Guitar Hero is done.

[guyjin]

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2011/02/activision-disbands-guitar-hero-business-cancels-latest-true-crime.ars

"...Due to continued declines in the music genre, the company will disband Activision Publishing's Guitar Hero business unit and discontinue development on its Guitar Hero game for 2011," the company announced in its lasted earnings report.

...

This is a big move, but it's not particularly shocking. Sales of music games have been decreasing steadily, and last year's Guitar Hero 5: Warriors of Rock was a purely mediocre product. The company had not innovated the series in some time, nor has the franchise displayed the earning potential that Activision prizes.

[Tatsujin]

lolwut?

[Arkhan Asylum]

Good.

Maybe now people will quit jackin off with toys and go learn real instruments.

With the amount of time people spend fingering skittlebuttons to rock music, they could have seriously learned a real guitar, etc.


It's not like the controllers are that much cheaper than real guitar start packs.  150$~ for a guitar and amp, tuner, strap, stuff.

[SignOfZeta]

Yeah, I taught myself bass over the past year and a half without much effort and less than $200 worth of stuff. I know people who have spent 10x as many hours on these fucking games and all they can do is make clicking noises.

[Joe Redifer]

Good.  Now hopefully Rock Band will die next.  And the FPS genre.

[Tatsujin]

Followed by that sports genre.

[Joe Redifer]

Which, in turn, could be followed by that waggle genre.

[TheClash603]

I had some good times with Rock Band / Guitar Hero, but the game doesn't make sense to be annualized, and that's what killed it.

[Starfighter]

Good.

Maybe now people will quit jackin off with toys and go learn real instruments.

I agree! And everyone playing Mario Kart should go fucking drive a real kart instead! And why play Bonk when you could put your scull on lots of real things outside instead!

[SignOfZeta]

Good.

Maybe now people will quit jackin off with toys and go learn real instruments.

I agree! And everyone playing Mario Kart should go fucking drive a real kart instead! And why play Bonk when you could put your scull on lots of real things outside instead!

Sculls aren't that durable, real karts cost ten grand and require special conditions, etc.

When you add it all up (price of game system, TV, plastic baby guitar, software) the real thing is, if anything, cheaper. And trust me, no matter how good you are at music games, its not as satisfying as actually playing something. Also, its easier. Seriously.

So in other words, your comparison is completely off.

I had some good times with Rock Band / Guitar Hero, but the game doesn't make sense to be annualized, and that's what killed it.

I disagree. The Beamani series is twice (three times?) as old and somehow still manages to keep going (sorta). The problem with the American games is that they are too high budget to develop and license and too expensive for the customer to own. If they just released "append" disks for $40 once a year or so it would be fine, but they probably spent a Shenmue sized chunk of money licensing stuff like Beatles Rock Band...which is stupid. It just got to overblown. The MSRP for some of this overly licensed crap (Lego!?) is just fucking stupid.

[Arkhan Asylum]

Good.

Maybe now people will quit jackin off with toys and go learn real instruments.

I agree! And everyone playing Mario Kart should go fucking drive a real kart instead! And why play Bonk when you could put your scull on lots of real things outside instead!

My friend has every controller, every game, and every downloadable song possible for Rock Band.

He now has the "pro" instruments.

Like, 250$ or whatever for a almost-real guitar.  He's dropped at least 4000$ into RockBand and plays it so much he can play most of it on expert.

Do you know what kind of real instruments, and what kind of talent you could develop with that kind of money and time investment?

It's pretty pathetic!

[Starfighter]

I don't care, the only true pathetic thing is whining about it.

And Zeta: So what if my specific examples were a little off? My point was that there IS stuff you could do irl instead of in games, Guitar Hero isn't alone in that department. I mean let's break this thing down.. We have a game that lets you play your favourite songs and "become a superstar" just for pressing a few buttons. A fun game to play with when you're drunk and not have anything better to do. If you buy a guitar you have to buy an amp, gather two other friends for bass and drums, buy the bass and drums, get a place to rehearse at, make a couple of covers that is just barely not totally embarrasing (taken that you want to play the crap music that "people" listen to) and then put up a gig for your own money (what, you think music equals income? ;)).

