Report: The Family That Rocks Together Stays Together
December 24, 2008, 15 years ago
The following report is courtesy of Anna T. Hirsh from Philly.com:
Apparently the legendary rock group AC/DC was right: "Rock 'n' roll ain't noise pollution; rock and roll ain't gonna die."
In fact, rock 'n' roll is doing better than ever, thanks to games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero, which allow the average Dick or Jane to wail on an instrument as if they were a member of JANE'S ADDICTION. With hundreds of millions of dollars in sales, clearly the opportunity to be a living-room-American-Idol is striking a chord with people.
"Rock Band resonates with people because making music is an incredibly joyful experience," says Matt Kelly, a Producer with Harmonix, the development company behind Rock Band (and the original developers of Guitar Hero, before it was purchased by Activision). "The mission statement of our company is to bring the joy of making music to non-musicians."Rock Band, for example, which can be played on the Xbox 360, PlayStation and the Wii, allows one to four players to create a virtual band, using a guitar peripheral (the game pieces you hold) for lead guitar and bass guitar game play, a drum peripheral and a microphone for vocals. Players use these peripherals to simulate actual rock music by hitting scrolling notes on-screen. In Rock Band's primary multiplayer mode, Band World Tour, two to four players start by choosing a band name, hometown and their own rock musician characters. After set-up is complete, the band plays concerts in small venues in their hometown until hitting enough right notes unlocks vans, tour buses and private jets which take them to new gigs all over the world. Each successful performance unlocks additional songs.
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