2 Comments

• 
  Allan November 18, 2007 at 6:36 am

  Dude, you’re now officially protesting too much. Based on your own report, Harmonix has appeared to screw fans with their controllers to the same degree as the GHIII gang did with theirs (which, along with the screwy Canadian release date puts an end to the whole Harmonix-cares-more-about-us argument) and–speaking as someone who has played AND ENJOYED “Battle Mode” in both its career and multiplayer forms–the game Activision released is nowhere near the soulless corporate sacrilege you keep insisting it is. It’s really not that different from the other games and–at least in terms of content–marks a serious improvement over the Harmonix released Rocks the 80s.

  Yes, the fools you reference are ignorant idiots, but in my experience most folks who feel compelled to share their insights in such forums are not known for their informed opinions and rational judgments. Mockery, not anger, is the only proper response to their asinine conclusions. (And though your rants against Activision are much more informed than their misspelled and poorly punctuated posts, your ultimate conclusion of loyal gamers have to support one or the other, not both, is essentially the same.)

  I realize this is a subject you are deeply passionate about, but when you keep going on how Activision ruined the purity of the franchise, you’re essentially suggesting that they shouldn’t be allowed to experiment with new ideas–exactly the kind of fanboy attitude that ultimately kills such enterprises because they are not allowed to evolve in any creative direction, good or bad. Perhaps I lack your insight into the true meaning of the game, but having enjoyed GHIII since the day I bought it (and finally got a wireless controller that worked) I simply see no evidence of any of the crimes you keep accusing Activision of having committed.

  Can’t we have a world where both GHIII and Rock Band both exist without their acolytes waging a war with each other? Can’t everyone just enjoy their music based games and get along?
• 
  Wayne November 18, 2007 at 8:15 am

  Ya’ got some points. Some though, are not quite on the mark.

  The problem with the distribution in Canada is, unfortunately, not Harmonix’s fault. They are strictly the developer, and it was–surprise, surprise–Electronic Arts that took the role of distributor and is the one that is screwing this up big time. Once the game was made, it was all out of Harmonix’s hands how the game got out, much in the same way that a director can’t be held responsible if for some reason studios fail to deliver the finished film to theaters. This is just another classic example of Electronic Arts being… Electronic Arts.

  As far as the GHIII controllers NOT working, the blame for that lies squarely on the shoulders of Red Octane. Rock Band itself uses what Harmonix refer to as “Open standards control protocols,” meaning that they’ve left the mechanics of their control system available and standardized for all to see, so developers can make their controllers compatible with the system IF THEY CHOOSE TO. Red Octane obviously DID NOT, since they ensured that the RB controller (or any 3rd party controller for that matter) wouldn’t work with GH3, and trying to ensure that a “choose or them” mentality prevails in order to protect their property. Where Harmonix is welcoming anyone that wants to create a controller to go ahead and do so, Activision/Red Octane is being quite decisive about drawing a battle line between the two.

  As far as the lack of compatibility between the earlier games on the PS3 goes, this is really, REALLY unfortunate, but again, Harmonix never lied about it. When asked whether it would be possible, they said they couldn’t make any guarantees, because the new controllers on the PS3 were wireless. For all we know, this is something that could be addressed in a future patch to the game because Harmonix DOES listen to its fans.

  This is the one area where I really see the difference between the two companies is the way they treat their customers. Activision/Red Octane/Neversoft treat their consumers like cattle. They lock them into one choice and one choice alone and they make no apologies for it. Downloadable content, for example, has been a serious point of contention ever since Activision first introduced with GH2 and they continue to do the same old thing; employ a strategy of including one “desirable” song with two songs less so in a “3-pack” and then charge over $6.00 for it with no further options. Harmonix, on the other hand, took in the input from fans of the game for MONTHS before arriving at a decision, and that decision was very reasonable; $5.50 for three arguably “good songs,” with an option to purchase individual songs between $0.99 and $3.00 depending on desirability and future entire albums. This includes the code for four “separate games” (vocals, drums, lead and bass/rhythm guitar) and yet they’re actually charging LESS for this than Activison/Red Octane.