Sure, playing music for real is more fun, I know, I've been in several bands over the years. But if I just want to sit down and play a game that is about music, the Guitar Hero concept is great. Press a few buttons = perfect songs with nice gameplay mechanics thrown in. Nothing to really write home about but it's fun for a few songs. I really think it's as valid as a game as anything else. All this reasoning about how useless the game is when we have real instruments is soooo not the things I want to debate when videogames are the subject. Shouldn't we encourage more games in our daily life?

Sorry if I come on a little rude, I'm not angry or anything..

[Arkhan Asylum]

I don't care, the only true pathetic thing is whining about it.

Whos whining?

We're not whining. We're DISCUSSING.

Big difference.  Quit being a boyscout.

[Starfighter]

Don't tell me what to be you fucking retard. (THAT on the other hand is me angry.)

[Arkhan Asylum]

Don't tell me what to be you fucking retard. (THAT on the other hand is me angry.)

So you can say we're being pathetic but I can't say you're being a boyscout?

You sure you're not the retard?

I'm guessing you hamfist alot of time into GH/RB, and you gotted your wittle feewings hurted.

[Starfighter]

You guys started with the use of pathetic so..

I really don't care for Guitar Hero anymore (I liked the second one, played it whilst getting drunk and so on) so I'm not here to protect the games for my own pride (I left my pride 12 years ago), I'm just saying it's a waste of breath to argue the uselessnessesstess of a game series that obviously have entertained a lot of people that never really wanted to learn the guitar but enjoyed the game anyway.

AND, I want to add that one thing does not exclude the other, why should GH/RB be concidered a.. a... "robber of potential new musicians"? Me for one have both a GH-game and several real instruments.

[Arkhan Asylum]

Are you aware there is an entire subculture of Guitar hero/RB people that believe the following:

1) Playing any GH/RB game develops musical talent. 
    This is untrue, as its playing Air Guitar with a grading system.  Maybe the drums.  MAYBE.  But its a step above smacking your desk with pencils. 
2) Playing RB pro for hours on end will allow you to pick up a real instrument and be just as good at it.
    Not really.  You're training yourself to play along robotically to a recording without any sound output of your own.  Playin your own real guitar or synth along to a CD is different.  You can hear yourself.  Succeeding at RB only allows the pre-recorded song to continue playing. 

Also, there are tons of GH/RB junkies with real guitars/basses sitting behind a couch getting neglected in favor of the video game since its all colors and shit.  Hours on end invested into a game.  Ask about their real instruments and they shrug and go "meh".

Whats wrong with discussing the problems of this?  Its an open forum.  We can discuss it if we want.  I'd have figured someone of your punk rock background wouldn't be so quick to put the clamp down on what people should talk about on a forum.

[guyjin]

[SignOfZeta]

I don't care, the only true pathetic thing is whining about it.

Well, tough. This is a discussion forum (and a fairly negative one at that). If you don't like discussion, go away.

And Zeta: So what if my specific examples were a little off? My point was that there IS stuff you could do irl instead of in games, Guitar Hero isn't alone in that department.

But its not that abstract, is it? GH/RB has you listening to music, inputing control to keep it going, it costs too much money, and it requires a lot of (untranslatable) skill to master. Its extremely similar to playing an actual instrument, but...its like your skills are DRM locked to a specific piece of software.

My actual recording setup consists of the following: M-Audio Trigger Finger, Oxygen 8, Gibson bass with Behringer amp, Alesis I/O, a mixer, two turntables and a microphone. It cost about $1600 or so, guessing, (minus the computer) but I can actually DO SHIT with it. Long after every 360 on the planet has croaked and the DLC doesn't work anymore, I can still make music with friends and family. I actually CAN play my favorite songs (many of them, anyway) but honestly composing your own shit is way easier, IMO. And believe me, I am not an exceptional talent.

