interfered with certain things like Audiosurf, causing it to run poorly, so I have replaced the controller with a nicer gamepad made by Saitek.

Re:"Dude. Wait... What?"

[ClioCJS]

i do like a good game of audiosurf now and then :)

forien music

[mehemiah]

when will they have J-rock i want my L'Arc n' Ciel

Re:forien music

[Anonymous Coward]

Others have already taken the initiative to sequence some L'Arc n' Ciel tracks in Frets on Fire and they are available via bittorrent.

.....subject....

[ClioCJS]

I don't have an xbox360. It's a very, very, very distant priority. Plenty of amusement left on my PS2 without spending more money. I can't even play Guitar Hero because I'm too busy playing Culdcept.

Why would that want the contract?

[mark0978]

To opt in now to a totally broken system makes NO sense. If we are going to see a better way to get the indie music out to the rest of the world, it isn't going to come from the record labels.