Gear Wire’s Coverage of the You Rock Guitar at NAMM’10
January 19, 2010 by JR · Leave a Comment
GearWire stopped by our booth at NAMM to check out the YOU ROCK GUITAR. They were impressed and put together a little article & video Inspired Instruments You Rock Guitar In Action At NAMM NAMM was an incredible event for Inspired. Several renowned musicians stopped by to see it. Nuno Betterncourt, Les Robot, Yogi Lonich, and Peter Tork, and others spent a little time with us. So did the crew from Sepultura. Everybody’s getting it right away. We thought there might be resistance from skeptics, but there were few of those and the skepticism changed into smiles once they tried it for themselves. We’re posting images & video on our Facebook & You Tube Pages.
“>video. Check it out.
You Rock Guitar Shines bright at Consumer Electronics Show
January 12, 2010 by JR · Leave a Comment
Inspired Instruments / You Rock Guitar
Print/Web Coverage
Tues., Jan. 12, 2010
USA Today, Sound, motion and nostalgia get their video-game licks in
(print content and online video feature)
http://www.usatoday.com/life/lifestyle/2010-01-11-cesvidgames11_ST_N.htm
SDRNews.com/Geekazine.com (podcast, JR interview; Techpodcast Network at NBC Universal Show #2, begins around 21:30)
Gaming Nexus, You Rock Guitar @ CES 2010
1/7/2010
http://www.gamingnexus.com/FullNews/You-Rock-Guitar–CES-2010/Item15760.aspx
PC World, CES 2010 Rewind: A Look Back at the Gadgets (slide #14 of 41)
1/11/2010
http://www.pcworld.com/article/186592/ces_2010_rewind_a_look_back_at_the_gadgets.html
Appletell.com
Gamertell.com, CES 2010: Inspired Instruments to show off You Rock Guitar usb string guitar controller
1/4/2010
GamePro, You Rock Guitar is hybrid of real guitar and controller
1/8/2010
http://www.gamepro.com/article/news/213504/you-rock-guitar-is-hybrid-of-real-guitar-and-controller/
The Adrenaline Vault, CES 2010 Highlights a “real” guitar
1/12/2010
http://www.avault.com/news/ces-2010-highlights-real-guitar/
N4G.com
http://www.n4g.com/ps3/News-452303.aspx
Nasdaq.com
Ars Technica, Guitar Hero gets real: the hidden genius of the “You Rock”
1/10/2010
The Tech Herald, You Rock Guitar offers gamers genuine musical greatness
1/11/2010
MWD Technology News, CES Showed Brand New “You Rock” Guitar for Guitar Hero or Rock Band Coming in February
1/10/2010
Gadget Review, CES 2010: You Rock Guitar Hands On
1/9/2010
http://www.gadgetreview.com/2010/01/ces-2010-you-rock-guitar-hands-on.html
Gearlog, You Rock Guitar: Like Guitar Hero, Only Less Fake
1/8/2010
http://www.gearlog.com/2010/01/you_rock_guitar_like_guitar_he.php
The Money Times, ‘You Rock Guitar’ to better gaming experience!
