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The Design Failures That Led To Rock Band
CNN is running an interview with Eran Egozy and Alex Rigopulos, founders of Harmonix, about the long road that eventually led them to the creation of Guitar Hero and Rock Band . It wasn't an quick or easy process, and the two worked on a number of unsuccessful concepts before arriving at the games that redefined a genre. Quoting:
"I was watching people interact with our product, and the realization came crashing down on me — we had spent 18 months on a music system that was fundamentally flawed. Karaoke isn't about personal expression. It's about people reproducing the songs they know as accurately as they can. The whole notion of adding improvisation elements just wasn't connecting. So I retreated to my hotel room and was depressed for the next two days. The company was on the rocks. We had zero revenue. We had been trying for four years to make something work. We were out of ideas. Those first four years had been a graveyard of mis-starts and product concepts that never made it anywhere. Worse, there was adequate information about two years into those four years to realize that our big concept was fatally flawed."
Does this mean Guitar Hero-Abba edition isn't coming out?
Since Harmonix no longer develops Guitar Hero, I'd say the information in the interview has no bearing on that question.
Bow-ties are cool.
CNN is running an interview with Eran Egozy and Alex Rigopulos, founders of Harmonix, about the long load that eventually led them to the creation of Guitar Hero and Rock Band.
What, were they making C64 games?
...thinking that other people are creative too.
Most people aren't (or at least, not in that artistic sense). Adding elements that require improvisation or creativity just makes the game like work for those who aren't inclined that way. There's nothing necessarily wrong in pandering to an audience that would prefer to be entertained rather than try to entertain themselves. That's why rail shooters are popular and Deus Ex was a flop.
Rock band and guitar hero are just piss poor rail games with better music.
They claim they sold to MTV because :"Harmonix has always been about music first -- games are a means to an end for us"
I wish MTV was about music. For at least the last decade its been all trash reality tv and teen celeb gossip.
They ripped off Konami.
I didn't blame anyone, Esp Not the developers.
I simple stated that the game runs on a rail, Nothing more.
I didn't read the article. My daughter has a number of GH games. My disgust is the
planned obsolescence and incompatibility of hardware from release to release.
Having to pay $100> for a new controller+game for each release borders on extortion
when your 14 YO daughter wants *only* that for xmas.
Video Game CRACK.
Konami only had essentially what this game was in 1998 and now it's in the seventeenth revision. Really, Harmonix and Red Octane have been riding off Konami's Bemani series for almost a decade now and it's really sad that this watered down product with a different paint job and lowered paintjob is thought of as doing anything new here.
Yeah, it's pretty obvious that you've never seen it or played it. It isn't about learning to make music, it's about getting a simulated experience of being a guitar god without having to go through all the work. You get on there, and the crowd cheers when you do well, and the boo for you when you do badly. It's all the excitement of being on stage, without having to go through the work to get there. It's not about pretending to play the guitar, it's about pretending to be a........Guitar Hero. And it works. It's exciting.
Qxe4
Yes and no. I find it completely insane that they don't mention guitar freaks in the article, when they mention karaoke revolution and say that Konami talked to them about it.
The article is about how they were doing something weird, that couldn't be explained to people who didn't play it, and it didn't sell. Then they sold some games, that also didn't sell well. Then Konami gave them a shitload of cash and credibility, they did something else that sucked, then Red Octane was like "Well fuck, we already rip off DDR and have a deal to rip it off even more with ITG let's get these guys to rip off another popular bemani game Konami hasn't brought over to America yet". And bam, two extra buttons and a whammy bar on a piece of plastic later, we have America's guitar hero. Then they were like "But wait, in Japan they can play keyboard, guitar and drums together. (maybe karaoke and ddr, though I don't think DDR was in there.. it's not in rock band so I'm assuming it didn't interface with konami's instrument games either ;)) So how about we do that?"
