Last week we took a long trip to look for houses in our ‘new home town’.  While the 6+ hour ride each way there was already plenty of reading, music and handheld gaming going on … but the hotel stay provided and interesting and unexpected gaming opportunity that turned out way more fun than it should have been.

Unless you live under a rock you know about the Guitar Hero franchise and how great the games are on the various platforms. (hehe … did you get the ‘rock’ joke?)  But until now, PC gamers have been left out in the cold, tied to a whipping post, as it were.  The whole ‘guitar controller’ thing certainly figured into it,  but the game itself really seems to lend itself best to the ‘living room experience’.  We have been playing the Wii version since Christmas and absolutely loving it – but it is really best as a shared experience.  So when I got the Mac / PC version from Aspyr and started playing it as a solo game, something was definitely lacking.

Nonetheless, I had stuck the disc and manual in my computer bag and so they came along on our trip.  But the guitar controller was safely at home.  So on the night we had spent looking at schools, only to have a snow storm blow in and cut the afternoon a bit short, we took advantage of the food in the hotel and stayed in for the evening.  We went to the pool and hot tub and exercise room, then looked for a movie – and then I made a suggestion:

What about playing Guitar Hero III on the Mac?

“Without the guitar?” was the almost instant response from everyone, to which I replied “well, we can try”.  And so we did.  We started from the beginning again, taking turns working the keys and waggling the mouse and generally not feeling like musicians.  This was not the experience you have heard people about with Guitar Hero – this is a game clearly not designed for a keyboard and mouse.

But we had a blast!  We surprised ourselves with it – clearly showing a couple of things.  First off, that Guitar Hero III is a really good game and able to stand up to a sub-par control system.  Second, and most importantly, that a family gaming experience transcends just about anything.  As I said, my experience with the Mac /PC version had been less than stellar – even with the guitar controller.  It just didn’t live up to the Wii version in terms of overall enjoyment.  Yet despite sacrificing the fine guitar for a strange-feeling keyboard and mouse, we laughed and cheered and rocked out for quite a while – which was absolutely perfect in the middle of a busy and stressful pre-move trip; and it reminded me once again of something that cannot ever be overstated:

Doing fun stuff with your family absolutely ROCKS!!!

Tags: Misc