Its not like I hate music games, I have dozens of Beamani stuff, but the difference between IIDX and what Rock Band has become is like the difference between communion wine and a case of Schlitz. Its simply gone too far. I'm glad that GH/RB has people interested in music (and is responsible for my local Best Buy having a music room) but it needs to progress from there.

There was a time when almost anyone could at least bang out some chords on a guitar or piano, but these days, especially in the US, we've become so consumptive that we don't bother. We think music is best left to professional musicians only and would rather ape their fake lifestyle that to actually create something. Music...it really isn't that hard. Almost anyone can do it. Not to be "cool", but to be alive and human.

EDIT: This is a topic that has been bugging me for years now, long before Guitar Hero. When this song came out a while back I thought it perfectly encapsulated what I was feeling.

[NecroPhile]

[nectarsis]

Well, tough. This is a discussion forum (and a fairly negative one at that). If you don't like discussion, go away.

Quoted for irony, and lulz (considering the source). 

[SignOfZeta]

Well, tough. This is a discussion forum (and a fairly negative one at that). If you don't like discussion, go away.

Quoted for irony, and lulz (considering the source). 

I don't get it. Your emoticon-to-content ratio is too high. Do I have a history here of denying people their side of the story, or do you just not know what irony is?

[Arkhan Asylum]

The people enjoying rock band and having excessive fun with it are different than the zealots that buy EVERYTHING and go OMG I AM ROCK BAND PRO.   They can separate themselves from the game and are casual about it.


My friend bought like, 300$ custom pads for his drums.  f f s.


He played rock band for nearly 18 hours in one day. sitting there, playing the drums.   Thats bad

[nectarsis]

Well, tough. This is a discussion forum (and a fairly negative one at that). If you don't like discussion, go away.

Quoted for irony, and lulz (considering the source). 

I don't get it. Your emoticon-to-content ratio is too high. Do I have a history here of denying people their side of the story, or do you just not know what irony is?

*Misses the negativity connotation*

[TheClash603]

I have bought maybe $300 worth of Rock Band (primarily) and Guitar Hero stuff over the past few years.  I have also had groups of people come over no less than 20 times to play the games, and we've had a blast doing so.

In the last 5 years, I have probably played games with other people in person maybe 50 times outside of Rock Band / Guitar Hero.  I have spent $1000s of dollars on the other games.

To me, the beauty of these games is that it is a fun way to be social, and have a fun party.  Most of the people that came played on easy, and they had a blast.  The fad is gone, and now the parties are too, but I have some fun memories from all of those times.

Conversely, had I spent $300 on real instruments, and asked a bunch of non-instrument playing people to come over and have a party with those instruments...   probably wouldn't have worked out?

I am a big fan of rock music, enjoy singing loudly in my car, and going to concerts.  Problem is, I am tone deaf and talentless in the real world.  These games allowed me to enjoy music in an interactive sense, whereas I would not have otherwise.

[blueraven]

I'm a musician.

I have "real" instruments, and a band. My single biggest Turbob drain . I enjoy Rock Band and play it at my cousins house occasionally, and I think the XKCD comic hits the point dead on.

Rock band is fun, and yes people get way into it, but that's all it is. It doesn't say: will teach you music. In many cases the Bass parts aren't even in the the real sequence, and if you ARE a bass player it can screw up your rhythm. If you know the part, you actually have a disadvantage in my humble opinion.

Ark, I hope your buddy has developed a sense of rhythm after all of that investment.

I used to hate on it but now I just accept it as a passing fad that's a hell of a lot of fun to play when intoxicated. I'm not surprised they're canceling the franchise.

