How To Play Poker With Your Rock Band Guitar

An anonymous reader writes 'Sean Lind over at PokerListings has written a really interesting piece on how to configure Rock Band (or Guitar Hero) instruments to use them as controllers for playing online poker. The instructions given in his how-to could really be used to configure the instruments for any game.' Or how about a genuine chording keyboard?

Comments

That's one good use for the kiddy guitar

[BadAnalogyGuy]

If you're going to play with the plastic Rock Band guitar, you might as well go whole hog and play all your games with it. It's just a controller, FWIW.

If you want to pick up women, playing a real guitar is much more effective.

Re:That's one good use for the kiddy guitar

[lattyware]

And also requires effort and skill to play.

Re:That's one good use for the kiddy guitar

[ari_j]

Actually, it has been my observation that playing Guitar Hero or Rock Band is at least as likely to help you pick up women than playing a real guitar, if not more so. It turns out that women are not attracted to men for any rational reasons.

Re:That's one good use for the kiddy guitar

[dunkelfalke]

Not really, as Sid Vicious has proven times and times again.

Re:That's one good use for the kiddy guitar

[Rycross]

Why does this come up every time?

Re:That's one good use for the kiddy guitar

[Anonymous Coward]

wow. aren't you just mr. obvious.

if you want to have a little fun with friends instead of spending years of woodshedding so you can play bad zeppelin covers at backyard parties or maybe even get paid a six pack of beers for playing in front of a crowd of ten people at a bar than just pick up guitar hero.

Re:That's one good use for the kiddy guitar

[SleazyRidr]

Exactly, nothing beats having them do something fun with you, before you something else that's also fun.

Re:That's one good use for the kiddy guitar

[Anonymous Coward]

If you want to pick up women, playing a real guitar is much more effective.

And a hammer is more effective if you want to pound nails. What's your point?

Re:That's one good use for the kiddy guitar

[Anonymous Coward]

You're a real cocker now, 'bad analogy guy'. Every day, your obsession with attention and 'karma' drives you to post on slashdot. And every time, in each post, I see your raw desires. You're obsessed with getting your 'karma' level higher and higher, you crave for attention, and you spend each day looking for articles to comment on. And now you're talking about picking up women. How many women have you picked up thanks to your high karma levels? Yeah, I'll fuckin pick up women. Why don't you come here and we can discuss how to pick up women. I'll fuckin pick up all your women, twice over. You're always cockin maximum.

Re:That's one good use for the kiddy guitar

[The Moof]

If you want to pick up women, playing a real guitar is much more effective.

And I don't think you're playing video games for the right reasons...

Re:That's one good use for the kiddy guitar

[Bakkster]

If you want to pick up women, playing a real guitar is much more effective.

If your goal is to pick up women, might as well go whole hog and ditch the video games, trolling message boards, studying IT/Engineering/Science/anything remotely geeky. It's just what you enjoy doing, FWIW.

Re:That's one good use for the kiddy guitar

[Leafheart]

If you want to pick up women, playing a real guitar is much more effective.

Depends on the quality of woman you expect. If that's your pick, just go the whole length and create an emocore band.

Re:That's one good use for the kiddy guitar

[thisnamestoolong]

Que? Guitar requires effort and skill to play. The fact that Sid Vicious would stand and pretend to play bass (often with the volume completely muted) is completely irrelevant to this fact... Sid was there for looks and may as well have been holding a dead sea bass. The Sex Pistols were posers anyway, they were created solely to sell merchandise (Seriously, look it up).

Re:That's one good use for the kiddy guitar

[dunkelfalke]

Dude, I do know how to play the guitar, I even used to play in a small Pink Floyd tribute band some years ago.
That was only a sarcastic remark.

Re:That's one good use for the kiddy guitar

[Mister Whirly]

Only poseurs spell poseurs as "posers". (Seriously, look it up).
And I'm not even a Malcom McClaren.

