A lot of new and exciting things are happening in the video games industry. Companies are trying to prove they are worth your time and money. Last month, Microsoft dropped a huge bomb when they’ve announced they will be acquiring Activision Blizzard, the American videogames company. While most people were focusing on licenses like Call of Duty and Diablo, us music lovers have fond memories with the long running and also forgotten franchise: Guitar Hero.
A little background
Guitar Hero is a game that launched in 2005 and, to put it simply, it is a rhythm-based game that you play with a specific device (you can still play with a regular controller) and mimics the guitar instrument track. The controller has five fret buttons and a bar to simulate the pic.
The game had classic songs from all eras and even some specific dedicated band versions of the game such as Aerosmith, Metallica, and even the Beatles. Among the most notable songs were “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” a Guns N’ Roses song entrenched in the top ranks; Metallica’s “One,” another metal song included in Guitar Hero because it’s considered one of the best metal songs of the time; and Franz Ferdinand’s “Take Me Out.”
Some of the best songs found in the game can be heard in different everyday contexts such as in the music played in shopping centres to make shopping more pleasant; in the entertainment sectors such as casinos, a sector that is currently booming in the online world, as can be seen in the best reviews at casinos.co.za, and where this type of music is essential for the variety of offers; or in some live music for restaurants. Because of its popularity, the game has had a long run over the years and has gone through three generations of consoles.
The objective of the game is to press the right button at the right time, as the “notes” move towards the screen. If you hit it right, the guitar track will keep playing. It’s very engaging and the game will guarantee a good night with your friends. The game was a huge worldwide hit and even arcade machines were made.
What now?
As we said before, among the licenses that Microsoft may be acquired, if the US government approves the purchase, is this forgotten gem. The game has found its mainstream public when gimmicky controls were introduced to users by gaming juggernaut Nintendo with the Wii console. So, after the ground established by Nintendo, we were able to act goofy without being judged by our friends.
Now that the gimmicky controls are just a thing of the past, will Microsoft do something with this license?
For starters, you can see in forums that one of the main calls from users is regarding this game, that said, we know people in forums don’t always end up buying the games. They may just be expressing themselves.
What other options do we have?
For us music and game lovers, there are options. Rocksmith is Ubisoft’s take on the music games genre.
They went a step forward and let you use your own real guitar, plugged with a special cable that translates notes into the game. As in Guitar Hero, you need to press specific notes that are coming towards the screen.
Rocksmith is more immersive and way more difficult, of course, and closer to playing guitar. You can actually learn to play your instrument with this game. If you are into VR gaming, you can always play beat saber. It’s the new rhythm favorite game among players.
If none of these fill the hole that Guitar Hero left in our hearts, you can always revisit the many titles available from this franchise. There are more than twenty games for you to play, and the songs list is enormous.
You can grab the gear for cheap, nowadays, and even have some special devices to plug your plastic guitar to your PC if you no longer own one of the many consoles that made this game shine back in the day.
Conclusion
We of course don’t know if Microsoft will ever do anything with this license, nor we know if there’s a public for it to this day.
Also, let’s face it. “Guitar Hero” musicians are not coming out lately since the music industry has taken another direction, a more electronic direction. While there are many good guitar players, guitar virtuosos are mostly found in the metal scene and most of the popular songs have already been covered by previous versions.
That said, Microsoft can make the games backwards compatible, but the main issue with backwards compatible games are music licenses, so there may be something that Xbox has to figure out before considering adding them to the backwards compatible catalogue, if they are even interested.
We are not sure Guitar Hero games were in their target when acquiring Activision Blizzard. They have many games to explore, such as Candy crush and the Tony Hawk series. They also have Crash Bandicoot, who was considered to be a PlayStation mascot during the PlayStation One era.
Fortunately, the fond memories of these games and the great time we had with our friends will always remain.
