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Guitar Hero 4

Posted: 2008-05-13 04:50am
by Losonti Tokash
So apparently the Aerosmith game is just a fakeout, like the Rock the 80s expansion from before. The actual GH4 is Neversoft's attempt at Rock Band, with some retarded "create your own music" mode. I'm sure the first month of the game's release will be flooded with renditions of Dragonforce and "Still Alive."

By the way, this also brings us full circle from about a year ago, when Activision gave us the following gem:
Asked how the company felt about impending competition by the end of the year, referring to Harmonix and MTV Games' Rock Band, company officials took a curious stance in saying that it "wasn't surprising that [the franchise] has attracted imitators" -- seeming to imply that Harmonix was somehow now simply imitating the game it had itself helped build.
No links since as yet all there is are news articles talking about the magazine it was featured in (GameInformer).

They've promised the Eagles, Van Halen, Sublime, and Linkin Park. Also, following Activision tradition, you will be unable to use third party peripherals. The Rock Band drums wouldn't work anyway, since the GH4 drums have 6 parts instead of 4.

Anyway, I might have gotten this if the Rock Band stuff would work with it, but I'm not shelling out another $150 for the chance to do an EPIC DRUM DUEL WITH THE DEVIL FOMG. I hope they continue with their asstastic DLC plan too, releasing three shit songs once a month for twice the price of Rock Band stuff (which comes out every week) seems to be working real well.

Posted: 2008-05-13 07:59am
by Darth Fanboy
God I'm glad I don't live in an apartment next to an Emo Kid with a game system if Linkin Park is going to be on the next game.

hundreds of thousands of homes in America simultaneously playing "Numb" and "In The End" hundreds of times in a row. The collective angst will cripple society.

Posted: 2008-05-13 08:09am
by Zac Naloen
Darth Fanboy wrote:God I'm glad I don't live in an apartment next to an Emo Kid with a game system if Linkin Park is going to be on the next game.

hundreds of thousands of homes in America simultaneously playing "Numb" and "In The End" hundreds of times in a row. The collective angst will cripple society.
However Faint is a great song :P

Posted: 2008-05-13 08:21am
by PeZook
Hmm....

You know, this puzzles me.

Guitar Hero III (game+2 controllers): 129.99$

New electric guitar: 399$

Now, if all three games cost about 130 when out, and somebody bought all three of them, he could've bought a real electric guitar and started to learn how to play. Is GH really so fun to justify the extravagant cost?

Knowing how to play a real guitar has many added benefits, too, like...sex.

Posted: 2008-05-13 08:23am
by Brother-Captain Gaius
PeZook wrote:Knowing how to play a real guitar has many added benefits, too, like...sex.
Hm. This has not been my experience. Perhaps I just need to get better.

Posted: 2008-05-13 08:27am
by PeZook
Brother-Captain Gaius wrote: Hm. This has not been my experience. Perhaps I just need to get better.
What? Are you some sort of a hideous mutant or something?

Guitar + love ballad + campfire = instant sex.

This equation is 100% true, provided you have at least a moderate singing voice and the will to go for it (and, obviously, single women in the area :) )

Posted: 2008-05-13 08:35am
by Brother-Captain Gaius
PeZook wrote:Guitar + love ballad + campfire = instant sex.
Love ballad? Well no wonder. Fuck that shit.

I only play music with balls.

Hm, maybe I just have to go after the metal chicks.

Posted: 2008-05-13 08:53am
by PeZook
Brother-Captain Gaius wrote: Love ballad? Well no wonder. Fuck that shit.

I only play music with balls.

Hm, maybe I just have to go after the metal chicks.
Ah. That explains a lot...

Although love ballads do have balls. Anything that gets you sex is manly :D

Posted: 2008-05-13 09:26am
by The Grim Squeaker
PeZook wrote:Hmm....

You know, this puzzles me.

Guitar Hero III (game+2 controllers): 129.99$

New electric guitar: 399$

Now, if all three games cost about 130 when out, and somebody bought all three of them, he could've bought a real electric guitar and started to learn how to play. Is GH really so fun to justify the extravagant cost?

Knowing how to play a real guitar has many added benefits, too, like...sex.
Most people can't teach themselves how to play, and lessons will jack the price up quickly :P

Posted: 2008-05-13 10:51am
by CDiehl
Knowing how to play a real guitar has many added benefits, too, like...sex.
You also get the satisfaction of having learned to play a musical instrument. As Guitar Hero and its sequels stand now, all you get is the hard work of learning an instrument without ending up knowing how to play one. That is my big gripe with the series, that you can't play every song on the disc on every difficulty right out of the box. It's as though it's too busy being a video game to be, I don't know, fun for those of us who aren't trying to impress anyone.

Posted: 2008-05-13 11:10am
by Graeme Dice
CDiehl wrote:You also get the satisfaction of having learned to play a musical instrument.
What these arguments fail to note is that in my experience, the best guitar hero players already know how to play at least one instrument.

Posted: 2008-05-13 12:01pm
by Spanky The Dolphin
I play Rock Band because fake guitar games are fun. :P

Posted: 2008-05-13 01:44pm
by Losonti Tokash
PeZook wrote:Hmm....

You know, this puzzles me.

Guitar Hero III (game+2 controllers): 129.99$

New electric guitar: 399$

Now, if all three games cost about 130 when out, and somebody bought all three of them, he could've bought a real electric guitar and started to learn how to play. Is GH really so fun to justify the extravagant cost?

