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Tech Check
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It was truly odd. At Bill Gates' keynote speech, the show ended with what was supposed to be a cutting contest between Gates and the president of Microsoft's entertainment and devices division, Robbie Bach. But when Bach was to start the competition, Kelly Law-Yone, a guitar-Hero "champion,” strode on stage and faked her way through “Welcome to the Jungle,” raising her fist to the sky in true rocker fashion.
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CNBC.com Peavey's Kiss designed RiffMaster guitar controller is made from a genuine Peavey guitar. |
Yes, true “guitar heroes,” including Peavey and Gibson are now making fake guitars for gamers. And yesterday, I stood in the Peavey Booth, listening to a rocker-looking guy noodle his way through “Slow Ride,” a few bars of Cream and finally, the ultimate Guitar Hero anthem, “Welcome to the Jungle.” Geesh.
Peavey's RiffMaster guitar controllers are made from real maple with a rosewood fretboard, and come with 11 exclusive artwork designs, including Kiss, Skynyrd and the ever-popular Megadeath. Oddly enough, the Peavey representative told me these games had actually increased interest in real guitars among youngsters. At $500, it ought to increase interest in something.
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(Click for complete coverage) |
Gibson makes its own Les Paul guitar controller for Guitar Hero. But oddly enough, the only real nod to it in the Gibson tent was a Guitar Hero setup pushed way over to the side. The guitar wasn't even there and the representative told me point blank that if I wanted information, I'd have to go to gibson.com.
Clearly, the real guitar players were the star of this show.
Editor's note: As part of our extensive coverage of CES, CNBC.com's Brian Clark and Ted Kemp will be at the event and contributing to this special edition of Tech Check.
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