Re:That's one good use for the kiddy guitar

[Mister Whirly]

And it seems your obsession with BadAnalogyGuy has led to this post. Now ask yourself, which obsession is creepier?

Re:That's one good use for the kiddy guitar

[Mister Whirly]

And also requires effort and skill to play.

Are you talking about guitars or women?

Re:That's one good use for the kiddy guitar

[Mister Whirly]

I can tell you have never been in a actual band before.

Re:That's one good use for the kiddy guitar

[theillien]

Exactly, nothing beats having them do something fun with you, before you something else that's also fun.

Like playing Japanese dating sims?

Re:That's one good use for the kiddy guitar

[Mister Whirly]

Um, he said pick up women, not guys.

Re:That's one good use for the kiddy guitar

[Anonymous Coward]

If you're going to play with the plastic Rock Band guitar, you might as well go whole hog and play all your games with it. It's just a controller, FWIW.

If you want to pick up women, playing a real guitar is much more effective.

If you buy Guitar Hero *exclusively* to pick up women, I'd say not being able to play the guitar is the least of your worries.

Re:That's one good use for the kiddy guitar

[ari_j]

Your assumption is irrelevant here. Playing in a band has nothing to do with what I actually said. Playing in a band might work better than playing music-oriented video games when it comes to picking up women, but playing guitar itself is at best tied. At any rate, you are more likely to have a chance to show off your mad Guitar Hero skills to a girl than you are your mad guitar skills, since she can play along with the game or others can do so at a party she's at and it's then an activity instead of pure self-promotion.

The ultimate instrument to pick up women, though, is actually the piano. There are pianos everywhere that you can sit down on and play a stirring piece to get her swooning, whereas with the guitar you have to hope someone brought one and will let you use it to pick up women, or be a Greg Brady type nerd who walks around with a Pignose battery-powered amp and cheap electric guitar at all times. :)

Re:That's one good use for the kiddy guitar

[baka_toroi]

Because Slashdot has shitty trolls.

Re:That's one good use for the kiddy guitar

[Anonymous Coward]

whereas with the guitar you have to hope someone brought one and will let you use it to pick up women

Um, no. "Let me play this song I wrote" is a great excuse to get her back to your place when she already wants to go but needs plausible deniability that's she's really going to fuck you.

As you say, playing in a band works on a very different level.

Re:That's one good use for the kiddy guitar

[Mister Whirly]

Yep, never been in a band.

And who do you think got more pussy - Billy Joel or Jimmy Page? Elton John or Ted Nugent (ok, that's probably not fair)? Ben Folds or Keith Richards? Barry Manilow or any other guitar player ever? So yeah, I guess if you want a girl "with a nice personality" (aka not hot) who appreciates a guy with a sensitive side, play the piano. But in real life, every chick wants to sleep with the guitar player. The piano player only gets girls if the drummer is already passed out. It isn't rocket science, just the musician pecking order. I mean come on, the piano isn't even a phallic symbol!

Re:That's one good use for the kiddy guitar

[Anonymous Coward]

Obviously he's talking about guitars. Nobody on this site would know what it takes to play the latter.

Re:That's one good use for the kiddy guitar

[nozzo]

Only Slashdotters put 'Seriously, look it up' in brackets (Seriously, look it up).

Re:That's one good use for the kiddy guitar

[Mister Whirly]

wow. aren't you just mr. oblivious.

Sorry pal, but I have dozens of friends in bands and not one of them "play bad zeppelin covers" (or any covers for that matter - that is for shit bands) or have ever played for a 6 pack before. Even if only 10 people show up they get like $50 and at least 3-4 free drink tickets. On a good night it may be more like $300-$600 and unlimited free drinks. And the band that I manage has made over $1000 for an hours worth of work on a few occasions. Let me ask you something - have you and your Guitar Zero playing friends ever even earned a six-pack for badly pretending to play Zeppelin covers? Yeah, didn't think so. My best friend has earned the money he spent on all his guitar equipment (Well into the $10,000 range including everything) at least a few times over. How long until you break even on your video game? Keep pretending you are a "Hero", and let the rest of the grownups talk now.

