Rock Band
Dreams do come true! I am finally part of a band. This is something I’ve wanted to do since high school but was never able to, partly because it was time consuming but mostly because I didn’t have the talent for it. Besides, nobody really wanted a triangle instrumentalist in a rock band. So last week, I got invited to be part of a grunge group called Spandex Ballet, since our costumes are spandex shorts and tutus. Our band is a virtual one in Playstation 3 (PS3). Yes, thanks to Activision and Harmonix who developed Guitar Hero and Rock Band respectively, anyone who owns a PS3 or Nintendo Wii can now put together their own ensemble.
The game comes with a drum set, guitars, and microphones. The groupies and managers have to be purchased separately. In the game, you can choose your songs to create a set list and you can even pick a city to play in. If you guys are good, you score high and make more money from the ticket sales. If you suck, you get booed off stage and sometimes out of the house of your friend who owns the game console. As you progress, you unlock more and more songs making the game more and more addicting to the point of quitting your job, growing your hair out, leaving the country and trying to make it out there in the rock n’ roll town of New Jersey, livin’ on a prayer.
The instruments are simple to play. Everything is color-coded: the drum pads and the guitar keys. All you have to do is watch the screen and wait for the colors to hit your marker then you have to hit the corresponding color on your instrument. Once you get the hang of it, it starts to feel like a real rock band. You begin to do concert moves like head banging, power sliding, jump kicking, mosh pitting, and breaking some furniture. You start to live out your fantasies. In fact, we now practice 3 times a week for at least 4 hours each session. Our problem right now is our drummer. He’s a bit uncoordinated. But nobody really knows how to break it to him because he owns the game console. I guess we’ll just have to let our fans decide.