This new media burst from Activision has been the subject of a bit of talk around the web. Seems there are a lot of people who feel that Kurt Cobain’s appearance in Guitar Hero 5 is just the kind of crass commercialism he so vocally objected to and find it in a bit of poor taste.
Speaking as someone who was alive and a teenager when Nirvana broke onto the scene, helping change a stale, pop-drenched Top 40 into something raw and vital, I’m seriously of mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, like the other Guitar Hero and Rock Band games before it, this stands to introduce his music to a whole new audience, many of whom were yet to even be born when Kurt died in 1994. On the other, I can’t help but smell a ghoulish money-grab by a certain widow who shall remain nameless and feel a slight tinge of sadness when watching the video.
To quote Arthur Gies of eat-sleep-game.com/Rebel FM yesterday on Twitter regarding the trailer, “it’s odd not seeing [Nirvana bassist] Krist Novoselic towering over him.” I have to say I fully agree. Hit the jump for the trailer and a couple of screens, then tell us how you feel about it.
This is disturbing. My inner fangirl just cried.
He has some shine, awesome, but more importantly bring on the free copy of Guitar Hero: Van Halen I get just for pre-ordering this game. Woot! Woot!
If we were to guess if he would be on board with this were he alive still, I would guess yes. Seeing his kids play it would probably be a selling point for him to do it. Just look at the all the other rebellious, angsty youth rockers who have grown up and become more “mainstream” that have gotten on board with Guitar Hero. He would be on board, and smiling all the way to the bank.
It kind looks like Tobey McGuire’s face model from the Spider-Man games w/ longer blond hair. At least in the main picture anyways.
I’m not exactly sure how I feel about stuffing all of the different musical personalities into this game. It smells like shameless cash-ins on the success of some musical legends, but I’ll still play the game anyway…