So far, WSVG has been a lot of fun. Probably one of my favorite events has been the Guitar Hero competition, which has been going on the whole weekend.
It started on day one with open tryouts for the first two days. I watched a lot of them, and the judges were very critical. Rather than going with the in-game score, players were evaluated by a panel of three judges, each giving a score out of 10 for a maximum possible score of 30. Even players that managed to post scores well beyond me, say an 85% on a reasonably difficult song on expert were given scores like 5 or 6, and it wasn’t until today that I realized why.
Today (Day 3) was the actual tournament itself. Twenty-four players who preregistered and another 8 that qualified during the open tryouts competed. In each round, the players were scored on three criteria: difficultly of the song they chose, accuracy, and style. It was the style that really made this tourney fun to watch, but I’ll get to that in a minute.
I didn’t get a chance to watch Round 1, so when I got there, it had already been knocked down to 16 players. In Round 2, some really impressive scores were posted, but one of my favorite performers didn’t actually get to advance. This guy walked on stage complete with American Flag T-Shirt, cowboy hat, and sunglasses. I could tell right away what song he was going to play, and my suspicion was quickly confirmed: Freebird. At one point in the song, while still playing, he grabbed a match from a container that was taped to the neck of his guitar, struck it on the guitar, and proceeded to try and light part of the guitar, right above the strum bar. In the end, it seemed to be a bad idea, as he got distracted and failed the song at 71% in. The tourney rules stated that if a song was failed, the player received a score of zero, and the announcer started to usher him off the stage. However, in a show of support, two of the judges held up a “10″ and a “9″ respectively, and the crowd rose to send him off with a standing ovation.
Otherwise, two performers really stood out that round: Kov and Wolf, and they proceeded to prove themselves over the rest of the tournament. Kov made the whole thing a lot of fun to watch, and was very involved with the audience, giving high-fives, blowing kisses, and even pulling a kid up onto the stage and smiling for the cameras, all without missing a beat. Wolf showed off by playing difficult solos one-handed, and really won the support of the crowd. After watching only one round, I was sure that one of them would be taking home the grand prize.
The next round was the final eight players. Kov started off my climbing onto the scaffolding behind the stage to play his intro, then jumping down onto the stage as soon as the song picked up in pace. Wolf walked onto the stage and set an open energy drink on the judges table. Halfway through the song, he walked over, grabbed his drink, and proceeded to play the solo one-handed while drinking out of the can. For their efforts, Kov received a 29 out of 30 while Wolf took the only perfect 30 of the day. They were both well ahead of the third place contestant who finished with a 24.
A well-deserved honorable mention goes out to the player who chose to play Misserlou during the final round. While he finished with a mid-80′s percentage, the second judge gave him only a 6, and was met with booing and screams of “You try playing it!”
The championship round had Kov and Wolf both playing one last song. Kov played either Laid to Rest or Killing in the Name, I’ll update this if I can find out for sure, and Wolf chose YYZ for his finale. After both finished to overwhelming applause, it was time to name the champion, but with one problem: both had scored 28 out of 30, and the championship was a tie. This prompted a chant of “Pro Face-Off! Pro Face-Off!” from the crowd. After reviewing the rules, the announcer stated that both players would compete in a head-to-head match playing a song of the judges’ choice. This prompted a new chant: “Jordan, Jordan, Jordan.” The judges caved to the demands of the audience and chose Jordan as the final tie-breaking song; both Kov and Wolf’s facial expressions turned to dread.
By the time the tie-breaker started, the audience was going crazy. The two seemed to be a great match for one another, and the scores were neck-and-neck for the duration of the song. After the song finally ended, Wolf took a bow and Kov proceeded to smash his guitar on the stage, sending pieces flying. Then it was time for the moment of truth. The first judge, who was scoring based on overall difficultly gave both players a perfect 10 (C’mon, it’s Jordan on expert). The next judge was scoring based on accuracy. Ironically, while Kov had the better note percentage (84% vs. 81%), Wolf had beaten him score-wise; both received 9′s from the second judge. Finally came the last judge, who was scoring based on style of the performance. While he gave both players great reviews, in the end, it was Kov’s guitar-smash that sealed the deal. Kov was given a 10, and Wolf received a 9.
The entire event was filmed by CBS, and should be shown on July 29th if I recall correctly. It was a ton of fun, and anyone who likes the game should take a look.