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How a rock star sells ‘Rock Band’: poorly
Sleater-Kinney guitarist Carrie Brownstein (shown here) writes in Slate this week about how she was apparently doomed to be a reluctant cog in the hype machine for Rock Band, an ambitious video game that took Guitar Hero to its logical four-player extreme. During a “short stint” of working at Wieden + Kennedy, she was asked to help concept marketing for the game, but the agency didn’t feel her ideas “were putting rock on a pedestal.” (You can see the eventual TV spots over here.) When the game finally came out, the PR team tracked down Brownstein again and gave her a copy to try at home. Her verdict? It’s fun, but wouldn’t it be better if teens spent all that time learning to play real instruments together as a real band? Well, what if you could do both? A friend of mine recently stumbled across the 340-page Guitar Hero Songbook, which would (theoretically) teach you to actually play all the songs you mastered in the game. Personally, I think it’ll mostly just frustrate kids into realizing why the world has so many more video gamers than it has rock stars. And maybe that’s a good thing.
—Posted by David Griner
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November 30, 2007 in Griner, Guitar Hero | Permalink
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Comments
As a member of the gamer community I don't think either Brownstein or the W+K ads got it. It's not about actually being in a rock band or learning to play music anymore than Bioshock is about actually being a mind warped product of a corrupt undersea world based on Ayn Rand or mine sweeper is about actually sweeping for mines.
Did they actually play the game? cause it doesn't look like anyone at W+ K sprung for a copy. I understand, all those controllers are expensive.
But why does ANYONE think this game has ANYTHING to do with actually learning to play music? or actually being a rock band?
I am so tired of hearing that.
ps. Dance Dance Revolution also doesn't teach you to dance.
Posted by: Rebecca | Nov 30, 2007 6:22:51 PM
umm its just a game relax
Posted by: who cares? | Dec 27, 2007 11:06:06 PM
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