Guitar Hero
Encyclopedia
Guitar Hero is a music video game
developed by Harmonix Music Systems
and published by RedOctane
for the PlayStation 2
video game console
. It is the first entry in the Guitar Hero series
. Guitar Hero was released on November 8, 2005 in North America, April 7, 2006 in Europe and June 15, 2006 in Australia. The game's development was a result of collaboration between RedOctane and Harmonix to bring a GuitarFreaks
-like game to America.
The game features a guitar
-shaped controller
(resembling a miniature Gibson SG
) that the player uses to simulate playing rock music
. The gameplay is similar to GuitarFreaks, in that the player presses buttons on the guitar controller in time with musical notes
that scroll on the game screen. The game features covers of 30 popular rock songs spanning five decades of rock, from the 1960s up through 2005, in addition to bonus tracks. Guitar Hero became a surprise hit, earning critical acclaim and winning many awards from major video game publications, and was considered one of the most influential games of the first decade of the 21st century. The game's success launched the Guitar Hero franchise, which has earned more than $2 billion in sales, spawning several sequels, expansions, and other game-related products.
in time with scrolling notes
on the game screen to complete a song. The basic mechanics are based on Konami's GuitarFreaks
. In the case of Guitar Hero, the player may use either the guitar peripheral (a 3/4-scale reproduction of the Gibson SG
guitar
as bundled with the game, or a third-party version) or a standard controller to play the scrolling notes. The guitar peripheral has five different-colored fret
buttons near the nut
of the guitar neck, and a strum
bar and a whammy bar
on the body of the guitar. The peripheral also has other buttons in order to navigate the game's menus. Music is displayed on screen through a series of notes, matching in color and position to the fret buttons, that scroll down the screen on a fret board
. To hit or play a note, the player must hold down the fret button corresponding to the note shown and toggle the strum bar at the same time as that note passes a marked area on the screen. Faster series of notes may be played on the guitar controller using hammer-on
and pull-off
techniques where the player does not need to strum each note. The game supports toggling the handedness of the guitar, allowing both left-handed and right-handed players to utilize the guitar controller. A player using the standard controller simply presses the buttons that correspond with the displayed notes as outlined in the game's manual.
The player is awarded points for correctly hitting notes, chords
and sustain
s. The player can also increase a score multiplier by playing a series of consecutive notes successfully. A "Rock Meter" tracks the player's performance based on success or failure of hitting notes, and if the meter drops too low the song will prematurely end in failure for the player. The player can also earn "Star Power" by playing a series of glowing notes perfectly and using the whammy bar during sustains. Once the Star Power meter is filled at least halfway, Star Power can then be activated by briefly tilting the guitar controller vertically, or by pressing a specific button on a standard controller. Activating Star Power will double the scoring multiplier and makes it easier to increase the Rock Meter by playing correct notes. Thus, players can strategically use Star Power to play through difficult sections of a song they might have otherwise failed.
Guitar Hero' s main mode of play is Career Mode, where the player and in-game band travel between various fictional performance arenas and perform sets of four or five songs. Completing songs in this mode unlocks the songs for play within the other game modes. Players can choose their on-stage character and their guitar; these elements have no effect on gameplay but affect the visuals during the performance. In Career Mode, players can earn money from their performances that is redeemable at the in-game store, where bonus content, such as additional songs, guitars and finishes, can be unlocked. Quick Play mode allows the player to play any unlocked track, selecting the difficulty, the character, venue and guitar. After successfully completing a song in either Career or Quick Play mode, the player is given a score and a rating between three-five stars, depending on his or her overall performance.
Multiplayer mode offers two players the chance to compete against each other on the same song. Two fret boards will appear on screen, one for each player, as they alternate playing sections of the song in a dueling manner. The player with the highest score at the end of the song wins.
The four difficulty levels for each song afford the player a learning curve in order to help him or her progress in skill. The first difficulty level, Easy, only focuses on the first three fret buttons while displaying a significantly reduced amount of notes for the player to play. Medium introduces a fourth fret button while adding more notes, and Hard includes the final fret button while adding additional notes. Expert does not introduce any other frets to learn, but adds more notes in a manner designed to challenge the player.
According to Ron Kay, a developer with Harmonix, the idea of Guitar Hero was directly inspired by Konami
's GuitarFreaks
arcade game, where the player used a guitar-shaped controller to interact with the game. At the time, GuitarFreaks had not seen much exposure in North America. RedOctane was making dance pad
s for games like Dance Dance Revolution
for home consoles and also operated an online video rental service similar to Netflix
. RedOctane's Kai and Charles Huang recognized the popularity of GuitarFreaks in Japan
through their rental service, and planned to create guitar controllers to bring the game to North America. The Huangs raised $1.75 million for the effort, despite being turned down by some investors who "thought[ the idea] was too weird". Greg Fischbach, one of the founders of Acclaim Entertainment
, noted, regretfully several years later, they had passed on Guitar Hero, questioning "Who's going to buy a peripheral like that?" The Huangs approached Harmonix, who had previously made music video game
s such as Frequency, Amplitude and Karaoke Revolution
about making a guitar-based video game for those controllers. With a budget of about one million dollars (which Kay noted was "pretty tiny for a video game"), the two companies worked together to develop Guitar Hero. Kay noted that "No one had any notions about it being a massive success; we all just thought it would be fun to do." Harmonix's president Alex Rigopulos also claims that former Microsoft
vice-president of game publishing Ed Fries
indirectly influenced the game's creation, who had previously told Harmonix when they were pitching Frequency to Microsoft that no music-rhythm game would succeed without custom hardware for it, prompting Rigopulos to investigate the Guitar Hero opportunity when it arose.