And then we ended up with a shitty ripoff of drum mania and a combination with karaoke revolution. It's annoying, because the guitar controller for rock band is far superior to the official konami home drum mania controller that I used. But the game is just .. inferior. In pretty much all possible software-related ways. Oh well. I still play it since it's about the songs, and none of my friends know any of the songs I'd play given the chance.
Though just be glad they didn't make ITG, can you imagine what they'd have us dancing to?
Whoa, way to confuse "I just want to play a game for an hour" with, "I think I need a new vocation".
Seriously guys, who in their right mind honestly believes that there is any correlation between Rock Band/Guitar Hero and learning to play a guitar. The two have absolutely nothing in common. People play guitar hero or rock band for a bit of fun, they have no interest in learning how to play a guitar.
Just like most people would rather play Halo than to build a FPS.
Actually that is a lot closer a correlation:
Guitar Hero/Rock Band = Playing Halo
Learning to play a guitar = Writing and designing a game.
So get off of your bloody high horses and realise that this is all about ENTERTAINMENT, not CREATIVITY.
I am not stubborn. I am right!
over the years, this topic has been beaten to death.
NEWSFLASH: not everyone wants to play a guitar
i've been playing bass and guitar for about 10 years, and i enjoy guitar hero. i have had some auditions where we had no common ground for jamming, so one of us left the audition frustrated. one reason guitar hero is popular is because not everyone has to know how to play or even know the song (thought it does help) to have a good time with your friends (or strangers!).
I haven't tried it
so... what you're telling us is that you aren't a competent judge of the situation? try it before you declare it to be worthless.
face it, not everyone likes the same things or has the same aspirations.
They have of course gone the other way. Kids now think controllers make music.
http://rocknerd.co.uk
I've seen people play Crysis. I've never played it. I'm not sure exactly what it is. I think that there are some kind of weapons and enemies displayed on a monitor and you try to use the weapons to shoot them. Allow me to suggest an alternative. Buy a real gun and go to the shooting range. Buy a selection of guns, and practice until you're good. When you feel good and up to it, consider joining the Army so you can shoot real life people in the middle east. I've seen people play Forza. I've never played it. I'm not sure exactly what it is. I think that you take a plastic controller and maneuver a car around a racetrack displayed on a monitor, avoiding other vehicles at the same time. Allow me to suggest an alternative. Buy a sports car and go to your local track. Practice driving a lot, trying to avoid accidents. When you feel good and up to it, consider joining organized races at the racetrack. Wait, that sounds stupid.
Due to circumstances beyond my control, I am master of my fate and captain of my soul.
Learn how to play a real freakin' guitar.
Don't really want to. Does that mean I'm not allowed have have innocent fun without people telling me I'm not allowed to? I can go get drunk and have a bunch of idiotic fun with my friends right now, without having to spend years learning guitar, and decades to actually be good at it. For what? Growing up (too late) to be a rock star, like the people I acknowledge will always be much better than me at it. I'm never going to be Adam Jones, or Pete Townsend, or Les Paul, or Tom Morello, or Slash, or... You get the point.
Can I play racing games without being an Formula One racer? Can I play an FPS without joining the Marines? A sports game with out being professional Athlete?
Does this also apply to books and movies? I watched the X-Men movies, and I'm not a mutant. I read the Bible, and I'm not God (or even Christian).
Relax, people do what they want. Its harmless fun. And on the upshot, a certain percentage of the people who play might actually get interested in music, and learn to play something real. Stop caring about what people do, you'll live a longer happier life.
A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government. -edward abbey
As stated above: Relax, and stop caring what people do for fun. You'll live a longer, happier life that way.
I love music, but I'm not a musician (unless you count playing the jews harp), don't have the desire to be one either. I support my local musicians, half of my friends are musicians (who play, surprise, Rock Band), I buy them beer, and hype their shows. I don't get my music for free, I pay real money for it. I every time a band is in town that I like I go to it, and spend money on t-shirts to show my support. But I also think Rock Band is a very fun game to play, especially with a couple of beers in my gut. Oddly enough, I also play it with a lot of my friends who are musicians, some of whom are (locally) successful ones. Odd, some of them have seemed to realize that music isn't "serious business". Some of them, I might add, are pretty serious, and classically trained.
