Rockin’ it Hard Core…on XBox360.
Hi, my name is Michele. And I am addicted.
Addicted to Rock Band that is. I’m usually not a huge video game person. I mean, I can handle my own in racing games and can survive shooter games like Halo, but I don’t play for hours everyday. With Rock Band though, I couldn’t get enough. Unlike with Guitar Hero where all you can play is guitar for some of the more infamous songs out there, on Rock Band you can do guitar, bass, drums and vocals to almost any rock song you can imagine, from Metallica to the Red Hot Chili Peppers to the Clash.
I can now honestly say that I can play songs like “Foreplay/Long Time” by Boston and “Maps” by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs with about a 97% accuracy (on Medium level that is…that’s right I mastered the blue button on that wireless guitar, now onto the orange one so I can move up to Hard). Even people like me, who can’t sing and are hopeless guitar players, can now feel like a true rockstar by jamming to great songs and even going on a world tour.
It truly is amazing. Video games now let the average person, or less than average in my brothers’ cases (FINALLY! A video game I can beat them at!), play songs created by some of the most talented people in the music industry. Rock Band and Guitar Hero, as great as they are, remind me of the “For Dummies” books. They are Guitar (and Bass and Drums and Vocals) For Dummies. Not that that’s bad, but it is interesting. Here’s a video game taking some of the greatest songs ever created and turning them into songs that can be played by the average Joe. However, Rock Band and others like it, do help lesser known artists become heard. If I hadn’t played this past winter break, I would never have heard of bands like Bang Camaro and Shadows Fall and would not be fans of them now. These smaller lesser known bands can now attribute some of their rising fame to games like Guitar Hero.
Either way, whether Rock Band makes great songs commercial and playable by everyone or if it is a leg up for smaller bands, I still love the game, and Guitar Hero just as much, and will continue to play whenever I get the chance.
My only question is: Do the artists who allow their songs to be added to the game get a free copy? Because if so, I am incredibly jealous.
Leave a Reply