The team quickly recognized that "the controller really was the kind of magic sauce for what we wanted to do". They identified three aspects of gameplay that they felt made the game stand out. These aspects included the note-matching aspect and the showmanship created by the use of the whammy bar and tilting of the guitar within the game. The third key aspect was the use of Star Power "to provide a little more depth to the game — some replay value, some interest for people as they were playing beyond just hitting the notes". Harmonix used third party controllers made for GuitarFreaks that were already on the market for development of the game until RedOctane had prepared prototypes for the Guitar Hero controller. The controller initially had pressure-sensitive fret buttons to mimic the playing of a real guitar, but the idea was dropped as it made the gameplay too complex. The idea of using the whammy bar to boost Star Power, in addition to altering the pitch
of sustained notes was only realized about a month before the completion of the game. The team had spent "precious development time and resources" into creating a free-style model that would have allowed players to improvise during songs but ultimately cut it as they could not work the feature into the existing gameplay.
"Gem tracks", the pattern of notes for a song, were developed by a team in Harmonix, taking usually a day to develop the tracks for one song. Tracks were designed to include key notes to "make[ the player] feel as if [ he is] a brilliant musician". Software algorithm
s were used to assess the difficulty of the tracks, and the quality assurance team helped to rebalance the tracks for accuracy and difficulty. The software also allowed Harmonix to quickly make changes to the set list or to recreate the tracks for a song to make sure the overall difficulty of the game was appropriate.
At the onset of development, the team did not have any idea of what songs would be present in the final game. Kay noted that "We wanted 30 or 40 songs for the game and put a hundred on our wish list." The game was to focus mostly on hard rock
songs, but the team was limited by what could be license
d. The team also felt "morally obligated" to include older, classic rock songs like The Ramones "I Wanna Be Sedated
" to the younger target audience of the game. Harmonix had to modify the track list
throughout development as certain songs were introduced or removed based on licensing issues, requiring the team to repeatedly balance difficulty and popularity of the track list. WaveGroup Sound
were used to create the covers of the licensed songs provided in the game. Marcus Henderson
of the band Drist provided many of the lead guitar tracks for the covers. WaveGroup Sound also went to efforts to try to recreate effects for some songs. In the case of Black Sabbath
s "Iron Man", the team learned that the vocal effects were created by having Ozzy Osbourne
sing from behind a metal fan
. The team sought out the same model of fan through Craigslist
to generate the same effect in the game's cover. Many of the bonus songs were from groups that Harmonix employees were part of or knew. Additionally, a "Be a Guitar Hero" contest was held allowing bands to submit their own song to be included in the game. The winning song was "Cheat on the Church" by Graveyard BBQ
. Black Label Society
s song, "Fire it Up", was included two weeks before the game was completed at the request of Zakk Wylde
. The final song list was set very near to the shipping date.
Guitar Hero started with "super-basic Pong-style graphics" for the game display. The final game art was led by Ryan Lesser, using the art team's involvement in the music scene. Based on the experience from Frequency and Amplitude, the team realized that "people dont necessarily relate to really abstract visuals", and included the depictions of live performances as previously used in Karaoke Revolution. House of Moves were used to assist in creation motion capture
for the on-screen animations. The appearance of Star Power was made to resemble electricity
, both to reflect the use of the electric guitar as well to conceptually demonstrate the excitement of the performance and the virtual audience.
Guitar Hero was initially released to retail stores in a bundle that packaged the game disc and a Gibson SG guitar controller, priced at $69.99. Since its release, stand-alone copies of the games and the guitar controller have been released, including both RedOctane and third-party controllers from TAC and Nyko
. MadCatz, another controller company that has produced guitar controllers, was set to initially be part of the game's development, creating a version of the game for the Xbox
, but had to pull out due to a lawsuit by Komani; MadCatz's Darrel Richardson stated they had to pay $300,000 to get out of their contract with RedOctane.
of popular songs. Featured tracks include "Iron Man
" by Black Sabbath
, "Take Me Out
" by Franz Ferdinand
, "Spanish Castle Magic
" by Jimi Hendrix
, "Bark at the Moon
" by Ozzy Osbourne
, "Smoke on the Water
" by Deep Purple
, "Crossroads" by Cream
, and "Fat Lip
" by Sum 41
. All cover tracks are credited on screen with the phrase "as made famous by" (e.g., "'I Wanna Be Sedated
', as made famous by The Ramones
"). The other 17 songs are master recording
s selected from indie groups.
praised the "fantastic soundtrack" and "great peripheral", further commenting that mini-Gibson SG controller "is what makes Guitar Hero, rather than what breaks it". GameSpot
echoed these sentiments, stating Guitar Hero had a "great guitar controller" and "killer soundtrack" and was possibly the "best rhythm game ever made". Many reviews praised the game's gradual learning curve and difficulty approach through the song tier progression and the difficulty setting for each song. Play said the game "gives bedroom air guitarists a chance to live out their rock 'n' roll fantasies". GameSpy
s review commented on the length of the songs, in that "once you hit the three minute mark or so, things start to feel 'too long'". Eurogamer
said, "the lack of international star quality about the roster of songs and the absence of the original artists is perhaps the only thing that may detract from the package from an importer's perspective" and "it would have been truly amazing with a better track list".