On, that note; buy my record

[SignOfZeta]

Well, tough. This is a discussion forum (and a fairly negative one at that). If you don't like discussion, go away.

Quoted for irony, and lulz (considering the source). 

I don't get it. Your emoticon-to-content ratio is too high. Do I have a history here of denying people their side of the story, or do you just not know what irony is?

*Misses the negativity connotation*

What negativity connotation? I know you are capable of complete sentences, I've read them. Now explain yourself, please. What the hell are you getting at?

[Arkhan Asylum]

.
Rock band is fun, and yes people get way into it, but that's all it is. It doesn't say: will teach you music. In many cases the Bass parts aren't even in the the real sequence, and if you ARE a bass player it can screw up your rhythm. If you know the part, you actually have a disadvantage in my humble opinion.

I play guitar.  It really fucks the rhythm up.  Also the new "pro stuff".  Yeah I came over friends and tried the new MIDI controller guitar with real strings.  Busted out crazy train on expert.   Once my fingers got used to the goony plastic buttons up top, I was playing fine.

And then, the solo.  Yeah.  So, the guitar has like 17 frets.  The remap the solo (Which extends down to fret 24 land!) up to the top of the guitar.  Yeah, what in the hell.  So if you master that, you get a real guitar and wonder why your Randy Rhoads solo sounds like a disaster.    The games teaching you to be wrong.    Garbage.

Ark, I hope your buddy has developed a sense of rhythm after all of that investment.

He expresses interest in drums constantly.  Hes good at the drums on the game.   If hed have gotten a real drum set or even an electronic Roland set by now, hed be so good at them I bet.   Would've been a better purchase IMO.

I used to hate on it but now I just accept it as a passing fad that's a hell of a lot of fun to play when intoxicated. I'm not surprised they're canceling the franchise.

On, that note; buy my record

I always hated it mostly because I'm like this sucks, I can do this on real guitar, louder and not be told PRESS SKITTLE BUTTONS, LOL.

[blueraven]

The games teaching you to be wrong.    Garbage.

That's the root of the problem with the game imo.

PRESS SKITTLE BUTTONS, LOL.

Hahahha. Yeah that part is really goofy.

[Arkhan Asylum]

Fundamental parts of guitar do not exist in rockband.

You can play the same note in multiple places on the guitar.  Don't tell that to rock band.  It wants your fingers right where they say to put your fingers.  Nevermind that you're used to doing it the other way.  And nevermind that a D power chord can also be played as just a D chord.  Etc. etc. 

Sliding? Yeah. Where is it.
Bends? Lol how do you bend plastic buttons.
Varied string gauges?  Its plastic buttons.  Good luck.  They're terrible.  The tactile response is not what you want out of a guitar.
Tapping? mmmm yeah it don't work.

Not to mention mapping solos to the TOP OF THE GUITAR.  whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

It's just idiotic.  The new wave of RB stuff is just going to teach people to be even more n00b at real instruments but give them the false sense of talent cause they got 83292398 acheebments cause they 5-stared every song on every instrument

[Gogan]

I've been plaing guitar for 15 years. I suck at guitar hero.

My friend can play most all songs on expert drums in rock band, but behind a real kit with the same songs blaring to play along to, he's lost.

There's barely any correlation, its just a game.

[Arkhan Asylum]

There's barely any correlation, its just a game.

Exactly.  But, there are a lot of peepo that think they're related.

[OldRover]

I never got into the whole GH/RB thing and am glad to see it die. I never wanted to try it because I already know how to play the guitar, and the GH controller looks so unnatural.

[esteban]

Rock Band is fun. So is Dance Dance Revolution. Etc.  Etc.

When I'm not with ultra-nerds, there is little hope for extended sessions of 4-5 player Dungeon Explorer.

When I'm with ultra-nerds, we play Dungeon Explorer and Rock Band/DDR. Best of both worlds, motherf*ckers.

