So everyone once and a while, there are things that come along and take away the rage and fury that come from being in the IT field. One of those things is a video game franchise that has been given to us by God himself, Guitar Hero.
At the end of 2005, the first Guitar Hero came out for the PS2 and within the Angry IT Manager household there was much rocking. Being that I’m a huge fan of most of the music that is featured and the fact that I, like a number of devil-horn-raising rock enthusiasts, have long played air guitar while at home, driving in the car or walking down a busy street… well it was a match made in heaven. Many hours were spent mastering every song on the tracklist and eventually the entire game was completed on every difficulty level. However, the feeling that I had to constantly increase my score on each song pretty much made me pick it up obsessively on a regular basis. Until Guitar Hero 2 was released for the PS2.
The day Guitar Hero 2 came out, I went to Circuit City on my lunch and picked it up (because Circuit City was giving a free GH2 beanie with purchase and I’m a dork like that). In a lapse of judgment, I decided to also take it home and just try a few songs. Three hours later I decided that it would probably be in my best interest to go back to work and hope that nobody noticed that I had gone AWOL. Thankfully it was a slow day and was office door is usually closed, so no one had.
I’m a firm believer that for me, Guitar Hero is probably the perfect video game. Music is a large part of my life and I’m somewhat of a rock aficionado so playing Guitar Hero always puts me in a good mood. Sure there’s frustration (it took me a solid month to beat Bark At The Moon, the final song on the first Guitar Hero, on Expert) but that is surpassed by the feeling of joy and accomplishment that comes from not only beating that hard song you’ve been working on, but nailing some of the faster solos.
A typical day for me involves the following:
1) “Waking up” in the morning and stumbling around until I get my caffeine fix
2) A full day of work that involves lots of gritted teeth, remarks under my breath and random screaming and throwing things. Also, headaches.
3) Coming home, working out for a bit to work out a little frustration.
4) Playing Guitar Hero and working out the rest.
A few weeks ago I picked up Guitar Hero and a XBox 360. With the online leaderboards and achievement points, my addiction has increased and my obsessive compulsive tendencies have been working on overdrive. Please though Activision, no My Chemical Romance for GH3.
