Guitar Hero and Rock Band: A Look Back

Guitar Hero and Rock Band: A Look Back

Hey guys, Jim here, and it’s my turn to write this week’s blog.  There are a lot of things that I could go into, but I wanted to start with a game genre that I probably spent 2-3 years straight playing…the rhythm genre...mainly Guitar Hero and Rock Band.

To start, here is a quick history of these games.  Released in 2005, the original Guitar Hero was developed by Harmonix and Red Octane.  Red Octane previously had a part in the music game genre with GuitarFreaks, an arcade game that can still be found in arcades and boardwalks.  The music in the game was originally all covers, and the game innovated with its immersive and fun guitar controller and accessible learning curve.  It is a game that everyone could play, but took a lot of work to master.  From there, the series got more popular with the first two sequels (II and III), with II being one of the first big games to take advantage of XboxLIVE and DLC.  In 2007, the companies broke apart, with Harmonix going on to create the Rock Band series.  From there, these two series would take completely different paths.  

Rock Band was the first to create the full band experience, bundling a microphone, guitar, and drum kit.  Each player could play separate instruments, and even the most arrhythmic person could have the experience of being in a band.  It was stupid fun, and was an instant hit.  GH would follow suit with their 4th main entry, Guitar Hero: World Tour, which did the exact same thing, but with a differently designed drumset.  From there, each game would release sequels, and add to the hardware, but this is where the paths fully diverge.

The biggest difference between these two franchises, in my opinion, is the way that the developers treated the consumer and the evolving (or devolving) quality of the overall product.  Here is a breakdown of the releases for each franchise.  If this doesn’t give you an idea of where I am going, I will explain shortly. Also, I am excluding the portable titles.  These maintain the “hit a button at the right time” aesthetic of the gameplay, but without the standard controllers.  

Guitar Hero

Guitar Hero - 2005

Guitar Hero II - 2006

Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80’s - 2007 (last game developed by Harmonix)

Guitar Hero III - 2007

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith - 2008

Guitar Hero: World Tour - 2008

Guitar Hero: Metallica - 2009

DJ Hero: 2009

Guitar Hero: Smash Hits - 2009

Guitar Hero 5 - 2009

Band Hero - 2009

Guitar Hero: Van Halen - 2009

Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock - 2010

DJ Hero 2 - 2010

Now let’s compare that to Rock Band’s releases…

Rock Band - 2007

Rock Band II - 2008

The Beatles: Rock Band - 2009

Lego Rock Band - 2009

Green Day: Rock Band - 2010

Rock Band III - 2010

Rock Band Blitz - 2012 (download only title, did not use the guitar peripherals)

Rock Band also released a bunch of physical track packs, released as separate disks between 2008 and 2011.

In the beginning, these titles came out maybe once a year, and made strides every time.  GH 1 and 2 made huge, yet subtle, gameplay tweaks that made the gameplay much better.  GH III had the widespread appeal, and the first to mainly feature licensed tracks.  Rock Band introduced the band aspect, and heavily relied on DLC.  GH Metallica introduced the double bass pedal mechanic, and RB II improved all aspects, including the hardware, of the original title and had one of the biggest licensed DLC libraries of all time. After this, the last innovation, besides the turntable aspect of DJ Hero, was with Rock Band III, which included a way to plug real guitars into the system.  

As many of you know, Brian and I are both engaged.  We are both in our late 20’s and have full time jobs.  Suffice to say, we don’t have a lot of time to play video games, or to discover new things unless we REALLY want to invest our time and money into it.  We are self-admitted marks for COD and WWE games, and will gobble up anything by Bethesda.  WIth that being said, the blog is our way to relive the old times, to hang out and just play games like we used to.  When the original GH came out, i was 19, and the heyday was in my early 20’s.  There really was not a time in my life that I didn’t get to fully enjoy games more, now that I had money, and delved right in.  

 
I had played GuitarFreaks before, and while impressed with it, was never blown away by it.  That was not the case with the original Guitar Hero.  My friend Ryan was the first of my group of friends to get it, and I was hooked right away.  In Christmas of 2006, I got my very first game of my own, that being GH2.  I played through the entire game on medium, every song, straight through until 5 in the morning.  From there, we would gather and play each new iteration, one of us forking over the money on a new one so we could all play.

Then came Rock Band.  The band dynamic, along with the drum set, really shed a new light on the genre.  None of us used the mic, but playing with 2 guitars and a drum set was amazing.  The christmas after it came out, we did the entire game again, playing straight through for about...8+ hours if memory serves correct.  Like I said before, GH eventually came out with their own version.  Being a drummer in real life, I tended to enjoy the GH games more, mainly because the drum set was more “realistic.”

