Can Music Games Make a Comeback?
by Jake Weston, posted on 02 June 2011 / 1,854 Views
February 9, 2011: The day the music died. At least, that's how it felt to thousands of Guitar Hero fans after Activision announced they were putting the series on an indefinite hiatus. While many fans were saddened to hear this news, arguably even more fans were overjoyed, having grown tired of the yearly releases of the series and its spin-offs. Since the original Guitar Hero's release in 2005, the franchise has spawned no less than 24 games in the series. Talk about milking the franchise. However, Guitar Hero and its successive spin-offs did a lot of good not only for gaming, but for rock music as well.
As both a gamer and musician, I was ecstatic when I first heard of Guitar Hero before its release. A game that combines my love for video games and music? Count me in. Like millions of other high schoolers in the mid 2000's, I was obsessed with Guitar Hero . Working my way up to expert, unlocking all of the songs and guitars, five-starring every song, and hitting 100% of the notes. I even named my Guitar Hero band after my real life band, Spanking Rodriguez (since broken up).
The remaining members of Spanking Rodriguez have since obtained varying degrees of success
Guitar Hero II had me even more excited. A new tracklist, larger set, and multiplayer? Yes, please. Guitar Hero II kept me on my plastic instrument until my fingers ached and my eyes started seeing everything as scrolling upward (I wasn't the only one this happened to, right?). Guitar Hero II proved to be an even bigger success than the original, and of course a sequel was announced for the next year.
However, all good things must come to an end. I bought both Rock Band and Guitar Hero III, but soon after, the novelty of hitting five plastic buttons in rhythm to colored lights on a screen set to the same songs I had been listening to for years had worn off. After coming to the realization that the series would continue to release annually with nothing but new songs each year, I decided pack it up and sell my plastic instruments. It was a sad day indeed, but I realized that I was done with these games.
That's not to say the genre is bad. Guitar Hero almost singlehandedly inspired a whole new generation of young guitar players and introduced classic rock tunes and great modern bands to an audience that otherwise would never have heard them. Rock Band took the genre to the next level with full band play, and pioneered in the realm of downloadable content. DJ Hero sparked some life back into the series, and really it's kind of sad that those games did not achieve the sales they deserved.
Nevertheless, Activision and Harmonix oversaturated the genre, and like all fads, its popularity took a nosedive. Now, it appears that the music game genre is all but dead. After years of annual sequels with minimal improvements (and diminishing sales), it appears that Activision has killed the franchise. Yet, there is a new hope on the horizon: Ubisoft's upcoming Rocksmith. Rather than simulating guitar playing, Rocksmith is the real deal. You plug your guitar directly into your console of choice, and the beauty is that it works with any electric guitar. As a guitar player, this could not excite me more. This takes the concepts that Guitar Hero and Rock Band introduced to its next logical step. While Rock Band 3 allows you to play real guitar, keyboard and electronic drums to its tracks, you are required to buy specific periferals for the feature. Not so with Rocksmith. Of course, if you want to find out more, you could just read our preview of Rocksmith here.
So, could Rocksmith reignite the popularity of the music genre? I certainly think so. While it may not end up being the juggernaut that Guitar Hero was, I can easily see this game becoming a popular teaching tool for beginning guitar players around the world, and will no doubt inspire more to pick up the instrument. With the industry being as it is, there will surely be copycats if Rocksmith turns out to be a success. I may be biased, but I really hope that this ends up being the case, as the world is in dire need of young aspiring rock stars. So while some may moan at the thought of the music genre making a comeback, I say: Let's get rockin'.
Disclaimer: This article is the work of one writer and does not necessarily represent the views of gamrFeed or VGChartz.