And, as I also stated earlier, these games might get a certain percentage of their players actually interested in music. Interested enough to actually pick up an instrument and make their neighbors life hell for awhile. They force people to actually LISTEN to the music that they enjoy, deeply. Not all of them, obviously, but some. This is actually somewhat noble, being that most of the schools I know of have dropped any music programs that they used to have. This, to me as a non-musician, is tragic, as the selection of music would go up if people actually appreciate it.
Another fun thing, the drums in Rock Band is actually decent training for real drums, as is the bass guitar, since they teach actual rhythm and beat, which is pretty difficult to actually grasp for most of us.
A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government. -edward abbey
What's funny is that the people who say "learn to play a real guitar" usually don't actually know how to play a real guitar. I play a real guitar. I've spent a considerable amount of money on guitars and stacks and pedals over the years. I even did my part for aspiring guitarists by putting a bunch of tabs up on OLGA back in the mid 90s.
I still love playing Rock Band with my wife.
GH/RB are extremely popular with real musicians. You always hear about them playing on their tour bus.
Hell, did you even read the article? Dhani Harrison is a real musician, plays a real guitar, and "was up all night playing guitar hero".
Only losers play FPSs, real men go and shoot each other!
A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government. -edward abbey
You jsut dont get it. Guitar hero fills that moment, its MEANT to ephemeral. Playing a real guitar is a real skill and few have the desire to go that deep into it. They want ot pop in their favorite tune, set it to medium and feel like Eddie Van Halen for 30 minutes. The VAST majority of people who play these games have NO inclination to EVER play the real thing. ITs a game, meant to be enjoyed at the moment. These games were never meant to 'teach' you to play guitar anymore then singing Karaoke will teach you to sing. Your post may be applicable for the very top end of players, but I assure they are vastly outnumbered by the duffers.
Good-bye
We know the next part. You don't even own a television.
I've seen people play Forza. I've never played it. I'm not sure exactly what it is. I think that you take a plastic controller and maneuver a car around a racetrack displayed on a monitor, avoiding other vehicles at the same time. Allow me to suggest an alternative. Buy a sports car and go to your local track. Practice driving a lot, trying to avoid accidents. When you feel good and up to it, consider joining organized races at the racetrack. Wait, that sounds stupid.
A great many people actually do this. It's fun, and not all that expensive to "race" an old Miata around cones in a parking lot, or on a lower budget some to the bigger go-kart stuff.
Seriously, video games can be fun, but so can actual real-life hobbies. You don't have to be good enough at playing the guitar to make a living in order to really enjoy playing. You don't have to be a professional driver to really enjoy amatuer racing. Climbing can be great fun if you live close to mountains. Shooting at real people is of course discouraged, but IDPA shoots are more fun than any PC shooter. Most of this stuff is cheaper than a high-end gaming rig, too.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
Or, as was put more succinctly several decades ago:
"Here's a chord. Here are two more. Now form a band."
bang goes my karma... again...
Oh, I agree, and I'm learning guitar right now. But comparing a video game to real life is missing the point. Spending 15 hours in Guitar Hero, I can have fun rocking out to classic songs. After 15 hours on a real guitar, I could play Go Tell Aunt Rhodie.
Due to circumstances beyond my control, I am master of my fate and captain of my soul.
Here's an even better one. Get a real life, and drive a racing car instead.
"I Know You Are But What Am I?"
When you feel good and up to it, consider joining the Army so you can shoot real life people in the middle east.
I've tried that way (not the middle east, but still). I'm still waiting for my friend to respawn...
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
I've seen people post on Slashdot. I've never posted on it. ...
D'oh!
