Feature: The Music Genre

This decade see the rise of the Music genre. Long time ago music were played in pubs and studios, songs were sang in KTV and concerts; now they are played & sang at home. Looking at the Rock Band demo at GC Asia for the past 2 days made me wonder so much has changed in Music & Gaming industry. Aerosmith earned several times more revenue by selling GH: Aerosmith than selling an album. Music games (aka Music simulators) are more interactive than playing a real band, the games give feedback on skills, techniques & timing. They gave those who dun have a real guitar, mic & drumset to play music, a full version of Rock Band is cheaper than a real band set. Teenagers are talking about Guitar Hero today, and youtube is their stage. So many wonderful advantages of music gaming.

Guitar Hero vs Rock Band

With the introduction of Rock Band & its drumset last year, it seems that Guitar Hero was missing something important. In GC Asia, I knew what it was. It’s not just the drum & mic, it’s the band spirit, the orchestra of 4 music players. Guitar Hero III only offered guitars. That is why World Tour is imperative to Guitar Hero to extend its lead as the no. 1 music game. Even as a tone deaf and music illiterate myself, I could see the great potential of these games. I was genuinely entertained by Rock Band in GC Asia.

November shall see if GH can take on RB2 as the top band music game. We already knew from Rock Band’s & GH3’s sales that costly plastic peripherals are no barriers to gamers. The one big danger is Activision could alienate its fans by rehashing GH too many times. You don’t see Nintendo publish Mario Kart every year do you?

Healthy competition will lead to growth. Guitar Hero exploded the music genre, Rock Band gave new arms and legs to it, what else is needed? How about getting more casuals like me to take up music games?

Wii Music

That leads me to Wii Music, the next biggest thing from Nintendo. Wii Sports has got grandma and little niece to take up gaming, Wii Fit has got lazy people like me to start jogging, what can Wii Music do?

Just like Wii is in a separate league from that of PS3/XBox360, Wii Music will be in its own world. Casual will love it, while hardcores will stick to RB/GH.

I personally is looking forward to Wii Music. 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