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Rock Band and Guitar Hero battle for better bands

arstechnica.com — Rock Band and Guitar Hero are two of the best ways to sell music in the face of a stagnating recording industry. The competition between the rival game franchises for exclusive, high-quality music has only begun.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jul 29, 2008

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  • samanathon, on 07/29/2008, -2/+44I hate exclusivity. Why would I want to spend the money on both games?! It seems that it would be win-win for both the acts and the gamers if the songs were available on both games...
  • daridave, on 07/29/2008, -1/+34I'm actually surprised there's not that many Bon Jovi in both games. I know when we have rockband nights, that's all the girls want. And I want more girls in my rockband nights !!!
  • kravex, on 07/29/2008, -0/+20Why? I don't play Mario games to be a better plumber.
  • KirbyMorph, on 07/29/2008, -9/+26Harmonix is the only one that started a video game revolution. They created Guitar Hero, put out 1, 2 and, reluctantly, Rock the 80's. They laid the groundwork for everything.

    All Guitar Hero, as a franchise, has done since Harmonix left is commercialize and ape everything Harmonix has done with Rock Band.

    Guitar Hero 3 was a joke put together by people with no musical experience. Just look at songs like 3's & 7's for an example of how Harmonix trumps the non-musically inclined programmers of GH who are simply recycling the stale GH formula and churning out sequel after sequel with Aerosmith, DS versions, and now clones of Rock Band.

    This isn't a competition. Harmonix is in a league of their own and Guitar Hero is doing everything it can to try and stay relevant.
  • oxygen911, on 07/29/2008, -1/+18Exclusives will end up killing this genre.
  • roseyone17, on 07/29/2008, -4/+19An interesting competition to watch. I must say, they both have started a new video gaming revolution...
  • justice7, on 07/29/2008, -1/+14NO STAIRWAY!
  • thespiff, on 07/29/2008, -0/+13Wherever they went, I hope they stay there.
  • ELCad, on 07/29/2008, -11/+24Who ever scores Led Zeppelin will win it all.
  • DukeMojo, on 07/29/2008, -6/+18Rock Band 2 had me at "The Sickness".

    OOOOH WAH-AH-AH-AH!
  • frepnog, on 07/29/2008, -0/+11wow. you are so elite.
  • chrisinsocalif, on 07/29/2008, -3/+13Hopefully rock band will add a cow bell.
  • frisbeeman, on 07/29/2008, -0/+9So what's up with someone posting a comment like this for every story? I admit it was funny the first time I read it, but now it's pretty retarded.
  • foolosophy, on 07/29/2008, -0/+9Hendrix is not exclusive to Guitar Hero. From this article: http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/21896070/ro ...
    It says she is also working on a deal with Rock Band: "...says Janie Hendrix, who is also working on a possible deal with Rock Band."
  • Lucifugerising, on 07/29/2008, -2/+10Sometimes I get the feeling that people just like being dugg down.
  • zip000, on 07/29/2008, -0/+7I agree. I freaking hate Bon Jovi, but girls love them - and I'll admit that the songs are kind of fun to sing along to - sarcastically.
  • frepnog, on 07/29/2008, -1/+8sure. but that game sucks.

    badly.
  • LemonChicken, on 07/29/2008, -0/+7Sure, what's your address?

    I'm gonna need the credit card number too.
  • protogenxl, on 07/29/2008, -0/+7This is Digg not Freecycle.
  • treed, on 07/29/2008, -1/+8Actually, Konami started it with Guitar Freaks and Drummania, but stupidly refused to capitalize on it within the home market.
  • darkphenox, on 07/29/2008, -0/+6First 2 Guitar Heroes were done by Harmonix but then they made Rock Band while another company made Guitar Hero 3.
  • RiverBelow, on 07/29/2008, -2/+8and doom 1 is the same core gameplay of crysis
  • spidoman, on 07/29/2008, -0/+6It was a mic hit in Don't Fear the Reaper.
  • breezytrees, on 07/29/2008, -2/+8he's referring to the fact that led zeppelin is one of the hardest bands to license.

    Stairway to heaven for example is near impossible to find on dj lists/jukeboxes/radio... etc. The price per play for that song in particular is astronomical.
  • srt4b, on 07/29/2008, -2/+7Tell us what you really think.
  • bridow, on 07/29/2008, -1/+6i am a failure to digg. i thought rockband and guitar hero were by the same people :(
  • swings1940, on 07/29/2008, -0/+5I think of monopolizing good bands (or peoples opinions of good bands) is just like having baseball teams buy up the best players. Which ever team puts the most money or has the most money usually wins. Then baseball gets predictable and boring. So who do you think is going to go to the world series this year? The Yankees or Boston.
  • Triplastic, on 07/29/2008, -0/+5You wern't supposed to eat it... om nom nom nom.
  • mywhitenoise, on 07/29/2008, -0/+4it was because some dumbass was complaining about digg turning into 4chan. He then took a screen shot of his comment and submitted it to digg, and it hit the front page.
  • sexyflanders, on 07/29/2008, -0/+4I love the games I was buying Harmonix games before Guitar Hero. My whole thing is the accessories I don't need 5 different guitars and 3 drum sets.

