The word "milking" doesn't begin to describe what Activision has been doing to the Guitar Hero franchise. 11 titles have been produced since Activision aquired the series, and 3 more games are due out by the end of the year, bringing the total number of games published under the Guitar Hero branding in the 2007-2009 time period to an astonishing 14 games.

With nearly every Guitar Hero game has come a questionable price tag. Activision expected you to pay full price for Guitar Hero: Smash Hits and Guitar Hero: Aerosmith. Activision dictated that $180 was a fair price for Guitar Hero: World Tour, and millions of suckers paid it. This holiday season, the overlords at Activision are planning on robbing millions of gamers again with their newest release, DJ Hero.

Most everyone already knows what DJ Hero is, so I won't bother advertising it here. The game, along with its crappy, plastic, fake turntable will cost $120 (source), and the impressively worthless "Regengade Edition" of the game will set you back $200 (source), if you're a moron and buy it.

Just theoretically, let's say that you have $120. You go into the store just before Christmas and see Modern Warfare 2, Halo 3: ODST, Left 4 Dead 2, Assassin's Creed 2, Borderlands, and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. You could either take your pick from two of those games, or get JUST DJ Hero. If DJ Hero is the option that you would go with in this hypothetical situation, I suggest that you direct your mouse to the back button in your browser (which is probably IE) and continue your life, being raped by greedy corporations at regular intervals.

If you're like me, however, and you're tired of  Activision's games costing twice as much as they should and their constant barrage of installments in ailing franchises, I invite you to join me in a boycott of Activision in all of their future exploits, or at least until they straighten up their act in the pricing department. What will you be missing out on? Guitar Hero: Van Halen? Band Hero? Who cares? Poor sales of DJ Hero is exactly what the doctor ordered for Activision. They need to be given a wakeup call from the consumers, and nothing will catch their attention better than a look into their own empty wallets.

All of this goes for Tony Hawk: Ride, as well. I don't think that I have to tell anybody to not buy that game, though. Nobody is stupid enough to pay $120 (source) for a bad game with a fake skateboard, right?

Comments (29)

...
written by Arthur Martinez, October 11, 2009

As long as people keep buying this overpriced crap, Kotick will have his way and gamers everywhere will get screwed over. If Kotick has his way I bet games will cost over $100 within a decade or two.

...
written by RJ, October 11, 2009

I 2nd your motion

Sure DJ hero looks like it can be fun but still, the price tag is ridiculous for a cheap hardware add on that I'm sure I can create myself and write the program code for it.

Tony Hawks ride is stupid, who the hell would want a board when you can go ride a skateboard. I also feel its going to be broken by several kids.

I'm even considering boycotting Modern Warfare 2 but I think it will eat me up inside and i'll eventually cave in

...
written by Doomteam, October 11, 2009

Thats like saying i hope Gutair hero does or rock band

...
written by stvw74, October 11, 2009

even though I've a good friend who works for them, I have been boycotting those Actibastards for over a year now .. sick of buying over-priced, over-rated & incomplete games

...
written by Wes, October 11, 2009

God, so true, LOL @ 'Which is probably IE anyway'

...
written by fuck you, October 11, 2009

if i wanna overspend who the fuck do you think you are to yap?

...
written by grEg, October 11, 2009

does that mean you wont be getting the over priced modern warfare either-also from activision? cos i noticed it was on your list of games to get

...
written by SupaReefioGczy, October 11, 2009

Luckily this is only opinion. If you dont have enough money, we understand economic hardhips plague the world abroad jk lol. i agree/disagree with you. The plastic instruments = fail. Alot of them have defects. World Tour had alot of defective parts. Activision replaced them though, but yeah $189 was rather steep. Band hero is where i agree with you(along with the new tony hawk). Band hero is basically guitar hero 5 with music none of us who play games would listen to. If you really want it for the songs, buy the stand-alone disc and use your old fantastic plastic. I disagree with you on Dj Hero. Retail debut price @ $119 makes it the cheapest music game to release with a peripheral to date thus far. on top of that, getting to do an early review and spending time actually playing the game, it is really good, and everyone should at least give it a try at least once. Yes, Activision is "milking" the Hero franchise, but they are a business and thats how business roll. As for me. all of those titles you named, i'll probably get them all along with a million other ppl.

...
written by mic_09, October 11, 2009

actually i had pretty high hopes for dj hero when i heard eminem would be produceing a exclusive cd worth of tracks for this game along with jay z but im not really a big jay z fan

i like previous guitar hero gaes but constant relases and constant dlc have gotten to the point where i cant keep up i really dont care about the versions like metallica and aerosmith and greatest hits they bring out there the tittles that seem to milk the franchise seriously how long can you keep 5 buttons and strumming fresh for ???

honestly i really dont want to buy dj hero i just want to listen to the exclusive eminem tracks which im sure will end up all over the net before the actual game does if not activision will release a soundtrack there to big of a potential market if they dont so ill just get that instead (then i can hear the tracks without messing them up

...
written by Adam, October 11, 2009

Lol sorry i'm going to buy both.

...
written by ian, October 11, 2009

if youre so against activision, maybe you shouldn't buy modern warfare either.

...
written by bashar, October 11, 2009

BOYCOTT FOREVER!!! GOOD ARTICLE

...
written by Niklas Bauer, October 11, 2009

I agree to the boycott. but Except for Modern Warfare 2. But I'll buy it used anyway.

...
written by Jeff, October 11, 2009

My main objection to this article is that DJ Hero is a step in a new direction. I, for one, would love a more 'urban' themed music game, even if it is a little 'pop' to be called hip hop/techno based. The sequelitis is the issue, and I agree in that everybody needs to stop paying for add-ons for a full fledged price (not to mention not being able to use most of those add-ons (downloadable tracks) in succeeding versions of the same franchise). I also think it's worth mentioning that two (three) of those 14 are for DS. The point still remains, but the DS versions are a separate market.

