Though strange and possibly hard to believe, the auto industry and the videogame industry in America are tied together in a variety of ways -- whether it be Pontiac paying homage to Spyhunter with their newest commercial (as seen above), Dodge hosting Wii Sports and Guitar Hero 3 kiosks on the edge of their 2008 New York Auto Show floor displays or Lexus sponsoring a massive Gran Turismo 5: Prologue area for showgoers to check out (all seen below), this year's New York Auto Show was intricately permeated with nods to the videogame industry it has repeatedly collaborated with. We scoured the floor and were there to play GT5:Prologue (in stupid automatic only, unfortunately.) It's quite possible there was a brand new Nissan Skyline GTR, also...
As you see above, one excited security guard was left to insure no one tried making off with these huge metal contraptions that housed GT5:Prologue -- foiled again! These wonderful looking machines came equipped with a go and stop pedal as well as a non-force feedback wheel. This should be read as, "These machines were excellent at showingGT5: Prologue and nothing else." We here at QP appreciate the fact that these machines were open to the public and thus need as few barriers to entry as possible, however, it's goddamn Gran Turismo. The game is meant for racing/car enthusiasts and is damn near worthless to play in automatic, none the less with no force feedback. We digress...
That's right. Pictured above is certainly Guitar Hero 3, surrounded by a line all day. Though tempting, we didn't bother melting the faces of all within the Jakob K. Javits convention center with our ridiculous shredding abilities. We can't stress enough how intelligent it was of Dodge to sponsor this kiosk on the edge of their event, especially given the amount of children nipping at the ankles of their enraptured parents.
We spotted this bad guy wondering around the Mercedes-Benz show floor, throwing out koopas and kidnapping squeaky-voiced strawberry blond ladies...errr...looking at a classic Merc -- fiiiiiine. Though you'd think a Bowser sighting would be the scariest encounter one could have here, you'd be mistaken...
Unfortunately, there was no removable gatling gun, but this complete ripoff concept Hummer is "modeled after" the legendary, multipleHalo-traversing, Warthog. The Hummer floor rep noted this model is most likely not headed for production, though it was hard to hear him given how completely full of shit his mouth was. Yeah, we don't like Hummer or PR reps (and no, we refuse to make the obvious joke.) Below is one more shot of the Hummer concept, provided for your viewing pleasure -- though if you're really looking for something amazing (and completely non-videogame related, sorry), scroll down a bit further to see a little sample of the (finally in America) Nissan Skyline GTR.
Guitar Hero: On Tour is something we've known about for some time. Repeated "leaks" (intentional or not) as well as straightforward answers have answered most of the very few questions people had regarding this game. Are you excited to bring a guitar peripheral with you for your DS? Yeah, thought so. Anyways, though we're not the biggest fans of Fox owned IGN (and not because it's Fox owned, but because it's a hack videogame website), they got that exclusive on the GH:OT reveal and we must give credit where credit is due (though we suggest you surf away from IGN quickly afterwards, as though a panther were chasing you.)
In case you'd rather not explore the horrible promotional video yourself, here's a breakdown: There's two middle-class, teenage white kids. They plug in a bunch of real band equipment (read as: cabinets, heads, generic amp switch-flipping), open their real electric guitar cases, only to find a DS Lite and a tiny little Guitar Hero themed peripheral -- this is where things get really crazy. They realize that their only possible option is also the most obvious one: they must look as silly as possible trying their best to play Guitar Hero (with only four fret buttons, mind you), rocking as hard as they have to (with a DS and a little fret board with, again, only four buttons, that plugs into their DS' GBA slot.
All in all, I'd say you shouldn't watch it, though in fairness, you do see actual gameplay (which looks about as ridiculous as you're imagining right now -- maybe more.) If you're one of those folks out there getting psyched for this, well, you're nuts. But that's ok, because so are we, though we don't share in your excitement. There are many ways to be nuts -- jeez. Now, if you've endured the video above, you should bask in the bedlam and additionally watch the completely NSFW and totally not videogame related video below. And remember, "RESPECTA LA DONA!" Oh my!
In a speech given at the 2008 Morgan Stanley Technology Conference in Dana Point, California yesterday, Activision/Actiblizzard/Blizzavision Chairman and CEO Robert Kotick made some interesting statements regarding the future of two of Activision's biggest franchises -- Call of Duty and Guitar Hero. However, Activision would like you to know this before you know anything about this speech:
"During the course of the presentation, Activision may make forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial performance of the company. We wish to caution you that these statements are only predictions and actual events or results may differ materially. We refer you to the company's last Form 10-K and Form 10-Q for a discussion of important risk factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those discussed during the course of the presentation."
For serious? So, hey, we're making these statements about the future of our company but, you know, don't take it too seriously. Anyways, there was real news. Regarding the future of Guitar Hero, there were musings regarding getting it into more, Asianer, homes and how they're going to accomplish that with new pahdnah Blizzard.
More interesting though was the discussions regarding the future of the Call of Duty franchise:
"When you think about other properties that we own and control like Call of Duty, and what would be the natural evolution of a property like Call of Duty into a massively multiplayer environment...how do you monetize that?"
Indeed Mr. Kotick, how do you monetize that? Your new friends at Blizzard monetized the hell out of their over nine million worldwide subscriber strong World of Warcraft -- we're sure you guys can work out something (you bastards.)
The folks at QPHQ are a wiley bunch and we love us some peripheral-based shennaniganery -- that's why we were nothing but excited to hear about Activision not only beating a dead horse with a plastic guitar, but then also selling the dead horse to the highest bidder. Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is a damned abomination. This is big corporations running the videogame industry as hard and as fast as they can directly into the concrete.
Check out this ridiculous Steven Tyler quote, clearly doctored by P.R. to appear as silly and non-genuine as possible:
Steven Tyler: "Any band that can go from 'Don't Want to Miss A Thing' (Aerosmith's #1 smash hit) to the ass-kicking 'Sweet Emotion' to the cheekiness of 'Love in an Elevator,' to the classic ballad 'Dream On' shows why Activision chose us to headline this game based on the diversity of the Aerosmith catalog. Not only is songwriting a bitch, but then it goes and has puppies."
We're not huge Aerosmith fans here, though if this was a new Guitar Hero based solely around say, Captain and Tennille, we can't say we'd feel that much differently (though C&T are the best.) Here's hoping those puppies get euthanized, Mr. Tyler. Oh, and thanks for ruining a beautiful Saturday, Activision.
We are writers - - we are also gamers. We are primarily concerned with building the portfolio of college aged journalists trying to break into the always expanding videogame industry, ourselves included. Visit often.
