Game Fame
Carrie Brownstein of Sleater-Kinney reviews Rock Band for Slate, which is a nice counterpoint to Rob Walker's bit in last weekend's NYT about the fame aspiration in these games.
Carrie Brownstein of Sleater-Kinney reviews Rock Band for Slate, which is a nice counterpoint to Rob Walker's bit in last weekend's NYT about the fame aspiration in these games.
It's silly to compare Guitar Hero or Rock Band unfavorably (or at all) to playing a real guitar. I've never seen a review of a football or baseball video game say "this won't make you a better all-star sports player." The game's fun and it indulges a bit of fantasy. Reading into it any further is rockist.
posted by Safran at 3:24 PM on November 28, 2007
True Safran, but for whatever reason people seem to focus a lot on that real band vs. Rock Band comparison when playing or even just hearing about this game. Maybe it's because, unlike the games you mentioned, rock band uses "life-like" controllers, or maybe its because 4 players can all be playing different roles at the same time just like a real band. It may be silly, but not addressing that comparative mindset when writing a review would be more so.
posted by Josh at 5:37 PM on November 28, 2007
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