Anyone remember that electronic game Simon? I imagine it was pretty fun, despite being a “Just do what I tell you” sorta game. Perhaps that can illustrate how such activities can have appeal.
Also, though it’s a slight bit away from the main focus of this thread, I think Tycho of Penny Arcade makes a rather insightful point here about just how devoid of substance it is to shun the Guitar Hero/Rock Band instruments as “fake” (though, thankfully, there hasn’t yet been too much of that here):
Addendum: I think GH and its derivatives are a truly great addition to the video game genre. I am sick and tired of those bloody violent games that seem to have most of the market share these days.
I want more puzzle games and cutesy stuff like the WII tennis games where you actually have to move. I don’t care about being the best/beating the high scores, I want to have FUN dammit. If enough of those games get made, I may even consider buying a console. And I haven’t bought a game since the early 1990s
I haven’t played Rock Band but I have played my son’s Guitar Hero III for the Wii and it is a blast. What surprised me was the quality of some of the covers. Barracuda is particularly good. If the GH version played on the radio, I wouldn’t think anything of it. In fact, the Romantics are suing Activision because the cover was too good.
Hmmm, am I sensing a pattern? Are most of the fans of this game not big fans of other types of games? Because I got to say, while I’m sure it could be fun, the actual game play looks pretty linear, like a flashy “Missle Command” with a couple extra buttons to press. While most games are trying to become wide open with whole worlds to explore, this is coloured bumps sliding down a track. Does this game seem to draw in “non traditional” gamers?
It’s a very big crossover hit, but it’s definitly popular with hardcore gamers.
The only other console games I’ve really gotten into were the Spyro games. I do enjoy games like Everquest II, but most video games just don’t interest me. The DDR/Guitar Hero/Rock Band games don’t appeal to the “game” side of me… I don’t really think of them as “video games” in the same sense that I think of other games. It has nothing to do with being “linear” or simple, it’s that it appeals on totally different grounds. Playing the drums on Rock Band is a hell of a lot of fun in the same way that, for example, dancing is fun. I don’t like dancing because it’s “linear” or anything, I like it because I enjoy moving to music.
When you play Guitar Hero, you are making music.
Consider this analogy: If I make a synthesizer, and I give it a very specific sound, and hook up the input of the oscillator to a key you press, are you making music if you tap the key to a certain rhythm? Now imagine that the synthesizer keys are hooked to to music samples, such that if you press the keys at the right time and in the right patterns, you can make the synthesizer generate the right sounds to play a song. Are you playing music?
One way of looking at guitar hero - it’s a very simple music controller connected to a very complex, yet rigid output device.
What it’s really lacking is expressiveness. It’s making music, but a very simple kind of music that doesn’t allow you to subtly change the timing, tempo, pitch, volume, and meter of the song to give it your own interpretation. You can add or subtract notes or change the song structure. But the pure visceral experience of moving your fingers with speed and precision, with the result being music, is there.
I’ve been a console owner since the Atari 2600. I’m mostly fond of platform games and driving games. I love video games, and I love Guitar Hero/Rock Band.
One of my best friends, who introduced us to Guitar Hero when it first came out, is a complete game addict. Spends hours and hours on his computer during his free time playing first-person shooters, flight simulators, strategy and role-playing games. After a friend showed him Guitar Hero, he went out a bought himself a Playstation 2 (he’d never owned a console) just so he could own the game.
I frequent the RockBand forums, and many of the users there are big fans of games like Call of Duty 4. If you’re seeing a pattern of non-traditional gamers in this thread, it’s just coincidence. It doesn’t reflect the broad spectrum of people who are buying these music games.
It’s a fad, like pet rocks or Teddy Ruxspin, which isn’t said to denigrate anyone who enjoys these things.
And not an undeserved fad – finally, something different than an RPG or FPS on a console! Gloria Mundi, something new under the sun! It’s unique enough to really stand out, kudos to whomever thought of it, and good on the people with sense enough to climb on a new wagon, when the old wagons are rusting.
Guitar Hero is seriously addictive. And HARD. Quite a bit harder than it looks.
Doesn’t have shit to do with how well you can play a real guitar, but it’s fun.