Good article. Interesting read. But fuck the premise. Frequency was awesome!
"long load that eventually led them to the creation of Guitar Hero and Rock Band."
Heh. At first I thought that said "bong load."
sig has been sent away for a few small repairs...
He's wasting his time then. He could be practising.
Slashdot needs Geekcode | Can anyone recommend any good SCIFI? My tastes: Foundation, Startide Rising, CITY, Ringworld,
I just developed an algorithmic composition applet, very similar to the first application by Harmonix. The users can control the music dynamically with the mouse. I thought it was unique idea, but these guys did it already 15 years ago!
I think their earlier ideas were much cooler than the Rock Band franchise, too bad they couldn't sell them.
I've seen people play World of Warcraft. I've never played it. I'm not sure exactly what it is. I think that there are some kind of weapons and enemies displayed on a monitor and you try to use the weapons to kill them. Allow me to suggest an alternative. Buy a real sword and practice on a pell. Buy a selection of swords, and practice until you're good. When you feel good and up to it, consider joining the Crusades so you can kill real life people in the middle east.
I've seen people play Pac-Man. I've never played it. I'm not sure exactly what it is. I think that there are some kind of dots and enemies displayed on a monitor and you try to eat the dots before you get killed. Allow me to suggest an alternative. Buy real pills and eat them until you're good. When you feel good and up to it, consider becoming a hypochondriac.
--
"Open source is good." - Steve Jobs
"Open source is evil." - Microsoft
I hope I've just witnessed the start of a new meme.
and I did... we may have sucked, but we had great fun back then and we got better :)
Donald 'Duck' Dunn: We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.
Oh. My. God.
I know that "LOL" and "new keyboard" are pretty much the most worn out cliches on the intarwebs, but when I saw the "Autism Rocks!" logo I came within an inch of spewing coffee across my computer and LOLed so loudly that my cat flew out of the room like someone had tased him. What's next, "I have EXTREME cancer!" t-shirts?
We're having some trouble hearing you guys down here. Can you descend to our level temporarily so we can receive the wisdom we so desperately need? It's probably our fault we can't hear. God, we're pathetic.
Attention deficit disorder is a complicated issue, spanning several major... HEY LET'S GO RIDE BIKES!
You're missing the point of the game. Rock Band isn't about playing a guitar, it's about - doh - being in a rock band, just like Gran Turismo isn't about driving a car, but about racing.
Rock Band isn't a replacement for a real guitar, just like Gran Turismo isn't a replacement for the car in your garage.
I'm looking forward to your "People can't be bothered to drive real cars anymore" rant about racing games, though. It's always fun to read posts from people who have nothing better to do with their lives than complain about what other people do with their lives.
It's a team match; All of your friends need to be fragged before you mass respawn on the next map.
Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
Guitar Hero copied DDR and Rock Band copied Guitar Hero.
Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
Allow me to suggest an alternative...
This is the 'old-school' tried-and-true method for learning to play in a rock band, as opposed to paying $100+ dollars for a plastic guitar controller and "Rock Band" game.
You, good sir, have completely missed the point.
Neither Guitar Hero nor Rock Band are intended to teach you how to play musical instruments. No more than Halo is going to teach you how to fight a war or Madden will teach you to play football or The Sims will teach you life skills.
"Work is the curse of the drinking classes." -Oscar Wilde
Actually, you're wrong - Guitar Hero is an order of magnitude harder than playing a real guitar.
And you'll just have to believe me since you haven't bothered to get out of the basement in the last 4 years to even try it once. Which basically means you have absolutely no basis to formulate an opinion or a comparison. Just sayin'.
Incidentally, in the time that it took you to explain how to begin to learn to play the guitar, you could have played one or two classic songs on GH.
