Logitech's $199 Black Edition wireless Guitar Hero controller shreds like cheddar
By Thomas Ricker 
posted May 12th 2009 5:27AM
posted May 12th 2009 5:27AM
[Via BLogitech]
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Great, another pretend guitar. My life is now complete.
Funny how you can buy a decent *REAL* electric guitar for the same price...
that's almost exactly my thought except it's sad that someone would pay this much for a toy guitar when a real one cost just as much. Sure it's won't be anything to brag about about hey if nothing else it is actually capable of making music!
Oh and a real guitar has a considerably larger chance of getting you laid ... if you still remember what that means ...
1. This "play a real instrument" bullshit is tiresome. Some of us who enjoy these games are actual musicians, and the people who aren't are no different than people who play Madden but aren't real football players. Get over your elitist selves. This is no different than karaoke night at the bar, it's just about having fun with friends.
2. Have you ever actually played a $200 guitar? They're terrible. The fretboards warp like crazy, the tone is garbage, and they can barely stay in tune. They're what parents buy their 12 year old kids when they get rock star dreams but mom and dad figure it's just going to be a phase. The cheapest halfway decent guitar I've seen was around $400, and if you're buying an electric guitar, you'll need to get an amp, too. It all adds up pretty quick.
This controller is a little on the expensive side, but you guys seriously need to get over yourselves. Putting people down for having fun just makes you look like elitist jerk-offs.
Dude Ravnos, calm yourself. I wasn't putting anyone down or being "elitist". All I was saying is that it humors me that a real electric goes for the same price as a toy guitar. I own a few guitars myself and I KNOW about these guitars. I own an Ibanez RG series which I got for just under 200 which has a mahogany body and the neck is holding up very well. I also own a Gibby LP studio and a Fender Strat (albeit Mexican made) and although the tone does not compare, it doesn't mean the ibanez isn't a good starting guitar. Also, not everyone who just starts playing guitar should even buy such an expensive guitar anyways. I also never said "PLAY A REAL INSTRUMENT". Stop putting words into my mouth, thanks.
My comment was more directed to the first reply to your comment. "A real guitar has a better chance of getting you laid". Yeah man, playing "One" in your mom's basement impresses ALL the ladies. But I stand by my statement about $200 guitars being crap. That said, I wouldn't spend $200 on a toy guitar, either.
Uh, many years ago I bought a Squire Strat.. it was like $130 and it still plays well? Of course my neighbor whose spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on guitars and has a recording studio in his house spent like 6 hours setting it up for me when I got it.
In before "buy a real guitar/OMG stop having fun".
I won't be picking this up, the LP is probably the best guitar controllers will ever get. Price drops are always good though, 200 bucks isn't a rip-off. I've spent a fair bit more than that on my RB drum kit. And yes, I have real guitars.
"black like the heart of Chuck Schuldiner"
I love that line.
Logitech is racist man. Shouldn't they be calling it African Edition?
Where is the Caucasian edition or Asian/Pacific Islander editions?
What about the Native American edition huh?
Lulz
Maybe your IQ isn't high enough to realise this, but as a colour, black can be applied to many things and isn't exclusive to skin.
Am I the only one that thinks any band game since Guitar Hero 3 has had absolutely dreadful peripherals?
Everything about the newer guitars just feels wrong (especially yours, Rock Band), but now my GH3 controller is also broken, due to shoddy construction in the neck.
I might be persuaded to look into this if it can be expected to last a long time, but at that price I'd have to be sure the 'feel' is right too.
The Monarch has a Cocoon full of guys that do nothing but play a tiny babay guitar all day!
Stupid Moppets.
OW! Kidding TimTom, kidding! OW!
Looks the part !
3 strap buttons? my real guitars only have two, i got gypped
It has real tuners? Wow
At east the $300 Ion Drum Rocker for Rock Band 2 can be used (with more spending of course) as a real instrument. This is still just a... controller. For a video game console, and nothing else.
omg gonna save up my allowance for this b e a u t y !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Lame....
If your going to get something like that, don't... Just buy a real guitar and do something constructive, not sit around and play poor renditions of songs with over priced equipment.
