Activision bought RedOctane, the company responsible for Guitar Hero. Hopefully, this means more money for development, and not a bunch of corporate idiots screwing up my favorite game of 2006. Whatever comes of the partnership, epic congratulations to everyone at RedOctane (edited to add: and Harmonix! How could I forget Harmonix? -2 for me) who worked so hard to make the greatest fucking game in the history of me rocking out in my living room. You guys rock at least 97% of Cowboys From Hell on Expert, and I hope to throw some goats your way on Wednesday (which officially begins here in Los Angeles in 40 minutes) at E3.
Ryan and I have been having some serious Guitar Hero jam sessions recently. Last night, I finally five-starred Killer Queen and Fat Lip, and Ryan five-starred Stellar and Unsung (on medium; the kid slows down so he can play with the old man, which the old man appreciates.)
After I’d pulled a 99% on Killer Queen, I unwound with some Godzilla. As the song started up, Ryan said, "Dude, I think I hear cowbell in this song!"
I laughed a little bit, but maintained my focus: Yellow, blue, red green, yellowblueyellllooooowwwwww red yellow greenred . . . ROCK!
Ryan hopped up off the couch, and ran into the kitchen. A few moments later, he appeared back in the living room, a saucepan in one hand, and a wooden spoon in the other.
"What are you doing?" I said. Yellow, blue, yellowwwwwwww redyellow greenyellow rest yellowblue yellooowwwwwwww Star Power!
He held the saucepan about chest high, and began to tap it with the wooden spoon. "This song needs more cowbell," he said, "and this the closest I could get."
I played about twelve more notes before I collapsed into song-ending giggles.
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Wil – I’ve never played Guitar Hero, and I’ve never heard of it except for your postings. But please give Ryan a major thumbs up. I think the Cowbell/BOC skit is the funniest thing SNL has done in the last 10 – 15 years.
“I’ve got a fever… and the only prescription… is more cowbell”
Guitar Hero sounds great. Do you need to know how to play a guitar to play the game??
Dude… I just peed a little laughing at that.
Nice one Ryan – you r0x0r!
I blame you, Wheaton. I blame you for the $300 my family plunked down for a used PS2, a new copy of Guitar Hero (with controller), plus a few other games (we’d heard good things about Katamari as well). And now, I blame you for the fact that my children, ages 6.5 and 7.75 will now break out singing the opening to ‘Iron Man’ at inopportune times, striking Johnny Napalm poses, and throwing the goat.
GH totally rocks, and is the most fun my family has had with our games boxes, period. My wife loves her the Boston, and I just about popped a gasket when I unlocked Godzilla the first time. Oh, and if you buy the Grim Ripper (who totally rocks), and finish the Medium level, his ascension to the heavens is just so blissfully wrong, it’s one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen.
So thanks, Wil. It is entirely because of your blogging about the game and the fun you were having with your boys with it that we picked it and the console up, and now can’t wait to break it out when we all get home from work and school. As a family, we’ve already started our personal list of what we’d like to see on GH2 (Yes, Dire Straits, Floyd, Who, Zepplin – can you tell when we grew up?). Even the unlockable production featurettes are fun to watch! You deserve a kickback from Red Octane for at least one sale, and they should hire you for their online PR for GH2. Rock on, dude! |oo|
~Ken
Edmonton Cache Machine
Edmonton_Caches_CompleteOriginally uploaded by Scratch.
Ok. So – Lin and I have gone great-guns in the last 4 months on the caches, jumping from 25 to 92. Theyve all been Real caches too – not the sissy Virtu…
PS2: $210.00
Guitar Hero: $200.00
Earmuffs for Mom: $14.00
“This song needs more cowbell”
….priceless.
Let’s get one thing right – you are not an old man – I’m older than you are & I can’t be old yet *pouts*
Excellent. More cowbell!
The thought of you and Ryan jamming to Pantera put a smile on this headbangers face.
\m/ \m/
Bwahahaha, perfect 🙂
Comment Rescue
Yeah, I’m a moran, and double posted this morning when trying to update. Old entry removed, this entry saved, and here are the comments from the deleted entry:
this is the closest I could get
Brilliant, pure genius.
His stepdad’s pretty cool, too. Kudos on selling the chapbooks out, BTW. Now if only we in Austin can build a Demand as well as they in Boston can… 🙂
Posted by: khereva | May 10, 2006 at 12:23 AM
holy crap your kids crack me up! they sound like some pretty neat guys. Lucky you.
I am one of the lucky ones that was able to order a limited edition chapbook and I am super excited for it to arrive in the mail. Since I am supposed to allow 3-5 weeks for shipping and I am a busy busy college senior, there is a good chance that I will forget that I ordered it and then when it arrives I will get a happy surprise in my mailbox. I can’t wait!
Posted by: Liz | May 10, 2006 at 12:35 AM
“This song needs more cowbell”
Come on, don’t all songs need more cowbell?
OK, “Hey Ladies” might have enough, but still, I think my point is valid…
Posted by: Mudboy | May 10, 2006 at 12:36 AM
Holy moly! Did you see this?
You probably already mentioned it and I missed it, but seriously, BSG and interpreted by someone interpreting Matt Groening.
Posted by: Jeremy | May 10, 2006 at 12:46 AM
Yet another reason you are the coolest Dad ever. I could only pray for a Dad like you for my guy.
Posted by: jhankins | May 10, 2006 at 02:24 AM
Ryan ROCKS! Is he avaliable as a session cowbell-dinger?
Posted by: theOlster | May 10, 2006 at 04:42 AM
Did Ryan say that you need more cowbell? Here you go http://buffoonery.org/images/random/cowbell.gif
Posted by: Pixel _Pusher | May 10, 2006 at 04:51 AM
I’ve got a fever. A fever for a cowbell.
Posted by: redheadwriter | May 10, 2006 at 05:51 AM
I wouldn’t be too worried about Red Octane being acquired by Activision, they really just published Guitar Hero and made the guitar. The guys who’re really in charge of the development of Guitar Hero and Guitar Hero 2 are a company called Harmonix Music, across the river from Boston in Cambridge.
Whatever the case I doubt Activision will muck things up too much. I know some of the guys at Harmonix and what little I’ve been able to get out of them about GH2 sounds totally hawesome!
Posted by: Dakushna | May 10, 2006 at 06:46 AM
Cowbell! Explore the room!
\m/ \m/
Wil,
I’m new around here, but I had to take a moment to share this, because you’re a fairly big part of my life right now.
Let me explain.
Dear Hubby and I are looooong time TNG Trekker Geekoids. Recently, we decided that the Time Had Come to introduce our 13-year-old son to our beloved Trek crew.
So, we began the process of renting each and every DVD, beginning from…well, the beginning.
Oh, how painful, those first season episodes. But I digress.
Our son Jonathan became a Hard Core Trekker faster than we ever imagined. Sure, we knew he had “geek” written all over him…he’s a computer whiz and pretty much the mad inventor type…but wow.
I mean, the kid wants to own a copy of the Klingon Bible.
And Wesley Crusher? I tell ya, our son RELATES to the geeky kid in pajamas on the bridge. He gets to do COOL THINGS and hang out with ADULTS.
You poor thing…you must cringe sometimes. It wasn’t you, you know….it was some of those ghastly lines they wrote for you!
Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that all these long, long years later, your (beloved? not so beloved?) character is impacting a brand new generation of TNG Geeks.
So for all those hour and hours of hard work…thank you. My hubby and I are having a BLAST reliving TNG with our boy.