Metal vs rock in battle of the music video games
By Scott Hillis
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 30 (Reuters Life!) - Heavy metal aficionados, pick up your guitars. Rockers, get ready to drum, strum and sing your way to bedroom fame.
Two music video games touted as among the hottest game titles this holiday are starting to show their true colors with the line-up of songs on "Guitar Hero 3" centered on face-melting guitar solos while "Rock Band" plays to those who want more variety in their rock star fantasies.
MTV Games has just unveiled the final song list for the highly anticipated "Rock Band" due out next month, showing a line-up heavy on classic rock and modern alternative tracks that contrasts with "Guitar Hero 3's" focus on metal.
In "Guitar Hero", a player presses colored buttons on the fret of a guitar-shaped controller as colored dots representing notes cascade down the screen.
"Rock Band" works in a similar way but adds drums and a microphone.
Among the 45 main songs in "Rock Band" are The Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter", The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again", Nirvana's "In Bloom" and Radiohead's "Creep". Other bands include The Police, R.E.M., Garbage, The Strokes and OK Go.
"Our goal with 'Rock Band' was to give players the chance to experience an amazing cross section of music from the last four decades," Paul DeGooyer, MTV's senior vice president of home entertainment, music and games, said in a statement.
Several of those bands and several of the same songs are also featured in "Guitar Hero 3", the latest installment in Activision's (ATVI.O) hit franchise that hit stores on Sunday.
But "Guitar Hero 3" main set list of 42 songs skews more towards heavy metal, a genre known for the kind of furious fretwork that is at the core of the game.
"Guitar Hero 3" has about a dozen songs that fall into the metal category, including such gems as Metallica's "One", Slayer's "Raining Blood" and "Through the Fire and Flames" by DragonForce, a British band known for its blisteringly fast guitar solos.
"I will say that 'Guitar Hero 3' does have an edge on the rock-metal category," said Michael Donahoe, news and features editor for EGM, a video game magazine.
"'Rock Band' doesn't have that kind of metal cred, but what it makes up for is just genuinely good rock songs. I think they have a more well-rounded set list than 'Guitar Hero'," Donahoe said.
"They definitely chose songs in 'Rock Band' specifically to make sure each person will have fun doing their respective instrument."
MTV is owned by Viacom, which is working with Electronic Arts Inc (ERTS.O), the world's biggest video game publisher, to distribute and promote "Rock Band".
