Fun Friday: Viral Marketing Douchebags Edition

I was originally going to post this video of what looked like some really dedicated Guitar Hero fans and a lot free time on their hands. But then it was revealed that it was a hoax and funded by Activision to be "viral marketing." Boo. I think the video response above successfully captures the sentiment of many. (Although, I will concede that the original video is still pretty cool.)

Neversoft: All Does Not Seem Well

Today we saw some images from the most current issue of Game Informer regarding the upcoming release of Guitar Hero IV. The pictures reveal that Neversoft have been developing their own drum set to accompany vocals and bass guitar as new additions to the franchise. This move is odd and I'm concerned for a company I truly care about since first playing the Tony Hawk Pro Skater series almost ten years ago.

Previously, we heard through Activision's earnings call, that Neversoft's yearly iteration of the Tony Hawk skateboarding game was dropped. Despite being a long time fan, my interest has been waning and I'm not surprised by this decision. The series was it's absolute best around THPS3 and proceeded to pile on feature after feature until the original spirit was crushed under the weight of unnecessary features and story. Skate ollied right over the competition, crushing Tony Hawk Proving Ground's sales. It was fresh and lean, and gamers bought it up.

Now we see a similar situation where a competitor has stolen the limelight a bit with Rock Band, and forced Neversoft to react. Unfortunately, their response has been an overzealous overreaction in both cases.

Guitar Hero is about pretending to be a rock God. Tony Hawk Pro Skater is about pulling off insane tricks and combos that are impossible in the real world. Both game's motivations rely on achieving and pushing the boundaries of a high score. Adding more instruments dilutes the Guitar Hero experience and as does increasing the realism in a THPS game. I have a hard time seeing why there is not room for both types of games on the market. Guitar Hero can appease the hardcore crowd with an ever increasing line-up of rock anthems and face melting solos while Rock Band allow those who want to get together with a couple of friends and emulate their rock band karaoke fantasies all while having a few drinks. By the same token, skate can exists for purists while the Tony Hawk series can indulge those with a looser attitude towards what can and can't be done on a skateboard.

Although there may be some suits at Activision sitting back and dictating Neversoft's direction, I urge them to take a step back and return to these series' roots. If everyone integrates their competition's features by saying "we can do that too, only bigger and better," games become homogenized. We need diversity and we need competition. This is what should be driving developers, not trends and marketing focus groups. If everything is the same, what's the incentive to by any of them?

I Comment on What Other People Think

I came across two posts today that peaked my interest and required me to throw in my own two cents. Firstly, GameSetWatch pits Guitar Hero against Rock Band and begs the question of which one makes you rock out and how the public will respond? While many of the comments picked Rock Band to come out on top due to Neversoft's infatuation with nipples and boss battles, I took a more visceral outlook on Guitar Hero,

I used to come home after school to an empty house. I'd strap on my garage sale guitar and crank up my second hand amp. For the next couple of hours I was a rock legend, attempting to bang out a my favorite punk and grunge songs of the day. I never got particularly good but it was awesome and I appreciated music and those who could play well a whole lot more. Guitar Hero captures those old feelings of rocking out for me, allowing me to relive those afternoons. I have yet to play Rock Band but I am curious to see if the same feelings I had living out my garage band fantasies with my friends can also be recreated.

The other post came from game designer Steve Gaynor who posits that games are too long, suggesting that people don't often walk out of movies but if they would if they were as long as games. While I agreed that too many games run with a game mechanic and stretch a game out far too long, I offered a second analogy,

Many great novels can be quickly read, even serialized. On the other hand, there are those that can't be quickly read, such classics as David Copperfield or War and Peace, which many people start but don't finish. Length becomes an issue in the same way for games because the player or reader doesn't have the patience, the time, or maybe even the desire.

'Amping Up the Difficulty

Guitar Hero III and Rock Band are two juggernauts that will be duking it out for this holiday's undisputed rock champ. Since Rock Band is the spiritual successor of Guitar Hero, one might wonder how the difficulty stacks up against each other. Games Radar did the leg work for us and put together some side-by-side comparisons of the songs that the two games share in common. Check out the first video below or here for a second video.

The overall conclusion is that Guitar Hero III is much more difficult than Rock Band. I think this is too be expected and a excellent design decision. While many of Guitar Hero's gamers will be well versed in the ways of the guitar and ready for challenge that expands on the last iteration, many of Rock Band's gamers may not. There's a good chance that when getting people together to play as a "band" there will be a couple of non-gamers, or at least some who have never played a rhythm game before. By keeping the difficulty level toned down a bit, it's more accessible. This allows for less frustration and more time dedicated to rocking out.

