Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Guitar Rising - a game for REAL guitar heroes!

Posted by Jon in • Guitar Hero

Guitar Rising
Guitar Rising is an interesting move by GameTank and was obviously influenced by the hugely successful Guitar Hero. What Guitar Rising offers that Guitar Hero doesn’t is the crossover between gaming and “real” guitar playing. The idea is that by using your own guitar and a USB interface you are able to play along to the tracks as the tab scrolls across the screen in a similar fashion to Guitar Hero, albeit a more logical horizontal scrolling - imagine the confusion of tab scrolling towards you!

What I like about this product is that it is not only a game, it is partly an instructional tool for guitarists. It is the next logical step from gamers who have played Guitar Hero and decided they want to take the plunge with a real guitar. You can choose from a somewhat limited 30 songs, but I’m sure that will be expandable, and alter the tempo to make it easier when you are learning a song. Aside from that there are 5 levels of difficulty presumably with more challenging song choices.

What I would really like to see with this game is an accompanying tab book so that players are encouraged to learn on their own and therefore take the time to learn the songs correctly rather than bumbling their way through as the notes fly past on the screen. If this game encourages more kids to pick up the guitar rather than a piece of plastic with coloured buttons on it then I think it is a very positive move by GameTank and one that could certainly make them a lot of money!

I think this one will be popular with teen shredders who have access to a web cam and YouTube!

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guitarFlame on 02/12 at 08:26 PM

I have always asked myself when this move will take place, from that plastic guitar to a real one. Even it is way more specialized and difficult to do it.

Jon on 02/12 at 09:44 PM

Well it is has certainly encouraged a lot of people to give a real guitar a go and that has to be good right? A couple of people I know are talking about taking up guitar and I think Guitar Hero was certainly a catalyst.

Jamie Nelson on 02/15 at 03:28 AM

I’ve been waiting for someone to come out with something like this.  I’ve talked to a couple of developers myself about getting a project going.

on 02/19 at 09:15 AM

Guitar Hero got so big they even did a Southpark episode on it lol...1million points! wink I consider myself a hardcore gamer but don’t really view guitar hero as a game that’s as good as non musical people think it is...it really has nothing to do with real musical talent but I guess that’s where the beauty of it lies...nevertheless, it’s huge, their rich, and the trend is continuing.

Jon on 02/19 at 10:06 AM

Yes until the next version Guitar Hero Aerosmith kills the franchise once and for all, I mean I like early Aerosmith but its not really that challenging is it? If you want to play a game, you want a REAL challenge like playing along to Racer X or something! Weird choice.

cam on 04/08 at 05:31 AM

great release, game + education at the same time

Mr.T on 05/02 at 07:04 PM

As this is the first of its kind, im trying to keep my expectations low but its pretty hard when i already think its gonna be an ace game. Already play guitar and really looking forward to seeing how well this works.

I wonder if theres any chance of multiplayer options on this and maybe guitar tab imports. That would be amazing, to add your own tabs for your favorite songs..stunning!

Jon on 05/03 at 08:00 AM

Hi Mr T, I don’t think that it would be possible to import tabs firstly because it would need to read the tab convert it into the side scrolling format and match it to the music, I imagine this is done with their own proprietary software. Also it means you wouldn’t need expansion packs or game upgrades so they would be losing out on the kind of revenue Guitar Hero is currently basking in!

Guitar school on 05/14 at 05:25 PM

ohhhhhh! Game between guitar heroes sounds interesting. I have been waiting for something like this...Thanks

Jon on 05/14 at 05:54 PM

yeah I’m looking forward to playing this too, I think from an educational point of view this has the possibility of converting a fair number of gamers to actual guitarists… maybe.

Free Flash Games on 05/29 at 04:04 PM

Worse game i vahe ever seen. didn;t interest me a bit

Mr.T on 05/29 at 05:11 PM

Blimey.....Give it a chance why dont you!! I know everyone has there opinions but come on.

Jon on 05/29 at 06:45 PM

I assume that comment was made by someone who also has no interest in guitars!

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