Kotaku: frets on fire

Frets On Fire For The Blind

Stuart Houghton — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 03:00:00 MST

Although you might expect music based games like Guitar Hero to appeal to visually impaired gamers, they do tend to rely on on-screen cues which makes following a tune difficult/impossible.

Open-source Guitar Hero clone Frets On Fire lends itself to experimentation, so Eelke Folmer - a usability Professor at Nevada Reno University - has mashed it up with a wireless controller and a 'haptic feedback' glove to create the first Guitar Hero clone designed to be played by touch and sound alone.

Sure, it's a niche idea now, but I wouldn't bet against Mad Catz giving it a whirl if they see a buck or two to be made.

Blind Hero, Guitar Hero for the blind [Eelke Folmer]

Frets on Fire and the 360 Guitar

Mike Fahey — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 12:20:40 MDT

While not having a wireless guitar for Guitar Hero 2 on the Xbox 360 is certainly inconvenient from one standpoint, it does give us a certified Red Octane USB guitar controller for our PC. It's the perfect solution for those of us too lazy to order a PS2 to USB adapter. All you have to do is plug in the controller and download Microsoft's controller driver here (32 bit) or here (64 bit), and you're set.

Kotakuite molexrules has already tried it out with Frets on Fire, our favorite freeware PC guitar game, and aside from some issues with double strumming (fancy pants) it works like a charm. All he had to do was map the controls and go.

I'm looking forward to using FoF as a fallback, once I've finally conquered Possum Kingdom on expert in the year 2012, after my cybernetic fingers are installed. Michael Fahey

Guitar...Zero?

Mike Fahey — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 14:40:05 MST

There's a new PC Guitar Hero clone in town, and this one is much more of an outright clone than the popular Frets on Fire. Going by the title Guitar Zero, the game pretty much blatantly rips off GH, menus and all. The song interface itself is only slightly different.

Same meters, same scoring section, same song listing down to the font and layout. I'm going to guess this is a little too close to the real game to survive for any long period of time. As it stands the game only supports a guitar controller, so you'll need a PS2 to USB adapter to play it.

Honestly I'd rather play Frets on Fire, which has some really kickass music and at least tried to be original in presentation, delivering a somewhat unique experience on the PC rather than trying to simply duplicate greatness. Michael Fahey

Guitar Zero Alpha Release [ScoreHero.com Forums]

Clips: Frets On Fire Controlled With Wii-mote And Nunchuk.

fdemarco — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 15:00:00 MST

Frets on Fire is the free PC game that allows you to mimic the gameplay of Guitar Hero for those of you not fortunate enough to have the real game. You can even import GH 1 & 2 songs into the game if you have the discs in your possession. Why you'd want to play it on the keyboard when you've already got the actual game is beyond me, but that's another story.

Tiger over at Rhythm Gamer has created a GlovePIE script that will allow you to play Frets on Fire using your Wii remote an Nunchuk. He has provided videos showing side by side screens of him playing with the remote and the actual screen as it's being controlled. I'm sure many of you will cry "Fake!" on this one, but if you doubt it, you can try it for yourself. Tiger gives full instructions as well as a copy of his script on the Rhythm Gamer's website. The video below shows Tiger playing "Ace of Spades", imported over from GH1. Flynn De Marco

Frets On Fire GlovePIE script [Rhythm Gamer]

Frets on Fire Updated With Guitar Hero Song Importer

kotaku.com — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 06:01:41 MDT

Hey, neat. Frets on Fire, that cool little PC keyboard Guitar Hero clone, just got a swank little update that allows you to import Guitar Hero songs. You just plug in the DVD and click import, at which point, you can happily play along on the greasy keys of your $10 Dell with the sticky space bar. Then smash your keyboard into a million pieces, Pete Townshend style, at the end of an aced face-shredding solo. Florian Eckhardt

Frets on Fire [Official Site]

Guitar Hero Controller, Frets on Fire

brownlee — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 09:40:24 MDT

I know I'm just a huge Guitar Hero dork, but any time anyone sends me one of their cute little toy ukeleles hacked to play Frets on Fire, or a video of them hacking their Guitar Hero controller to play some licks on their PC, I smile and just spontaneously post. It's like a nocturnal jactitation — I just can't help myself. Florian Eckhardt

James Carey's Amazing Frets on Fire Guitar

brownlee — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 13:40:19 MDT

As a no-good potato humper, I loathe the brown-toothed, red-coat British. Not only did they steal all of Ireland's trees to replant Sherwood Forest (or so my codgery, Ivor-Cutler-like father liked to rave when in his cups), but they're just so smug and self-satisfied, which really honks me off: another smug, self-satisfied Eurocunt in the room really does degrade my entire (dare I say only?) schtick.

But I think I can forgive James Carey, editor of PC Format Magazine UK, for being British. Because not only is he a fellow Guitar Hero fan, but he built his own USB guitar for the Guitar Hero clone, Frets on Fire. He built it out of a toy guitar and an old USB joystick.

Jesus. Totally cooler than thou. How about sending one along for one of the lowly inhabitants of a land your people have spent hundreds of years gouging, enslaving, raping and exploiting, James? The least you can do, really. Florian Eckhardt

James Carey's Frets on Fire Guitar [PCFormat Blog]

Frets on Fire: Guitar Hero for Windows and Linux

brownlee — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 13:40:48 MDT

Frets on Fire is the latest entry in the computer-based Guitar Hero clones. Instead of a guitar, you wail away on your keyboard, strumming the Enter Key. You can even create your own songs in the song editor.

I'm not really sure it's worth bothering playing any of these games without the controller, but what Frets on Fire misses with its lack of a controller, it definitely makes up with in the style of its humor and presentation. And that tutorial is just darling: "Und hello everyone. My name is Jurgen Guntherswarchzhaffenstrassen."

If you don't have Guitar Hero, this is probably the next best thing. Go give it a shot. Florian Eckhardt

Frets on Fire (via GrimGamer)