Last night I downloaded Guitar Hero for my iPhone. It was only £1.79 and I’m a huge fan of the original game, so It wasn’t going to upset me too much if the game turned out to be a wasted investment.
It loses something when not playing with a guitar peripheral, but something piqued my interests.
Upon loading the game I was asked whether or not I wanted the data on my iPod reported to Activision so that I can be notified if any of my music becomes available on the in-game store. I clicked ‘yes’. This may just be a way for Activision to gain a little extra revenue from the iPhone version of the game as only 6 tracks are included, but it made me think about the larger picture.
Guitar Hero, Band Hero and DJ Hero are games that could potentially run and run forever. As long as there is music, there is content. With various editions featuring a mixed set list as well as several artist-specific titles, the Hero franchise has many ways in which it can expand into the future and what better way of finding out which music to feature than listening in to your iPod?
Okay, so they would need a lot of people to download the app and agree to have their iPod data reported in order to make any decision that could evolve into a financially viable release, but what if 360 and PS3 users could do something similar with the music stored on their systems (if you can’t already)?
Activision would end up with a massive database of what music is popular and, more importantly, a database of music that could feature in future versions of the game.
From a business point of view, I’d imagine only the most popular artists and songs would get included but the hope of something like Guitar Hero: Joe Bonamassa or Guitar Hero: The Blues is too strong for me not to fantasise about the possibilities.
This is all complete speculation on my part, but with a game as versatile as Guitar Hero it would seem like the logical step to take, wouldn’t it?
Jones81
A great idea. I’m a DJ Hero fan but although there’s a lot of mixes in the game already the DLC has been a bit pathetic, not in terms of quality but I want to weekly/monthly mixes released
3shirts
Surely there are better ways that iPods though? iTunes or just the chart is surely the best and already accessible indicator of what music is popular at the moment
Gastos84
I thought about that but the iTunes chart won’t provide as much variety as actually looking at people’s music. i have tons of albums and artists that would make for great additions, from a music pov, that will never likely reach iTunes’ top 10.
commuterzombie
If I could, I’d give you +1000 points for being a Joe Bonamassa fan!
Gastos84
Huge fan. And from a Guitar point of view, is he not dying for a Guitar Hero game? Some of, if not THE, best guitar work in all of music.
commuterzombie
He’s certainly awesome, saw him a couple of weeks ago at the Hammersmith Apollo and he was outstanding. Much like Guitar Hero: Steve Vai or Guitar Hero: Joe Satriani, a Joe Bonamassa game would be pretty daunting for the novice!
Gastos84
Joe Satriani would be brilliant, too. Good call!
ShovellyJoe
Joe Satriani would be impossible! They could include his Chickenfoot stuff as well though and with a new album coming out for both Satch solo and Chickenfoot there’d be plenty of choice. :D
chrome31533
Unfortunately 99.9% of popular music is really repetetive and easy enough on a real guitar.. wich translate to boring gameplay. And thats what we will be stuck with. tones of sololess lame ass playtime.
lead_farmer92
Im not kidding, i actually NEED a guitar hero or a rock band muse in my life… especially now if there are keyboard :)