Game Stooge

What Grinds My Gears: Guitar Hero 2

• Scribbled on April 17th, 2007 by Shogun6789
• Filed in Editorial Content, Grinding Gears, Microsoft Xbox 360, Music/Rhythm, Simulations, Xbox Live Arcade, Xbox Live Marketplace

You know what grinds my gears? The way Microsoft is releasing these Guitar Hero 1 songs for download via Xbox Live. I mean seriously, you pay 500 points, the equivalent of roughly $6.25 for a three song pack.

The original Guitar Hero game, had 30 songs on it with an addition 17 that could be unlocked. Now let’s crunch those numbers, 3 songs at $6.25 times ten gives you a total of $62.50.

We, the game playing nation, are being subjected to a form of Microsoft corporate greed. We are asked to pay USD $10.00 more than the store price for the game just to get 30 of the 47 songs. Not to mention, the devalued cost of Guitar Hero in stores probably around 40 bucks, so the Xbox Live consumer is pay a 22 dollar inflated cost.

Now I realize this has something to do with “contract rights” and all that hooey but all of the songs come from Red Octane and are kind of already contracted to be used in the Guitar Hero games. Now, even if you do consider the cost for the rights to use the songs into the price, I still think it is pure crap than that you can’t pick which songs you will download.

If one is going to pay such an inflated value for the songs, than they should have the right to choose which three songs they buy. For example, say in the first pack I wanted only Ace of Spades, by Motorhead, I would also have to get Hey You and Bark at the Moon. What if I wanted Ace of Spade, More Than a Feeling, by Boston, and Fat Lip, by Sum 41, I would be screwed and would probably, knowing my luck, have to buy three separate song packs.

Honestly, what is Microsoft trying to do? I know it will reel in the die hard fans and gamers who want to extend their song collection, but man what a rip-off.

Why not offer the entire Guitar Hero game for $50-$55? Make it simple on the consumer. Just one large lump rather than tiny lumps (’micro-transactions’); it is more efficient that way. I would gladly shell out $50-$55 for the entire Guitar Hero game.

I would do it with a smile on my face.

It’s not like it would be too difficult to wrap the entire game collection in an Xbox Live download. Xbox Live has had some pretty big downloads on it before, for example, the expansion to Elder Scrolls 4. It really grinds my gears having to accept this corporate nonsense Microsoft is spewing forth just to scrape a few more dollars out of the loyal Xbox fans. Guitar Hero should have been put on as one package, the whole game, hidden songs and all, and stop screwing around with the consumers.

Also, what ever happened to the possibility of the Halo Theme Mjolnir Mix by Steve Vai? I’ll admit, I’m a Vai fanatic and I was really looking forward to seeing this song available as a freebie as a show of good faith or thrown in with the Guitar Hero download(s).