Re:That's one good use for the kiddy guitar

[Anonymous Coward]

Only misbegotten pedants put "Seriously, look it up" in apostrophes instead of quotes and then refer to parentheses as "brackets". (Seriously, look [them all] up.)

Re:That's one good use for the kiddy guitar

[Em Emalb]

Wow, your shallowness amazes me. Seriously, grow up.

Re:That's one good use for the kiddy guitar

[Mister Whirly]

Whatever. It was mostly tongue-in-cheek, but with a large grain of truth as well. If you really want to avoid shallowness, I would skip this site all together.

Re:That's one good use for the kiddy guitar

[Bakkster]

or be a Greg Brady type nerd who walks around with a Pignose battery-powered amp and cheap electric guitar at all times. :)

If only somebody would create a guitar that create audible music through well designed acoustical properties, rather than electric power...

Of course, the guy who brings the guitar to the party is always much more of a tool and a loner than even the guys playing guitar hero.

Re:That's one good use for the kiddy guitar

[Anonymous Coward]

but jokes about crapping your pants are deep and mature. Seriously, lighten up.

Re:That's one good use for the kiddy guitar

[Em Emalb]

You're right. Bad day. My bad. Carry on with the shallowness. :)

Re:That's one good use for the kiddy guitar

[Anonymous Coward]

the guy who brings the guitar to the party is always much more of a tool and a loner than even the guys playing guitar hero.

Keep repeating that to yourself when the girl you wanted to get with is fucking said tool because he plays guitar. Then go back with your other buddies who aren't getting laid either and play some more Guitar Hero.

Re:That's one good use for the kiddy guitar

[Anonymous Coward]

The Sex Pistols were posers anyway

The existence of PiL implies that that is not completely true.

Re:That's one good use for the kiddy guitar

[omi5cron]

usually the singer schmoozes with fans, the girls talk to the guitar player, the bass player puts away the amps with his girlfriend, and the drummer gets tp spend a half-hour packing up his kit while everyone else gets some drinks. i was the drummer!! by the time i was done, it was time to load out, and the guitar player had scored, the bass player had left with his girlfriend, the singer was drunk, and lucky me had help loading from those weird drummer wannabes. oh yeah, some real good times! damn, i wish i could do it again....

Re:That's one good use for the kiddy guitar

[Mister Whirly]

How? PiL is not the Sex Pistols. PiL had John Lydon, not Johnny Rotten. There were real musicians in PiL, who could actually play their instruments before the band was formed. (Paul Cook was the only member of the Sex Pistols who could actually play an instrument before they were a band. Unless you count Glen Matlock.) PiL was Lydon's "anti-rock" band, and as stated earlier the Sex Pistols were basically a "punk boy band" put together by Malcom McClaren to sell bondage wear and "punk" clothing at his clothing store. (Check out the movie The Great Rock 'n Roll Swindle for a great history of the Sex Pistols and how/why they were formed.) The existence of PiL proves nothing about the Sex Pistols though.

Don't get me wrong, just because the Sex Pistols may have been put together to sell crap doesn't lessen their relevance in regards to the music world.

Re:That's one good use for the kiddy guitar

[Mister Whirly]

Your only mistake was taking anything you saw on Slashdot seriously.

Re:That's one good use for the kiddy guitar

[thesandtiger]

Attraction is almost never rational, or, at least, the underlying bits are rational if you think about it but there isn't always a lot of conscious thought involved. Thus, even if the underlying bits make perfect sense, it's still not rational as being rational requires thinking.

