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Activision Wants To Bring Guitar Hero To Arcades
dlapikin writes "Activision is preparing a deal with Konami and Raw Thrills to bring Guitar Hero to arcades worldwide as soon as 2009. It looks to be a great fusion of their current Guitar Hero III axe and World Tour. 'Some features have been streamlined, however, like character customization. Raw Thrills doesn't want people obsessing over the hair color of their on-screen rock star. But one important feature that has remained is downloadable content. Raw Thrills has the ability to push new songs to "Guitar Hero Arcade" through the Internet. Owners of the machines can pick and choose which of the new songs to add to the cabinet.'"
Look into the series GuitarFreaks, a Konami Bemani title. Popular in arcades in Asia, but can be found worldwide. The latest few titles also link with PercussionFreaks [also known as DrumMania]. GuitarFreaks doesn't have a home version though.
Of course, when you compare songs between Freaks and Heroes, they're completely different. But the basic gameplay principle is the same.
If each mistake being made is a new one, then progress is being made.
When I was growing up, I learned to play Street Fighter without the high-punch button. Why? Because every damn machine in the world has a broken high punch button.
I don't see a thin plastic guitar boding any better.
UTF-8: There and Back Again
The game Guitar Hero was based on, GuitarFreaks has been in arcades for 10 years now.
It is pretty hard to find in American arcades, though. The only place I've seen it was in a Golf Land in San Jose -- but then again I haven't spent much time in arcades since childhood.
At any rate, it is a bit surprising it took 'em so long to come around to building an arcade unit, given the success GuitarFreaks has had in Japan.
No. A lot of people have no idea how much they'll enjoy it until they've tried it. And the start-up cost is high -- you've got to be willing to shell out at least $80 to get started. Right now, the only way for most semi-interested people to try the game out is to play with someone who already has a copy.
You'd be amazed how viral these games are. Even my parents' generation (age 45-65), the most of them not really gamers, really gets into it, if they get a chance to try it out.
My coworker's brought Guitar Hero to his 50-something father's house for Christmas last year. His father bought himself a copy afterward. My folks (in their 40s) are pretty much in the same boat.
There could be a lot of money to be made extending the "rock band" setup into a karaoke bar. I bet all-instrument karaoke would be wildly popular.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guitar_Queer-o
You, my friend, do not live anywhere near a college town.
You know, there are many ways to discuss the death of arcades; the speed of home consoles, the lack of socialization skill among the current generations, etc... I prefer to tell of the death of arcades in a more personal way.
It was the summer of '69... or maybe it was more recent. Anyway, I wanted to play a game of Silent Scope. Now, unless you have been under an arcade rock, you know what this contraption is.
It is the most wonderful piece of gaming which can never be replicated properly in a home console. You play as a sniper, taking out baddies at fairly long distances. The kick is the implementation of it. That is where the game really shines.
The game gives you a replica of a generic sniper rifle. It has a scope on it, hence the name Silent Scope, inside this wonderful input device's scope is a second screen. On this second screen, you see a zoomed view of wherever you are pointing the rifle. This is about the closest I have come to seeing shooting replicated in an arcade.
Needless to say, you keep one eye open to watch the large screen in front of you, while you use your other eye to peer through the scope to sight in on your target. The way you play is exactly like shooting a real rifle, except, instead of targets, you are shooting at 3d baddies.
This machine ate gobs of quarters out of my pockets. I was grateful they were gone, it was a mutually beneficial arrangement. I got to play a game which I was addicted like a meth addict to, and the arcade got my money. I thought nothing could spoil my utopia.
Then, one day, after a rousing game, coming off with the high of almost beating the game on hard, I was walking down the boardwalk. The sun was bright and the wind was blowing off the ocean. Something got caught in my nose.
I went to wipe it off and got whiff of a horrid smell from somewhere. Now, this being the boardwalk, there are a ton of awful smells to go around. So, I went to scratch again, and realized it was coming from my hand. I took another whiff.
Sure enough, someone stinkpalmed the darned Silent Scope rifle.
I was shocked, horrified, felt a little violated. I ran to the nearest bathroom and washed off.
To this day, I still can't bring myself to play that game of roulette. I just don't trust those dirty kids anymore.
Too bad, I really loved Silent Scope. Maybe I will have to buy my own, so I don't have to worry about that. Maybe when I have enough money.
That is my story of the last time I played an arcade game...
I just can't imagine what the dirt balls would do with a guitar if they could do that to a Silent Scope rifle.
One Token Ring to Rule them All, One Search Engine to Find Them, One WAN to bring them in, and TCP/IP Bind them...
I'd love to rm -rf our current city council. Oh you meant CONSOLE.
Women are like electronics: you don't know how damaged they are until you try to turn them on.
At large sponsored events like baseball games, I've seen a Guitar Hero 3 setup with two controllers and a PS3. There are plenty of crowds around it, but one of the guitars is invariably broken and unplayable. Microswitches do not have an infinite lifespan, especially if you are really thrashing on them - like, you know, a guitar.
I have zero problem with this idea, being a huge GH and RB fan. But, ARCADES?? Do they even still exist?
I'm in my mid-30's, and I grew up in arcades... some of my favorites memories involve arcades. In fact, in my early 20's I was an arcade machine service tech, so I have a lot of experience in arcades.
But, my kids barely know what an arcade is, and they certainly aren't begging me to take them to any. I can't imagine they are much different than most kids today who have all the games at home.
If a pion (n-) collides with a proton in the woods & noone is there to hear it, does lamdba decay into the source pa