[img width=600 height=442]http://cdn2.thatsnerdalicious.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/skittle_link_by_mattmcmanis-d34vqd8.jpg?a0509d[/img] The Rainbow apparently tastes like Master Sword and waaaay too much Green Apple. Bring back Lime. Source: thatsnerdalicious.com, artist: mattmcmanis-d34vqd8
As Hobbes' young companion once noted, mothers are the necessity of invention. And in the gaming industry (and by industry I of course mean business), innovation means something fresh for the gamer and risk for the publisher. We gamers are known to clamor for something new, different, interesting, and creative. Ours is a tech-driven hobby, so naturally we want the newest, shiniest, most feature-packed thingee that's plowing ahead, breaking new ground, and showing us something we've never quite seen before. Right?
And it's all those suit-and-ties in board meetings that are stifling and ruining our business (and by business, I of course mean industry.) Their money-grubbing, tight-fisted pea-brains keep them from seeing the vision of artists, and instead they play it safe with brown-colored shooter release #57. So, we just keep getting rehashes and sequels, with the occasional off-chance (often from our here-to-save-the-industry/business from itself indie sector) of shaking things up and giving us a much needed breakthrough in a Minecraft or Angry Birds.
You know, coding a game progress tracker is a lot of work. God knows when it will be finished, but to keep myself from going crazy, I like to play Guitar Hero. See, I like rhythm games. In fact, I like them a lot! They might form my favorite genre, and I wholeheartedly look forward to future releases like Samba De Amigo and Guitar Hero: World Tour. I don’t know what it is about rhythm games, but I find them utterly addictive and extremely enjoyable. Perhaps you hold the same opinion, or maybe you don’t. The latter is cool, except that some people in that group take their reasoning to the extreme, and it makes me angry.
See, I used to be a musician. A band geek, so to speak. In addition to being a band geek, I also wore broken plastic glasses, a monochrome short-sleeved shirt, and a pocket protector in the shirt pocket. Just ask the Black Perl, he’d vouch for that. You know, we band geeks are horribly nerdy. That must have been why the jocks always beat the crap out of me and my friends. But, aside from being an über nerd, being a musician gave me a love for all things musical. Can I still play a saxophone or clarinet? Hell if I know, but I can still play my recorder. But, it was a good time, and being a musician gave me some skill sets that others just don’t have.
So, I was a musician, marching in Ohio’s Finest (Only) All-Male Marching Band. I am proficient in reading music sheets, and if I practiced (and I don’t), I could probably become a decent musician once more. I really enjoy my musical prowess to a certain extent, but that certainly doesn’t exclude me from liking things that bastardize music. What could possibly bastardize music? Why, rhythm games, of course, and this bastardization make some of you very unhappy.
So, yeah, Ben Eberle, if that is his real name, has done it again, publicly shaming us with his awesomeness. How the hell do you get 95% on Through the Fire and Flames on expert mode, anyways? Someone should buy that kid a real guitar and hookers, so he can live the real rock life. Okay, maybe not, but yeah, perhaps he can be recruited into a Rock Band? Time shall tell. All I know is damn...
So, you're a PS3 owner and you happen to own both Guitar Hero III and Rock Band. Harmonix said that the Guitar Hero III Controller would work with Rock Band. Almost a month after release though, it still does not work. Blame Harmonix? Don't be so quick to blame, as this release by Harmonix explains:
Quote from: Harmonix
Hi Everyone,
As we have said in the past, Harmonix and MTV Games believe in an open standard philosophy of hardware and game compatibility. We think that there should be interoperability between music instrument controllers across all music games. This is clearly in the best interest of consumers, game developers and console manufacturers and will only help to grow the music game genre as well as inspire innovation and creativity.
Two weeks ago, Harmonix created a software patch for the Sony PLAYSTATION 3 version of Rock Band that allowed for guitar compatibility and support for third party peripherals, including enabling use of Activision's Guitar Hero III controller with Rock Band. The compatibility patch was submitted, approved and had been scheduled for release by Sony on Tuesday, December 4. Unfortunately, Activision objected to the compatibility patch's release. The patch remains with Sony, but we have been told that it will unfortunately not be released due to Activision's continued objection.