Shortly after release, Guitar Hero became an unexpected hit
; it was the second-highest selling PlayStation 2 title in February 2006 according to the NPD Group
. Game sales amounted to $45 million in . Since then, the game has sold about 1.53 million copies through December 2007. The success of the game has spawned a one billion dollar Guitar Hero franchise, including four sequels on several seventh generation consoles
, seven expansions, a mobile phone-based version, and a portable version for the Nintendo DS
. Harmonix no longer is involved in development of the series, due to its acquisition by MTV
. Harmonix has since developed Rock Band using designs similar to those that based Guitar Heros success.
The game and its sequels have created interest in young adults and children in learning how to play a real guitar, and has been considered as a "cultural phenomenon" that has created a significant cultural impact. At the end of 2009, several journalists, including Wired
, G4TV, CNN
, the San Jose Mercury News
, the Toronto Star
, Inc.
, The Guardian
, and Advertising Age
, considered Guitar Hero to be one of the most influential products of the first decade of the 21st century, attributing it as the spark leading to the growth of the rhythm game market, for boosting music sales for both new and old artists, for introducing more social gaming concepts to the video game market, and, in conjunction with the Wii
, for improving interactivity with gaming consoles.
s "Best of 2005", the game was recognized for "Best Music Game", "Best PlayStation 2 Music Game", "Best Licensed Soundtrack", "Best Licensed Soundtrack for PlayStation 2", "Best Offline Multiplayer Game", "Best PlayStation 2 Offline Multiplayer Game", and "Best Gaming Peripheral" (for the Mini Gibson SG controller). GameSpot
also recognized the game in its "Best and Worst of 2005", awarding it honors for "Best Puzzle/Rhythm Game", "Most Metal", and "Reader's Choice – Best Puzzle/Rhythm Game". The Game Developers Choice Awards
honored Guitar Hero for "Excellence in Audio" and "Excellence in Game Innovation". The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences
' 2005 Interactive Achievement Awards honored the game with awards for "Game of the Year", "Outstanding Achievement in Game Design", "Outstanding Achievement in Game Play Engineering" (tie), and "Outstanding Achievement in Soundtrack". Guitar Hero also won "Best Soundtrack" at the 2005 Spike TV Video Game Awards.
Music video game
A music video game, also commonly known as a music game, is a video game where the gameplay is meaningfully and often almost entirely oriented around the player's interactions with a musical score or individual songs...
developed by Harmonix Music Systems
Harmonix Music Systems
Harmonix Music Systems is an American video game development company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts in the United States...
and published by RedOctane
RedOctane
RedOctane was an American electronic entertainment company perhaps best known for producing the Guitar Hero series beginning in November 2005. RedOctane became a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision in 2006...
for the PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
video game console
Video game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
. It is the first entry in the Guitar Hero series
Guitar Hero
Guitar Hero is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems and published by RedOctane for the PlayStation 2 video game console. It is the first entry in the Guitar Hero series. Guitar Hero was released on November 8, 2005 in North America, April 7, 2006 in Europe and June 15, 2006 in...
. Guitar Hero was released on November 8, 2005 in North America, April 7, 2006 in Europe and June 15, 2006 in Australia. The game's development was a result of collaboration between RedOctane and Harmonix to bring a GuitarFreaks
GuitarFreaks
is a music video game series produced by Konami. The player uses a controller to simulate the playing of an electric guitar. The game consists of music predominantly from rock and roll and J-Pop genres, and is now in its 19th version, GuitarFreaks V8, which was released in March 28, 2011...
-like game to America.
The game features a guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
-shaped controller
Game controller
A game controller is a device used with games or entertainment systems used to control a playable character or object, or otherwise provide input in a computer game. A controller is typically connected to a game console or computer by means of a wire, cord or nowadays, by means of wireless connection...
(resembling a miniature Gibson SG
Gibson SG
At the launch of the SG in 1961, Gibson offered four variants of the SG; the SG Junior , the SG Special, the SG Standard, and the top-of-the-line SG Custom. However, Gibson's current core variants as of 2010 are the SG Standard and the SG Special...
) that the player uses to simulate playing rock music
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
. The gameplay is similar to GuitarFreaks, in that the player presses buttons on the guitar controller in time with musical notes
Musical notation
Music notation or musical notation is any system that represents aurally perceived music, through the use of written symbols.-History:...
that scroll on the game screen. The game features covers of 30 popular rock songs spanning five decades of rock, from the 1960s up through 2005, in addition to bonus tracks. Guitar Hero became a surprise hit, earning critical acclaim and winning many awards from major video game publications, and was considered one of the most influential games of the first decade of the 21st century. The game's success launched the Guitar Hero franchise, which has earned more than $2 billion in sales, spawning several sequels, expansions, and other game-related products.
