FUCK YOU RED OCTANE and other observations

by Matt - Feburary 28, 2008

So this afternoon i remembered a friend telling me in december that Red Octane, the maker of the instrument-controllers for the fine Guitar Hero franchise and Rock Band as well, would finally start selling individual guitars for Guitar Hero III on the Wii in march.. How did he know this? The internet told him, i dunno, Point is, i decided to check out Red Octane's site and see what the deal was.

What do I find upon opening up Red Octane's online store? A game bundle with two guitars and Guitar Hero III, a game bundle with one guitar and Guitar Hero III. And some rondo-looking faceplates. And extra straps.

Well, Red Octane, you can just FUCK RIGHT OFF.

Can someone PLEASE explain to me why i shouldn't be insulted that someone just now buying Guitar Hero should be allowed to purchase two guitars and one copy of the game, when I and the rest of us who bought it earlier (ok, on midnight the day it released after waiting in line for an hour while my friend's mildly narcoleptic girlfriend hurled invective and insult at the assembled geekery for being kept waiting while passing out on the floor up against a sports car parked inexplicably in the middle of a mall. whatever, stop judging me!) are required to purchase a second one guitar and Guitar Hero III game bundle, resulting in a superfluous game disc that cannot be returned? Ok, so that was a long sentence, but to really get the full scope of my anger at this heinous fuckery, you really have to say it all out loud in one breath. I guess at least I can buy the two guitar and game bundle with a friend, resulting in $20 less waste (to me, anyways), but still, the choice shouldn't be between wasting the cost of the game or wasting half the cost of the game, Red Octane should just be selling us the fucking guitar by itself.

Of course, when it comes down to it, the real reason they've not been selling individual guitars yet is because they don't have to. They've been selling their entire production of guitars in the releases in the U.S., Japan, and Europe and if they can sell all of their stock with the game bundle, why drop that $40 profit and start selling loosies? They'd have to be idiots to make a business decision like that. Or, you know, have hearts and give a flying fuck about their customers, but clearly that's asking too much.

And really, as long as there's enough gamers like me who are no longer teenagers and can afford to just waste $40 every now and then, we'll probably be figuring, en masse, that getting the two guitar bundle and just splitting the lost cash for the useless copy of GH III with a friend isn't really that bad, why would they change anything now? If EA can release the exact same mindless sports game every year with the same graphics, same everything, but a different number at the end of the title and people will still buy it, why would Red Octane think that we wouldnt waste money on something that's actually fun like Guitar Hero? Shit, I'm probably going to pre-order right now.