Also, have you yourself used the DJ Hero turntable, or are you assuming it's crap?

Also, I own Rock Band, and that's it...I don't own a single Activision game actually (for no other reason than luck of the draw really)

...
written by Ryven Kael, October 11, 2009

See thats just it. You are probably a Mac user. Or one of those people who think they are the elitest of the elite. So what if someone uses IE as their browser. So what if someone wants to play DJ hero and pays 120 for it. I for one am excited for this game. Having spun vinyl records for about 10 years now i'm interested to see how the controller stacks up with a deck and mixing board. But people like you ruin this experience for people who dont know what to expect. Based on this article, many people will overlook this game simply because you said it is too expensive. WITHOUT even playing the game you made people think its going to suck.
Tony hawk ride i agree with but that franchise was going downhill long long ago. American wasteland was the last good tony hawk.

You are just like the people who boycott Left for Dead 2. You think that just because you have to pay more money for something you can bitch and moan until you get your way. ( http://cad-comic.com/news.php?i=1950 ) Here is the perfect example of what i'm talking about and i fully agree with him.

When this game comes out and its a hit and many people who you were "targeting" with this message decide to actually try this game and like it, i hope a security camera catches you at your local game store buying this game and it somehow ends up on youtube. We all know it will happen and the sad part is that you will go on continuing to pretend you matter in the grand scheme of things.

...
written by lee, October 11, 2009

I am getting it, can't wait oh and I use firefox

...
written by Will, October 11, 2009

You are right. They have been milking gamers. Well not me. Don't care for GH and won't buy DJ Hero until it on ebay for like 10 buck..lol Even the special editions of games are getting out of hand. Half the time it not like it add more to the game . it like behind the scenes or other crap most to even watch. But they make it like the SP Ed is the way to go. Like MW2. They adding a pair of special glassses but did you have them for MW1. NO and di millions loved the game. YES so why get them. Some game companies rape you and never kiss you first.

...
written by jonny, October 11, 2009

crap........................

...
written by MrEco, October 11, 2009

OMG, I couldn't agree more! I hate what Activision has been doing with the franchise. I haven't bought a single Guitar Hero game and I don't plan too. The only saving grace for the franchise is the fact that each sequel gets objectively better (Well, most of the time.). And objectively speaking DJ Hero actually looks like a step back.

Also, I don't know if it's just me but it seems that none of the comments appear under your articles anymore. Is that intentional or am I doing something wrong?

...
written by J, October 11, 2009

So you will boycot Activision but encourage people to buy Moderd Warfare 2, inteligent.

...
written by blah, October 11, 2009

BLAH!!!!

...
written by razy, October 12, 2009

Activision is a cock sucker company.... but shit DJ Hero is going to be fun and hell and I can afford to buy DJ Hero Renegade Edition, Left 2 Dead 2, Modern Warfare 2, Uncharted 2 all in the same year..... fuck yeah I'm gonna have fun playing games

...
written by name, October 12, 2009

agree with you 100%
problem is people accept it.
untill people put their foot down and say no thats to expensive, there not going to change.
just like M$ and their overpriced accessories.
200 AUD for a friggin 120GB HDD?
no thanks!
just like COD MW2.
here thats 20 bucks more than uncharted 2, which one do you think has more quality and more replay value?
the answer is pretty obvious to me.
gamers need to learn how to stand up and refuse to buy something, instead of succumbing like little bitches.
at this rate it wont be long till were paying 150 bucks for every game released

...
written by Tony B., October 14, 2009

Yeah, the Guitar Hero franchise is being milked, but so is Call Of Duty, another Activision product. All the kiddies love the repetitive online play of COD, but I go for the campaign, and COD 4 campaign was the worst I ever played, COD 5, was pretty good, and now MW2, which looks exactly the same as COD4, and the campaign is only six hours. So I'm gonna pass on that, I'll have more fun with DJ Hero than MW2, MW2 will last a night or two, DJ Hero could easily last a few months.

...
written by baidui, October 26, 2009

An interesting question has been asked on stackoverflow: baidu
sina C++ Socket Server - Unable to saturate CPU - essentially saying that a multithreaded server using boost::asio isn't able to saturate 4 CPUs.

...
written by uraloser, November 04, 2009

it isnt milking when the product is good. dj hero has people from the dj community and the music community backing it, not just cause they'll get paid but because its freaking awesome. the tracks on the game are original and fresh. if theres a reason to buy it, that reason would be the music. if you feel your getting ripped, its your loss cause lots of people are having fun with it. and its not like you have to pay to listen to the tracks

...
written by a, November 08, 2009

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

...
written by blah, November 14, 2009

borderlands has the worlds most anti climactic ending and the game is super repetitive and just plain boring

...
written by MGiddy, December 04, 2009

I don't get why you don't understand the difference in price as compared to the standard game titles vs. the hero series. The hero series requires a special controller via a guitar or turntable/mixer which is the reason it costs more. If you just but the game alone, it costs the same as the ones you listed. I'm not saying that double the price is a fair but it warrants a higher price. Limited Edition stuff always brings in sales by catching the attention of that minority of people that always want or need to feel they have the best. That's universal in any product from Cars, CD, even MW2. Hell they included a set of night vision goggles with their $150 limited addition box. So everyone offers something extra for more money. The unique controllers hero series relies on to play their games really isn't any different so buy it or don't. So much time ranting on how they are evil is a waste of your finger breath.

Name

Email

Comment

smaller | bigger

I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.

Add Comment