Despite having perhaps the best song list so far of the Guitar Hero franchise (”One” and “Welcome to the Jungle” were perhaps my two favorite songs back in the day), the public mood seems to be souring on Guitar Hero III, and interest is ratcheting up in the competing product Rock Band, which of course is being put together by the team that did the original Guitar Hero.

It probably doesn’t help that Guitar Hero Rocks the 80s was widely received as a quick and dirty cash in (really, $40 bucks for no new venues, no unlocks and 6 characters?), but that’s only a hint of the problem. Raph was among the first to spot trouble, when he spotted this article pointing out mocap for strip clubs.

They fully updated the graphics, including doing motion capture for the avatars, and the NPCs in the background, like the go-go girls in the stage that’s set in a strip club. Neversoft has a full-sized motion capture studio at their facility in California, so why not make good use of it? Especially if you have to mocap some strippers. Tough work, this rock stuff.

Speaking as the unenlightened designer who actually has no problem with a little jiggle factor in games, I agree with Raph – this strikes me as a horrible blunder. Guitar Hero’s unique gameplay stands out in being one of the games where women actually demand the controller. My coworkers’ wives and girlfriends, people who normally don’t game at all, ask me when I’m doing the next GH get-together at my place. Alienating them isn’t a good start.

But you’ll always have the hardcore, right? Not necessarily. Check out this blog post about lunch between two top Guitar Hero fanbois.

To play at the highest levels, the game required technique. It required skill. It really didn’t require any knowledge of gaming at all. There were lots of funny, clever bits, but it wasn’t really about gaming at all.

So what did Activision/Red Octane decide to do with Guitar Hero III? They decided to “game up” the game. In that single decision, they told the serious player that they fundamentally had no understanding of what the game was really about.

Boss battles? With power-ups? The horror. Take a look at this video, but be ready to cringe. “Whammy” power-ups? “Amp overload?” Your notes can actually disappear during this goofy battle.

And the more casual players are becoming more concerned that the game is becoming too hard. Most often asked question on the forums: hey, uh, I don’t really have to beat Dragonforce to beat the game, do I? These are people who ended up walking away from GHII in disgust after being stomped by “Freya” and “Psychobilly Freakout” repeatedly.

Meanwhile, Rock Band continues to build quiet momentum, based on a focus on the music. According to recent buzz, they’re planning on releasing whole albums of content as extra downloads, with Nirvana’s Nevermind and the Who’s Who’s Next being first off the presses. One thing’s for sure, there will be no shortage of toy guitar wankery going on this Christmas.

Original comments thread is here.