Unlimited Music

It wasn’t long ago when a person who wanted to strum out the chords of his favorite band’s classic hit had to buy a guitar and learn the arduous instrument himself. These days, however, more and more people are turning to video games to get their fix of playing music.

In 2005, video game publisher RedOctane came out with a simple game named Guitar Hero. Using five color-coded keys and classic rock wonders like Boston’s “More Than a Feeling” and The Ramones’ “I Wanna Be Sedated,” the game was a massive hit. Those who played the game could succeed at achieving high levels of play without having to go through the extremely difficult learning process of mastering a guitar.

Now, a few years later, the video game industry continues to revolutionize the musical genre onto their video game consoles. Two games, Guitar Hero 3 and Rock Band, should key the next step in this process. Guitar Hero 3 continues a line of successful games that focus only on the title instrument. The third installment is noteworthy, as it is the first that will offer additional song downloads off of online stores for X-Box owners. One would think in the future, just about any song created could be translated for gameplay.

The latter game, Rock Band, is far more noteworthy as it brings in an element that Guitar Hero has always lacked; other instruments. That’s right, Rock Band will allow players to get a bassist and a drummer and even a lead singer who can all play cooperatively against each other. Most exciting of all is that Rock Band’s producers have promised that full albums of big-name bands will be posted for purchase regularly online.

Most posts on this blog relate to music reviews and news. For those who actually want to experience music in one way or another, however, investing in one of these video games is a great idea. Not only are these games fun, but they actually convince the player that he or she can actually play an instrument (even though they can’t.)

Just don’t go Joel Zumaya on the game…moderation is always a good thing.

Filed under: Music News