Prince kissed off Guitar Hero deal

Plus, I am an LZ fan, but lately, they've been too...stubborn. I heard that Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, and even Jason Bonham would love to tour again, but Robert Plant's laying down from it. So if they do tour, they'd have to do it with another singer.

Well, 90% of the music world advocates GH and RB as entertainment staples. And both Hard and Expert are a challenge to navigate. Of course, some of the more devoted music groups (Prince is one now, but Led Zeppelin was another; why else haven't we seen songs like Achilles Last Stand or Stairway to Heaven in a track listing yet?) refuse to advocate video games since they are classic. When they were big, video games were barely as big as they are now, right?

This is what happens when you play too much GH. << LINK REMOVED >>

prince is one awesome guitarist. i dont like all off his work , but i acknowledge his guitar brilliance

Prince is a guy that can play 18 instruments very well. Whether or not you like his music, the guy is a brilliant musician. I am not a Metallica fan, but those guys are great musicians. If he thinks kids should spend the copious amounts of time they spend playing fake instruments and play real ones, I find no fault with that. GH won't get you a girl. Playing a real guitar can and will.

I think he's right on the guitar playing thing... But honestly, would a KID buy a GH full of Prince songs?

I think it's great Prince said no. Mostly because his music is terrible and I'd rather see them invest time in a real musician for GH.

whos next GH rolling stones,GH jovi,GH kiss I dont care about any of these I would only buy the true sequels.but i'll admit I would be interested in a prince version

I applaud Prince for putting principles over profit, especially in this day and age when music sales revenue are declining at a catastrophic rate. The one issue that Prince may not have considered however is that he may be able to afford to pass on Activision's offer but it isn't just a detriment to his fans. The Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchise may have some great "A" list performers that bring in the customers but many of the real winners are the smaller groups whose music gets exposure through this venue. As sales revenue for CDs and digital downloads struggle, the game industry continues to flourish. Great bands that wouldn't otherwise see the light of day may have opportunities to get in between the Metallica's, Van Halen's and Aerosmith's of the world. It is much like being an opening act. A smaller band has an opportunity generated by the headliner. My point here is that though Prince is respectable for supporting those who take the time to actually learn how to play, he is forgetting that the majority of consumers would never take the time and he is otherwise denying those consumers the potential not only to enjoy his songs but those lesser know tracks that would otherwise be included along with his. That is just my take on this. What does everyone else think?

GOOD...stick it to the man. A video game that gives me the "willies" in it's advanced state of Simon Says, it's good to see someone of his guitar playing caliber to turn them down.

Did all of you even read the article he said "it's cool for people who don't have time to learn the chords or ain't interested in it". He isn't crapping on people for not playing a real guitar.

Wow, he's sacrificing profit for principle. I admire that.

Good for him, more artists and bands need to tell GH to take a hike with single band focused games like Metallica and Aerosmith. Come on now, whats wrong with making one or two games per console, and just releasing a bunch of DLC songs inbetween? Its all you need to do, not make a new game every few months. If you want to make a band focused experience, do what Rock Band does and release an album onto the store. But then I can't really argue that so much as Rock Band seem to be taking the GH milking route. The thing is GH was, and still is a great game franchise. Especially for those people who have no hope of ever playing a guitar. But they need to stop with releasing so many games and find a new direction for it.

Elitist son of a *****. I play guitar, but games are still FUN Prince, you stuck up moron.

i can see where he is coming from in the sense that people are to quick to dismiss the guitar itself cause it requires a lot of hard graft i know all to well how frustrating it can be, but it pays off more than guitar hero or rock band. I do enjoy playing the games but playing the guitar plugged into an amp along with a song you just learned seems just a lot more of an accomplishment compared to Raining blood on Expert. But i understand where he is coming from purely cause im a guitar player and just started learning bass.

Prince is god. Weather he does rock band, guitar hero, crystal meth - i'll still be groveling to his omnipresence.

Prince sucks anyway.

@lorien665 I agree, 100%. I'm married and work full-time, so my apologies to Prince, but I've got bigger issues than spending years learning the guitar. I'm not the biggest Rock Band fan out there, but it's a great party game. For these artists to dismiss so many of their fans because of some silly notion of instrumental purity is absurd. 'Real' guitars aren't magical beings; they're just materials slapped into a shape that makes noise. It just comes off as snobbery, and as I and many others have said, it's ignorant snobbery, because Guitar Hero has done exactly what Prince claims he wants: get people to pick up a real guitar. Anyone who makes fun of 'fake' guitar players is in the wrong hobby. "You wannabes should go play in a real band!" I think I'll adopt this thinking for every game out there. You like Gran Turismo? Go drive a real car, loser. You like Call of Duty? Go join the real Army, loser. You like the Sims? Go... um... have a real life, loser. This hobby is built on a foundation of simulation.

I ain't mad at Prince. He is correct in his assessment. If you want to play the guitar then you should learn on a real guitar. 8)

Busted my left wrist couple years ago, guitar hero is all I can manage now since I used to play the real thing. To be serious about playing an actual guitar is not possible for me at least. But "eh" (shrugs), whatever, long as there are enough good songs as part of the franchise, I will keep playing my plastic-wannabe-button-masher. Not all of us were cut to be actual music players/makers. Make fun of guitar hero fakeness all you like. I'm just in it to play and have fun ... and I play for fun, not to be anything more.

Kudos to you, Prince. These guys just want to milk the cow to the bones....

Hell yeah, Prince. Don't sell out to these punks, they're just exploiting the genre anyway.

good for you prince, license your stuff for rock band of a "realer" guitar system. 5 plastic buttons does not equal musical talent. its the equivalent of button mashing

Game...Blouses....