As is the case with the Microsoft Xbox360, we believe that Sony PLAYSTATION 3 users should be able to use the peripheral of their choice with Rock Band. We sincerely hope that Activision will reverse its decision and allow release of the compatibility patch and further, that Activision will allow Guitar Hero III to support Rock Band guitar controllers as well. We welcome all third party developers who wish to support our controllers and will provide any required support in order for them to do so.
We believe that when consumers have choice, everyone wins. Harmonix and MTV Games hope that Activision and others will also adopt this philosophy.
Sincerely, The Harmonix Team
Well, ain't that a crock of shit. If I was impacted by this situation, I'd be pretty ticked off right now. Seriously, how can a PS3 Rock Band have a bassist right now? Certainly, they can not. This is a pretty douchy move on Activision's part, and I hope they realize that they are angering a lot of people who have previously been buyers of Guitar Hero. I guess they don't care about future sales of GHIV. With the Wii Mono situation, the exorbitant price of DLC and this dilemma, GHIII owners have some things to be ticked about.
[img align=right]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/repository/4790319754737ba3ac4734old_TV.jpg[/img] So, in between my Pavement Problems I've been playing Guitar Hero, but today I noticed something as I was up close to the game. Sound was only coming out of the center speaker of my sound system. Nothing in the subwoofer, rear, or front speakers, just the center speaker. I didn't think much of it, as my receiver does DSP, which I promptly turned on. How humorous then is it when Tondog sends me a link mentioning that the Wii version of Guitar Hero III was in fact shipped with only Mono Sound. For a game that touts the music, certainly this is a low blow, and this screw up should have been caught in the really stringent QA that I guess Activision really does not have. Here's to you, Activision. Charging $90 for a gimped product, I certainly hope that the money you saved on skipped QA time will cover the costs of this screw up.
So, you think Guitar Hero makes you a rockstar? Yet, your mighty axe resembles a children's toy. Maybe something can be done about it. Better yet, someone has done it already, right on time with the recent release of Guitar Hero III.
[brandon] decided to rebuild a Guitar Hero controller out of a real Gibson electric guitar. Best part is he managed to do it at a budget price. US$69 for the guitar (found at Target) plus $60 for the controller is less than $150... a budget price indeed. I suppose it's one way to "hack the Gibson" without becoming "zero cool".
The construction method is similar to most other case mods... pull out the electronic guts and give them a superior new home. Special features include using the guitar's volume tuning knob in replacement of the whammy bar, and the strum bar tucked neatly between the pickups.
The finished product can only be described as "very stylish, and competitive". Certainly it would draw a lot of attention at your student dorm's next Guitar Hero tournament (which replaced the former air guitar competitions).
The creator of this is also interested in doing a similar guitar mod for Rock Band in the future, with a few more ideas to apply. We can expect more to come.
Full building instructions can be found at: XYHD.TV
This week is a special week. On Friday, we have the three year anniversary of when the site went public. We may or may not have something fun planned for that day, but such banter is for another time an place. Right now though, we talk of features.
There is one game series that just seems to be talked about more often than any other on this site. Guitar Hero and its later incarnations have a special place in the hearts of many RF Generation members, and to celebrate our affinity for the game this week is 'Feature Everything Guitar Hero Related' week. Unfortuately, none of you have uploaded hardware shots of one of the guitars for the game, so I threw a Sony model 2 PS2 in there as the featured hardware, you really can't play the featured game, Guitar Hero II for the Sony PS2, without it. Oddly enough, the featured image is the box front image for the 360 version of Guitar Hero II. Surprising, no? Lastly, we've got a featured collection, which for this week is that of our resident graphic artist den68. He's an avid fan of Guitar Hero.
But, that isn't the only reason to feature den's collection. As I write this post, his collection has an astounding 3997 games listed under it. I've also been told by den that he has many more games to add, which will definitely place him over the 4000 game mark. That is a momentous milestone, and it also means that den68 is still king in the total games department. Congrats den, and may the gaming gods smile upon you.
From all of us at RF Generation stay tuned, you never know when more is to follow.
So, you think Guitar Hero makes you a rockstar? Yet, your mighty axe resembles a children's toy. Maybe something can be done about it. Better yet, someone has done it already, right on time with the recent release of 