You say that GH is harder by an order of magnitude than playing a real instrument but then point out how quickly one could play one or two classic songs on GH? That's contradictory. I'm familiar with both GH and playing a real guitar, and GH is nowhere near as challenging to master. It requires you to ramp up your skill level a lot faster than the real thing, but there are no "nuances" in GH. You're either pressing the right button when you strike the strum bar at the right time or you're not. You're holding the button for the right length or you're not. There's no bending of notes, there's no "ad lib", you can't modulate if the mood strikes you. You can't play the same note three different ways, or tap out the melody on the fingerboard. You can't lean into the amplifier to get some feedback, or pull off any of a thousand other techniques that allow you to fiddle with your sound.
Guitar Hereo is a game. It's a fun game, but it's not a good substitute for playing a real guitar. It uses different skills that don't translate to the instrument. In fact, I'm a bit embarrassed to play GH, because my ability to play a guitar doesn't make me any good at the game and it's humbling to find that I can't do it all that well. Play it for fun, but don't play it to try to get good at the guitar.
Virg
And my favourite computer game is Civilization - I guess I should just become a god and control an entire civilization for 6,000 years, rather than just playing around for pretend.
I know how, thanks. Been playing for over 11 years.
Rock Band, etc. are still fun. It's not really trying to be like actually playing guitar, any more than playing Madden is anything like actual football. It's a game.
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.
Everyone knows it's better in a computer game than real life.
That's why, rather than be like all these fools who actually play World of Warcraft for real, I prefer to play World of World of Warcraft.
The genius of what they did is that they made DDR for fat or lazy people.
Unsurprisingly, a DDR-like game where you're required to get much less exercise is much more popular in America.
(Yes, there are other reasons for that, too -- but that one's the funniest.)
Another fun thing, the drums in Rock Band is actually decent training for real drums
I have to disagree here. I've been playing the drums for 15 years and I just can't play drums in Rock Band. Drums have a very improvised and intuitive nature in the way that you don't necessarily have to play the thing exactly the same way every time, especially in rock and jazz music. The kick in Rock Band is pretty much randomly placed which makes it very difficult for a real drummer to follow the visual cues of the song. Basically, I have a tendencie to try and play the real thing when the game does everything but...
The guitars on the other hand, I find are very fun to play, even if I do play some real guitar in life. Of course it is nothing like the real thing but the picking patterns make it "feel" more realistic and "musical".
Best troll I've seen in a long time... ;)
I thought the most interesting part of the article was the bit about the Beatles and the way they're accidentally debunking Beatles urban legends in their trivia. I'm not much into gaming but I almost want to get it just for that. :)
I think it is ridiculous to expect people to necessarily learn to play guitar just to play a game. However, I can never really enjoy GH/RB because I can play guitar too well and having to learn another way to "play" the songs seems really redundant. That is to say I wish they had the game for real guitar - much like Singstar or Lips for vocals. OTOH I love driving and racing simulation games - so - horses for courses.
I agree with this wholeheartedly. It's a little intellectually dishonest to respond to these article questions and not mention konami's guitarfreaks and drummania.
I know it's kind of off topic, but you'd be surprised at how good you can get at playing popular music with little effort. You can even get to compose good popular music with minimum training.
Also I like the way you put Adam Jones and Tom Morello in your list. Know what they have in common? They compose GREAT music that's relatively simple to play - 70% of what i play as a beginer come from one or the other, actually.
So if you are into psycho-prog-rock-metal, you could very well be the next Adam Jones.
I think it is equally harmless to suggest people to try the real thing. If they like music they could be missing something under the false assumptions that it's 'too late' or 'too difficult'. Like I did during so many year (although me finally picking the guitar is not related with Guitar Hero games).
If the opportunity presents itself you might want to jump on it.
If you're playing on Expert, the drum track is exactly what the drum track in the song is. On the lower levels it can be confusing because you're not playing every hit.
Someone did think of it first: Konami. Notice that they mention Beatmania and DDR as inspirations, but curiously omit Guitar Freaks and Drum Mania...