1/11/2010
Geek Sugar, You Rock Guitar Brings Your Gaming to Life
1/11/2010
http://www.geeksugar.com/6994504
Gearwire, You Rock Guitar: Six “String” Controller Is A Gaming Device AND A Real Instrument (NAMM)
1/6/2010
http://www.gearwire.com/yourockguitar.html
Fretbase, A Real Guitar and a Guitar Hero Controller in One
1/12/2010
http://www.fretbase.com/blog/2010/1/a-real-guitar-and-a-guitar-hero-controller-in-one/
SmartHouse, Real Guitar Controller For Guitar Hero
1/5/2010
http://www.smarthouse.com.au/CES_2010/S3E7B9G3
ChannelNews, Real Guitar Controller For Guitar Hero
1/5/2010
http://www.channelnews.com.au/Events_And_Associations/CES_2010/S3E7B9G3
GameBetties, Rock Out For Real: You Rock Guitar
1/11/2010
http://www.gamebetties.com/?p=1317
GameCulture, It’s a Game Controller, No It’s a Real Guitar: You Rock Wants to Do It All
1/11/2010
Portfolio, Taking Guitar Hero To Another Level
1/11/2010
TrustedReviews.com
http://www.trustedreviews.com/video-games/news/2010/01/08/CES-2010–YouRock-Guitar-Rocks-Out/p1
2d-x.com
http://www.2d-x.com/ces-2010-you-rock-guitar-feels-like-an-instrument-madd-skills-not-needed/
GearDiary.com
GuitarInfoZone
http://www.guitarinfozone.net/ces-2010-you-rock-guitar-hands-on-gadget-review-blog/
The Word is getting out about Inpired Instrument’s You Rock Guitar
January 12, 2010 by JR · Leave a Comment
The You Rock Guitar Pre-Sale Deal
September 14, 2009 by admin · Leave a Comment
Here’s how it works:
1. You place your order for a You Rock Guitar
2. You tell some friends and give us their email address.
3. We do the rest. We’ll email them referencing you.
4. If they also place a pre-order, you get a $10 discount on your order.
Here’s the totally cool part, you can refer a bunch of friends and save big on your purchase. All they have to do is ultimately buy a guitar and you had to refer them first.
What’s the hitch? No hitch. Your friends can do the same thing. This is that viral “friends-only” thing gone rock and roll gamer. Everyone wins.
The You Rock Guitar is the first guitar that connects the world of video games and playing real music by combining the best of both worlds. Plug it into an amplifier, a computer, headphones and play it like a musical instrument, or with GameFlex™ cartridges to any of the console video games. It’s ideal for the millions of Guitar Hero and Rock Band guys tired of being told, why don’t you learn a real guitar… OK, this is better than real.
With Guitar Hero – you became one.
With Rockband – you joined the band
With You Rock Guitar – YOU ROCK!
You can learn more at our website: www.YouRockGuitar.com, including links to several videos:
This video will show the major features and benefits of the You Rock Guitar.
http://www.youtube.com
This video is an interview with the Guinness Book of Records holder for Guitar Hero, Danny Johnson.
Danny Johnson Video
This last one is older, but it features George Pajon Jr. of the very popular band the Black Eyed Peas, playing a Rev 1 version of our guitar.
http://www.youtube.com
Our YouTube site
http://www.youtube.com/user/YouRockGuitar
Follow our tweets about gaming, the gaming market and guitars.
http://twitter.com/yourockguitar
Our pre-order form
http://www.yourockguitar.com/order-form/
Please become a fan on Facebook. Search for the “You Rock Guitar” fan page.
Have fun, Rock will happen.
The Inspired Team
info@inspired.com
Guitar Hero Phenom Danny Johnson visits Inspired Instruments to try the You Rock Guitar for himself and provide input into it’s final stages of development.
August 26, 2009 by JR · Leave a Comment
Guitar Hero Phenom Danny Johnson, checks out the You Rock Guitar
Irvine – September 2009 – World-renowned 5-time Guinness World Record holder Danny Johnson stopped by Inspired Instruments this past week to try the YOU ROCK GUITAR and provide valuable insights into the final stages of product development. “Danny is undisputedly the best Guitar Hero player in the world, but he’s also a musician. That qualifies him uniquely to test and help us review the finishing touches on the YOU ROCK GUITAR” said Kevin Kent, Inspired’s CEO. A 5-time record holder, with 3 more records awaiting approval, Danny is the only player in recorded history to score 100% on every Guitar Hero game ever made by Activision, earning him records, the title of Guitar Hero Guru, and featuring him at the forefront of a growing number of players that are continuously striving for challenges and excellence in the world of musical video games.
Danny’s sizable following exemplifies the shared passion by millions of gaming enthusiasts around the world. Like many players, Danny progressively mastered each of the songs, games, and levels. After hearing about the You Rock Guitar at E3 in Los Angeles this summer Danny decided he had to see it and play it for himself. Here’s what he had to say.
