'Guitar Hero' creators bullish on new game

Kristin Kalning Games editor • E-mail

I’ve got to admit, I love playing “Rock Band.” I like playing “Guitar Hero” too, but I’ve got a bum wrist from years of pounding on a computer keyboard. With “Rock Band,” I can smash the living daylights out of my fake drums like some female incarnation of John Bonham. (Hey, it’s my fantasy. Go live yours.)

So why would I shell out $190 for “Guitar Hero World Tour,” which adds drums and a microphone to its mega-selling guitar package? And why would I (and you, for that matter) clutter up the living room with yet more plastic stuff?

Kai and Charles Huang, the creators of the “Guitar Hero” franchise, say that it’s not just about the accessories in “Guitar Hero World Tour.” It’s also about the new software, which lets users create their own music, and, as is de rigueur these days, upload their creations for the world to play.

“We’ve had a demo of playing different instruments together for over two years now,” says Kai. “And it was really just a matter of making sure that we had the right product, the right features, and for us, 'Guitar Hero World Tour,' was all that coming together.”

If past is prologue, it’s wise to bet on Kai and Charles Huang. The two brothers got into the video game business in 1999, creating Red Octane, which at first was a video game rental service. They soon got into making video game accessories, including dance pads, arcade add-ons and music-themed controllers.

In 2005, Red Octane hooked up with Harmonix Music Systems to make their first game. “Guitar Hero” had players push colored buttons on a plastic Gibson guitar in time to cues displayed onscreen. And the rest, as they say, is history.

The company was acquired by Activision for $100 million in June 2006. And in just three years, Red Octane has pumped out four more games, sold 22 million copies and generated $1 billion in sales.

But the financial picture is murkier this year. Although game pundits like to say that the industry has weathered all economic downturns quite nicely, the economic crisis of 2008 is a whole new kettle of fish. Can “Guitar Hero World Tour,” which hit store shelves on Sunday, continue the brothers’ winning streak? Or will consumers hang onto their wallets — and their existing plastic guitars — this holiday shopping season?

Kai thinks “Guitar Hero World Tour offers “tremendous value for the money.”

“For $190, you have this awesome experience where you can involve the entire family. You get four people playing this game, there’s a ton of great music,” he says. “And with ‘Guitar Hero Tunes’  (the game’s ‘sharing’ tool), you can download an infinite amount of music, so there’s really an unlimited amount of time you can play this game.”

A few weeks prior to the game’s release, msnbc.com video producer Todd Kenreck and I spoke to Kai and Charles about their new game, how the franchise has changed the music industry (and music listeners) and which artists they’d most like to see in future iterations of “Guitar Hero.” Following is an edited excerpt of that conversation.

Q:  The first “Guitar Hero” came out just three years ago. It takes some game companies three years to make one game, and you guys have made four (games) in three years.

Kai: It’s been pretty incredible. In the early days, it was a small project and we didn’t know how well it would do. And now, (with) “Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock” and “Guitar Hero: Aerosmith,” the franchise has sold over 22 million units, “Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock” was the No. 1 game of last year … so it’s pretty amazing how far the franchise has come.

Q: What does it mean for artists? How has (“Guitar Hero”) changed the music industry?

Kai: One of the big things that’s happened (for artists) is that it has introduced their music to an entirely new audience that they were never able to reach before. So, “Guitar Hero: Aerosmith” as an example, not only was it a game that brought more, in terms of royalties, to the band than either of their previous two albums, it’s also introducing their music to kids that are age 5 to 20, who without this game, probably never would have been into Aerosmith’s music. So, I think from that standpoint, it’s really changing the music industry.

Q: Where’s the Zeppelin? These kids need Zeppelin.

Kai: (Laughs) There’s a lot of bands and a lot of songs that we’d love to have in “Guitar Hero.”  And Zeppelin is still one of those bands that we’re working on.

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