Guitar Hero III for PC Awfully Out of Tune

Some would argue that if God had intended man to play Guitar Hero on PC that he would have included a damn current-gen wireless controller with the package.

Those people are probably right, but the die-hard PC gamer that I am, I was willing to overlook the wired X-plorer controller (complete with the bloody X-box logo on it!) that came with the PC set.

What I couldn't get past was the constant crashes, the poor online community, and the overall glitchy feel to the game. Even with patches, painful calls to tech support, and more hours spent troubleshooting software/drivers/hardware that I care to think about right now, I still couldn't get this nightmare of a port to work correctly. I had to finally send it back for a full refund. Get this - GameStop was willing to make an exception to their no returns on PC merchandise after hearing my story. Yes, it was THAT bad. GameStop.

So what did I learn in the last month and a half? You know, besides praying that Aspyr is never put in charge of any gaming product that you love.

PC gaming is not dying. It's being murdered. And it's crap like this that's killing it.

See, I generally get the reasoning behind all the money going into console gaming. Because it's cheaper and easier than building a gaming PC, you have a much wider audience to release to.
But then instead of treating the PC as a smaller, but unique market, developers are just looking at it as an afterthought. And it shows in the quality.

The exception is when games are developed specifically for PC. That's why Valve has actually been the one beacon of light with their Orange Box. Think of how sad a statement that is. The PC game of the year by most standards isn't even a single friggen game. It's just a collection of games that are fun...and work.

You have to give some kudos to 2k for the simultaneous-platform release of BioShock. It looked and played great on PC. Even if it was barely changed for platform specifics.

RockStar has also bucked the trend, but they don't really count since their background is in PC. You know GTA4 is going to rock for PC, but you also know that it's going to be six months late. Is that that price you have to pay for quality?

I guess so because otherwise the PC is left out in the cold. Mass Effect, Assassin's Creed, Halo 3, etc. It's beyond me why the biggest console games aren't immediately given quality PC ports, but with every half-ass attempt that goes by, the enthusiasm for doing so must dry up a little.

Yes, I know. There's still Crysis and Call of Duty 4, but it's not enough. I need to game at maximum efficiency and ports like Guitar Hero III are ruining my attempts.

I also realize there's a good argument to be made about why any self-respecting gamer would want to play the Guitar Hero series. I don't have a real answer for you, except that it's like when a buddy of mine played the Sims 2 for a couple of weeks straight to be elected mayor and become a self-made millionaire. To remind the non-gamer gaming community who's boss around these parts. Plus, okay, it's fun too.

Oh, and you know why I really, really have the urge to play Guitar Hero III right now?

Because I can't.