Gameplay
The gameplay is similar to other music and rhythm video games, in that the player must press buttons on a game controllerGame controller
A game controller is a device used with games or entertainment systems used to control a playable character or object, or otherwise provide input in a computer game. A controller is typically connected to a game console or computer by means of a wire, cord or nowadays, by means of wireless connection...
in time with scrolling notes
Musical notation
Music notation or musical notation is any system that represents aurally perceived music, through the use of written symbols.-History:...
on the game screen to complete a song. The basic mechanics are based on Konami's GuitarFreaks
GuitarFreaks
is a music video game series produced by Konami. The player uses a controller to simulate the playing of an electric guitar. The game consists of music predominantly from rock and roll and J-Pop genres, and is now in its 19th version, GuitarFreaks V8, which was released in March 28, 2011...
. In the case of Guitar Hero, the player may use either the guitar peripheral (a 3/4-scale reproduction of the Gibson SG
Gibson SG
At the launch of the SG in 1961, Gibson offered four variants of the SG; the SG Junior , the SG Special, the SG Standard, and the top-of-the-line SG Custom. However, Gibson's current core variants as of 2010 are the SG Standard and the SG Special...
guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
as bundled with the game, or a third-party version) or a standard controller to play the scrolling notes. The guitar peripheral has five different-colored fret
Fret
A fret is a raised portion on the neck of a stringed instrument, that extends generally across the full width of the neck. On most modern western instruments, frets are metal strips inserted into the fingerboard...
buttons near the nut
Nut (instrumental)
The nut of a string instrument is a small piece of hard material which supports the strings at the end closest to the headstock or scroll. The nut marks one end of the speaking length of each open string, sets the spacing of the strings across the neck, and usually holds the strings at the proper...
of the guitar neck, and a strum
Strum
In music, a strum or stroke is an action where a single surface touches several strings of a string instrument, such as a guitar, in order to set them all into motion and thereby play a chord...
bar and a whammy bar
Tremolo arm
A whammy bar, tremolo arm/bar, or vibrato arm/bar is a component of a guitar, used to add vibrato to the sound by changing the tension of the strings, typically at the bridge or tailpiece...
on the body of the guitar. The peripheral also has other buttons in order to navigate the game's menus. Music is displayed on screen through a series of notes, matching in color and position to the fret buttons, that scroll down the screen on a fret board
Fingerboard
The fingerboard is a part of most stringed instruments. It is a thin, long strip of material, usually wood, that is laminated to the front of the neck of an instrument and above which the strings run...
. To hit or play a note, the player must hold down the fret button corresponding to the note shown and toggle the strum bar at the same time as that note passes a marked area on the screen. Faster series of notes may be played on the guitar controller using hammer-on
Hammer-on
Hammer-on is a stringed instrument playing technique performed by sharply bringing a fretting-hand finger down on the fingerboard behind a fret, causing a note to sound. This technique is the opposite of the pull-off...
and pull-off
Pull-off
A pull-off is a stringed instrument technique performed by plucking a string by "pulling" the string off the fingerboard with one of the fingers being used to fret the note.-Performance and effect:...
techniques where the player does not need to strum each note. The game supports toggling the handedness of the guitar, allowing both left-handed and right-handed players to utilize the guitar controller. A player using the standard controller simply presses the buttons that correspond with the displayed notes as outlined in the game's manual.
The player is awarded points for correctly hitting notes, chords
Guitar chord
In music, a guitar chord is a chord, or collection of tones usually sounded together at once, played on a guitar. It can be composed of notes played on adjacent or separate strings or all the strings together...
and sustain
Sustain
In music, sustain is a parameter of musical sound over time. As its name implies, it denotes the period of time during which the sound remains before it becomes inaudible, or silent.Additionally, sustain is the third of the four segments in an ADSR envelope...
s. The player can also increase a score multiplier by playing a series of consecutive notes successfully. A "Rock Meter" tracks the player's performance based on success or failure of hitting notes, and if the meter drops too low the song will prematurely end in failure for the player. The player can also earn "Star Power" by playing a series of glowing notes perfectly and using the whammy bar during sustains. Once the Star Power meter is filled at least halfway, Star Power can then be activated by briefly tilting the guitar controller vertically, or by pressing a specific button on a standard controller. Activating Star Power will double the scoring multiplier and makes it easier to increase the Rock Meter by playing correct notes. Thus, players can strategically use Star Power to play through difficult sections of a song they might have otherwise failed.
Modes and other features
Multiplayer mode offers two players the chance to compete against each other on the same song. Two fret boards will appear on screen, one for each player, as they alternate playing sections of the song in a dueling manner. The player with the highest score at the end of the song wins.
The four difficulty levels for each song afford the player a learning curve in order to help him or her progress in skill. The first difficulty level, Easy, only focuses on the first three fret buttons while displaying a significantly reduced amount of notes for the player to play. Medium introduces a fourth fret button while adding more notes, and Hard includes the final fret button while adding additional notes. Expert does not introduce any other frets to learn, but adds more notes in a manner designed to challenge the player.
