And most importantly GH2 is being released for the Xbox 360 Today for the first time, and I will be picking mine up today after work.
I kind of thought that Foreigner’s Juke Box Hero would have been a no-brainer for inclusion on this game, but, so far, no such luck.
DDR already has a funny controller. (Of course, you don’t need to use it, but still…)
I’m a licensed pilot. I can fly airplanes whenever I want. I like flight simulators. Is that crazy?
I’m a pretty good pool player. I like playing virtual pool on occasion, even though there’s a real table 10 feet away from me.
People who drive cars for fun, people who enter autocrosses and road rallys, also tend to be people who buy lots of race-car games.
Why shouldn’t guitarists want to play a guitar simulator? I play guitar, at best at an intermediate level. I enjoy playing. I pick up my acoustic fairly regularly and teach myself a new lick, or just play a song or two. But I love Guitar Hero. Because I’m no Eric Clapton, but I can sure feel like I’m the guy playing ‘Crossroads’ in an ampitheatre in front of 50,000 people with a Marshall Stack blasting behind me. That’s what simulations do - makes inaccessible experiences accessible. I can fly a light airplane around, but I can’t fly an F-15, or fly my light airplane under the Brooklyn bridge. I can do that in a simulator.
Then there’s the whole game/competitive aspect to it. Beating your old high scores. Achieving 5-star ratings on songs. It’s fun. You can unlock new characters to play (My favorite: The Grim Reaper from Guitar Hero I - he’s cool and he knows it). You can participate in an online leaderboard and rate your ability against other players.
You just have to get away from the notion that somehow this just a lesser form of instrument. It’s a game. It is not incompatible with real guitar. In fact for me it’s the opposite. My knowledge of music makes the game more fun, because the game is written very well by actual musicians. If you watch the characters, their hands move on the fretboard and actually play what looks like the right notes or close to it. There are all kinds of little musical ‘in’ jokes in the game. It’s almost like the game was written precisely for musicians.
Also, in a lot of ways a real guitar is easier to play. A simple pick sweep across five strings turns into a high-speed finger exercise, including shifting your hand position, in Guitar Hero, because you’d have to push five buttons in rapid succession on the one ‘string’ on the controller. A very easy song like ‘House of the Rising Sun’ would turn into an endless run of button arpeggios in the game. It would be a lot harder.
Diogenes: Have a look at the playlists for both, and choose the one with the songs you like the most. Guitar Hero I has a sountrack that’s a little more balanced between various subgenres of guitar rock - It’s got some Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and other classic rock tunes. Guitar Hero II has more emphasis on modern metal, although it has more tracks so there’s still a good representation of other styles, from Dick Dale to Buckethead.
The Guitar Hero II game engine is a little better. The Hammer-On/Pull Off system in Guitar Hero I was kind of flakey, and that could drive you nuts on a couple of songs (for me, Texas Flood in GH I was frustrating - great song though - still my favorite from either game). The timing was loosened for other notes a tiny bit, which was an improvement. But in the end, it’s the songs that matter. Buy the game with the ones you want to play the most.
I just about lost it when I found out about this new game. I have loved and worshipped both GH games, and have hosted and participated in GH parties. I’m not even great at the game by any stretch (I struggle with the Hard level on both games). But I just love it to pieces. I have remarked in the past that the only thing I’d enjoy more is if there were a drumming equivalent to the game because that’s the instrument I’d most like to play in real life, and I actually have a drum set. And now ::weep:: we’re going to get the best of both worlds!
I wonder if it’s too early to get in line to buy the new game. I’m a little intimidated by the financial investment that will be involved (we’ll have to buy the mic and drum set, and – oh yeah – a PS3), but I have no doubt it will be worthwhile! 