Guitar Hero Boss Ponders Subscription Service

Greg Tito

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Sep 29, 2005
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Guitar Hero Boss Ponders Subscription Service



The founder of Guitar Hero says that music subscriptions and transferring of songs to your library may be on the horizon.

In an interview with the Seattle Times [http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2010333810_brier23.html], Kai Huang, founder of Red Octane Games, discussed the future of the Guitar Hero series. Huang said that the company is trying to attract fans of other genres of music besides rock, despite lackluster sales of DJ Hero. The company is also looking into providing a service where paying a monthly fee would allow unlimited downloads of songs, as well as letting customers transfer music in the game to their personal libraries.

Legal issues may impede transfer of music and subscriptions but Huang acknowledged that Red Octane is working with music companies to sort it out. "Today there are licensing issues with just being able to pull in your own music library and play games. But we know people love that idea and they want that to happen. We have been exploring and continue to explore how we can put those features in and make something like that happen."

In regards to a music subscription service, Huang added, "That's definitely one of the things we would love to do. There are a lot of issues around music licensing. Consumers want it; I know I want it. We're trying to make that happen."

Huang would like to open up rhythm games to as many genres of music as possible. "We're really just at the beginning of music games," he said. "What we love and what we're constantly looking at is, how do you expose people to new music and new instruments? In the U.S., country music is obviously very popular. Globally, classical music has always been very interesting. Latin music - there are just so many different genres of music and instruments that haven't been tapped into yet."

The combination of playing a song in a game and listening to a song on your MP3 player is one that will allow games like Guitar Hero reach new customers. Imagine buying a song once, and then being able to play it on whatever format you desire. That feels like the future and I'm glad that someone is trying to make it happen.

I will also buy Classical Pianist Hero when it comes out.

Source: Seattle Times [http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2010333810_brier23.html]

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JourneyThroughHell

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Sep 21, 2009
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Hey, here's a thought Activision...
STOP PISSING GAMERS OFF, your games aren't MMOs, if Blizzard does it, doesn't mean you should.
 

Artemis923

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Dec 25, 2008
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I play Rock Band anyway.

And being able to download unlimited songs means absolutley DICK when they all suck.
 

Dioxide20

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Journeythroughhell said:
Hey, here's a thought Activision...
STOP PISSING GAMERS OFF, your games aren't MMOs, if Blizzard does it, doesn't mean you should.
Well,for Guitar Hero it could work.

Of course the only way this would work if they constantly added new songs every couple days, and not once in a while like they do now.
 

JourneyThroughHell

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Sep 21, 2009
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Dioxide20 said:
Journeythroughhell said:
Hey, here's a thought Activision...
STOP PISSING GAMERS OFF, your games aren't MMOs, if Blizzard does it, doesn't mean you should.
Well,for Guitar Hero it could work.

Of course the only way this would work if they constantly added new songs every couple days, and not once in a while like they do now.
I doubt that. Rock Band's DLC works so much better, they should copy that.
 

WrongSprite

Resident Morrowind Fanboy
Aug 10, 2008
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Journeythroughhell said:
Hey, here's a thought Activision...
STOP PISSING GAMERS OFF, your games aren't MMOs, if Blizzard does it, doesn't mean you should.
Activision and Blizzard are one and the same O.O

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Activision_Blizzard

Still doesn't mean they can do it though...
 

Ocelot GT

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Oct 29, 2009
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Kellerb said:
...is their a subscription fad nowadays or something?
No, but there IS a "We want all your money" fad in the gaming industry, especially activision.
 

JourneyThroughHell

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Sep 21, 2009
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WrongSprite said:
Journeythroughhell said:
Hey, here's a thought Activision...
STOP PISSING GAMERS OFF, your games aren't MMOs, if Blizzard does it, doesn't mean you should.
Activision and Blizzard are one and the same O.O

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Activision_Blizzard

Still doesn't mean they can do it though...
Yeah, I know. I didn't phrase it correctly. I wanted to say that if Blizzard does it, it doesn't mean that other companies under Activision should do that.
 

SantoUno

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Aug 13, 2009
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Consumers want it; I know I want it. We're trying to make that happen."
How odd, the MW 2 subscription issue hit me with this sentence, fuckers.

Hearing all of this kinda makes me excited in a way? Why? Perhaps this will be the killing blow that finally entuiguishes the GH franchise form the face of the planet.

[HEADING=1]SERIOUSLY IF THEY TRY TO FUCKING TARGET CLASSICAL MUSIC AND MAKE SHITTY KEYBOARD INSTRUMENTS NEXT I WILL MURDER THEM IN THEIR SLEEP.[/HEADING]

No this is not an actual threat, don't unleash mod wrath on me.
 

uppitycracker

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Oct 9, 2008
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I coulda sworn I heard them talking about this at the earliest a year ago... surprised they haven't, would make sense with all the DLC they release. Or wait, maybe it was rock band, I dunno.
 

Undercover

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Jul 19, 2009
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Y'know at first I thought Oh great, ANOTHER money grab by Activision, big surprise. But after reading the article, now I KNOW its just another money grab by Activision.

I find it hard to believe that they'll be able to meet the demand for playable, decent music downloads, and we'll most likely be stuck with shitty covers of already crappy songs. Subscriptions=money whether or not you deliver, so I'm gonna stay on the fence with this one until I see something more substantial than a bunch of promises and speculation.
 

Georgeman

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Mar 2, 2009
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Why you greedy little ***** Activision... As if ripping us off with overpriced plastic instruments isn't enough, now you want to rip us off the songs too?! Well, fuck you! I'm taking none of this shit!
 

John Funk

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Dec 20, 2005
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WrongSprite said:
Journeythroughhell said:
Hey, here's a thought Activision...
STOP PISSING GAMERS OFF, your games aren't MMOs, if Blizzard does it, doesn't mean you should.
Activision and Blizzard are one and the same O.O

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Activision_Blizzard

Still doesn't mean they can do it though...
Well, as much as Blizzard and Vivendi Universal are the same, yes.
 

laserwulf

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Dec 30, 2007
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SantoUno said:
Consumers want it; I know I want it. We're trying to make that happen."
How odd, the MW 2 subscription issue hit me with this sentence, fuckers.

Hearing all of this kinda makes me excited in a way? Why? Perhaps this will be the killing blow that finally entuiguishes the GH franchise form the face of the planet.

[HEADING=1]SERIOUSLY IF THEY TRY TO FUCKING TARGET CLASSICAL MUSIC AND MAKE SHITTY KEYBOARD INSTRUMENTS NEXT I WILL MURDER THEM IN THEIR SLEEP.[/HEADING]

No this is not an actual threat, don't unleash mod wrath on me.
Behold Keyboardmania: it's made by Konami for Japanese arcades, but they also did guitar-games long before Activision (Guitar Freaks).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyboardmania
 

akmarksman

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Mar 28, 2008
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One of the many reasons Im not a GH fan.

and who in their right mind would pay x amount of dollars per MONTH for track packs that are released on a infrequent basis?
Apparently the amount of money they have made on the franchise(probably approaching "bailout" numbers by now) have allowed them to buy a huge stash to smoke.
 

Vierran

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Oct 11, 2009
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Soon i am going to need to pay a monthly fee just so i can buy games at the shop.
 

Lt. Vinciti

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Nov 5, 2009
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