Development
Konami
is a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...
's GuitarFreaks
GuitarFreaks
is a music video game series produced by Konami. The player uses a controller to simulate the playing of an electric guitar. The game consists of music predominantly from rock and roll and J-Pop genres, and is now in its 19th version, GuitarFreaks V8, which was released in March 28, 2011...
arcade game, where the player used a guitar-shaped controller to interact with the game. At the time, GuitarFreaks had not seen much exposure in North America. RedOctane was making dance pad
Dance pad
A dance pad, also known as a dance mat, dance platform, or jiffer deck is a flat electronic game controller used for input in dance games. Most dance pads are divided into a 3×3 matrix of square panels for the player to stand on, with some or all of the panels corresponding to directions or actions...
s for games like Dance Dance Revolution
Dance Dance Revolution
Dance Dance Revolution, abbreviated DDR, and previously known as Dancing Stage in Europe and Australasia, is a music video game series produced by Konami. Introduced in Japan in 1998 as part of the Bemani series, and released in North America and Europe in 1999, Dance Dance Revolution is the...
for home consoles and also operated an online video rental service similar to Netflix
Netflix
Netflix, Inc., is an American provider of on-demand internet streaming media in the United States, Canada, and Latin America and flat rate DVD-by-mail in the United States. The company was established in 1997 and is headquartered in Los Gatos, California...
. RedOctane's Kai and Charles Huang recognized the popularity of GuitarFreaks in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
through their rental service, and planned to create guitar controllers to bring the game to North America. The Huangs raised $1.75 million for the effort, despite being turned down by some investors who "thought
Acclaim Entertainment
Acclaim Entertainment was an American video game developer and publisher. It developed, published, marketed and distributed interactive entertainment software for a variety of hardware platforms, including Sega's Mega Drive/Genesis, Saturn, Dreamcast, and Game Gear, Nintendo's NES, SNES, Nintendo...
, noted, regretfully several years later, they had passed on Guitar Hero, questioning "Who's going to buy a peripheral like that?" The Huangs approached Harmonix, who had previously made music video game
Music video game
A music video game, also commonly known as a music game, is a video game where the gameplay is meaningfully and often almost entirely oriented around the player's interactions with a musical score or individual songs...
s such as Frequency, Amplitude and Karaoke Revolution
Karaoke Revolution
Karaoke Revolution and its many sequels are video games for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Nintendo GameCube, Wii, Xbox, and Xbox 360, developed by Harmonix Music Systems and Blitz Games and published by Konami in its Bemani line of music games. The Original Concept for Karaoke Revolution was...
about making a guitar-based video game for those controllers. With a budget of about one million dollars (which Kay noted was "pretty tiny for a video game"), the two companies worked together to develop Guitar Hero. Kay noted that "No one had any notions about it being a massive success; we all just thought it would be fun to do." Harmonix's president Alex Rigopulos also claims that former Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
vice-president of game publishing Ed Fries
Ed Fries
Ed Fries was vice president of game publishing at Microsoft during much of the Xbox's lifecycle. He was a prime evangelist of the platform to game developers and had an important role in the acquisition of developers Bungie Studios, Ensemble Studios and Rare....
indirectly influenced the game's creation, who had previously told Harmonix when they were pitching Frequency to Microsoft that no music-rhythm game would succeed without custom hardware for it, prompting Rigopulos to investigate the Guitar Hero opportunity when it arose.
The team quickly recognized that "the controller really was the kind of magic sauce for what we wanted to do". They identified three aspects of gameplay that they felt made the game stand out. These aspects included the note-matching aspect and the showmanship created by the use of the whammy bar and tilting of the guitar within the game. The third key aspect was the use of Star Power "to provide a little more depth to the game — some replay value, some interest for people as they were playing beyond just hitting the notes". Harmonix used third party controllers made for GuitarFreaks that were already on the market for development of the game until RedOctane had prepared prototypes for the Guitar Hero controller. The controller initially had pressure-sensitive fret buttons to mimic the playing of a real guitar, but the idea was dropped as it made the gameplay too complex. The idea of using the whammy bar to boost Star Power, in addition to altering the pitch
Pitch (music)
Pitch is an auditory perceptual property that allows the ordering of sounds on a frequency-related scale.Pitches are compared as "higher" and "lower" in the sense associated with musical melodies,...
of sustained notes was only realized about a month before the completion of the game. The team had spent "precious development time and resources" into creating a free-style model that would have allowed players to improvise during songs but ultimately cut it as they could not work the feature into the existing gameplay.
"Gem tracks", the pattern of notes for a song, were developed by a team in Harmonix, taking usually a day to develop the tracks for one song. Tracks were designed to include key notes to "make
Algorithm
In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm is an effective method expressed as a finite list of well-defined instructions for calculating a function. Algorithms are used for calculation, data processing, and automated reasoning...
s were used to assess the difficulty of the tracks, and the quality assurance team helped to rebalance the tracks for accuracy and difficulty. The software also allowed Harmonix to quickly make changes to the set list or to recreate the tracks for a song to make sure the overall difficulty of the game was appropriate.