Anyway, as a woman, I'll offer this bit of insight that may explain part of this (not very) baffling phenomena. I may get my chick card revoked for sharing this, but my ties to the nerd community are more important than the duties of sisterhood, so here goes:

Most of us tend to like guys who aren't self-important assholes. That means guys who can have fun, often at their own expense. So, guys who can get into a game like Rock Band and act like fools at it in a charming way are probably not self-important assholes. Assuming they are fair to middling in all other respects, demonstrating a capacity for merriment with plastic instruments can, therefore, tip the balance and lead to nookie.

Interestingly, many guys I've met who can play guitar (and ALL of the guys I've met who find it necessary to whine that Rock Band and Guitar Hero aren't REALLY playing guitar) are, in fact, self-important assholes who take themselves way too seriously, and thus almost infinitely unattractive.

Re:That's one good use for the kiddy guitar

[Mister Whirly]

See, now I can tell you HAVE been in a band!

Re:That's one good use for the kiddy guitar

[electrons_are_brave]

As a female, I need to add a key point to this debate. There is a world of difference between a guy who plays guitar in a band (hot) and a guy who isn't but when you go to his place for the first time he picks up a guitar from beside the couch and begins to play Stairway to Heaven (seriously offputting).

Re:That's one good use for the kiddy guitar

[FrankieBaby1986]

WHAT?!? Pianos are far from everywhere. Unless it's an electric keyboard, which puts it in the same size/cost/commonality range as a guitar (acoustic). Pianos are huge, expensive, and not extremely common.

Re:That's one good use for the kiddy guitar

[ari_j]

Hotel lobbies, wealthy people's houses where a house party is going on, many bars that have been in existence for more than two decades, etc. all have pianos. I didn't say they're ubiquitous, just a lot easier to find in a public place than a guitar is. As a person who plays both, but is much much better at guitar, I speak from experience on this. It's always been easier to find an opportunity to serenade a girl with a piano than with a guitar. Except when I'm on stage, which is completely apart from this entire discussion as I mentioned already, if I have a guitar and a girl to play it for, that means she's already in my house and doesn't need a whole lot more serenading.

Re:That's one good use for the kiddy guitar

[ari_j]

Then you have my situation, where the rhythm guitarist's wife plays wingman for me but manages to convince this really hot girl to grind on the lead guitar player, but the girl is too dumb to know which one that is and ends up hitting on the bass player, who in turn doesn't know about any of this and ends up going home alone as well. That was last weekend. I have instructed the rhythm guy's wife to talk about shirt colors instead of instruments unless she knows that a girl has an IQ over 85 next time. :P

P.S. Our drummer may have a Peter Criss set with 9 toms (2 of which he has played outside of sound check), but he gets in and out quickest because the rest of us actually set up and tear down our PA and lights, which is always more time-consuming than the drums. So he's making up for your hard work. He says thanks. ;)

Re:That's one good use for the kiddy guitar

[ari_j]

"Let me take you back to my place and play this song I wrote" tends to scare women away, unless you are famous for songwriting. "Let's go back to my place and see who's better at Guitar Hero" is much less creepy to the majority of women, for whatever reason. Probably in part because she knows Guitar Hero is fun but has no reason to believe you are capable of writing a song that isn't about how you want to drink her blood. It sucks that it works that way, but for the most part it does.

Re:That's one good use for the kiddy guitar

[ari_j]

Thank you. That's what I was getting at from the start that some people just didn't understand. Playing Guitar Hero is the "wanna come up for coffee?" of our generation, more so than a real guitar is. Another point that was missed is that there's a big difference between being Jimmy Page, Ted Nugent, or Keith Richards and being just some dude who plays guitar. They're unfair comparisons here. I'm glad that one of the three women on Slashdot at least understood where I was coming from. =)

Re:That's one good use for the kiddy guitar

[ShieldW0lf]

So, they're kind of like Gwar, The Monkees, Spinal Tap, Milli Vanilli, etc...