The music is “automatically” played because they’re hitting all the right notes. In fact, the football analogy is apt:
In real football, you pick a pre-designed play and then try to adjust to what the other team does, and then make a quick decision to try to make it work. Same in videogame football. The difference is that the real Brett Favre is, well, Brett Favre, so he’s taken the time to memorize the plays, figure out the strengths and weaknesses of opposing defenses, and intuitively know where his teammates are going to be and when, whereas someone playing a videogame has not devoted his life to these things (generally 
) and has to be reminded of them on the screen.
In real live rock, you pick a pre-written song to play and then you try to hit every note perfectly. (Nevermind improvisation; it has enough of a minority status in rock music that it can be safely ignored.) Same in videogame live rock. The difference is that the real Jack White has memorized where every note goes for his songs and any songs he likes enough to cover in a live set, whereas someone playing a videogame has not devoted his life to these things (generally) and has to be reminded of them on the screen.
It’s a blast, believe me. And if music games could reward improvisation, jamming, creativity, etc., there’d be a million jazz games out. (Jazz is huge in Japan.) As we stand, videogames can’t recognize subjective qualities like innovation and new ways of thinking–but the hit-every-note stuff is damn fun in the meantime.
I dunno. I like Guitar Hero as a game, but I question the argument that it is, in fact, making music in any true sense. You can certainly mess the song up and have it not turn out. I could even imagine an artist taking the interface and the songs and selectively playing the notes in order to make different music than what’s expected.
But in the actual act of playing the game, you either hit the notes as precisely as possible, as you’re asked to hit them, or you get a lot of crappy noise. You don’t, if you play a blue where you’re supposed to play a green, get a blue. You get a bleep.
Fun as hell, but not really ‘making music’, not even in the cover band sense.
And for those of you who have more seasonal musical aspirations: http://www.vml.com/handbellhero/
That’s the way it is when you first start out, especially if you not only don’t know how the instruments work but don’t know the song. But once you get an understanding and a song you know it’s almost impossible not to start dancing around if you on the mic or guitar. Actually it really helps you keep the beat if you dance around.
I’m a big fan of Rock Band and Guitar Hero series and have been a gamer since the Atari 2600. My wife who used to not like any game that wasn’t called Dr Mario enjoys the hell out of it too. It’s fun to be able to enjoy a game together.
I don’t really consider it to be making music, but it’s still fun to pretend even if it’s in a silly way. We excuse ourselves for bathroom breaks by saying that we need to go shoot up. When one of the cats jumps in our lap while we’re playing we remark about the horrible security that’s allowed a fan to rush the stage. That’s all part of the fun for us.
I think the coolest thing about the game though is that it’s pushing me more and more to actually learning to play an instrument for real.
I like air guitar. It’s a physical manifestation of appreciation of the music. It would be a lot less of a mystery to me if the guys playing the game were jumping around and stuff. Instead they were just watching a bad digital animation of someone jumping around.
Maybe it’s because you were at Best Buy. Also, if they were unfamiliar with the game, I assume that it takes a little practice before you can jump around and press the right buttons at the same time.
Hahahah that’s wonderful!
I never did like the rhythm/timing games, because THE GAME tells you what to do and it’s gotta be EXCACTLY FREAKIN RIGHT or you don’t get a good score. I like a more sandbox type of game where you can do things the way you want to.
Although the drumming part in Rock Band intrigues me because it’s supposed to be a lot like actual drums. I might buy the drums and Rock Band when they become available separately.
I read this with Zero Punctuation’s accent/mannerisms bouncing around in my head, then fell over laughing.
Which video games are supposed to be equivalent to doing the real thing? If there was one, I imagine it would consist of an image of the game controller on the screen, and the player has to press the same buttons on his own controller that are on the screen.
I doubt that would be a great deal of fun, huh?
Playing football or baseball for real are nothing at all like playing video games of either one. I never thought playing Pitfall was supposed to be like really adventuring through the Amazon. Guitar Hero and Rock Band are no different. They’re just fun video games, regardless of whether you jump around or not.
They are, however, much more appealing to a wider range of people than typical video games. My wife, mother and sister-in-law all enjoyed playing Guitar Hero over Thanksgiving.
I suggest that people who just don’t get it either give it a try or go to pick up their official Grumpy Old Person card at the nearest location.