    Also I'd love to see stuff from Japan and other countries how could would some J-Rock be!
  • coyote1284, on 07/29/2008, -1/+5Why don't you Rock Band people start a real band! Listen to me! STOP HAVING FUN!
    /sarcasm
  • briguymaine, on 07/29/2008, -0/+4Metallica's new album will be available on the day of release. Is this a selling point? I'm a little leery, given how badly I was burned last time a Metallica album came out, I waited for the store to open that morning and bought $14 worth of garbage. I will first download a copy, see if it's any good, and take it from there. I'm happy to support what used to be my favorite band if they have come back to their senses.
  • sodade, on 07/29/2008, -0/+4That's why I am getting rock band - the drumming is pretty translatable to real drumming.
  • BigSabowski, on 07/29/2008, -1/+5Rock Band ftw.

    Guitar Hero and GH2 were great. Too bad GH3 on the PS3 left such a bad taste in my mouth. No more GH for me.
  • Typhoon2009, on 07/29/2008, -4/+8http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/opinion
  • mukhtara, on 07/29/2008, -1/+4I'm still waiting for U2
  • mywhitenoise, on 07/29/2008, -0/+3Maybe you should stop playing on Normal, and move onto Hard or Expert?
  • KirbyMorph, on 07/29/2008, -3/+6ACDC for me wins it. (I know they've been "licensed" already, but I'm talking the real ACDC and al ltheir great songs - not some random track).

    Guitar Hero gets bonus points for free Dropkick Murphys though.
  • b4db0y, on 07/29/2008, -0/+3Get some international flavours!
  • Kenzan, on 07/29/2008, -0/+3"The cultural impact of the rhythm games Guitar Hero and Rock Band is hard to really imagine. In homes, in bars, at large parties, people are banging on plastic drums and jamming on plastic guitars."

    I have yet to see what this author is talking about.
    All the clubs and bars I go to seem to have real musicians.
  • akamurph, on 07/29/2008, -0/+3You don't need two sets of instruments... from what I've read you can use either for both games.
  • PhoenixAvatar2, on 07/29/2008, -0/+3Of course I will with the extra two hundred bucks I don't have sitting around. Not everyone has the cash to spend on two games and two sets of instruments.
  • theflu, on 07/29/2008, -0/+3I'd like to say that Rock Band is better, but I'm on my fifth guitar (two wouldn't connect to the console, one had a broken whammy bar, and one guitar was sent to me for the wrong console). The support people were always friendly and hassle-free, but I JUST WANT TO PLAY!!!
  • doshindude, on 07/29/2008, -0/+3Really? then screw Guitar Hero, I'd take it for Rock Band.
  • BurnTees, on 07/29/2008, -1/+4really? i play GTA to become a better ra.....ummm...nevermind
  • Jokimoto, on 07/29/2008, -1/+4Stoopid ATI... I can't run that game on my machine. Bah, it makes no difference. Playing on a keyboard isn't nearly as fun as having a tiny plastic guitar to thrash with.
  • lynx44, on 07/29/2008, -1/+4Not if they would just make the instruments cross compatible. I hear that the RB drums will work on GH, which seems pretty messed up considering Activision wouldn't allow Harmonix to patch the original RB to work with GH guitars on the PS3.
  • n3demonic, on 07/29/2008, -0/+3He's talking about this - http://gizmodo.com/352800/guitar-rising-for-real-g ...
  • BadseedJR, on 07/29/2008, -0/+3I play real guitar and i love the guitar hero and rock band games. I do notice that they help with hand eye coordination and fretting speed, but that's about it. Things like chord structure, soloing, and scales are still a lot harder than the games.
  • freshyill, on 07/29/2008, -0/+2Well Creep came out, what, 15 years ago? I know the general gist of the song by now. I had the vocals set to easy and the guitar set to medium. I scored 88% on the guitar and 90% on the vocals.

    I can easily get 100% on the guitar normally, but I had to keep glancing up at the vocals.

    I beat Maps too, but I had to bail myself out to beat the vocals, and blow into the mic at the part where you're supposed to tap the mic. Luckily, that coincides exactly with the guitar notes, which made it easier.
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