I was lucky enough to run into a Guitar Hero Arcade at my local movie cinema, and I’ll tell you what…. It was far from a perfect experience. The cost, setlist, and gameplay were all sub par.

At a dollar a song I’d say it’s slightly over priced, which wouldn’t be too bad since all arcade plays are over priced these days. The problem was in the game itself. The setlist lacked any new songs that I found, and on top of that there were “premium songs” that require another dollar to play. **MAJOR RIP OFF ALERT** Notice to Activision: Please stop ripping people off, we don’t like it. There is nothing that could make me boycott Modern Warfare 2 but I’d gladly boycott all the rest of your releases I swear!

As far as gameplay goes it was business as usual, minus the whammy bar which was obviouisly removed from the arcade version due to durability issues. Speaking of which, the guitars seemed horribly durable. So much so that they were actually uncomfortably heavy for the two females that were playing the game when I walked up to it. I myself had no trouble with it however.

The biggest problem I had with the game was the lag. Someone explain to me why there would be audio/video lag in a pre-built arcade game because I really don’t understand. You put the tv screen in there and you hook up the guitars. Doesn’t that mean you’d know exactly what to set the lag calibration to? Major misstep here guys.

Overall I think it’s great that they’re bringing Guitar Hero to the arcade… If only because I truly rock at it and love opportunities to show off in public. Sadly though, this first attempt just really isn’t good enough in my opinion.

Try again

I may have never seen anything in this life that got me going more than this. The odd thing is, and I’m almost afraid to admit to it but, I don’t think it has ever even crossed my mind. Women posing with guitars!

Women? Sexy

Guitars? Sexy

Plastic guitars? Eh, not that sexy. But FUCKIN fun!

When I stumbled onto a KING-mag.com post today showing a selection a scantily clad vixens I just about lost my ketchup. Seriously. Lost my ketchup! I won’t steal King-mag’s thunder and show you all of them, but here’s one. I imagine you can see where I’m coming from

The idea of subscribing to anything totally irks me. I hate thinking I have already paid for something that may at any time become a total piece of crap. Internet service, cable television, hosting for this site and my cell phone are the only four things I can think of that I pay for in advance…And none of those are by choice, but instead by standards that have for whatever reason been set for everyone. I hate it, I seriously do.

Now, the only thing that pisses me off more than that idea is the thought of subscribing to something that already is crap. Enter Bobby Kotick, chief executive of Activision Blizzard, the company that publishes the Guitar Hero videogame series. He has previously said that he thought GH tunes could “rival iTunes”, and that was a ridiculous statement before we’d all found out what the music in GH: World Tour’s creator sounded like.

I rented the game just for a kick and immediately went in to GH Tunes to pick up a few songs. And I came out thinking one thing: Activision Blizzard and Neversoft are going to have to find a way to seriously alter the quality of sound in user created songs before any of the “over 25,000″ downloadable tracks are worth a dime in my opinion, let alone a subscription. Kotick projecting “100,000 songs by the year end”, to me seems more like a trick being played on investors than a confident marketing plan. This was of course discussed during a conference call announcing the quarters results.

Other sources: Joystiq

I know what you want to ask me. The answer is no. I absolutely did NOT photoshop this. It’s an actual product, available for purchase as I type this. Guitar Praise, made available to you by Digital Praise (the same people who brought you Dance Praise) allows you to rock out to all of your favorite christian rock songs on any PC or Mac computer for just $100. My initial thought when I saw this was something like, “Gross.” I have however since given it some thought and decided that, anything that helps people who might not at one point have appreciated rhythm video games gain a better understanding of why they’re so amazing is a great thing.

Will Guitar Praise ever come to the console world? Only God knows.

Check out a couple screens:

Logitech Premium Guitar

Logitech’s announcement today that they are bringing an “authentic” guitar controller for use with the PS2/PS3 versions of Guitar Hero: World Tour gives us two of these Wanna Be Real Guitarist fake guitars out there. Initially Mad Catz had announced a Fender Squire Stratocaster retrofitted with all the controlling mechanisms for use with Rock Band, alongside a replica bass controller. Of the two, only the replica bass is currently available. It can be found here.

Along with all the previously noted peripherals is one I just found recently. Peak has come out with a line of Starpex Premium Guitar Controllers for PS2 and PS3. No word yet but I’ll assume for now that they’ll come to the 360 as soon as they decide whether or not they’re going to spring for the wireless capabilities.

Peak Starpex Guitar

For a price tag anywhere from 60 to 200 dollars these guitars are not cheap. Cheap in price, or in quality. The precision bass has dual strum bars allowing for quicker upstrums using two fingers, along with a larger more lifelike size. The full sized replicas? Well, they’re big. They’re also super durable. At least thats the word on the street.

This is my question: Is it worth it?

I’m a proud owner of the ION Drum Rocker premium drum set. It has been a great way to get used to playing cymbals and pads during the course of a song. I have already started beginning my transition into the REAL drumming world with it. These guitars on the other hand, give you no bridge to the authentic playing world. They simply look real. So I decided to break it down using the Pro & Con list format.

Pros:

• Look SO GOOD
• Should last forever given the high quality of materials used
• Excellent way to make fellow gamers jealous
• In the case of the precision bass, lets you play quicker upstrums (which is the only way to play bass and keep it interesting)
• A star power button underneath the strummer on both the Peak and Logitech guitars for those who are frightened by the tilt

Cons:

• Quite expensive
• not real guitars, so you may catch some flak from real guitar playing friends and family

Looking at that list it seems like my initial reaction was about right. If you have the money, go for it. They are all attractive and you’ll be sure to impress everyone at your next Rock Band party. Unless you are a bass fanatic I’d wait until they come out with the wireless version of the precision bass, those should be out earlier next year.

For those arguing against my judgement, keep this in mind. The greatest thing about Rock Band, Guitar Hero, and all the other “wish we could do it that well” rythm games popping up is that they cultivate a better appreciation for music among people who might never have experienced some of the tunes in the game. I would bet more people have picked up a real instrument because of these games than you could imagine, and it is my opinion that anything that further promotes the playing of these games is a great thing for gaming and an even greater one for music!