Most people with real guitars sit around and play poor renditions of songs with over priced equipment anyway. I'm willing to bet that you're one of them.
like the Chuck Schuldiner reference.
R.I.P Chuck
if anyone doesn't know him, he was the guitarist of the band Death (basically the first band to do death metal)
It may look like a real guitar, but it still won't get you laid.....
$199 for a fake guitar eh?
So, I have this rock I found in the garden that is "a great value" at $150! Any takers?
Where's the Xbox 360 version?
And, for everyone saying "buy a real guitar and do something constructive": http://xkcd.com/359/
And: pthhbhbhbhbhbhhbhbt!
I never said it wasn't fun....
I don't think it's so much the same old argument about playing a real guitar vs. playing games, this thing adds a whole new element with the price tag. Now it's not just about whether you could make real music, it's also a question of what the hell you're paying for for $200 when a real guitar can be bought for that same price. And whatever you want to say about them, real $200 guitars still need to have more expensive materials and more exacting construction than this. I mean, you find me anything on this controller that's as complex to put together as even the crappiest electric guitar pickup. All this thing is is a couple of PCB's and a couple of pieces of scrap wood. (That "rosewood" is about the worst looking rosewood I've ever seen. And who knows what's under that black paint? Probably knotty pine.)
Any way you slice it, this thing's worth about $70 tops. You could build your own real wood guitar controller out of a real guitar for a lot cheaper than this, and it'd feel a lot more like the real thing. (And before you say "time is money", yeah - except the Logitech controller is no doubt built by robots in about 10 seconds flat. So it still makes no sense that it'd cost $200.)
Incidentally, not that I'd pay $200 for a fake plastic guitar, but why do they never make these for the 360?
why no xbox360 version? you dill-weeds
... or you can spend around $50 for a used guitar and another $20 for a DVD/book course. I can't believe people would pay that much for this "make believe" piece of crap. And please, don't start with the "well, would you get a gun if you wanted to play a shooting game" argument. It doesn't apply. Stop pretending. You'll get more satisfaction out of learning to play a real instrument than this piece of crap plastic nonsense.
Yes it does apply, and no, not everyone gets that satisfaction out of it. Not everyone has the aptitude or the discipline to be a musician, and even if they did, the difference between playing Black Sabbath covers by yourself on a real guitar or in a video game is really a matter of degrees. The reality is that not everyone has the time to learn an instrument, start a band, jam weekly, etc. Not everyone has the talent to write new music, and even fewer people have the talent to write GOOD music. Not everyone has the money to invest in a good guitar rig. But most people can pick up a Rock Band bundle for less than $200, have a few people over for beer, and be having fun within the hour. Get over yourself.
I'm also curious. You say that the FPS/real military comparison isn't valid. How often do you play sports? How often do you race sports cars? How often do you do any of the myriad of activities that are portrayed in video games, and how often do you just wind up playing those games instead? It's just as valid for me to say "go play football/hockey/soccer/etc." or "go to your local race track" as it is for you to say "learn a real instrument", and it's just as douchey for me to complain about you "pretending" to do those things as it is for you to complain about people playing Guitar Hero.
Common enougth with the guitar hero, i'm sick of it. Do you honestly have nothing to write about?
It would be cool if you could replace the buttons, add some strings, and actually make real guitar music.
Seriously?
anyone else think this fake guitar thing is going a bit too far?
Why is this guitar $200? It is more expensive because of the aesthetics, or is the hardware more reliable? Guitar Hero for PS3 is very unreliable, the wireless guitars tend to drop alot of notes if you play on hard or expert, and my guitars for xbox360 all have broken over time.
Guitar Hero introduces a structured, competitive element into music. I'd like to see you and your friends face off against each other with real guitars (and no background music), I'm sure that would be alot of fun.
Woo! Chuck Schuldiner! Boo! Guitar Queer-o!
We do not buy a real one because we want to play the game and not a guitar... if you think that way and play GTA then go after some real hookers instead and if you play the Wii try going for some real tennis or golf... chill out people, you sound neurotic. To the guitar now : it is absolutely the best guitar there is and when you get used to the weight ( playing expert for months with that until i felt it right ) then you DO have an advantage since this is the fastest GH guitar around, there is 0 lag compared to other controllers
Review: www.rockhero.org