At the onset of development, the team did not have any idea of what songs would be present in the final game. Kay noted that "We wanted 30 or 40 songs for the game and put a hundred on our wish list." The game was to focus mostly on hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
songs, but the team was limited by what could be license
License
The verb license or grant licence means to give permission. The noun license or licence refers to that permission as well as to the document recording that permission.A license may be granted by a party to another party as an element of an agreement...
d. The team also felt "morally obligated" to include older, classic rock songs like The Ramones "I Wanna Be Sedated
I Wanna Be Sedated
"I Wanna Be Sedated" is a song by the American punk rock band the Ramones. It is one of the band's best known songs. It was originally released on their fourth album, Road to Ruin, in September 1978 and was the b-side of the UK single "She's the One" released on January 10, 1979. The song was later...
" to the younger target audience of the game. Harmonix had to modify the track list
Set list
A set list, or setlist, is a document that lists the songs that a band or musical artist intends to play, or has played, during a specific concert performance...
throughout development as certain songs were introduced or removed based on licensing issues, requiring the team to repeatedly balance difficulty and popularity of the track list. WaveGroup Sound
WaveGroup Sound
WaveGroup Sound is a music production studio located in Fremont, CA specializing in audio post production and design. The primary notability of the studio is its work on many of the currently popular music games for the various major video game platforms...
were used to create the covers of the licensed songs provided in the game. Marcus Henderson
Marcus Henderson
Marcus Henderson is a critically acclaimed rock and heavy metal guitarist from the San Francisco Bay area. His previous bands include Drist and Hellbillys as well as work for En Vogue and Simon Stinger. In 2005, he was chosen to take the role as one of the lead guitarists for the Guitar Hero series...
of the band Drist provided many of the lead guitar tracks for the covers. WaveGroup Sound also went to efforts to try to recreate effects for some songs. In the case of Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath are an English heavy metal band, formed in Aston, Birmingham in 1969 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple line-up changes, with Tony Iommi the only constant presence in the band through the years. A total of 22...
s "Iron Man", the team learned that the vocal effects were created by having Ozzy Osbourne
Ozzy Osbourne
John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne is an English vocalist, whose musical career has spanned over 40 years. Osbourne rose to prominence as lead singer of the pioneering English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, whose radically different, intentionally dark, harder sound helped spawn the heavy metal...
sing from behind a metal fan
Fan (mechanical)
A mechanical fan is a machine used to create flow within a fluid, typically a gas such as air.A fan consists of a rotating arrangement of vanes or blades which act on the air. Usually, it is contained within some form of housing or case. This may direct the airflow or increase safety by preventing...
. The team sought out the same model of fan through Craigslist
Craigslist
Craigslist is a centralized network of online communities featuring free online classified advertisements, with sections devoted to jobs, housing, personals, for sale, services, community, gigs, résumés, and discussion forums....
to generate the same effect in the game's cover. Many of the bonus songs were from groups that Harmonix employees were part of or knew. Additionally, a "Be a Guitar Hero" contest was held allowing bands to submit their own song to be included in the game. The winning song was "Cheat on the Church" by Graveyard BBQ
Graveyard BBQ
Graveyard BBQ is a dirtcore band formed in Waltham, Massachusetts in summer 2003. They quickly rose to fame when they took victory in the "Be a Guitar Hero" national contest, and thus their song "Cheat on the Church" was featured in the soundtrack of the PlayStation 2 game Guitar Hero...
. Black Label Society
Black Label Society
Black Label Society is a heavy metal band formed by Zakk Wylde, with nine studio albums, one live album, two compilation albums, one EP, and three video albums released since formation of the band.-Formation and Sonic Brew :...
s song, "Fire it Up", was included two weeks before the game was completed at the request of Zakk Wylde
Zakk Wylde
Zachary Phillip Wylde , best known by the stage name Zakk Wylde, is an American musician, songwriter, and occasional actor who is best known as the former guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne and founder of the heavy metal band Black Label Society. He was the lead guitarist and vocalist in Pride & Glory,...
. The final song list was set very near to the shipping date.
Guitar Hero started with "super-basic Pong-style graphics" for the game display. The final game art was led by Ryan Lesser, using the art team's involvement in the music scene. Based on the experience from Frequency and Amplitude, the team realized that "people dont necessarily relate to really abstract visuals", and included the depictions of live performances as previously used in Karaoke Revolution. House of Moves were used to assist in creation motion capture
Motion capture
Motion capture, motion tracking, or mocap are terms used to describe the process of recording movement and translating that movement on to a digital model. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, and medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robotics...
for the on-screen animations. The appearance of Star Power was made to resemble electricity
Electricity
Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...
, both to reflect the use of the electric guitar as well to conceptually demonstrate the excitement of the performance and the virtual audience.
Guitar Hero was initially released to retail stores in a bundle that packaged the game disc and a Gibson SG guitar controller, priced at $69.99. Since its release, stand-alone copies of the games and the guitar controller have been released, including both RedOctane and third-party controllers from TAC and Nyko
Nyko
Nyko is a manufacturer of third-party accessories for various gaming consoles.-Wand:The Nyko "Wand" is a 3rd-party replacement for the Wii Remote. It was announced at CES 2009. The Wand features Trans-Port technology, which allows specially designed attachments to pass through key buttons to the...
