Guitar Hero is quite clearly a cool product. It’s super fun and intuitive to use. I think anyone who has used it can agree on this. I knew this before I owned one, now I understand why. Beyond the fun of playing the game does two key things:
– Mass customization
We often here the buzz of mass customization, but it’s rare for a very mass market product to hit the high notes that Guitar hero does on the customization front. Here’s a picture of my custom Gibson Les Paul Axe.
You’ll notice I’ve strategically placed the stickers in a symmetrical fashion which suits my style and design preferences. While going for a clear Mid-late 1980’s rock look by using the stars and flames only. For me this design rocks. While my friend Reg has plastered every sticker available on his guitar. Such a simple sticker pack creates a real personalised guitar.
The store is also a very cool feature where players can buy everything from new clothes, different guitars (personally I prefer the Gibson flying vee), buy new songs, heck you can even buy actual new guitar bodies for the controller guitar.
It then goes beyond fantasy and steps into a physical reality for the players. Having on-line guitar battles and starting a band. You then build a career in the game which transports guitar hero to a special place. It creates a microcosm which closely relates to the rock star reality. The microcosm is the future of gaming.
Often exclusivity in distribution is a winning strategy. Not in gaming. Smart brands which need companion products, and companion products which are expensive (as consoles are) need to ensure they have the broadest possible number of entry points. Guitar hero has done this by being available on Playstation, Wii, Xbox, PC and even Mac.
Guitar hero rocks, simply because it does all the stuff we hear about in new marketing so often.
