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A short-term deal on a short-term Guitar Hero: On Tour order
If, in the great Guitar Hero: On Tour debate, you fall on the side of "looks pretty good, I might get it, maybe," then you may be interested in this timed deal from Gamestop. Their "stopwatch deal" for today offers free overnight shipping on orders for the game (with included Guitar Grip peripheral, of course). You could be rocking out basically the same day it shows up in stores (June 23rd), without having to actually enter a Gamestop.You only have until noon EST tomorrow to get on this deal, so if you're still on the fence about the ridiculous peripheral, now's the time to start soul-searching.
Point: Why Guitar Hero: On Tour could rock out
Guitar Hero: On Tour is a weird product. The guitar controller, which would seem to be Guitar Hero's greatest strength, is pretty much absent from the DS game, replaced with a vestigial controller that retains the basic gameplay motion but removes the rock-star fantasy. For some, the loss of the guitar shape may remove the primary source of fun from the game (lookin' like C.C. DeVille); for me, it enhances the fun. Is it possible for a music game to be fun without simulating an instrument? Historically, yes. Guitar Hero may have roots in the instrument-based Guitar Freaks and other Bemani-series games, all of which use specialized controllers, but its immediate predecessors were Harmonix's Frequency and Amplitude for the Playstation 2. These two games featured the same visualization method and gameplay as Guitar Hero -- notes as icons, moving toward the screen Klax-style -- but used the PlayStation 2's stock controller. These two games were, in fact, more complex than Guitar Hero, requiring players to move between musical tracks. The Guitar Hero controller doesn't allow for this feature (and, of course, there'd be no reason to move over to the drum or vocal track with a guitar controller), so, in a way, the guitar controller hampered the game design.PaRappa the Rapper used the PlayStation controller to control the main character's speech. That's about as far from representative as a controller could be, and PaRappa was well-received enough for the genre to advance. Now, just because NaNaOn-Sha, Harmonix, and other companies could make great music games without representative controllers doesn't mean that Vicarious Visions can, or will -- but it does mean that we shouldn't summarily dismiss Guitar Hero: On Tour for not having a sufficiently guitar-like controller.From the looks of it, the Guitar Grip peripheral will provide a mechanically similar gameplay experience to the full-size controller anyway. With the exception of the fifth fret button, of course, the base game of holding one or more of a line of buttons and strumming on time is unchanged. So it's still Guitar Hero -- it just doesn't look like it. This should really only dissuade people who play Guitar Hero in order to pretend like they're playing guitars. People who like Guitar Hero as a game will only benefit from a smaller version.Portability is especially novel for something like Guitar Hero, whose normal controller is freaking huge. Sometimes you don't have space for a bunch of big controllers! You may be dissuaded from bringing your Guitar Hero setup to your small dorm room, for example, while you could easily play On Tour in the back of a Volkswagen. The added value of portability, with a smaller price tag? Rokken. placeholdertext Back A different tune
Guitar Hero: Poll star
You've heard our arguments for and against Guitar Hero: On Tour's viability as a worthy portable successor to the series' console games -- now we want to hear what your expectations for the game are!%Poll-12304% placeholdertext More Like Guitar Zero Back
Guitar Hero: On Tour controller harmonious with DS Phats
Whenever a new DS peripheral is announced, there's a brief moment of terror for DS Phat stalwarts, as they consider the possibility of being forced into an upgrade out of desire to play Arkanoid (for example -- but that one actually does work with Phats). Thankfully, Activision and RedOctane have not forgotten that some people like big DSes and cannot lie. The Guitar Grip made for Guitar Hero: On Tour will work with both flavors of DS, according to RedOctane's preorder page.More interesting news related to, uh, your decision about whether or not to buy this: RedOctane is bundling Guitar Hero logo keychains with preordered copies of On Tour, and also selling a $60 bundle with a case made to hold the DS and Guitar Grip.[Via Joystiq]
JBL's On Tour Plus and Radial speakers
Not that we're experiencing any certain drought out there for PSP and iPod accessories, but JBL's announcing their latest speaker system devices for the bespoke gadget icons. The PSP, which typically seems to get the emphasis on portable speaker systems, snags an On Stage variant of its own: the 6 watt On Tour Plus goes for $129.95 and is available now; the 60 watt Radial, successor to the On Time, will have and remote for use with that iPod, and should set you back $299.95 in June when suddenly all your friends will undoubtedly begin commenting on how your speaker-dock looks like a lopsided Michelin, or, depending on the crowd with which you hang, an As Four purse.
