thoughts on Guitar Hero II
It is fun, and a well designed game, however I've found that knowing how to play the guitar is actually a handicap to being able to play the game. When I picked up the guitar-shaped controller, I immediately began thinking like a guitar player. When the song started playing I tried to play the song like it was a real guitar, which didn't work out so well. I had to learn to pretty much tune everything out - including the music - because it was throwing my timing off. At least on medium difficulty, the points you had to hit did not always match the beats as they'd be if you were playing on a real guitar.
To quote Yoda, "you must UNLEARN what you have learned."
To summarize, Guitar Hero II is lots of fun, but it will not teach you to play the guitar, any more than Dance Dance Revolution will teach you how to dance or Super Mario Brothers will teach you how to smash bricks with your head while tripping on shrooms.
On a similar note, while I've seen video of a live-action version of Punch-Out, I thought this was freaking hilarious :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGQ20yDDVzQ
To quote Yoda, "you must UNLEARN what you have learned."
To summarize, Guitar Hero II is lots of fun, but it will not teach you to play the guitar, any more than Dance Dance Revolution will teach you how to dance or Super Mario Brothers will teach you how to smash bricks with your head while tripping on shrooms.
On a similar note, while I've seen video of a live-action version of Punch-Out, I thought this was freaking hilarious :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGQ20yDDVzQ