Video games: Does being great at "Guitar Hero" really mean anything?

We've been wondering this, if only because it shows, yet again, that people who want to live vicariously through their rock 'n' roll idols have been able to since the beginnings of the "Guitar Hero"/"Rock Band" age really can sort of go and gain marginal amounts of fame for it.  Which makes us a little more than ill.

And, so, when news just broke that a 14-year-old from Texas set the Guinness Book world record for the "Guitar Hero" game (seriously reminding us here of the whole "Super Mario Bros. 3" contest in "The Wizard") and has since gotten himself a sponsorship deal, we got to thinking about whether or not this translates to pretty much anything at all of value.

We mean, sure, bragging about video game prowess is something we've all done at one point or another (we, for instance, used to get quarters to buy lunch in middle school killing kids at "Street Fighter 2"), but getting sponsored for video games?  This is in The New York Times.  Which is, of course, retarded.

Danny said he had destroyed about 80 plastic "Guitar Hero" controllers in the last nine months with his intense play, which is the subject of a regular live webcast (at ustream.tv/GH3Phenom) and which recently earned him an endorsement deal with a gaming team and event promoter, eMazingGaming.com.

“When you’re hitting that many notes and playing that fast, it just terrorizes the controller,” said Scott Johnson, 45, Danny’s father.

(mp3)    Hot Water Music - Rock Singer

Godspeed!