A video game that doesn't suck

I read somewhere that a band got a bunch of publicity because one of their songs was included in the Guitar Hero Playstation 2 video game. I can't remember where I read that (dude, gettin' old blows) but I was mildly interested only because I'm always looking for new ways of getting our music out there.

When we got home from skiing Sunday, I noticed that before Sean went to work, he dumped off a bunch of his stuff including his PlayStation 2 and a what looked like a small plastic Gibson SG.

Last night when I got home from teaching my class (yep, classes have started again), my family was in the living room playing Guitar Hero. Bill excitedly shouted above the loud music, "This game is cool! You need to try it!"
So I did. And you know what? It was fun ... and addicting.

You pick a song from their list (it has a wide variety including songs by Primus, Nirvana and Reverent Horton Heat) then you hit the keys on the neck and "strum" with a lever on the body of the faux-tar as the notes appear on the TV screen.

If you play the correct notes in time, the song rocks and the fans cheer and you win. If your lack of coordination and timing cause you to miss notes, then the crowd turns on you faster than potato salad at a July Fourth picnic and you lose.

Sean is rocking out these songs on the hard level. I was barely making it through on the easy level. But then again I don't have hours every day to play a damn video game (but boy I wish I did. It's way addicting. Oh, but I can totally go home on my lunch hour and play ... woot!).