Re:That's one good use for the kiddy guitar

[Anonymous Coward]

Listen to this lady! She's a self-professed geek and thus can speak for at least a half percent of women. Seriously, you missed the all-important two words "to me". I have first-hand experience, and the literature to back it, that "Most of us tend to like guys who aren't self-important assholes" is so patently wrong it would be funny if it weren't sad.

Re:That's one good use for the kiddy guitar

[ciderVisor]

but he gets in and out quickest

Maybe that's why the chicks avoid him.

Re:That's one good use for the kiddy guitar

[Bakkster]

the guy who brings the guitar to the party is always much more of a tool and a loner than even the guys playing guitar hero.

Keep repeating that to yourself when the girl you wanted to get with is fucking said tool because he plays guitar. Then go back with your other buddies who aren't getting laid either and play some more Guitar Hero.

That's funny, since I do play guitar, bass, and drums. I'm just not the guy sitting in the corner noodling on his guitar being anti-social.

I also don't need to impress girls anymore, so them and said tool can bang all they want, doesn't bother me.

uhh...

[codepigeon]

Why? Sure, i can cook pizza in my toaster but that doesnt make it a good idea.

Re:uhh...

[geekoid]

But if you can do it and not ruin the pizza, it would be an interesting hack. I am assuming you mean pop-up toaster.

Re:uhh...

[The Dancing Panda]

Turn the toaster on its side.

Re:uhh...

[Anonymous Coward]

Hack depicted here for single slice toaster:

Re:uhh...

[Anonymous Coward]

Already been done guys. In fact way back in the 70's before microwaves and Hot Pockets. Called "Toaster Pizzas" or something like that. There are modern versions as well.

Like a Pop-Tart except with pizza goo inside.

Re:uhh...

[Anonymous Coward]

Turn the toaster on its side.

Even better, wrap the pizza in aluminum foil. If you form a "U" shape and put the base of the pizza in the bottom of it, you can help to prevent any grease from leaking out.

The real question is how the metal would affect heating times. I'm sure you can do some napkin math regarding the specific heat of aluminum and such.

I'm half tempted to try it tonight.

Re:uhh...

[Spectre]

[paraphrased] Cook pizza in a pop-up toaster by bending the pizza like a taco and enclosing it in aluminum foil ... try it

In the interests of safety, I'd like to point out that most pop-up toasters use non-insulated resistive wiring as their heating elements.

Please do NOT put a conductive metal, especially something like aluminum foil that can have pieces easily bend and shred.

Not only does this risk shorting across the heating elements, causing an overload, but if the aluminum foil only touches the heating element in one location you run the risk of electrocuting the operator when s/he attempts to remove their pizza taco that is stuck in the toaster.

Re:uhh...

[TheRaven64]

In parts of the world that don't have primitive electrical supplies, the metal bars that hold the bread are earthed. Any conductor touching the heating elements is going to also touch these and so it will just flip the earth-leakage trip. This will cause some proportion of the house's electrical outlets to stop working, but won't actually be dangerous.

Wow...

[Anonymous Coward]

I bet that guy rocks at poker.

Additional Requirements...

[No-Cool-Nickname]

You've got to know when to hold'em. Know when to fold'em.

Re:Additional Requirements...

[ari_j]

My favorite part is the editor's pun. Nice job, timothy.

That's nothing.

[dunkelfalke]

Those guys actually play music with it.

Re:That's nothing.

[Anonymous Coward]

I seem to remember a band called Pianosaurus that recorded their songs and played concerts using all toy instruments.
The interview in the local paper when they came through town was pretty interesting. Drummer said he played primarily with a Muppet Baby kit, but peferred the Smurf cymbals. You had to buy complete kits to replace drum heads though, so that was a hassle.
Local house sound men would get confused and the band would just say, "Toys. Mic em."

Wonder what happened to those guys?

Re:That's nothing.

[Anonymous Coward]

You can download a Linux driver from my website: http://www.chriseineke.com/ghctrl/index.html

(I'm not the guy in the video.)

