Guitar Hero

Guitar Hero is a music rhythm video game developed by Harmonix and published by RedOctane for the PlayStation 2 in 2005. It is the first installment in the Guitar Hero series. Guitar Hero was released in North America in November 2005, in Europe in April 2006, and in Australia in June 2006. The development of the game was the result of a collaboration between RedOctane and Harmonix to bring a Guitar Freaks-like game to the United States. The game features a guitar-shaped controller (which resembles a miniature Gibson SG) that the player uses to simulate playing rock music. The gameplay is similar to that of GuitarFreaks: the player presses the keys of the guitar controller in time with the notes displayed on the game screen. The game features covers of 30 popular rock songs spanning five decades of rock music, from the 1960s to 2005, as well as bonus tracks. Guitar Hero became a surprise hit, winning critical acclaim and awards from major video game magazines. It is considered one of the most influential games of the first decade of the 21st century. The game's success launched the Guitar Hero franchise, which has since generated more than $2 billion in sales and spawned several sequels, expansions and other game-related products.