. MadCatz, another controller company that has produced guitar controllers, was set to initially be part of the game's development, creating a version of the game for the Xbox
Xbox
The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...
, but had to pull out due to a lawsuit by Komani; MadCatz's Darrel Richardson stated they had to pay $300,000 to get out of their contract with RedOctane.
Soundtrack
Guitar Hero features 47 playable songs, 30 of which are "main setlist" tracks that are coversCover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of popular songs. Featured tracks include "Iron Man
Iron Man (song)
"Iron Man" is a song by British heavy metal band Black Sabbath from their second studio album Paranoid released in 1970. It was later included on their initial greatest hits compilation We Sold Our Soul for Rock 'n' Roll , as well as all subsequent greatest hits compilations.-Writing and...
" by Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath are an English heavy metal band, formed in Aston, Birmingham in 1969 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple line-up changes, with Tony Iommi the only constant presence in the band through the years. A total of 22...
, "Take Me Out
Take Me Out (song)
"Take Me Out" is a song by the Scottish band Franz Ferdinand. It was released as the second single from their debut album Franz Ferdinand in the United Kingdom on the 12 January 2004 and in the United State on 9 February, both through Domino Records...
" by Franz Ferdinand
Franz Ferdinand (band)
Franz Ferdinand are a Scottish post-punk revival band formed in Glasgow in 2002. The band is composed of Alex Kapranos , Bob Hardy , Nick McCarthy , and Paul Thomson .The band first experienced chart success when their second single, "Take Me Out", reached #3 in...
, "Spanish Castle Magic
Spanish Castle Magic
"Spanish Castle Magic" is a song by The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Written by Jimi Hendrix and produced by Chas Chandler, it is the third track from their second studio album Axis: Bold as Love...
" by Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
, "Bark at the Moon
Bark at the Moon (song)
"Bark at the Moon" is a metal song by Ozzy Osbourne. It is the opening track on his 1983 album Bark at the Moon. The song was composed by Jake E. Lee and Bob Daisley; lyrics were written solely by Osbourne. "Bark at the Moon" is a metal song by Ozzy Osbourne. It is the opening track on his 1983...
" by Ozzy Osbourne
Ozzy Osbourne
John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne is an English vocalist, whose musical career has spanned over 40 years. Osbourne rose to prominence as lead singer of the pioneering English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, whose radically different, intentionally dark, harder sound helped spawn the heavy metal...
, "Smoke on the Water
Smoke on the Water
"Smoke on the Water" is a song by the British hard rock band Deep Purple. It was first released on their 1972 album Machine Head. In 2004, the song was ranked number 426 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time, and in March 2005, Q magazine placed "Smoke on the Water"...
" by Deep Purple
Deep Purple
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford in 1968. Along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, they are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although some band members believe that their music cannot be categorised as belonging to any one genre...
, "Crossroads" by Cream
Cream (band)
Cream were a 1960s British rock supergroup consisting of bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce, guitarist/vocalist Eric Clapton, and drummer Ginger Baker...
, and "Fat Lip
Fat Lip
"Fat Lip" is the title of a song recorded by Canadian punk rock band Sum 41. It was released in April 2001 as the lead single from their debut album All Killer No Filler. It is the band's most successful single to date, topping the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart...
" by Sum 41
Sum 41
Sum 41 is a Canadian rock band from Ajax, Ontario. The band was formed in 1996 and currently consists of members Deryck Whibley , Tom Thacker , Jason McCaslin and Steve Jocz .In 1999, the band signed an international record deal with Island Records...
. All cover tracks are credited on screen with the phrase "as made famous by" (e.g., "'I Wanna Be Sedated
I Wanna Be Sedated
"I Wanna Be Sedated" is a song by the American punk rock band the Ramones. It is one of the band's best known songs. It was originally released on their fourth album, Road to Ruin, in September 1978 and was the b-side of the UK single "She's the One" released on January 10, 1979. The song was later...
', as made famous by The Ramones
Ramones
The Ramones were an American rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first punk rock group...
"). The other 17 songs are master recording
Master recording
A multitrack recording master tape, disk or computer files on which productions are developed for later mixing, is known as the multi-track master, while the tape, disk or computer files holding a mix is called a mixed master.It is standard practice to make a copy of a master recording, known as...
s selected from indie groups.
Reception
Guitar Hero received very positive reviews. IGNIGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
praised the "fantastic soundtrack" and "great peripheral", further commenting that mini-Gibson SG controller "is what makes Guitar Hero, rather than what breaks it". GameSpot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
echoed these sentiments, stating Guitar Hero had a "great guitar controller" and "killer soundtrack" and was possibly the "best rhythm game ever made". Many reviews praised the game's gradual learning curve and difficulty approach through the song tier progression and the difficulty setting for each song. Play said the game "gives bedroom air guitarists a chance to live out their rock 'n' roll fantasies". GameSpy
GameSpy
GameSpy Industries, Inc., known simply as GameSpy, is a division of IGN Entertainment, which operates a network of game websites and provides online video game-related services and software. GameSpy dates back to the 1996 release of an internet Quake server search program named QSpy. The current...
s review commented on the length of the songs, in that "once you hit the three minute mark or so, things start to feel 'too long'". Eurogamer
Eurogamer
Eurogamer is a Brighton-based website focused on video games news, reviews, previews and interviews. It is operated by Eurogamer Network Ltd., which was formed in 1999 by brothers Rupert and Nick Loman. Eurogamer has grown to become one of the most important European-based websites focused on...
said, "the lack of international star quality about the roster of songs and the absence of the original artists is perhaps the only thing that may detract from the package from an importer's perspective" and "it would have been truly amazing with a better track list".
