Comments on: Why 'Guitar Hero' is rockin' the game charts

Following record-breaking week of sales, exec behind Guitar Hero franchise credits success in part to our "primal" fantasy to be a rock star.

[JLBer]

Making money from defective products

Yeah, it makes a ton of cash yet Activision can't seem to find the time/effort/money to have the developers fix the damned "Dolby Pro Logic That Isn't Really There Even Though It Says So On The Box" problem for the Wii. Yeah, great quality control there, guys. Glad to see that you're making tons of money on a faulty product.

[Tinman52]

Uninspired

I bought GH3 because I loved GH2 so much. The note charts are generally boring and the songs lack those fun riffs that were in Wayward Son and Sweet Child. GH3 is disappointing and flawed. It's a solid 7.5/10 ... if you really enjoy console rock games, get it. For everyone else, wait for something better.

[trey.hutcheson]

Worst Product Launch Ever?

Welch touts the "perfect marriage between hardware and software", yet the hardware was implemented poorly for the ps3, and has been the subject of countless claims of faulty pick-ups for both the ps3 and 360. Just check the guitarhero.com forums, or google it.

The software effort, at best, was inadequate. Notecharts are different from previous versions, there are lag issues on the ps3(not related to HD), there is no way to play online with a buddy, and the in-game leaderboards behave differently each time I check them.

Couple a shoddy piece of hardware with a poor effort by a rookie team(Neversoft), and marry that to joke of a launch for the portal by yet another party, and I have to pose the question: what went right for Activision/RedOctane/Neversoft, besides raking in $120 million?

I posted feedback to RedOctane the day after launch, and haven't received any feedback. No surprise.

I've blogged a few entries about this pathetic product, beginning with my review here: http://treyhutcheson.wordpress.com/2007/10/29/review-guitar-hero-3-on-the-ps3/

[trey.hutcheson]

GH3 Issues the subject of many google searches

I forgot to include in my previous comment that my blog post reviewing GH3, was viewed over 200 times on November 12th as a result of GH3 problem-related searches from google. That's right; over 200 people using google to search for GH3 related issues arrived at my blog in one day.

We read about the product launch, the buzz, the money earned during the first week, and even increased sales for songs used in the game. But where has the established media been during this spate of product issues?

[bblande]

Quit the movie comparisons already!

I can't believe a professional journalist doesn't have the sense to see the apples/oranges differences between games and movies.

Sure, Guitar Hero III made more than most movies do in a week. Let's look at the price breakdowns:

GHIII avg. price w/guitar: $100
GHIII avg price w/o guitar: $50
Movie ticket avg price: $10

See where I'm going with this?

If you really want to compare it to a movie, see how many people bought GHIII vs. how many people paid to see Spider-Man 3 or Transformers in theaters.