Guitar Hero History

The Year was 2005, and the world was about to be taken by storm by a video game unlike any other. We are talking of course about the one the Only Guitar Hero for PS2. This incredible game was the first to take full advantage of a modular controller developed to mimic a Musical instrument and people loved it. Since 2005, the company that was once Harmonix was bought out by MTV Networks and would ultimately be responsible for the release of the Rock Band platform after relinquishing the Guitar Hero label to Activision.

Between the two platforms the viability of premium music downloads for video game platforms has become a reality. Since the launch of online support services across the leading platforms over 20 million tracks have been downloaded. Pair that with the increase in sales artists themselves have seen as a result of having their tracks in the game and the impact to the business of music has been unparalleled by any other musical innovation to date (even the distortion pedal!) It should also be noted that artists make more per track selling their downloads through than Guitar Hero than through iTunes.

As a whole, the series has released a total of 13 games and as of October 9, 2008, the series has sold 23 million units and earned US$1.6 billion at retail. The release of Guitar Hero 3 in North American raked in over $115 million in sales for Activision making it the biggest sales week in the history of the company and paralleling the big screen openings of movie like Iron Man, Spider Man 2 and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Unfortunately, as one would imagine those that aren't cashing in on the deal are quick to hire lawyers and point fingers. None have been so active in their litigation as legendary guitar maker Gibson. They have filed multiple suits in 2008 against not only Activision for using Gibson guitar likenesses but also the world's largest retailers (Wal-Mart, Amazon.com and a few others) for selling and distributing the games. They have also taken the extra step of going after MTV Networks stating the Rock Band is infringing upon them. In the past year, they have seen little success with any of their suits and they will likely be long and drawn out.

As gamers, we have been very fortunate that these types of suits have not been more prevalent between recording artists, music labels, managers and others in the music industry. Instead, we get to rock out to our favorite Guitar Hero games and with any luck we will have many more years of gaming to come.

Next time you play Guitar Hero, check out our Guitar Hero Cheats