Shortly after release, Guitar Hero became an unexpected hit
Sleeper hit
A sleeper hit, a.k.a. surprise hit , refers to a film, book, single, album, TV show, or video game that gains unexpected success or recognition...
; it was the second-highest selling PlayStation 2 title in February 2006 according to the NPD Group
NPD Group
The NPD Group, Inc. is a leading North American market research company. The NPD Group consistently ranks among the top 25 market research companies in the independent Honomichl Top 50 report, which the media and the research industry acknowledge as a credible source of information on the market...
. Game sales amounted to $45 million in . Since then, the game has sold about 1.53 million copies through December 2007. The success of the game has spawned a one billion dollar Guitar Hero franchise, including four sequels on several seventh generation consoles
History of video game consoles (seventh generation)
In the history of video games, the seventh generation of consoles is the current generation , and includes consoles released since late by Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony...
, seven expansions, a mobile phone-based version, and a portable version for the Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
. Harmonix no longer is involved in development of the series, due to its acquisition by MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
. Harmonix has since developed Rock Band using designs similar to those that based Guitar Heros success.
The game and its sequels have created interest in young adults and children in learning how to play a real guitar, and has been considered as a "cultural phenomenon" that has created a significant cultural impact. At the end of 2009, several journalists, including Wired
Wired (magazine)
Wired is a full-color monthly American magazine and on-line periodical, published since January 1993, that reports on how new and developing technology affects culture, the economy, and politics...
, G4TV, CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
, the San Jose Mercury News
San Jose Mercury News
The San Jose Mercury News is a daily newspaper in San Jose, California. On its web site, however, it calls itself Silicon Valley Mercury News. The paper is owned by MediaNews Group...
, the Toronto Star
Toronto Star
The Toronto Star is Canada's highest-circulation newspaper, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its print edition is distributed almost entirely within the province of Ontario...
, Inc.
Inc. (magazine)
Inc. magazine, founded in 1979 and based in New York City, is a monthly publication focused on growing companies. The magazine publishes an annual list of the 500 fastest-growing private companies in the U.S., the "Inc...
, The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, and Advertising Age
Advertising Age
Advertising Age is a magazine, delivering news, analysis and data on marketing and media. The magazine was started as a broadsheet newspaper in Chicago in 1930...
, considered Guitar Hero to be one of the most influential products of the first decade of the 21st century, attributing it as the spark leading to the growth of the rhythm game market, for boosting music sales for both new and old artists, for introducing more social gaming concepts to the video game market, and, in conjunction with the Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
, for improving interactivity with gaming consoles.
Awards
Guitar Hero has won several awards. In IGNIGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
s "Best of 2005", the game was recognized for "Best Music Game", "Best PlayStation 2 Music Game", "Best Licensed Soundtrack", "Best Licensed Soundtrack for PlayStation 2", "Best Offline Multiplayer Game", "Best PlayStation 2 Offline Multiplayer Game", and "Best Gaming Peripheral" (for the Mini Gibson SG controller). GameSpot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
also recognized the game in its "Best and Worst of 2005", awarding it honors for "Best Puzzle/Rhythm Game", "Most Metal", and "Reader's Choice – Best Puzzle/Rhythm Game". The Game Developers Choice Awards
Game Developers Choice Awards
The Game Developers Choice Awards are annually presented by the Game Developers Conference for outstanding game developers and games.Introduced in 2001, the Game Developers Choice Awards were preceded by the Spotlight Awards, which were presented from 1997 to 1999.The 2009 award presentation was...
honored Guitar Hero for "Excellence in Audio" and "Excellence in Game Innovation". The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences
Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences
The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences , founded in 1996, is a non-profit organization that promotes computer and video game entertainment with the annual D.I.C.E. Summit event, where its Interactive Achievement Awards ceremony has been held annually since 1998...
' 2005 Interactive Achievement Awards honored the game with awards for "Game of the Year", "Outstanding Achievement in Game Design", "Outstanding Achievement in Game Play Engineering" (tie), and "Outstanding Achievement in Soundtrack". Guitar Hero also won "Best Soundtrack" at the 2005 Spike TV Video Game Awards.
External links
- Guitar Hero Official USA website
- Guitar Hero Official UK website
- How to Play Guitar Hero - A wikiHowWikiHowwikiHow is a web-based and wiki-based community, consisting of an extensive database of how-to guides. wikiHow's mission is to build the world's largest and highest quality how-to manual. The site started as an extension of the already existing eHow website, and has evolved to host over 127,000...
Article