“The YOU ROCK GUITAR is awesome. It goes far beyond what a traditional gamer can do, but it’s so much more. It feels completely amazing,” said Danny after trying it for himself. “When I first started playing Guitar Hero, I thought about playing real guitar, but I couldn’t do it with what was available.”
“As an aspiring guitar player I never found enough opportunities to truly enjoy playing on my own.” Says JR deSouza, Inspired’s executive VP. “The guitar was often too loud or out of tune, and there were few digital tools at my disposal back then. There was a big gap between my aspirations and my reality.” The YOU ROCK GUITAR is designed for just that. It combines the instant gratification and ease of use of video games with the ability to play, create, and share real music of the digital instrument. “It’s the best of both worlds, guitar gaming and guitar playing.” says the original inventor Cliff Elion.
Cliff went on to say, “in addition to the feedback, Danny’s input helped with the final tweaks of the gaming aspect of the neck – hand positioning when playing as fast as Danny does is critical. Gamers will be glad Danny stopped by.”
“The YOU ROCK Guitar is flat out amazing” says Danny. “It teaches kids how to play real guitar by playing real strings and frets, not just buttons and a paddle. Now that I’ve seen it, I realize this is what I’ve been waiting for!”
“It’s interesting to see the exact same passion and desire coming from both ends of the spectrum, the video gaming and music playing worlds. The YOU ROCK GUITAR allows players anywhere on that spectrum, from gamers to professional musicians, to benefit from all that a digital guitar has to offer,” says Kevin Kent, CEO.
JR adds “I’ve been involved with a number of new-to-the-market products in my career, but few with as many immediately recognizable benefits. And it’s not just Danny. People look at this product and they get it. We’re hoping Danny will help us spread the word, passion is infectious.”
YOU ROCK GUITAR… Have Fun, Rock Will Happen.
About Inspired Instruments
Inspired Instruments is dedicated to providing customers with innovation at every opportunity, real music for real gamers. You Rock Guitar and GameFlex™ are registered trademarks of Inspired Instruments, Inc.
Guitar Hero Phenom Danny Johnson talks about playing with the You Rock Guitar on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/user/YouRockGuitar
Get ready to rock – The Pre-Order List is here. For you and your friends. http://www.yourockguitar.com/order-form/
GameFlex™ Update – Video in Español
August 22, 2009 by Kevin · Leave a Comment
We’ve been making a lot of progress and having some real fun. For fall we are testing and completing code on the GameFlex cartridges for the Wii for both RockBand and Guitar Hero. Then we will finish the one for the PS3. BTW the new PS3 looks quite cool. We had tremendous response to the GameFlex this last week at Danny Johnsons, Orange County fan party. Here is a shot of EXPERT mode player Omar Ramirez rocking out with the You Rock Guitar and the Wii on RockBand. For fun we even had Omar put up a little video on our YouTube channel en Español about the guitar. All the folks were a lot of fun at this event and we had never been surrounded by so many guys who could play all the songs and freaking expert mode!
We also did a fun interview in English and Spanish.
Check out the video with Omar in Spanish
Danny Johnson, “GHP” Experiences the You Rock Guitar
August 20, 2009 by Kevin · Leave a Comment
We had quite a weekend playing with the You Rock Guitar. Scott Johnson, Danny’s dad, Scott invited us over to a big party they were having in the OC for gamers. We brought the You Rock Guitar, an amp, a Wii and a willingness to listen to what gamers at the top of their game had to say about the You Rock Guitar. Some big surprises? You bet. The first was the love of the frets and strings verses the paddles and buttons. Evidently the buttons fail these experts all the time. (Who knew?) OK, so we have a lot of new video to show you of Danny Johnson being interviewed, plus our pals Omar and Doug, both Guitar Hero experts.
Click HERE to see the video interview with Danny Johnson and JR DeSouza
A parting shot of a bunch of us at the Danny Johnson party.
