Which is why I said I think I’m getting too old for this. 40 approaches and I’ve been covering the industry for a long time.
Who are you with Pochacco? It’s possible we’ve met.
I did watch one of the bands playing for-real on Friday. They seemed very nice.
And lest you think I’m some sort of monster here’s a quote from one of my columnists regarding the game:
He likes it. I didn’t. I didn’t interfere with his opinion getting out in print. I like being hands off.
I’m with Sony Santa Monica. Right now I’m one of the two game directors on Warhawk. If you got a press demo of it at the show there’s a strong possibility that you interviewed me.
No, one of my columnists did and he said it looked good.
We’ll have to see if we can meet at one of these shows someday.
Thanks. It PLAYED much better than it looked, actually. We got a lot of traffic from people trying out the new controllers, but I was pleased to see that most people kept playing LONG after they’d had time to check out the new hardware. We had eight kiosks and the wait at each was never less than fifteen minutes from the start to the end of the show. That was nice to see.
I may be going to TGS this year. And I expect to have much more free time at E3 next year … . 
That’s got to be the best, most succinct two line review ever.
You know one thing that really makes me appreciate the work that went into this game… the character on screen playing the song appears to really play it, as far as hand & finger movement goes. (I’m not a guitar player so this is from my uneducated observation). This game wasn’t just thrown together, and it shows.
I can’t wait for the sequel. I already have two controllers, so that co-op mode playing different parts sounds great.
I have to agree with Jonathan Chance though, the way he describes the presentation would have turned me off as well.
I’m not a gamer at all, and have little patience for games, but Guitar Hero is absolutely fantastic. Spent way too many hours with yojimbo playing it two weeks ago, and my fingers are still a little sore.
I’m a guitar player, and my learning curve was pretty quick, but plateaued very quickly. It’s a very hard game.
It did make me wonder if a similar thing could be done that actually taught one to play the guitar. The game takes a lot of effort, rhythm, and dexterity that could be put to better parallel use, but then maybe I’m a snob.
Sing Star is also really fun.
Hey pochacco! I was planning to email you before E3 and meet you over there but I totally forgot 
Please check out my “ask the E3 guy thread” in cafe society. I have a question for you there and I know you can contribute greatly to the conversation there (assuming there is one :P)
I was totally slammed at the show anyway. The only time I had to myself was an hour Friday morning.
I’m following both your thread and Jonathan’s. Ask away!
I have not seen the game. I play guitar. We apparently have some folks very deep in the gaming industry, so I’ll re-ask jjimm’s question:
Is there any chance that a MIDI interface to the game, rather than the game controller, could be developed so that regular guitar players could have the fun, without learning a new instrument?
I have not seen the game. I play guitar. We apparently have some folks very deep in the gaming industry, so I’ll re-ask jjimm’s question:
Is there any chance that a MIDI interface to the game, rather than the game controller, could be developed so that regular guitar players could have the fun, without learning a new instrument?
I have not seen the game. I play guitar. We apparently have some folks very deep in the gaming industry, so I’ll re-ask jjimm’s question:
Is there any chance that a MIDI interface to the game, rather than the game controller, could be developed so that regular guitar players could have the fun, without learning a new instrument?
There is no chance at all of that ever happening.
I don’t think that’s what he meant. He wants to plug his real guitar via a MIDI connection to the PS2 and use said real guitar to play Guitar Hero.
Ah, you’re right.
No, there’s no way that will ever happen. The player isn’t really playing notes in Guitar Hero. He’s playing a game of Simon Says. If he hits every beat, the game plays the song normally. If he misses a beat the game plays a canned flub. There’s not really any support for actually playing real notes.
Thanks for the clarification.
You’re not really learning any sort of instrument. It’s 5 buttons. Basically a modified PS2 controller.
I’ve played for a LONG time and I jumped right in and was wailing away on GH in about 2 minutes.