Re:That's nothing.

[Joe Jay Bee]

Funny you mentioned that, I used my MacBook and a Guitar Hero controller and was able to play a few simple tunes on it with GarageBand. No real practical application (GH controllers are better for playing GH with than anything else, obviously) but it was fun. :)

Re:That's nothing.

[Tetsujin]

Drummer said he played primarily with a Muppet Baby kit, but peferred the Smurf cymbals

This sentence should be preserved for posterity. Not the one I just typed, I mean, rather the one I quoted.

Re:That's nothing.

[Anonymous Coward]

I wrote a guitar synthesizer in Java and hooked it up to my Wii guitar hero controller. Strum bar controlled a virtual pick that crossed the strings. Buttons to chose a chord. 5 Buttons = 32 chords without resorting to paging. I put a keyboard version here (bluetooth version was a little unreliable). Left and right arrows control strumming, number keys switch chords.

I don't understand?

[Useful Wheat]

I don't really understand why this is news. I have a friend that can kick your ass at any fighting game using the guitar instead of a controller. Myself, I've played Halo with the rock band drum kit, and I had 1 kill. You can't move or fire, but you can do the melee hit, which I used to ambush people who thought I was AFK. I've played several Xbox live games with the guitar, including that free side scrolling shooter. The main disadvantage was I couldn't go left or right, but up and down was easy, and all you really need. The controls for poker are so trivial I can't imagine this took more than 5 minutes of effort. The real story would be if he was playing counterstrike with the guitar, or if he was writing software with the guitar instead of using a keyboard. Because really, what coder wouldn't want to strum a guitar and have code flow from his awesome chords?

Re:I don't understand?

[swanzilla]

Because really, what coder wouldn't want to strum a guitar and have code flow from his awesome chords?

This guy. Right here.

Re:I don't understand?

[Anonymous Coward]

You don't understand because it's not news. This has no place anywhere. Also, Microsoft sucks (Figured I'll prob get modded up for that...hey, it's still /.)

Re:I don't understand?

[flahwho]

How about i just smash my guitar into your poker table then take all the chips? There. I win!

Re:I don't understand?

[Get on the boat]

Play with DDR Pad. Purpose: amusing workout/exercise.

Re:I don't understand?

[ZouPrime]

Because really, what coder wouldn't want to strum a guitar and have code flow from his awesome chords?

It's doable. The five "color" buttons can be interpreted as 5 bits, which give us 2^5=32 possible characters, probably enough for a simple case insensitive language... of course, nothing stop you from using another button (select?) to get to 64 and have more breathing room.

Could be very cool, in a geeky, "that's what I did during my weekend" kind of way. I wonder how a=a+1 sounds...

Re:I don't understand?

[dmomo]

well, 31.. because I don't think "00000" would be a particularly useful "key press". But,point taken. But, I remember seeing a blind / deaf man using a braille typewriter when I was a kid. It was very similar to what you describe. The point there being.. with just a small amount of buttons (6 for braille, one for morse!), you can relay quite a bit of information.

Re:I don't understand?

[Hijacked Public]

Until I rob you using that gun from Duck Hunt.

Re:I don't understand?

[amicusNYCL]

Because really, what coder wouldn't want to strum a guitar and have code flow from his awesome chords?

Except for the fact that you're not strumming a guitar, you're manipulating plastic controls, and you're not playing chords.

Re:I don't understand?

[Ohrion]

You probably WOULD have been modded up, except you posted as Anonymous Coward. Mods don't seem to really mod the comment, they mod the user. Hence, Anonymous Coward comments rarely get modded up.

Re:I don't understand?

[Mister Whirly]

What? So being able to "play" a "guitar" with only one string and 5 frets doesn't make me an actual skilled musician? Get ouuta town!

Re:I don't understand?

[Anonymous Coward]

Back on the Dreamcast, we used to have SoulCalibur tournaments... where they only controller you could use was the fishing controller. If I had gotten a DDR mat, we could've used that too, but I'm not even sure if they were released in the US.