About the Founders
June 25, 2009 by Kevin · Leave a Comment
Cliff Elion, President
Cliff Elion, President and Kevin Kent, CEO have known each for almost 3 decades. Meeting at Linn Electronics in the early 1980’s– both brought on to launch the Linn 9000. Cliff was in the engineering department and Kevin Director of Sales and Marketing. Even during the trying time of launching the ill-fated the Linn 9000, the two shared a common love of music and technology and they both shared a similar quirky sense of humor. One from the south of California, one from the South of Africa. They left Linn to launch K-Muse with a patented guitar pick-up technology. That product came to be the Photon guitar, used by luminaries such as John Mcglaughlin, Bunny Brunel, Larry Coryell, Brian Bromberg, Carlos Alomar, etc. They later sold the company off to Gibson Guitar Corporation.
Getting back together after almost 20 years to complete the development and launch the You Rock Guitar. Taking the original G-Stik concept and creating one of the world’s most versatile musical instruments they are very pleased with the progress of the You Rock Guitar. “There has never been an instrument that touches so many consumer electronic customers.” states Kent.
Kevin Kent, CEO
XBox is here to stay! At least for a while…
June 19, 2009 by JR · Leave a Comment
Microsoft: No new Xbox coming next year
by Ina Fried
No matter what people thought they heard Steve Ballmer say in Chicago,
Microsoft is not planning to introduce a successor to the Xbox 360 next
year.
In a blog posting on Thursday night, Microsoft said that the Xbox 360 is
"not even halfway" through its current lifecycle and will be here long into
the next decade. The company is planning to introduce a new
gesture-recognizing controller, code-named Project Natal, and that is
expected next year, although Microsoft says it isn't talking timing with
regards to Natal.
"As the Xbox team stated at E3 two weeks ago, we are not even halfway
through the current console generation lifecycle and believe Xbox 360 will
be the entertainment center in the home for long into the next decade,"
Microsoft's Major Nelson said in a blog post. "Project Natal will be an
important part of this platform, but we have not confirmed a launch date at
this time."
Of course, that is what has opened the door to all the speculation. In his
posting, CNET colleague David Carnoy notes that Microsoft says it isn't
planning an all-new Xbox 360 either.
That doesn't completely shut the door on new hardware for 2010. Although
Microsoft has said it plans to offer Natal as an add-on to the Xbox 360, it
seems reasonable that the company might well come out with some new bundle
or set-up to accompany Natal's arrival as it looks to convert all of those
Wii owners.
During her years at CNET News, Ina Fried has changed beats several times,
changed genders once, and covered both of the Pirates of Silicon Valley.
These days, most of her attention is focused on Microsoft. E-mail Ina.
CNET
Beyond Binary
June 18, 2009 8:52 PM PDT
Games continue to appeal to a broader audience
June 2, 2009 by JR · Leave a Comment
Videogames attract more players
Two-thirds of Americans play; 42% own a game console
By Susanne Ault — Video Business, 6/2/2009
JUNE 2 | PHYSICAL: The Entertainment Software Assn. reports that 68% of U.S.
households enjoy computer or video games, representing a 3% uptick over
2008.
Adult gamers have been playing for 12 years on average, marking a decrease
from 2008. That indicates to ESA that more people are picking up game
controllers for the first time.
Releasing the study during the annual E3 Expo game conference, which it
produes, ESA touted the category¹s ability to attract new players.
³This is the new golden age of entertainment software. Our products are now
being enjoyed by over two-thirds of Americans,² said Michael D. Gallagher,
CEO of the ESA. ³As the findings of the 2009 Essential Facts illustrate,
more and more Americans across all demographics are now embracing the
interactive entertainment experience that computer and video games provide.²
In other findings in ESA¹s Essential Facts study, 42% of Americans own a
game console. The average player is 35 years old, and 43% of players are
female.
Almost half of all games sold are rated ŒE¹ for Everyone by the
Entertainment Software Ratings Board.
Gaming is increasingly a family activity, adds ESA. More than 60% of parents
with children under 18 believe gaming is a positive part of their kids¹
lives. These parents are present when kids purchase/rent games 92% of the
time. Also, these parents say they monitor their children¹s play 91% of the
time.
©2009 Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights
reserved.
