It was brought to my attention that I may have been a bit harsh on my review of Guitar Hero World Tour. (See the “attention” link’s comment.) The commenter is a good friend of mine, so I am not posting this as retaliation for his comment, I just want people to understand why developers should treat gamers well.

Okay, so I am a bit biased towards Rock Band. I will fully admit it. However, the people at Harmonix are some of the coolest people that I know. When we (Brad, Sophia & I) were at PAX this year, Harmonix peppered Sophia with as many Rock Band stickers as she wanted, and they let her dance on stage! How cool is that for a four year old! She rocked out and they were so cool with it! They even took publicity pics of her dancing on stage. I liked how cool they were with Brad, whom they remembered from his campuses ITT Technical Institute booth the previous year, and myself.

Whereas, the Guitar Hero:World Tour booth wasn’t as nice to Sophia or myself. I was a little saddened by that. Especially since they were promoting it as a family/friends oriented game at PAX.

That is not to say that I don’t like any Guitar Hero games. I still play Guitar Hero 2 (Harmonix) and I really enjoyed Guitar Hero:Aerosmith (Neversoft).  But when you treat me, the player with a lack of respect, I am no longer impressed with you, the developer. So, Neversoft, the gauntlet has been thrown. Treat people with families with better respect at gaming conventions like PAX, and then I might promote your games!

Sophia rocking out at the Harmonix stage at Penny Arcade 2008