Guitar Hero is effectively, despite its claims to the contrary, a karaoke system. Of sorts. Mind you, what an impact it has made- it has taken the pastime associated with poor Christmas Parties and alcohol; rejuvenated it and brought it into the home. Its on video game platforms that I’m sure each household has at least one of- everything from the portable Nintendo DS to the ever-prevalent Playstation platform has a version of the runaway success available for it.

Utilizing scaled-down instruments as peripherals for the console, Guitar Hero made the epistemic act of guitar shredding accessible, and more importantly, acceptable. Not that it wasn’t, but you’re bound to get a few disapproving looks when you bust out your air guitar in an environment other than the privacy of your own bedroom. Users watch the screen for circles that fall across a horizontal line, hitting the corresponding button whilst simultaneously “picking” the paddle on the controller, in time, for points. As you can see in the link to the video below, it can quickly grow to be challenging and competitive.

Guitar Hero has quickly grown into a multinational brand in the past few years, spawning countless sequels and new ways to play the game. Most notable among these is the arrival of Rock Band/Band Hero allowing users to play bass, guitar, drums and sing, four-player, as a band. This has proved to be popular at a lot of house parties (or maybe I just need to get myself to less nerdy parties) and gatherings everywhere, with sales to reflect that.

Other than the addictive gameplay, another major key to its success is the impressively devised song selection. Bands everywhere are now jumping at the chance to have their music licensed for use so that they too may garner the fame that has fallen on the previously obscure speed-metal group, Dragonforce. Seriously, their music is on par with the sound of nails on a chalkboard (and I consider myself a metal fan), but in the realm of guitar hero, to 100% complete “Through the Fire and the Flames” on expert difficulty gives you a status on par with that of a deity…or conversely, RSI; and people wondering if you do anything else in your spare time, but each to their own. In fact, so great is Guitar Hero’s cultural impact that there are even entries in the Guinness World Records for fastest time on that particular track. Dragonforce have directly attributed their success to the inclusion of their track on Guitar Hero, and rightly so- they now play sell out gigs all over the place. Record Labels and Retailers have seen sales go up as much as 200%-300% after a band's inclusion in a Guitar Hero game.

Its been nearly 5 years since the original game, and the franchise is not showing any signs of waning- The recently released “Beatles” Edition (complete with all the instruments, retailing at an eye-watering 140 quid) has been the forth highest selling game across all platforms this year in the UK. It is also impossible to ignore the fact that the Games Industry now brings in more money than Music and Film Industries combined. Whatever the future holds for Guitar Hero, you can bet it’ll be a rockin’ one… See what I did there? No? Well I’m off out to house party with Band Hero in the corner so HA.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUzNcheoY6U