TRUTH.


 

There's barely any correlation, its just a game.

Exactly.  But, there are a lot of peepo that think they're related.

I don't know where these people are hiding, but I've never met anyone over 12 years of age who thought so. 

[Arkhan Asylum]

I don't know where these people are hiding, but I've never met anyone over 12 years of age who thought so. 

Come to Cleveland.  Talk with the local hipsters.

dey prty rtarded

[esteban]

I don't know where these people are hiding, but I've never met anyone over 12 years of age who thought so. 

Come to Cleveland.  Talk with the local hipsters.

dey prty rtarded

OK, I'll take your word for it

[Emerald Rocker]

Late to the party here, but Guitar Hero is not done.

The only thing that's over is the annual market saturation -- if similar games like Rock Band stay popular, then you can bet Activision will go back to releasing Guitar Hero, albeit on a more limited basis and perhaps from a different team.  It's all about the money, and the next Guitar Hero will be a bigger deal if the series is "resurrected" as opposed to just being another monthly episode.

[SignOfZeta]

Yeah, Beatmania has been officially killed at least once. Meanwhile, the latest game, Beatmania IIDX 18 Resort Anthem, was released sometime last year.

It probably costs more to license one Rolling Stones song than it does to make an entire IIDX game though.

[Arkhan Asylum]

I like the music-rhythm-game genre, but the Guitar Hero/Rockband ones are kind of cheesy.  Not having them all over the place will be nice.  Seeing posters/adverts/stupid crap related to the two games constantly is awful.  Its as bad as Halo.   Halo acts like its the only FPS around, just like how RB acts like its the only rhythm game around. 

It sucked pretty bad, but I thought DJ Hero was alot cooler conceptually.  It was a bit rough.  The Daft Punk remixing is good stuff.


Pop n Music is still the best.

[rodek]

IMO they made WAYY too many GH games... Rockband had the right idea with just releasing more songs and having them compatable with the next version. only bought rockband 1 and the the disc for 2 (which never played)... now it sits in my closet beside my laserdisc player ,HD dvd player and other stuff I will not use for a long time.

[Gogan]

I don't know where these people are hiding, but I've never met anyone over 12 years of age who thought so. 

Play any song from one of those games.

Play the same song on an real instrument.

Totally different. Fingering, picking, not even close.

[NecroPhile]

Play any song from one of those games.

Play the same song on an real instrument.

Totally different. Fingering, picking, not even close.

Obviously.  Esteban's point was that he doesn't know any people so dumb that they fail to see the difference between videogames and reality (nor do I), and just because a few people are that dumb, it doesn't negate the many others that enjoy the game for what it is.

[OldRover]

Obviously, most real musicians aren't going to like the game very much... maybe a few will.

[Gogan]

Gotcha, misundrstood.

I actually appreciate it for what it is.

It can really expose ppl to music they would never have found on their own, or grow fond of a band/artist because they enjoy "playing" their songs.  And for that, much applause.

Obviously, most real musicians aren't going to like the game very much... maybe a few will.

The ones that get paid! Lol

[Arkhan Asylum]

Its one of those things I guess

like any fun thing, theres the normal people that play for enjoyment, and then theres the total idjuts.

Kinda like WoW.

[geise]

Who cares about Guitar Hero anyways.  DJ Hero is where the REAL talent lies.

For guitar games Gitarooman destroys all anyways.  After I play that game I pretend my dogs talk and we go outside and destroy evil with our awesome guitar axemanship.

[jperryss]

Who cares about Guitar Hero anyways.  DJ Hero is where the REAL talent lies.

For guitar games Gitarooman destroys all anyways.  After I play that game I pretend my dogs talk and we go outside and destroy evil with our awesome guitar axemanship.

Gitaroo Man is pretty awesome, unfortunately not available beyond the PSP or PS2. Or is it?

[NecroPhile]

It ain't done, it's just taking a nap.