After that came the biggest problem, overexposure.  Look above, look at all those games and the frequency that they came out.  Sure, many of them made leaps, but most were not worth it.  Guitar Hero, now being distributed by Activision, was the biggest offender.  To Rock Band’s credit, they mainly focused on DLC.  Also, when a new version came out, you could pay a small fee (typically 12 dollars), to import ALL of the songs from the previous game(s).  Besides that, instead of releasing a full 60 dollar disk that would maybe have 50 songs, if that.  Also, the song imports for the GH games would not give the full games songs, barely making the investment worth it.  It was the money grab aspect that killed the genre, and that is a real shame.  If the games had been worth the money, or made strides, then they would be worth it...but that never happened.  The genre, the way it was set up, only had a ceiling that was so high.  By the time RB3 came out with its real-world integration, it was too late, and the genre had gone stale.  

Every once in a while I will break out the old kits again, which I consider very lucky since the equipment was notorious for breaking.  I think there is a place for the genre, but it won’t be for a long, long time.  Games like Rocksmith keep the genre alive, that focusing on a more educational approach, but the party aspect really isn’t there.  Maybe one day it will come back, and when it does, I will be there to give it a shot and hopefully reclaim some old glory.

Call Of Duty - What Type of Player are You?

What type of Player are You in Call Of Duty?

Hey guys and girls today I wanted to talk to you about one of my favorite game franchises. Of course I am talking about Call of Duty. Once my friends and I were introduced to the multiplayer mayhem in COD 3 we were intrigued. But once we experienced COD 4: Modern Warfare we would be cemented into this ever expanding franchise. Year in and year out most of my friends and I are pigeon holed into paying the $60 for the latest and "greatest" COD title. One thing to keep in mind is that I am not claiming that COD is the best game, or even superior to other FPS Multiplayer shooters available, but it is the game that everyone of my friends plays and its what we are sticking with. Anyway the purpose of this post is not to give you a history lesson about COD, or a breakdown of every game released annually, rather I want to focus on you, the player, and what gameplay style you most probably fall under.

So check out my personal list composed from years of found and equally frustrating memories here are the most common player types I run into on a game by game basis. Leaver us comments and let us know what type of player you are!

1. The Noob - We were all at this level at one point or another. You know the guy, the one who picked the juggernaut perk from the early titles. This same noob will likely be attaching the grenade launcher, aptly name the "Noob Tube" and will probably die numerous times in a row before learning the game. This type of player doe's not bother me as much as most people, if I get shot with a noob tube once a game, I can deal with it, but when I see a player who clearly knows way too much about the game launching noob-tubes across the map to score points then I know I am dealing with another type of player, see the Asshole below.

2. The Camper - One of my personally most hated playing styles the camper is the reason why there are so many problems in this world. Okay let me explain my thinking before you say "Brian is just exaggerating". There are modes which call for a more defensive play style, defending an objective, covering a flag, etc. The camper I speak of is a special breed of bitch, he is that guy laying down in the grass while your team is losing 70-45 in TDM and refuses to move. The camper is the guy you sets himself up in a room with claymores, trophy systems, radars, etc. The bigger problem with the camper is that the companies who churn out COD give the camper no reason to stop camping, except maybe the game mode "Cranked". I understand that in real combat you will not be running around like a crazy person and that you need to play more tactically, well my response is this is a F**king Game! If you want to pay $60 to be Mr. Tactical pick up Battlefield.  Now plenty of people claim they are not camping, Jim, but rather "holding down an area". This argument is BS because that is the very definition of camping, shit-birds.

3. The Try-Hard - This is a probably the stupidest moniker I have seen and it carries two meanings. Basically this is the player "trying" to play the game the best they can, okay why would'nt you try hard? Now the other meaning and the one that bugs me is the player who always chooses the same weapon every single COD title. This player usually always uses the AK-47 or some variation, he/she will always find the best gun in the game and never switch.One way to tell if you are a try hard check to see if you use Ghost or anything similar to ghost for more than 1/2 of your loadouts. Here is the other test to see if you yourself would be considered a try-hard. Go to your Black Ops account look at your weapon ratio and if your first place gun has been used 10x more then your second place gun than congratulations you are a try hard, now learn to use another weapon you ass-hat.

4. The Youtube Wannabe - Hahaha this asshole, he is the one trying to build himself a nice highlight video by only using the throwing knife/axe, jumps while doing a 360 hoping to pull off that no scope. Although this player is a complete idiot, I can live with that because 95% of the time he is a perfect target and provides plenty of deaths for me. So you keep trying to compile that awesome youtube video which will net you 150 views and I will keep on killing you.

5. The Spray and Pray -Hey look I have a light machine gun and when I turn corners I just hold down the trigger and the other guy dies 1/2 of the time. We have all had that moment of panick in which we fire from the hip and get that BS kill, I am fine with that. It is the shit-ball you continually uses this method of just blindly firing who is annoying, this guy will reveal your position, if he is on your team, or get far more kills than he actually deserves. Once again this is a Jim category and many a final kill cam Jim could not even feel satisfaction as we all watched some ugly spray and praying.