Re:I don't understand?

[tlhIngan]

well, 31.. because I don't think "00000" would be a particularly useful "key press". But,point taken. But, I remember seeing a blind / deaf man using a braille typewriter when I was a kid. It was very similar to what you describe. The point there being.. with just a small amount of buttons (6 for braille, one for morse!), you can relay quite a bit of information.

Actually, 00000 is a useful keypress. The strum bar can be used to strobe in the value. Whammy for shifting, and a few keycodes for alternate character sets (e.g., "switch to numbers", "switch to symbols", "swich to special") and you can probably do it. Just typing a long string of Perl can probably get tiring having to continually switch character sets.

There was a 5-bit code that did this... if you wanted numbers, it sent a Number keycode, followed by one of the re-mapped keycodes.

Re:I don't understand?

[Anonymous Coward]

Seriously? There are so many /. users, I doubt any mod recognizes the users they moderate.

Re:I don't understand?

[Tetsujin]

Because really, what coder with two thumbs wouldn't want to strum a guitar and have code flow from his awesome chords?

This guy. Right here.

There, fixed that for ya.

Summary.

[Anonymous Coward]

A guy downloaded some software and used it. Tag: !hardhack

Why ?

[godrik]

Why should we want to do that ? I know we can. But why playing poker with a guitar ? Perhaps I am getting old...

Re:Why ?

[Bakkster]

Five guitar buttons, five-card poker. At least the hardware fits the application.

As for why to do it? Just do monkey around with hardware, of course. Myself, I added a foot-switch to my RB guitar, since the 5-way switch is too much of a pain to hit while playing. Totally superfluous, but I had fun doing it.

Re:Why ?

[The Archon V2.0]

Why should we want to do that ? I know we can. But why playing poker with a guitar ? Perhaps I am getting old...

What, you've never seen those World Series of (Online) Poker matches where one guy's holding a guitar, another guy isn't wearing pants, the third keeps screaming at his wife in the audience that he's busy and will take the garbage out later, the fourth is a teenage boy but says he's really a forty-year-old housewife, the fifth keeps jumping between two seats/hands and insisting he's really two people, and the rest are robots?

-1 modded slow news day.

[w0mprat]

I played mahjong with my force feed-back steering wheel but I didn't get a slashdot article!

Request for *facepalm* mod category please.

Re:-1 modded slow news day.

[Aranykai]

I used my wireless logitech gamepad to control my media player from the other side of the room over three years ago... I'm with you.

Re:-1 modded slow news day.

[skine]

And I've used my wireless Atari 2600 controller to play Sonic the Hedgehog.

Basically they're all interesting "wow, you can do that!?" concepts, and it's important to remember that novelty frequently takes precedence over practicality.

Re:-1 modded slow news day.

[ciderVisor]

I used my Wiimote and Classic Controller to play Super Mario 64.

Funny use of the guitar features

[Brewmeister_Z]

Yeah, at first I thought this was lame since the guitar is just another type of USB wireless controller but then I watched the video. The ALL IN command is linked to the star power feature of the guitar which would might be amusing to those watching you play poker.

As both an avid rock bander and poker player

[NYMeatball]

This is a terribly dull, and not all that great idea. The last thing I need is some goofball calling me with a 4-flush on the river because he can't hit the orange button easily enough. Now, if I can get some sort of KVM-like gonzo so i can switch between rocking out on my plastic guitar and folding J-3 offsuit in another 2 hour session, then I might be interested.

Re:As both an avid rock bander and poker player

[Anonymous Coward]

The _ONLY_ thing I need is goofballs calling me on river with cr*ppy hands. Sweet!

Re:As both an avid rock bander and poker player

[amicusNYCL]

Is crap a bad word where you're from?

Re:As both an avid rock bander and poker player

[Dog-Cow]

His guitar doesn't have an 'a'.

useless.

