Blue Tattoo

I enjoy fiddling around with GH from time to time, but I’ve never brought myself to the actual investment point. 80$ for a game is a threshold I cannot cross, regardless of how much I want to be/already am a rock star. Still, I understand the draw, and also the perils that face those who plunge the depths of their soul for the resolve to master the game’s intricacies. Indeed, my father is a highly accomplished real musician, and I felt his scorn burning holes in my back as I clumsily strummed away at Monkey Wrench. That jabbing remark of “Why don’t you play a real instrument?” is in many ways echoed by the “Why don’t you make real money?” or “…friends?” or “…dysentery?” heard throughout gaming history. Tycho proposes that this argument is flawed from the start: that the simulation of the guitar has the potential to become a source of music creation. His points are valid and persuasive, but he seems to be overlooking, or at least downplaying, one very important thing: playing a live instrument is cool. This is not to say that a new generation of Guitar Hero born musicians will not spring up, on the contrary, I believe they may. But the real deal, the drums and the strings and all of it, will never lose its prestige over the simulation, just like Wii Golf won’t replace country clubs.