Flagstaff rocks at Guitar Hero tournament
Florian Dotti - May 1st, 2008This Saturday, Jeremy Credo of Flag Gamers and Daniel Dean helped organize a Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock tournament hosted by Arizona Music Pro (AMP), off of Route 66.
“I really wanted to tap into the enormous popularity of the Guitar Hero video game and try to transfer some of that excitement into an event that would expose these gamers to the realm of playing a real guitar,” said Lance Roederer, owner of AMP.
All sorts of people were in attendance, ranging from 10-year-olds with lunchboxes strung across their shoulders to 20-something punk rockers to 30-year-old parents.
The competition, which took place in the music store’s front parking lot, was separated into three tents, each representing the game’s three levels of difficulty: “Medium,” “Hard” and “Expert.” There was no ”Easy” division.
All registered players were automatically entered in a raffle for a chance to win a Squire guitar and amp. The lucky winner was Michael Cook, who now has a chance to practice his guitar lessons with the snazzy electric guitar.
Jason Shinn, a construction management major, registered in the “Expert” category.
“I really wanted to win the guitar,” Shinn said. “I was kind of disappointed that it was in a raffle, but after seeing some of these guys play, I realized I wouldn’t have won first place anyway.”
And there were prizes, of course.
“In addition to the prize money, all participants were entered into a raffle to win a new electric guitar and amp along with free lessons,” Roederer said.
The man in charge of the event was Daniel Dean, who was busy trying to make sure things remained organized.
“Everyone has three songs, and the winner is based on the points scored,” Dean said.
Some of the competitors were hitting over 900 note streaks and completing the songs with 97 percent to 100 percent perfection. Others were just there to test their skills against some of the best rockers in Flagstaff.
“I was somewhere in between.” Shinn said, “I can usually hit 95 percent of the notes, but I just can’t get those huge streaks, and that’s how you get the crazy points.”
The tournament was held between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. The weather was clear and warm, and everyone in attendance stayed outside as t-shirts and other fun prizes were given away. Those who were not participating in the competion loitered, listening to the classic rock backround music or admiring the plethora of musical instruments (many gamers opted to bring their own guitars to the competition).
In the end, Scott Tabako Jr., David Caputo and Jeremy Credo placed first, second and third, respectively in the “Expert” division. In the “Hard” division, Buddy Ripley placed first, Gary Taha placed second and Tony Garcis placed third. Daniel Dean won first place in the “Medium” divison, Tyler Szenina won second place and Lance Suer took third.
“There were so many good players at this event,” Roederer said. “It’s good to know there are so many Guitar Hero players in town.”