Well, bear in mind, they were talking about a point in their company's history prior to Rock Band and Guitar Hero. Prior to any of their games. They saw a few specific rhythm games and realized that this might be a way to reach their goal... What really inspired them, I think, wasn't the specific gameplay of these titles, but rather the fact that people were enjoying these music-oriented games. This was leading into the creation of Frequency.
Their thinking at this point, I think, was that they wanted that sort of a rhythm game but they didn't want the barrier to (player) entry associated with a custom peripheral. Hence, Frequency and Amplitude just use the PS2 controller. But what they found later is that without the "prop" a lot of people had trouble relating to the game.
I don't think there's any question that Guitar Hero was inspired by Guitar Freaks. This was very much in line with what Red Octane was doing back then: a lot of their business was selling dance pads for use with DDR, etc. - but Red Octane also had acted as publisher for In the Groove. I think Guitar Hero, for Red Octane, was a similar idea: they wanted to have a stake in both peripherals and software for a Guitar Freaks-style game.
Regardless of whether the concept was taken from Guitar Freaks, I think the fact that they've been very successful says a lot about the quality of their execution of the concept.
Bow-ties are cool.
--Hey, it worked out OK for Green Day! :P
.
== WolfriderV6 == I'm willing to admit that *I just might* be wrong... Are you??
He's wasting his time then. He could be practising.
Yeah, in the old days the tour bus would bring along a slave-driver - any band members who did anything apart from practicing for their next show while in the tour bus would be flogged.
Nowadays they tend not to bring the slave-driver, and band members indulge in other activities and "relaxation" between the shows. They've gone soft!
Bow-ties are cool.
1) "Here's a chord. Here are two more. Now form a band."
2) ???
3) Hookers and blow!
When people go out for Karaoke no one calls it a waste of time and that they should get REAL singing lessons.
But most people who do Karaoke do need singing lessons.
Well, no. Even if they're not good at singing, they don't need singing lessons... And depending on what kind of venue this karaoke is happening in, poor singing can be entirely acceptable, because it's about letting the singer have a good time.
Bow-ties are cool.
But the accessibility of the "real life" hobbies is MUCH more restricted than the video games. What, a couple hundred for a complete rock band kit? Less than $600 if you buy the system, too? Another $50 for a racing game? Are you telling me you'll be able to get track time, a car, gas, maintenance, everything for anywhere near that? Hell, even shooting is only barely that cheap, if you get a really shitty gun.
My blog. Good stuff (when I remember to update it). Read it.
No: get a life and fight in World War II. Real weapons.
Excepting for the fact that you don't have a hi-hat pedal and, especially if you're playing Rush songs, you don't have a thousand different pieces of kit.
When did the future switch from being a promise to a threat? -C. Palahniuk
a. two super smart kids got into MIT
b. how much does it cost to goto MIT?
c. both have music training in specialized instruments
d. how much does it cost to get lessons on those things?
c. they spend a couple of years at MIT honing on business opportunities
d. (and partying--hey it's college)
e. with there MIT connection, both get hundred of thousands raised to start a business
f. if anyone's been in a startup: the first 2 yrs is hard work at communication & team building, the 2nd 2 yrs is partying with the marketeers, and yrs 4&5 is the real hard technical work to get a good product out the door.
g. almost "closing shop" they build Guitar Hero, a hit.
h. Sell assets to MTV for big bucks.
Design failures my a**. horrendous failure --what a JOKE. A long road? Ha! What 4 yrs?
Product development is not a mental exercise, it's engineering, it's never going to be the same as design on paper... While I'm sitting here with a crappy 8-6 desk job, with a MS EE, no career path, and office politics, and when I struggled paying for my no name state university degree and no business network to get new ideas invested. And living in a small place with ok salary...
Folks, get real. Harmonix had everything going for them. This failure story, though a good read, is hype to make them the 'good guys'. Brillant marketing strategy: now that you guys are hooked, please got buy The Beatles: Rock Band...
