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You should suck more!
Activision is being sued over one of the Guitar Hero games. Earlier this year, before the big bad “Guitar Hero III” hit the stores, Activision released “Guitar Hero Encore: Rock the ’80s” to make some appetites whetted. One song included in the game was “What I Like About You,” a song originally performed by The Romantics.
Now the way these Guitar Hero games work, not all of the included songs are the originals. In fact, before the current “Guitar Hero III,” almost all of the songs were actually cover versions (in “Guitar Hero III,” about half the tunes are the originals). The version of “What I Like About You” included in “Rock the ’80s” is one such cover. Now Activision did what it’s supposed to, and got permission to include a cover. But The Romantics are suing the game company anyway because — get this — they say the included cover version is too good. So good that it sounds too much like the original and thereby infringes the group’s publicity rights.
Ah, the lengths that a one hit wonder will go to to milk all that it possibly can out of said one hit. What I like about you, indeed!
Comments
Having not slept through my /entire/ entertainment business course, I could tell you that the laws are very specific when it comes to sampling and covering music. They have a legitimate legal case. I don't remember specifics, having been groggy for most of the lectures, but if a cover is too close to an original, it does in fact infringe on copyright. There has to be a certain amount of difference. To actually tell you the specifics would require digging out my old textbooks, and that's not happening.
Posted by amea_gari | November 27, 2007 1:34 AM
Guitar Hero is by far my favorite game! It's way better then dance dance revolution or pump it..
Are you able to play in expert difficult?
Imagine doing 100% in that difficult.. Sounds impossible right? haha
have you seen this video?
weshow.com/r/us/p/25092/100_on_expert_level
This guy managed to achieve that score.. That's insane!
I bet he is a professional real guitar player...
Posted by Victor | November 28, 2007 12:51 PM