Music games like Guitar Hero are "reinvigorating the music industry" and boosting real guitar sales, Activision has claimed.
Speaking during his CES keynote last week, Activision Publishing CEO Mike Griffith claimed that sales of electric guitars and amplifiers to first-time users surged 27 percent during 2007, according to US retailer Guitar Center.
The rise is accredited to music games like Guitar Hero, Guitar Center has said.
The news comes after Activision claimed that Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock has become the first ever game to pass $1 Billion in sales.
Additionally, two-thirds of non-musicians exposed to music games plan to start playing a real instrument in the next couple of years, claimed the Activision boss, and three-fourths of musicians said they've spent more time with their instruments since picking up a music game.
Those are some pretty specific statistics right there. Can big bands stop calling doomsday on Guitar Hero now?
Unfortunately it's most likely people wanting to look cool than actually interested in (making) music, but meh. For every 20 mongs that apply to that, hopefully there's 1 that is actually discovering a real talent.
until these muppets look for the plastic colourful buttons and realise they cant play.
Yes, of course...what are these 'muppets' thinking?
Actually, this is nothing unusual. Typically, it's things like certain bands appearing that cause spikes in guitar or instrument sales (bands like Nirvana, Oasis and the whole Punk movement have caused similar results - basically, when kids can see that you don't have to practice 14 hours a day in order to play a tune).
Thing is, there will always be people picking up the guitar - some will actually have the patience and eagerness to learn and some won't.
Personally, I think this can only be a good thing - good luck to them, I say...I've been playing for years and it's one of the best ways a person can spend their spare time.
I'm absolutely convinced that Guitar Hero and the rest of the genre have increased desire to learn the guitar.
It worked for me - after playing the various Guitar Hero games (and Rock Band, etc.) with my family I had a hankering to learn, and I started by actually building my own electric guitar from scratch (using the book and plans by Martin Oakham). Now I'm taking guitar lessons each week and having a blast.
I bought some things for my guitar, and my Spider Jam amp, from Guitar Center, and I've talked to the manager at the store I go to about Guitar Hero, and he says they've definitely had a lot of sales to parents of kids who were playing the games. They've got some really cheap starter kits with a cheap guitar and small amp, for like a couple hundred bucks. It might be ghetto gear, but if the kid likes it and progresses, they will probably upgrade their gear later on.
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