You CAN Kill Rock and Roll: The Death of Guitar Hero

After my grilled cheese sandwich lunch and a quick washing of dishes, I (as I'm wont to do) hopped on the internet today and read the din of those commenting on some rather startling news. That news, to those perhaps supremely unawares, is the cancelling of future projects in the Guitar Hero franchise by publisher Activision.

When the first game in the series came out in 2005, I was one of many who jumped on board with this more accessible, more American take on the rhythm game genre. After all, rhythm games like Konami's Guitar Freaks had been out for some time then, but between their J-Rock centric playlists and seeming impenetrable level of difficulty, they were more than a little off-putting to a mainstream audience. With Guitar Hero, we got to play the songs that WE liked in a fun and over the top presentation.

The series continued on strong with the sequel, adding meaningful changes to multiplayer and basic gameplay mechanics as well as adding a setlist that began the prospect of the fully-licensed playable soundtrack. It seemed like the series was going to stay around for quite some time, but then it happened. Harmonix, the primary developer of the games, jumped ship to join EA and create the Rock Band franchise.

For me, that spelled the inevitable death of the franchise. Already with the next effort, Guitar Hero just felt like it had lost its soul, and Activision would continue to push out half-assed yearly installments that "fixed" elements of the series that weren't broken, and evolved only when their much more solid, much more motivated competitor, Rock Band, literally FORCED them to.

And so today, though the news is startling (especially from a standpoint that Activision would kill off such a lucrative franchise), I can't say I didn't see it coming. The series essentially sealed its own fate by releasing so many mediocre entries in such close proximity.

Hopefully, the much more promising DJ Hero franchise remains unscathed by this news, as its my understanding that Activision has cut several teams (including the long in-production True Crime reboot). Indeed, the most unfortunate thing here is the people who have lost their jobs as a result.

So, so long Guitar Hero. You've gone the way of Disco.