The saturation of the music game genre is reaching absurd heights, as companies desperately and pathetically scrabble to take a piece of the pie richly cooked by the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises. It has gotten so bad now that, in the case of XS Games' PopStar Guitar, retailers were unwilling to stock yet another squeaky plastic toy on their shelves.
XS Games (such an ironic name) was forced to change its peripheral to a silly but small add-on that could be fixed onto a Wii remote. Walmart was apparently relieved as Hell when it saw the fix, dreading yet another big Fisher Price instrument. Problem soldved for PopStar Guitar, but for the music genre itself? Things are getting saturated as Hell.
Music games have now overtaken Sports games in terms of popularity, according to a new report. They are the second most popular type of game after the incredibly broad "action" genre and with this popularity comes eager game makers with very little imagination but a lot of dollar signs in their eyes.
We are now at the point where peripheral-based music games are being turned away. The genre is going to collapse under the weight of its own "me too" bullsh*t if such chicanery continues, with only Rock Band and Guitar Hero left standing, because they came first. Shame that lazy publishers can't find their own market to corner, so they set about polluting and trashing others.
Jim Sterling serves as reviews editor for Destructoid.com, head of the Podtoid podcast, and produces a number of news stories, original features, one-of-a-kind videos. With his passionate argumentative style, controversial opinions, harsh delivery, and dedication to brutal honesty Sterling is a name that you can't help but recognize.
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3:42 PM on 10.22.2008
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...and/or a shotgun blast to the face. I love me some rhythm games, but it's getting a bit absurd at this point. The genre as a whole is going to peak out pretty soon and I'm curious to see whose left alive once the bubble bursts. A lot of unsold plastic inventory is going to be headed to the recycling center over the next four or five years.
DAMN THAT BITCH TO HELL !!!!!!!
Also Phyraks, DDR died off? Could you point me towards the strange fantasy world where you're living because a new DDR came out here last week. That thing ain't dead.
Music game makers, just release Beatmania and Drummania in the UK. Then I'll be happy.
Japan has been making these games for years before Guitar Hero, they even have DJ and keyboard arcade titles, and a drum game that's a full 5 piece electronic drum set with cymbals....can you imagine if those start being sold in stores? They'll have to open up a separate "Gamestop Music" just to fit all the crap into one store.
That's a really good question. Do you remember back when the Xbox first launched and Steel Battalion was announced? It cost roughly what the Rock Band bundle cost upon release, and yet the two received completely opposite receptions. Whereas Battalion went largely ignored and is now somewhat of a collector's item, at least one of the people you know owns a Rock Band kit. Weird, huh?
You're not kidding, I'm STILL trying to get hold of a copy of Steel Battalion with controller. On the other hand I can't help but trip over copies of RB, GH and their respective controllers.
Beat N Groovy SUCKS