1. In recent news Harmonix and Activison have announced that they will be releasing
new Rock Band and Guitar Hero games. When the news broke, I began to shake my
head.
Guitar Hero and I have a long past that has left a burning distain for music games. It
all started when I was entering the 4th grade. The year was 2006 and this cool new
computer program called AIM came out. I could pick a screen-name and then I could
chat with all of my friends about typical 4th grade stuff. Around 4th grade is also
when I started playing guitar. I tried to get a cool screen-name such as DragonHero
or DragonSlayer or DragonMaster (I really liked Dragons), but sadly they were all
taken. Instead I opted for guitarhero. A couple of months later, the game Guitar Hero
came out. I had no idea this game was coming out, I just wanted a cool screen-name.
Needless to say, most of my classmates proceeded to continuously ask me if I chose
guitarhero because I liked Guitar Hero. I obviously retorted no. Reason number 1
for disliking Guitar Hero, they stole my screen-name.
As I grew older, I began to go over to some friends’ houses and they all had Guitar
Hero. I normally took a stance against it because it just didn’t seem fun. Eventually I
decided to give it a go. Needless to say, the years of playing an actual guitar did not
translate and I was absolute garbage, which is what anyone would expect when
trying a new game with essentially a new controller. But as a young and angry pre-
adolescent I took offense to my suckage. “What do you mean I suck? I play real
guitar”. My friends would ridicule me and I would have no response. I realized that
this game gave my peers a sense of accomplishment akin to actually playing Carry
On My Wayward Son by Kansas. I ultimately had the last laugh when I brought them
over and played the song on a real instrument.
To get past my personal hesitations toward these games, I personally feel like Guitar
Hero and to a lesser degree Rock Band are not fun. I say Rock Band to a lesser degree
because for the keyboard, drums, and some of the other instruments, I can see some
of the skills being transferrable. But regardless, there is something wrong with these
games.
For starters, gamers (or parents) have to drop a large amount of money for what is
essentially a hunk of plastic that is unusable for any other game besides Rock Band
or Guitar Hero. I have seen controllers range from $100-150, which is additional to
the actual cost of the game. For Rock Band it could even be more expensive
depending on how many instruments you get.
Another complaint against Rock Band and Guitar Hero is their sequels. I understand
that Harmonix and Activision has stated that they do not plan on annualizing their
respective series again, but still was there ever really a need for sequels to their
previous entries besides the obvious financial reasons? Let’s break down these
games. You pick up the instruments, you try to time your pressing of the buttons on
the guitar controller with the lights on the screen, and in the background your
avatars are either rocking out or struggling to a cheering or booing crowd. In the

2. reboot for Guitar Hero, it’s essentially the same thing except the crowd and your
band is live action. Why spend $60 on a game when you have essentially the same
thing without a few songs?
I understand that you could extrapolate that argument to most video games out
there. You see a character on the screen, you press a button to talk to them, you pull
the trigger you shoot, you enter in a combo, and you rip off a guy’s face. But with
other games they shake it up a bit. In Mortal Kombat X, you can use different fighters
who have different combos, In Borderlands 2 you receive different weapons or you
have a different hero skill. In Guitar Hero and Rock Band, you press the buttons that
align with the song. No wildly awesome face-ripping action, No gun that shoots a fire
or poison bullets, just your avatar doing “The Windmill” on the guitar for 30
seconds.
In fairness, I am not poo-pooing your taste in games. I totally appreciate your own
opinions, but in my UNPOPULAR OPINION Guitar Hero and Rock Band simply aren’t
fun and I don’t get them or their absurdly large price tag.