Filed under: Music + Entertainment, Weird
Sick of those geeky Christmas lights displays choreographed to Manheim Steamroller? Wanna see what happens when you combine twinkle lights, Guitar Hero, and a ridiculous amount of time and effort?
According to Cnet, former Disney special effects guru Ric Turner has taken front yard Christmas light extravaganzas to a mesmerizing new level. Using a Nintendo Wii and few high tech lighting controllers from Light-O-rama, Ric has rigged up his very own neighbor-terrorizing, virtual guitar challenge: Christmas Light Hero.
Set to the tune of Eric Johnson's "Cliffs of Dover," this LED sorcerer has transfixed over a hundred thousand viewers on YouTube (which aside from visiting this guy's house, is the best way to appreciate Christmas Light Hero) in only a few days.
Reportedly, Turner found a way to plug his trusty Nintendo Wii into the inputs of these magical lighting controllers, which in turn allowed him to convert his 21,268 lights into a playable (albeit highly challenging) version of the insanely popular video game. No kidding.
Challengers can step up to the guitar and attempt to shred while looking at nothing but the lights on Turner's garage door. The game is apparently set to "easy," but of course the Christmas light graphics are a bit more difficult to interpret.
An optional TV screen is available for those who need it. However, if you use the screen you're disqualified from the list of high scores and will never be remembered in the Christmas Light Hero hall of fame. Thus far, no one has made it through the entire Eric Johnson wail-a-thon error free.
Could you put your neighbors' uninspired Christmas decorations to shame with a similar interactive lighting display? Obviously it takes some expertise ... and a lot of guess work. According to Turner's interview with Make Online, "If the game and the lighting sequences start together, they will stay in very good sync through the length of the song ... I have some ideas to automate the initial show/game sync, but for now you have to push doorbell buttons at the right moments."
For those of you out there wondering if this was some kind of viral marketing campaign, this guy doesn't appear to have any relation to Activision (the game company that created Guitar Hero). Will he be forced to develop a relationship with Activision's copyright attorneys? Let's hope not.
As long as he's not charging admission, I bet he's OK. In fact, he probably should get paid for the free advertising.
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