“Guitar Hero” Purchase May Increase MTV’s Weekly Music Quotient By As Much As 30 Minutes

noah | December 19, 2006 9:42 am

Today’s New York Times takes a look at MTV’s attempts to spotlight the video game Guitar Hero–now an MTV-owned property–in its programming:

For MTV the expanding popularity of the game is fueling all kinds of ideas for future applications. (One that already has emerged: The Guitar Hero wedding, with a competition at the reception.)

[MTV music president Van] Toffler said MTV is looking into ways to adapt the game into its television programming. One application that fits nicely is an inclusion of the game in the online “virtual world” MTV is building on shows like “Laguna Beach.”

Mr. Toffler said MTV would incorporate Guitar Hero into a virtual world accompanying its annual Video Music Awards, where the avatar (self-created character) of the computer user would play the game before entering the audience for the awards show.

“Guitar Hero” has crept into bits of MTV’s programming already; Panic! At The Disco shredded a bit on TRL (above) a few weeks back. It was about as thrilling as watching other people play a video game can be, and we flipped over to a Law & Order rerun for a few minutes. Didn’t MTV’s execs ever watch Starcade? Watching others–yes, even celebrities–dork out is not exactly compelling stuff, no matter how many “YYZ” riffs Brandon Urie can replicate.

Virtual Rock Is Real Hit for MTV [NY Times]

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