[Anonymous Coward]

Just buy a freakin wireless keyboard, this is one of the most useless things I have ever seen.

Weak

[sexconker]

I play poker with my dog.

He loves it so much he started gambling with his friends and wearing old-timey clothes.

We have some pictures at our site http://www.dogsplayingpoker.org/gallery/coolidge/ .

Re:Weak

[Anonymous Coward]

Holy crap! That's your dog??? Did you at least get some money for the painting?

iPhone

[boxxa]

Kinda stupid. I rather remote into my laptop with my iPhone and play poker anywhere.

Why is this on slashdot?

[Anonymous Coward]

??!!

Re:Why is this on slashdot?

[amicusNYCL]

Because some guy used a game controller to play a different game. What, are you saying that doesn't just completely blow your mind?

So...?

[camperdave]

So does that mean a Power Chord in C-Major beats a Full House?

Re:So...?

[Eternauta3k]

So does that mean a Power Chord in C-Major beats a Full House?

How can it be major or minor without a third? Bah, maybe you're talking about that weird "key of C-Major" crap.

Want to turn it into a MIDI instrument?

[Anonymous Coward]

You can download a driver from my webpage at http://www.chriseineke.com/ghctrl/index.html :-)

Hard hack this...

[Anonymous Coward]

Play Guitar Hero using a deck of (physical) cards... then I'll be impressed.

The Alternative is...

[Rude Turnip]

...learn to play a real guitar and poke groupies.

Re:The Alternative is...

[Anonymous Coward]

Psh. Who'd want to do THAT?

Re:The Alternative is...

[Anonymous Coward]

Psh. Who'd want to do THAT?

Adult men that do not live in their mothers' basements.

How To Play [Strip] Poker With Your Female Band ?

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh, wait...

At last

[elashish14]

Now I have one decent reason to get that rock band guitar....

Re:At last

[VisiX]

How can this be considered a decent reason? I'll rephrase; is it possible to come up with a string of words that ends with "with your rock band guitar" that you do not consider to be a decent reason?

Other mods for a guitar controller...

[dfxm]

I wrote a synth in pure data that is controlled by my guitar hero controller!

Seriously, this isn't a hardhack. All USB PS3 controllers can be plugged right into your computer (I also use an arcade stick like a sampler/drum machine). From there you use it like any HID. That means if your app supports HID you can use the controller for free. If not, you can use a program like joy2key or something.

Re:Other mods for a guitar controller...

[tepples]

All USB PS3 controllers can be plugged right into your computer (I also use an arcade stick like a sampler/drum machine). From there you use it like any HID.

I seem to remember the USB PS3 SIXAXIS controller needing a special filter driver because it doesn't provide a "button descriptor" (or something like that), which tells the operating system's HID class driver how many buttons the controller has. But interestingly enough, a PS3 guitar controller made by Blockhead worked right away, both on Windows XP and on Ubuntu Hardy.

Beware

[Anonymous Coward]

My Doberman go so into poker he ran of to Las Vegas with a Chinese Crested bitch.

Awesome

[jandersen]

This article really inspired me, so I went and made some experiments myself. I don't have one of those guitar controller, but I do own a Fender Stratocaster made from something very heavy, so I reckoned I could modify it slightly and use it as a sledgehammer. It worked! I actualy managed to demolish a small garden in my neighbor's garden, but then it developed a HW related fault, and I had to stop, but it sure shows that the principle is sound.

Re:That's one good use for the kiddy fiddle

[Anonymous Coward]

before you something else that's also fun.

I accidentally 93MB of something else. Is this dangerous ?

Ob: Tap quote

[ciderVisor]

I'm sure you can do some napkin math

F*** the napkin !

I played poker with my Rock Band guitar...

[Tetsujin]

...To my dismay, I discovered that the guitar controller really isn't very good at poker. But on the bright side, I won enough money for a couple DLC tracks.