Guitar Revolution

Well, you knew it had to happen sooner or later.

Konami, publishers of the ever-popular Dance Dance Revolution and Karaoke Revolution (and the best cheat code evar), will now sell Guitar Revolution here in the states. This decision is no doubt based on the success of Guitar Hero and the impending release of Guitar Hero II.

The game will be based on the popular Japanese arcade/import title Guitar Freaks. I think this was the guitar game featured briefly in the movie Lost in Translation, but I’m not 100% sure.

From the descriptions I can find currently online, it looks like the game will be one of those plug-n-play deals that connects directly to your tv. No game console required.

More specifically this likely means worse gameplay, not enough songs and a shitty controller.

Of course it also means you don’t have to plunk down $120 to get the multiplayer thrashing that is Guitar Hero, but I suppose they’re different market segment.

I could be wrong, though. No promises or guarantees.

Whatever the case, it’s nice to see more diverse kinds of gameplay making their way stateside. Granted, this is a reactionary move, but I’d love to see more Asian-influenced games – console or otherwise – hit the American market.

Trivia note: Harmonix, makers of Guitar Hero (published by Red Octane) are also the creators of Karaoke Revolution (published by Konami), perhaps strengenthing the resolve to bring Guitar Freaks stateside as Guitar Revolution.

Or it could explain where Harmonix got the idea for Guitar Hero. If they’d been dealing with Konami to get Karaoke Revolution published, they likely knew about Guitar Freaks in Japan.

In any event, the more axes, the better.

Bonus link: Multiplayer Asteroids (for the dorks that don’t like guitars).

Leave a Reply