It's Friday and it's a rant...
"The Design Failures That Led To Rock Band": everything they tried before they said "fuck it" and made a Guitar Hero ripoff with more instruments?
Property is theft.
Yeah, and what's up with that Bic company and their ballpoint pens? Seriously, they slap a new coat of paint on the quill pen and inkwell and they act like it's something new. It's really sad that this watered down product is selling like crazy.
(-1, Raw and Uncut is the only way to read)
I've tried that way (not the middle east, but still). I'm still waiting for my friend to respawn...
Be glad you're not on the other side: I hear that the match is kinda like one-way Instagib for those folks.
was to rip off GuitarFreaks? I'm not sure how complicated that really was. TFA makes it sound like these guys imagined shit out of thin air when it had been done before.
Just wait for it... eventually there will be a Rock Band Terry Bozzio set. Which would be rather funny, but I have a feeling that it would lead to the loss of arms for many people. Same for Rock Band: Tool, and Rock Band Meshuggah.
I am a fan of Rock Band, and have to admit that playing bands like Rush in it make me somewhat sad.
A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government. -edward abbey
I think it is equally harmless to suggest people to try the real thing. If they like music they could be missing something under the false assumptions that it's 'too late' or 'too difficult'. Like I did during so many year (although me finally picking the guitar is not related with Guitar Hero games).
This is true, but a lot of people throw out the "waste of time, learn to play a damn guitar" as a holier than thou statement, and generally stated with complete ignorance of the irony contained in it (i.e. they play racing game, or RTS and FPS instead of doing it in real life).
I'd rather not pick up a guitar because I tried it for awhile, and found it not to my tastes. Guitar Hero/Rock Band is still fun, and as an added benefit I get to keep my finger tips.
A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government. -edward abbey
Trivia: Dollars per second, autocross (racing around cones) is the most expensive form of amateur racing.
Speaking as someone who's done it, it's a lot more fun than most people might imagine. If you've ever wanted to go racing, take your family sedan out to the autocross track for a day. You won't make the fastest lap time in the world, but you'll have a lot of fun.
You shouldn't have joined a 'Last man Standing' game.
Wow... the picture of Terry Bozzio's setup on that Wikipedia page is ridiculous!
When did the future switch from being a promise to a threat? -C. Palahniuk
Seriously, you should expect these things to happen when you sell out to EA. Sucks to be you.
"They confiscated everything, even the stuff we didn't steal!"
What's funny is that the people who say "learn to play a real guitar" usually don't actually know how to play a real guitar. I play a real guitar. I've spent a considerable amount of money on guitars and stacks and pedals over the years. I even did my part for aspiring guitarists by putting a bunch of tabs up on OLGA back in the mid 90s.
I still love playing Rock Band with my wife.
I played all sorts of intruments in a garage band in highschool in the late 80s and early 90s. Loved it. Band fell apart in a nasty way as many do (even with the cliche of the lead guitarist's girlfriend splitting the band up). Fond memories though.
My wife bought guitar hero world tour for me last weekend for our anniversary. I've got a lot of respect for the drum kit. It's fantastic - about 60% of what you'd expect from "real" electronic drums. But the guitar just pisses me off. The skills on the guitar just don't transfer. I would much rather spend my time learning to play riffs and chords on the real thing.
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
Wait a minute - who said anything about Rock Band or Guitar Hero being about learning to play the guitar? It's not mentioned at all in either the slashdot summary, or the article itself.
... and then they built the supercollider.
Seriously, video games can be fun, but so can actual real-life hobbies.
How is playing video games not an "actual real-life hobby"?
... and then they built the supercollider.
Look into Guitar Rising and LittleBigStar.
I was once a horse.
I want to be able to plug in MIDI instruments to my console. That way I could use MIDI drums, guitar and keyboards instead of the non-player instruments.
This comment is my opinion and does not represent an official position of Donald Trump or others I do not work for