Guitar Hero III rocked Ball State University's campus Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Whitinger Business Building Room 302.
Eleven men and one boy participated in the tournament, and the winner took home Guitar Hero III.
Jackson Moisan, 11, participated in the tournament, and said he has been playing Guitar Hero since he was 9, which was when the first version of Guitar Hero was sold.
He owns all of the games, and his favorite is Guitar Hero III, he said.
Moisan's mother, Jodi Moisan, bought him Guitar Hero III the night it came out, so he could play it as soon as possible, he said. He beat the game on expert within 27 hours of ownership, he said.
During the tournament, people sang along with the songs and danced to themselves. Moisan even played air guitar while watching the others play.
Although Moisan did not win the tournament, he finished third. The winner of the tournament was Bret Berryman, sophomore and exercise science major.
Bryan Lam, senior public relations specialist for Redoctane, said the company thought it would be popular among gamers who fantasize about becoming a rock star. When developing Guitar Hero, Redoctane, the company that published Guitar Hero III, took "rocking out" to the next level by combining air guitar and rock fantasy, he said.
Guitar Hero III includes new songs, controllers and bosses that players can battle such as Tom Morello and Stevie Ray Vaughan, he said. Guitar Hero III can be purchased for Playstation 2 and 3, Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii, he said.
"There is a lot of interactivity," Lam said.
Five students from Pam Farmen's game design class had plenty to say about Guitar Hero. Ryan Dasher, Sean Barcus, Kyle Benedict, Mitch Sanders and Logan Bradley are studying Flash game design this semester.
Guitar Hero is an excellent game where players get to use a controller that takes the form of an actual guitar and live out their rock dreams, said Dasher, a junior general studies major.
He said the game can be a lot of fun for people who get into jamming while playing the game. Some people even have poses and dance to certain songs, he said, which makes it entertaining for others.
Over the years the Guitar Hero series has become even more popular because the game can be played with more than one player, said Barcus, a senior telecommunications major.
"Holding onto a guitar is a selling point," said Benedict, a fifth-year senior business marketing major.
Through the Internet connection on the Xbox 360 or Playstation consoles, he said, Guitar Hero players can battle each other.
However, Xbox comes with and uses an Internet program called Xbox Live that players pay a fee for, Dasher said.
As for the Playstation consoles, the player has to buy the modem separately, said Sanders, a senior telecommunications major.
Rhythm-based games are easy for the lower-end game users, making the games more popular because more people can relate to them, said Bradley, a sophomore music technology major.
There is now a larger demand for rhythm-based games, Lam said, and even though they fall into the same genre, each has a totally different concept.
"Hopefully Guitar Hero can take it to the next level," Lam said.
Other GamesDance Dance Revolution Extreme (DDR)"Extreme" has 65 new songs and the first game in the DDR series to use the Eye Toy USB Camera to watch arm and body movement while tracking the player's steps.
Beatmania This DJ interactive game includes a turntable and more than 50 different tracks to DJ to.
Taiko Drum MasterThis game is designed to teach players the art of Japanese drum. The game includes a drum controller that attaches to a Playstation 2. Players earn game points by tapping the drum to the correct drumming rhythm.
Rock BandIt is a new game that will be released by Harmonix on Nov. 20. Rock Band is a multi-player game, that includes a drum set, bass guitar, electric guitar and microphone.
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