Forbes Magazine calls Rock Band “Shameless Knockoff” of Guitar Hero, Alex Rigopulos’ Head Asplodes

Posted by Alex Lifschitz Categories: Activision, Corporate News, Culture, Electronic Arts, Music

Hay fanboys, listen up! And before you read anything, the following was from FORBES, not Bobby Kotick, for the sake of Rock Band/Guitar Hero wars everywhere.

In a recent profile of Activision CEO and industry provocateur Bobby Kotick, Forbes decided to talk about a number of Activision bread and butter franchises, such as Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater (whose empty, frail husk now litters that halls of Activision, milked clean of its sweet, sweet nectar). Somewhere around the end, though, is an interesting little snippet of text:

“EA also teamed with MTV to sell Rock Band, a shameless knockoff of Guitar Hero that added drums, bass and a microphone to the world of make-believe rock stars. EA says it is returning to an “auteur model” of designing games, taking bigger chances on fewer ideas.”

Look, we should all see this kind of writing for what it really is: Unresearched and inflammatory. Even if you didn’t know that the Rock Band guys are the guys who made Guitar Hero in the first place, it’s a wee bit unprofessional to take sides. I’ve worked for Activision, and they’ve said some crazy things regarding the music game timeline, but don’t confuse the quote as coming from Kotick.

Funny how they don’t mention Guitar Hero: World Tour anywhere.

Read More | Forbes

• Tools:
• Permalink
• Comments (0)
• Digg This
• Share on Facebook
• Email this story

California Senator Questions the ESRB’s Decision on Manhunt 2

Posted by Paul Hamilton Categories: Politics, Survival Horror

After finally agreeing to grant the embattled Rockstar title Manhunt 2 a retail-friendly Mature rating, the ESRB is drawing some fire from California senator Leland Yee. Yee, best known for his failed 2005 video game legislation, is questioning what changed to entice the ESRB’s about-face. In a statement he says, “The ESRB refuses to use the AO rating for violence despite the descriptor calling for such a rating when there are ‘graphic depictions of violence.’  If Manhunt doesn’t qualify, what would?”

Somewhat surprisingly, Yee does have a valid question. It does seem like game publishers ought not to be under the typical pre-release scrutiny for something as inconsequential as ratings determination, but is there any reason why the ESRB can’t be forthcoming with specifics about how and why it comes to its conclusions?

Read More | Game Politics via Evil Avatar

• Tools:
• Permalink
• Comments (0)
• Digg This
• Share on Facebook
• Email this story