6. The Cheater/Booster/Piece of Shit -I hate campers, I think you all realize this, but this particular player can suck a rotten dirty dick. I am sure many of you have received messages that someone is holding a prestige boosting lobby, or enter into a game where two player opposite one another are laying down tactical inserts and continuously killing each other in an attempt to earn XP. As pathetic as boosting is, I get it, your a little bitch who sucks at the game so you need to make yourself feel better by finally earning XP, at least you are not affecting other players. The true piece of shit I am referring to is that awful human being who uses glitchs/cheats during a match. Lag Switching, Auto Aim, Going outside/under the map whatever the method they all result in the same effect, you have an unfair advantage over the other players. I cannot stress enough that you are a nothing more than a shit licking ass sniffing little bitch and I hope you get banned, then punched in the face by your father.

7. The Run and Gunner - This is definitely me. We run around the map firing on all cylinders hoping for that perfect flank and usually get gunned down in the process by one of those "lovely" campers. I admit that sometimes I can have amazing games while doing this, but I can have just as many bad games trying this, which lends itself to Rage Quitting.


8. The Asshole - This is a player that is hilarious to watch, but annoying as hell to play against. He uses a riot shield with C4, he runs with only a knife and throwing ax, or he quick scopes. This is the guy who knows the map spawns so well he will kill you 3 times in a row before you can even turn around. Although technically he does nothing wrong this player is walking the fine line of cheating by using the games faults to his pleasure. I have definitely been the jackass running around getting 10+ kills using only the tomahawk, which was awesome, but I have received my fair share of embarrassments as well.

9. The Rage Quitter - To all of my friends reading they know one of my most used and famous quotes, "If I die one more time from this little bitch I am going to leave". Rage quitting is an interesting moniker because you have two options, 1. Leave the game and move onto something else, 2. Stay in the game and let your rage fester over until you are slamming your remote or throwing your headset across the room. I prefer to leave the game, especially if I have terrible teammates, facing players who are cheating, or am 1 of 2 players playing an elite clan who has just called in their Chopper Gunner/Dogs and Harrier.

10. The Real Deal - This is the guy/girl who is just legitimately good, usually confused with a cheater, a bullshitter, lucky, etc, etc. This player has lighting fast reflexes, knows the maps inside and out and can probably tell you the firing rate of each gun. In other words this player probably has no life and looks like the picture below.

11. The Useless Teammate - The final player type I could think of is an odd one to nail down, and usually you will never refer to yourself in this manner. This player will be the useless piece of sperm that will watch you capture a flag in domination, not cover you, and then camp in the back while the enemies take there flags back. If you are not going to play the objective than pick a different mode.

How to run a site and a normal life! - I will give you a hint...beer

Hey everyone, so I (Brian) decided that Drink a Beer and Play a Game should still have a blog just as a way to reach out to our fans and say whats on our minds. We definitely love using the site but sometimes it is just easier to write some things down in a blog.

Anyway, lets talk about the craziness of running a site dedicated to drinking beer and playing games. While the act of drinking and gaming is awesome there is a ton of work that goes into our site and our videos. Anyone reading this who has ever edited a video knows exactly what I mean. But we are not complaining, Jim and I do what we do because we are passionate about beer and video games. We love other game review sites and beer review sites but we always seems to disagree with the methods or thinking behind the reviews. We were tired of reviwers who cannot let go their childhood memories with the Nintendo and deem everything Mario/Zelda/etc instant classics. We are also tired of snobbish beer reviewers who take beer drinking way to seriously, after-all if a beer tastes good, gets you drunk and does it all for a reasonable price shouldn't that be the most important aspect?

So, we figured why not do it ourselves, little did we know the amount of time and dedication it takes to maintain such an en devour.

It may help to understand a few things about Jim and I.

1. We both work full time jobs, so we can at best only dedicate a few hours per night and the weekends to our site.
2. We are both engaged and planning weddings. Remember the "weekend time" I just mentioned well at least half of a month is dedicated to looking at venues, checking out cakes, and all the other fun things that you need to do while planning a wedding.
3. Now take the top two things away and we are not even mentioning the time we spend with our families, going out, holidays, working out (well at least Brian working out), taking care of a new puppy, home improvements, etc, etc.

With all of this said every chance we get we put our time and effort into bringing you, the fans, beer reviews, game reviews and videos.

On a typical video it can take anywhere from 5-40+ hours to make. Look at a quick breakdown

- Actually playing the game - 1-3 hours depending on the game
- Creating a script/narrative for the video - 2-4 hours
- Scrubbing through the game-play footage to prepare the video - 5-10 hours
- Adding music, pictures, other videos - 3-4 hours
- Recording the voice over and adding it to the video - 2 hours
- Rendering and uploading videos to Youtube, displaying on Website - 2-3 hours

Now this was just an example of one video, but it varies as do most things. This does not include the actual written reviews and everything that goes into the site.

I just wanted to give an insight into our lives, so that our fans and followers understand if we miss a video/review its not because we are lazy (well Jim is lazy) its because of some unforeseen condition. Our goal at the end of the day is to give you honest beer/game reviews and keep you entertained!

Thanks for reading, now go get yourself a beer!

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