Well, Free Bird is over half that long and at least five times as boring (at the beginning) so I'm not sure your point stands.

Oh, or was this the "gamers are all fat, out-of-shape lumps who can't stand physical exertion" trope? Because I love the '90s, too.

Oh look, I've gone against popular opinion. What are the odds?

thedragonjedi, kudos to you for taking the initiative to buy an actual guitar. Too bad more people don't do this...

Toku666, football is for morons. Oh, and "gramps"? Dude, you're 33.

Uncognitive, Call Of Duty, Half Life, and Bioshock involve shooting things, which is destructive. Playing guitar is about making music, which is constructive (that'd be a different thing.) If you want to run around shooting people then video games are a great alternative to the real thing, but if you want to make music then why not buy a real guitar?

Guitar Hero doesn't involve any actual guitars.

It's even worse than karaoke. With karaoke, you actually have to sing, to use your own voice, which means you could use your voice to front a real band. Once you've gotten really good with that GH controller... what else can you do with it?

I was sitting here listening to mars volta and I was laughing at the idea of a few kids trying to keep up with the insane shit their music consist of is all.

and as a fellow video gamer, and not fat in the least i can say id be falling over dead too.

Most places have it written into their lease agreement that they were receive x-amount of warnings before management can evict them for noise complaints. Mine does. He should check his lease! Or maybe he's already been warned.

Being a musician myself, I have no problem in saying this: not everyone wants to make music. Some people like to play video games for the sake of the competition, for the sake of challenging their coordination, for the sake of turning it into a drinking game . . . whathaveyou. They play video games for the sake of video games. Don't force your elitist BS down other people's throats.

Play your friends, maybe? Have fun, maybe? I don't know, man. The world is full of crazy ideas!!

It doesn't matter who football is for, actually, but nice try. Video games are for playing video games. They are not for making music, shooting, or driving. They are for fun. Ms_Magdalena put it well, and that's that. It's what video games are designed for. Let me really blow your tiny pin head: At my house, we also like to play the Karaoke Revolution games. Now, should we go out and actually enjoy karaoke instead? Why isn't my living room a more comfortable and convenient atmosphere?

It's not "training" for real life, man. It's a video game. That's all. Additionally, yes, I'm 33, but I'm not the one that sounds like somebody's old grandpa saying "you kids need to get out of the house and make something of yourselves." So please kindly fuck off with regards to what other people do to entertain themselves, especially if you can do nothing other than demonstrate a complete inability to understand that entertainment.

I'm pretty sure that judging people on what they choose to do with their free time is several steps lower.

I'm all for video game fun, but I need to sleep. I wish my last landlord actually put his foot down and did something about the neighbors I was constantly complaining about.

Did they get no warning at all?

Why must you continue to suck the joy out of every thread I read?

We get it. You're a guitar god. You have "guitar" in your username. Auto-tuning guitars are the devil. People who play video games are idiots.

The ironic thing is that when you beat Guitar Hero 2 on expert difficulty, the game itself encourages you to start a real band.

Forza Motorsport and Gran Turismo don't involve any actual cars, so is it "wankery" to want to experience a simulation of what it might be like to drive an insanely expensive European sportscar through some German test track simply because it's theoretically possible to experience it in real life?

I'm just as likely to do that in real life as I am to play the guitar line for "Highway Star" in front of an arena's worth of screaming fans.

And yes, I'm a former touring musician. A shitty one, but still.

You're also assuming that everyone who plays Guitar Hero or Rock Band want to make music. Maybe they just want to play a videogame that uses music as a theme.

Also, since you asked, playing Guitar Hero, especially on higher difficulty, can not only show people basic song structure and rhythm, it can encourage them to buy an actual guitar.

Rock Band goes several steps further, by combining karaoke-style singing with a faux-drum set. That can teach budding Keith Moons not only rhythm but the rudiments of drumming, i.e. being able to keep a beat and use your arms and feet independently.

But even if neither game taught anybody anything about music, or stopped giving some smaller bands more exposure and earning existing bands royalties, they'd still be fun. And that's good enough for me.

My point exactly.

Hey, man...you're talking to a guy who plays guitar, in other words: the height of rebellion, the apex of badassery! There is no way in hell that someone who plays guitar could ever be accused of (gasp!) wankery, right? Hell, that is an instrument that is so fresh, so hip, that only the coolest of the cool could ever play one.

You must be either a little old lady or a stodgy republican captain of industry if you don't like the awesome power of the electric guitar: an instrument that is a symbol. . .nay not only a symbol, but the very embodiment of what everyone in the fucking world should be doing.

actually, nuclear-powered dishwashers would merely be as noisy as current ones. see, on the small scale, nuclear power is one of the more quiet ways of generating power. there's not all the gigantic turbines and all the other noisy equipment one finds in the power plants on the dishwasher-running-size model.

the other residents of the apartment i live in are much happier now that i switched to a nuclear power generator for my dishwasher. because before i was using a V12 turbo diesel engine. i've managed to prove to them how well shielded it is and how it won't "glass" the building if something goes wrong.

i want my dishes motherfucking spotless, motherfuckers. there's just no pressure off the taps, here.

oh, and apparently Rock Band actually will teach you a think or two about playing drums, from what i hear.

Do you have GH3 for 360? I've been looking for a worthy foe.