So I played Guitar Hero for the first time Thursday night. I found it immensely enjoyable. Being an ex-video game geek, I am by nature suspicious of all games, because I suspect they could rob me of my time, dignity, and self-esteem. But this game provided a genuinely special twist.
I will probably never be able to rip out Weezer's "Say it Ain't So" with a band, screaming fans, and bright lights. But doing that on the playstation with a fake guitar in hand, I got about as close as I can hope to be. I got 100% of the solo right. Bangin!
But the really fascinating thing to me is that Guitar Hero came out of a project from the MIT media lab that focused on finding ways for non-musicians to make music. The head of the project gave a talk at TED today about what he's doing. Read more here.