Are you that guy? You know the one I mean. You’re out for a nice civilised drink with your mates where you’re sat sophisticatedly mocking those throwing themselves around the dance floor getting sweaty. Then the DJ sticks on ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ and you’re off! The air has never been so guitared.
If this sounds like you then I’m guessing you’re no stranger to Guitar Hero.
Even if it isn’t you then you’d have to have been living under a rock for the past three years to have not encountered the phenomenon that’s letting us non-musicians feel like we can compete with the real rock stars. Until you try and play ‘Fire and the Flames’ on anything above easy that is.
Well, no longer does your talent have to be contained purely to your bedroom. And no longer does your air guitaring have to be silent.
The Guitar Hero Air Guitar Rocker (to give it its full name) uses three components- a mini amp which clips on to your belt; a belt buckle with motion sensor; and the essential plectrum (two, in case you lose one)- and from these creates rock.
All you have to do is make sure you strum along to the song in time, and it’ll sound as if you’re actually playing something. It might be badly, but hey- you’ll still be there, rocking it out for the world to see.
You could even hold your own little gig. Well, as long as you only make it ten songs long.
The preset songs include ‘Iron Man’, ‘Smoke on the Water’, ‘Ace of Spades’, ‘You Really Got Me’, ‘More than a Feeling’ and five other currently undiscovered tracks. Admittedly this isn’t a great selection and Air Guitar Hero could benefit from more of the songs you see in the game. Why have five undiscovered tracks when you could have ‘hit Me With Your Best Shot’ or ‘Rock and Roll All Night’?
On the other hand, the volume goes up to 11 (why stop at 10 like everyone else?!) and can be plugged into an external amp to really blow your ear drums out. So even if the undiscovered tracks aren’t great, at least you’ll be able to scare the cat.
Got your three AA batteries at the ready? Get rocking at iWoot
If you’ve got any ideas of songs you’d like to see on future Guitar Hero releases let us know in the comments.