  When it came out that Band World Tour was going to be offline only, the fans howled. Harmonix answered back explaining that this was the only way they could get the game ou in time for Christmas and confirmed that they were working on making that extra content available as a patch at a future date, because they know how important it is to fans. When it came to song selection for DLC, they opened it up once again to the fans and asked for their input. From the reactions to the early list of DLC, it’s obvious that they were listening, as many people are pretty happy with what’s in the pipeline.

  At each and every opportunity, Harmonix has been upfront and honest as possible with its fanbase, because they actually give a damn about them, and see them as people they are beholden to, rather than a herd that is only there for milking purposes. They understand that their customers are humans, not wallets to be plucked from.

  But I know I’m being pretty hostile towards what Neversoft has done with GHIII mostly because I really like the direction that Harmonix took music games in. They understood that the fun of these things was the MUSIC, not the competition, or the feeling of victory that came from being able to laugh at, brag at, and humiliate your opponent in long, drawn out insult-a-thons over their inability to “beat you.”

  What I fear from the Neversoft effort is that this will cater to EXACTLY the kind of mentality that I hate about most multi-player gaming, which is, “Real fun comes from defeating another person and making sure they feel bad about it.”

  If you’ve ever put on a headset and played a few rounds of any First Person Shooter on Xbox Live, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. The second you get on, everyone is screaming obscenities at each other, and every two seconds, there is some combination of the words “noob faggot gay loser” combined with the victory action of “tea-bagging” which is the virtual act of crouching over an opponents body to mimic the act of your genitals dangling over their mouth. These are the people who’s sole pleasure in life comes from knowing that they beat someone else, and they want to broadcast it as loudly as possible, and it is THESE people that Neversoft is appealing to GHIII with. The enjoyment of the music, the feeling of accomplishment from improving yourself and the fun of playing along with other people have all taken a back seat to the over arching need to “defeat” someone and crow loudly about it. This completely goes against the original spirit of Guitar Hero, and I’ve never seen a concert where one guitarist thought his bandmate was doing “too well” and walked over and cut his string to ensure that his solo sounded better.

  To be fair, Neversoft did try something new. There’s no crime in trying something new. But I think they tried it with the wrong mindset. They are not musicians, they’re gamers, and they have that “it’s not fun unless someone loses” mentality of a gamer, as opposed to the “It’s not fun unless we all work together” mentality of musicians. I don’t like the fact that they’re trying to diminish the music aspect of the a music game and put more emphasis on the “game” aspect of it, because in the videogame definition of “game” inevitably means, “make someone lose and laugh at the humiliation loudly, then hurl homophobic invectives at them.”

  I have no doubt that Activision, Red Octane and Neversoft will succeed brilliantly with Guitar Hero. But they will do it at the cost of making taking more and more into competitive first person shooter territory, because all they see is the dollar signs. They completely fail to understand WHY the dollar signs came about to begin with. Where Harmonix was pleasantly surprised when their attempt to give music to the people resonated with the public, the new stewards of the franchise are about one single goal, making a grab for cash in as vicious, mercenary and efficient way as possible, with no comprehension at all of what they’ve got on their hands aside from its financial forecast on their earnings for the year. They understand profit, but they don’t understand music, or a simpler, innocent fun that doesn’t involve racial/sexual epithets to celebrate the defeat of others.

  Although I’m a pretty dedicated gamer, I’ve never enjoyed the direction that multi-player gaming has taken in the last few years. I prefer co-operative efforts. Rock Band appeals to me because of that. Guitar Hero lost me for feeding off that same, competitive mentality that makes it so hard to listen to other people when you play online and realize that people are more interested in humiliating other people through victory than simply having fun playing a game. The fact that Guitar Hero is now merely plugging into that demographic to fill their coffers is a logical business decision, but a disappointing one for a series that started out with much nobler intentions.

  I think that RB and GHIII can co-exist, if Activision allows it. I still like the set-list for GHIII, I’m just not an advocate of its new features, or its complicated
  note charts for the sake of complication. But that doesn’t mean I have to like the direction that the GH series is going in, because it’s just not in me to enjoy getting trashed in a game and then have “HA, SUCK IT ON YOU LOSER, GAY, NOOB FAGGOT!” howled into my ear every time it happens. That’s just not my thing. I know others LIVE for that, but I’m not one of them.