When did you start?

[lithiumkc]

I got GHI around January of '06. Every time I showed it to someone they laughed at me and called it a 'gimmick' game. Those same people can't stop playing GHII now.

hahaha, exactly. That or 'DDR with hands'. And as soon as people try it they realize.. holy hell this is fun. There's just something about it, only a few games I can think of in history have this 'Holy crap this is fun' air about them. Super Smash Bros... Thats another example.

[Xzyliac]

So last year I'm in Wal-mart and I see this Guitar Hero game on display. Now the thing is still a cult hit and I'm not a big music game guy but I try it and can't figure it out. Felt like an idiot because I play guitar. Soon I recognized the frets and guessed the strings and the building blocks fell in place. Ten minutes I'm jumping around to I Love Rock and Roll.

Nor did I know before long I'd be hooked on GHII (my personal fave). I dug it. My friends and I guessed who could get through careers first. And we all have our peference like I pwn GHI but suck at GHII but I play better on GHII because of the hammer-ons. My friend sucks at GHI but plays better than on GHII for some reason. Weird.

So it'll be a year next month. I always enjoyed Harmonix games but didn't even know they made GH. Frequency and Amplitude were the only music games I owned before that.

After GHI and II I began digging around and getting my hands on every music game I can find (Boom Boom Rocket with Guitar Hero X-Plorer FTW!)

[battle_axe_of_doom]

lmao i made an ass out of myself when i failed john the fisherman in gamecrazy and failed horribly on easy :\

[CrazyIvan]

I grabbed GH1 for my brother-in-law for Christmas in 2005. I had heard from a few friends that the game was frickin' awesome, so I figured my bro would get a kick out of it. Turns out, we couldn't stop playing the dang thing! Once my wife and I got home from the Christmas visit, we went out and bought our own copy and an extra guitar.

Been jammin' ever since.

I'm still not that great at it. I play it entirely for fun, so I've never really bothered with the "challenge" aspect of it. I would prefer to play on Hard and jump around like a fool than on Expert where I have to concentrate. It's probably why my wife beats me to a pulp every time we play.

GH2 rocked my socks off.

GH80's was a bit of a letdown for me. Can't really put a finger on why... just did.

GH3 looks pretty good, and I'm sure I'll pick up the PS2 version.

But Rock Band? Man... this game looks AMAZING. I'm actually going to buy a 360 just to play it. I am addicted to these forums like nobody's bidness, refreshing every few minutes in hopes that something new has popped up. I haven't been this excited for a game since Super Mario Bros. 2 came out for the NES.

[lithiumkc]

Rock Band is probably the most excited I've ever been for a game. I love music. It's one of the only truly good things I can see in the world. It's an escape, and the best way for a human being to express emotion in my opinion. I know how much fun GH2 was to play co-op with friends, and I can imagine that this will be multiple times more amazing. With the song list already announced, the DLC... Nevermind, hopefully.. I can't get off this website, and it's making the days til release seem FOREVER.

Oh, and I got my ass kicked by psychobilly freakout last year in GH2 demo. Goddamn GH1 was simple compared to the sequel.

[Kang_Zircon]

I got hooked even before GH came out with the arcade game Guitar Freaks. When my friends and I heard that a console guitar game was coming out for PS2 we were really excited about it. I got the game as soon as I had the money for it.

I'm really excited about RB too. The arcade had a drums game too, and I've been wondering since GH1 when the heck Harmonix was gonna put out a drumming game. My friends and I have been talking about how cool it would be to play as a whole band since GH2...

[stinkdog2007]

I have a 360 and I got Guitar Hero 2 a month after release.

[newwaytodie]

I played Guitar Hero 1 at the annual GameStop manager's conference in Dallas in August of 2005. It was clearly obvious to me at that time that GH was going to revolutionize Rhythm Gaming (and to an extent, gaming in general) it was simply awesome.

I couldn't really believe my eyes... Tucked away in the farthest corner in the convention center was this tiny Red Octane booth with little ole 27' TV's with a pre-release version of a game that I half-laughed at when I read the title. "Guitar Hero".... I figured this oughta be a good time, I play guitar so I'll give it a thorough play through. I rocked out to Judas Priest with a plastic guitar and had a blast doing it. The guy at the booth was like "Damn, you're pretty good... you play this before?" And I said "No, that's what's crazy.. I just play guitar, and you guys have realistically re-created that experience in a video game!"

The game released later that year to lukewarm initial reception, but as people played demos that were set up around the retail world, demand started to go through the roof! Of course personally I had already pre-ordered and purchased mine, but it was nearly impossible to keep in stock for the holidays.

The next year's conference GH2 was a totally different beast. Activision put huge money into GH2 and it was the showcase title for their booth. Full simulated stage to play on... Massive Amp-Like speakers.... Huge Plasma TV's...

So thats the journey Guitar Hero has made from my first hand experience. Small little laughed at "gimmick" game to what it is today. The forefront of innovation in the gaming industry.

[KEFIOX]

I actually started playing Gutiar Hero II first, I was actually never really into the idea of a Guitar game until my brother just went and bought it one day, and I have been hooked ever since. When I heard Rock Band was coming out I almost wet myself because I get to play the drums now, not just guitar.

[Akaymay]

You'd never believe me, my mom made me play it. Since I played real guitar, I thought it was a terrible kiddy toy. But she kept bugging me about how her co-workers all play it. So I gave it a shot, and got completely addicted.