The Future

It's kind of interesting to see how video games have taken off in the last 15 years. They used to be much simpler, but now you can play games with people in Japan. The phenomenon of Guitar Hero took off around parties and homes since I have been in college and has to spin-offs like RockBand.
Although the games are fun and a good way to be social, what cost is it coming at? I look around my neighborhood that is full of kids and no one is ever outside playing. If a kid can get all of his physical exercice sitting at a game console than I am sadly mistaken, but the truth is they can't. Eventually people are going to look at this as a problem.
I can't really say that much because I don't know what it's like to raise kids and I am not going to tell people how to do it, but sitting at a high-def screen 24/7 can have certain effects.
If kids can just sit at a television or in the back of a minivan and play pretend instruments on gaming consoles will they ever learn to play the real ones.
I just saw on VH1 a show that was hosted by Sebastian Bach and Alice Cooper called Rock Band 2. New shows are shown every Wednesday. Clips can be see at http://www.vh1.com/shows/series/rock_band_2_the_stars/?source=globalnav. It is a contest to see who can play Rock Band the best. Rock Band is the game equipped with a mic, drums, guitar, and bass. This is suppose to be a music video television station. I know that meaning has been skewed since the advent of reality television, but this is rediculous.
Artificial music playing? That is hard to swallow. I guess one positive is that they play good bands on the game like the Who, Rage Against the Machine and Motorhead. It's just different to be a kid these days. When I was younger, which was not that long ago, we used to listen to albums and teach ourselves songs on the guitar. At lot has changed over the last decade or so.