Knowing how to play a real guitar has many added benefits, too, like...sex.
Yes, it is. Also, not everyone who plays Rock Band has the desire to actually become a musician. Maybe they just want to play a fun game at a party, you know?
That is my big gripe with the series, that you can't play every song on the disc on every difficulty right out of the box. It's as though it's too busy being a video game to be, I don't know, fun for those of us who aren't trying to impress anyone.
That would make the game pathetically easy, to the point where it would have no replay value. Now that I play on expert difficulty, I think I'd murder anyone that made me play on easy forever.

Posted: 2008-05-13 03:06pm
by Arthur_Tuxedo
Did you know for the price of an FPS and the computer needed to play it, you could just get a real gun and learn to shoot? What kind of idiot shoots at pixels when you could be doing the real thing?

Posted: 2008-05-13 03:31pm
by PeZook
Arthur_Tuxedo wrote:Did you know for the price of an FPS and the computer needed to play it, you could just get a real gun and learn to shoot? What kind of idiot shoots at pixels when you could be doing the real thing?
Of course it's true, but you would do well to notice I didn't call anybody playing GH an idiot. I just fished for opinion: since the price of both things is similar, why do people chose one over the other?

Posted: 2008-05-13 03:37pm
by Arthur_Tuxedo
PeZook wrote:
Arthur_Tuxedo wrote:Did you know for the price of an FPS and the computer needed to play it, you could just get a real gun and learn to shoot? What kind of idiot shoots at pixels when you could be doing the real thing?
Of course it's true, but you would do well to notice I didn't call anybody playing GH an idiot. I just fished for opinion: since the price of both things is similar, why do people chose one over the other?
Why do people choose to take a jog instead of read a book? They're completely different activities. The fact that one is an imitation of the other means nothing. Why sing karaoke on weekends with friends when you can train your voice to become a real professional? Why play Wii sports when you can practice baseball and join the MLB?

Posted: 2008-05-13 03:42pm
by PeZook
Arthur_Tuxedo wrote: Why do people choose to take a jog instead of read a book? They're completely different activities. The fact that one is an imitation of the other means nothing.
Yep. Why indeed? There can be a lot of reasons, and "it's a fun party game" is perfectly okay.
Arthur_Tuxedo wrote:Why sing karaoke on weekends with friends when you can train your voice to become a real professional? Why play Wii sports when you can practice baseball and join the MLB?
Umm...who said anything about becoming a professional? If anything, a closer analogy would be "Why play Wii sports if you could play real basketball with your friends?"

And you know what? It's a perfectly good question.

Posted: 2008-05-13 04:39pm
by Spanky The Dolphin
I think the problem is that the question is a little too close to the "get a real guitar, nerd!" dismissive criticism from actual guitar players that has followed the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises since their inceptions.

Posted: 2008-05-13 04:44pm
by PeZook
Spanky The Dolphin wrote:I think the problem is that the question is a little too close to the "get a real guitar, nerd!" dismissive criticism from actual guitar players that has followed the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises since their inceptions.
Well, I apologize if it was received as such :)

I really am curious.

EDIT: Maybe I should clarify why. GH is a twitch game at it's core, but it's significantly more costly than most (Because of the controller). Now, if it's genuinely fun, it's not surprising why people don't want to bother with real guitars, but seeing why it could be fun is the problem :)

Posted: 2008-05-13 04:54pm
by Losonti Tokash
Okay, so the problem seems to be that you don't understand why Guitar Hero is fun? If I understand you correctly, then I'd have to ask if you've played it. Up until I played it for the first time I thought it was a retarded idea, so that would make sense to me.

Posted: 2008-05-13 08:15pm
by TheKwas
Image

A nice summary.

Posted: 2008-05-14 08:30pm
by YT300000
The best way to put an end to this argument would be to allow the purchase of a peripheral which provides an interface of actual electric guitars into the game alongside the toy ones, playing over top of the songs. As long as you stay in key and in time, you get points.

It'd definitely be a niche product, hence selling separately, but the actual implementation shouldn't be too hard - either a simple pitch-recognition feature like you'd find on regular electronic tuners, or a hexaphonic-style MIDI pickup; with a cheap amp modeling program off a Boss ME-50 or the like. Essentially, the attachment would be a $50 box that plugs into a controller port, and accepts a 1/4 cable from your guitar.

Posted: 2008-05-15 03:52am
by PeZook
TheKwas wrote: A nice summary.
Well,touche :D
yt wrote:The best way to put an end to this argument would be to allow the purchase of a peripheral which provides an interface of actual electric guitars into the game alongside the toy ones, playing over top of the songs. As long as you stay in key and in time, you get points.

It'd definitely be a niche product, hence selling separately, but the actual implementation shouldn't be too hard - either a simple pitch-recognition feature like you'd find on regular electronic tuners, or a hexaphonic-style MIDI pickup; with a cheap amp modeling program off a Boss ME-50 or the like. Essentially, the attachment would be a $50 box that plugs into a controller port, and accepts a 1/4 cable from your guitar.
Hmm...turn GH into a guitar-teaching tool? Cool idea :D

Posted: 2008-05-15 01:02pm
by Spanky The Dolphin
Get a real toy guitar, nerds!

;)

Posted: 2008-05-15 02:08pm
by DPDarkPrimus
So have you guys seen the drum kit for GH4?

Oh man it's terrible.