On a side note, I'm a bit bemused by the art direction for the actual game play in Rock Band. I much prefer the aesthetic in Guitar Hero, especially when they're placed side by side. The flat note indicators remind me of Beatmania and evokes an electronica feel, not rock 'n roll.

Fun Friday: Guitar Hero vs Rock Band

With the impending release of two rhythm game heavyweights, someone has created two sites with YouTube clips of most of the songs to be featured in Guitar Hero III and Rock Band. I'm still partial to Guitar Hero based on the track list. See the mind blowing video below for some Tenacious D awesomeness (and with dancing robot for the win!) But I have to admit that the drums, as well as some of the menus and player customization stuff in Rock Band, look pretty sweet.

News Round Up

PAX and the holiday weekend threw off my posting schedule, so here’s a rundown of things that have caught my attention over the last couple of weeks as I play catch up.

• Manhunt 2 is Dated for a Halloween Release: I was off by a couple of months as far as the release of a ‘modified’ version, but I think they have achieved the desired effect – buzz.
• Guitar Hero III Achievements Unveiled: I love achievements but these suck. I know, I know, you should have to achieve something to earn them. But for the love of all things holy, I can understand a few, but not the majority of them. I initially thought that these achievements were fake. Firstly, they are way too specific and require unnatural skills at the game. Secondly, some of them have errors in them, like the ‘Now That’s Impressive’ achievement that states 750,000 points on a song with a 1 million point image. Thirdly, there are no achievements for progressing through the game past the bosses, like Slash and the recently announced Tom Morello. Finally, I noticed that there were 59 achievements. Juiced (a THQ game) had submission problems because they had 60 achievements but was then passed, maybe because of Guitar Hero. But, come on, look at the requirements for Tone Deaf and Button Masher. Seriously?
• Sequel to The Ship is Coming to 360: I love the premise of this game. You are given a name and must find this person on a cruise ship full of people and kill him – all while avoiding the unknown person who has yours. Quite a departure from most online multiplayer games, this one requires some stealth and skill, not just run and gun. Awesome!
• Pit’s Intro in Super Smash Brothers Brawl: I don’t care about SSBB. Not one bit. But if Nintendo finally went ahead and created a new Kid Icarus game, I would finally have enough reasons to own a Wii. It looks like they have the assets. Come on Nintendo, let’s get this done.
• Zero Punctuation Reviews Bioshock:

This is not just another Guitar Hero post

The internets have been all aflutter today with video of Guitar Hero III in action, presumably, on the Xbox360. Joystiq made comment in their post that caught my attention:

It's hard to blame the team from Neversoft if the game's playing a little differently at the moment, as they didn't have access to the code (created by Harmonix) from the original two games.

While I know that when Activision acquired Red Octane they also received the Guitar Hero publishing rights. It seems odd that they didn't get any of the code in the process. It stuck out in my mind because it seems to mirror some of the things that go on at my own company.

Strictly speaking about only titles on Nintendo platforms, with all the developers under the wing of THQ, there appears to be little in the way with sharing of resources and ideas. Throughout the test cycle, some developers will continue to struggle with functionality that our other developers code with ease. Instead of communicating with each other, there seems to be more interaction with support at Nintendo. It seems like a case of one hand never talking to any of the other hands. We seem to have a system in place that should help with this but that our developers are still trying to figure out how to use it. Hopefully in the future, as they become better acquainted with helping each other, the test cycle will go smoother and the end product will be of a higher and consistent quality.

Skills to pay the Bills

I happened to notice that Neversoft is hiring Guitar Hero Testers for the next iteration of the game. The description list qualifications such as being ready "to rock!" and passing a Guitar Hero "proficiency test." If hired, do you get a dressing room and the ability to make outrageous demands for what is put in there?

In all seriousness though, more power to anyone who is qualified. I'm almost complete with five stars on medium and fear moving on to Hard, let alone Expert. This is a skill and a great opportunity to get in the door. I believe Neversoft has a record of hiring people as testers only to promote them due to their testing/playing skills on the Tony Hawk series. The next thing this person knows, he or she could be selecting the songs for the set list in Guitar Hero III. And that would definitely pay the bills.