This week, Harmonix's new game The Beatles: Rock Band arrives at last. I'll be snatching that up with all due haste. Meanwhile, last week, the latest entry in the Guitar Hero franchise, Guitar Hero 5 (not actually the fifth game, if you count all the spin-offs), was release by Activision/Neversoft. I don't plan to ever pick that up.
See, back before MTV bought game designers Harmonix and Activision bought peripheral manufacturers Red Octane, the Guitar Hero franchise was "full of win," as I think the online crowd might say. When the split happened and Harmonix went on to make Rock Band, they kept up the good work. They just "get it." Dozens of little decisions in the Rock Band franchise make it clear that they want the game to be about accessing and interacting with music first, and a game second.
Meanwhile, Activision handed the keys to the Guitar Hero franchise over to the developers at Neversoft, who repeatedly demonstrate that they're making a franchise first (as many releases each year as possible), a game second, and some musicy-thingy a distant third. They just don't "get it," not even a little.
I could go on about this at length, but some very clever fellow put together this totally awesome video that says it all quite perfectly:
3 comments:
Awesome video. Explains it all!
CK
Hilarious stuff.
Love it.
FKL
I makes me more sad when people can't tell the difference. I mean, I get that a lot of people will make their buying decisions based on what game has more songs they like. But it's when people have tried both and can't see how much better Rock Band is that I just throw up my arms.
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