Activision is beating the Guitar Hero franchise to death.

Damn you prince! I would of loved to play prince on GH:(

@n8z. I'm not a wannabe. I just like this game because its fun. Whats wrong with that? If you can play real instruments, good for you. But this just a fun game. Cool off, dude. And why Prince?? There are much better singers and bands out there than him. Rolling Stones, Tom Petty, the Eagles, Bruce Springsteen, all of these guys can make a game for GH. Prince has got millions anyway, and he wants more??? The heck with him. As for his excuse for real instruments, this game has actually inspired people to play the real deal.

@Rottenwood @Grandstream Whilst I am certainly not a "young player" I do love Led Zeppelin and also enjoy a bit of GH. I can understand artists refusing because they want people to play the guitar but for some of the population that is never going to happen. I have been a huge LZ fan since I was 17 and have always thought I should take up the guitar. Now it could be a mere coincidence but not until I played GH did it spark my interest enough to go and get a guitar. Now my sister ... she will never play guitar.... but she loves GH because she can rock out to some great music...isnt that what it is all about after all??

@Grandstream "This is a very valid reason why Led Zeppelin won't publish any GH tracks...some of the classic bands advocate real instruments more than anything." The guitar/band gaming boom has spawned a huge upswing in people, particularly younger players, going out to learn to play the real instruments. People are entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts. If your philosophy is that you want more people to learn to play 'real' instruments, then you should do every Rock Band game there is, because it's a proven force in encouraging people to get into playing the real thing. If they just think the games are silly and don't want their names attached, that's fine, but be honest about it. The whole "people should play the real thing" mantra is contrary to reality.

This is a very valid reason why Led Zeppelin won't publish any GH tracks...some of the classic bands advocate real instruments more than anything

Good, even though he is a fairy...I'm also sick of guitar hero, pick up a real guitar, you wannabes

Y dont they do a Guitar hero Metal or sumin...?

Up next, Guitar Hero ZZ Top! Or Rush! Or even better... Guitar Hero: JOURNEY!

i love prince's music but he needs to come off his high horse. better living musicians than him have licensced their material to the game. it's like he tried to avoid saying, he wanted more money. he wants a bigger piece of that "2 billion" he heard about. he'll be begging to be on the next one when that concert tour money dries up.

Game. Blouses.

Expert mode is hard enough that if you put that same amount of time and effort into learning the real thing, you'd be playing guitar very well. But I still love rhythm games, though I don't really do the guitar controler much anymore, I am having a blast with the RB2 drums, hard as well, and I think I may be getting good at that arm/leg separation, which would be really cool, and the (fake) drums are kind of a good workout;) At least I sweat a lot after a good session. But guitar is about practicing little baby steps until you want to scream. The payoff is tremendous. Prince rocks, and when you say he does not exist in our plane of reality, I think; how lucky for him! If I was a frighteningly talented, legendary musician, with his charisma, I'd be living an exclusively eccentric life myself. Kevin Smith is an ultra genius. At least a 23 intelligence;)

Good to have the grounded opinion of a man who routinely wears frilly purple jumpsuits and leggings with no backside. I like Prince's older stuff a lot, but he just comes off as an uninformed snob here. The guitar gaming fad has greatly increased interest in learning how to play real instruments, so his logic doesn't compute. If you want people to learn to play music, get your music out there in any form you can and get them excited about it.

i dont like his music, but i agree 100% with his comment. it's so nice to see a musician say this

It'd take a Looonnng time to pick up and play most of Prince's stuff. The mans one of the best Guitarists going.

So no Shirt's vs. Blouse's? Too bad...

Fair play to him for not just selling out but hasnt there been reports of more people wanting to learn to play guitar after playing GH? I think he should look into it more before dismissing it altogether. He is a music legend though!

He's an extremely badass musician and I get what he said, but he's kind of depriving people of enjoying his music. I'm a guitarist and I understand what kind of enjoyment can come from playing Guitar Hero, because you're not just by yourself practicing riffs you've got a whole band accompanying you perfectly to one of your favorite songs. I've been in a band before and playing together on stage is one of the most awesome feelings on earth, but it's not easy. Guitar Hero is. In a time where new musicians are barely making any money I think Prince should have felt lucky to be offered any amount of money.

Pathetic excuse if you ask me. I for one, enjoy both playing real guitar and sometimes playing fake guitar. They're both totally diffferent experiences and most intelligent people will recognize that. LOL @ people who play Guitar Hero to learn real guitar....oh, that's Prince.

Google "Kevin Smith Prince". The man doesn't live on this plane of reality.

I just found new respect for Prince.

Good for him. I'm SO sick of Guitar Hero.

For someone who has no option to start a real rock band pressing colored frets to enjoy hundreds of great songs > time and hard work to learn the intro to one song. Why buy cds when you could make the music yourself?

he should have just left it at 'they didn't offer me enough money'. he makes a valid point, but it clearly wasn't the reason he turned down the deal. anyway, guitar hero is actually a great way of PROMOTING guitar playing, as many people have already mentioned.

OK, Prince is a prick because he turned down a deal with them because they were offering him scraps?...pleaseeee. There's no way in hell I'd lend my songs and name to a company that's not willing to give me a good piece of the pie. End of discussion, good for prince for not giving in to what may seem like a good opportunity when indeed it may not be.

Bring Rock Band The Roots! Prince needs to realize that most of his fans don't aspire to be musicians, and much less guitar players. There's nothing wrong with giving the fans the opportunity to interact with his songs. If anything, it would encourage kids to pick up real guitars, and make him more relevant because kids will pick up from their big siblings and parents who like Prince's music.