In 2007, a handful of ex-Guitar Hero developers announced a “radical new idea” in video games. I know because I was in the room at E3 when they announced it. They, Harmonix, were going to launch “an interactive music platform” called Rock Band, after which additional songs and game updates would be download later—as opposed to yearly stand alone releases.

Everyone in the room was thrilled with the idea. But it never came to fruition. Harmonix and its partners cowered. And instead of releasing “a platform,” they went against their word and released yearly stand alone games in the form of Rock Band 2, Beatles Rock Band, and Rock Band 3, at full price mind you. Guitar Hero releases are even more watered down.

(more…)

Ubisoft surprised the gaming industry last month (myself included), announcing that Just Dance had sold 2 million copies worldwide in fewer than four months, making it the fastest selling third-party Wii game ever.

“The consumer response to Just Dance has been overwhelming,” said Ubisoft’s Tony Key at the time. “With Just Dance’s success we’ve seen a renewal of the music video game genre, as this is truly a game that is accessible and enjoyable for everyone.”

My mother-in-law swears by the $40 party game, saying she’s had more fun with it than any other Wii title. Unsurprisingly, veteran reviewers panned the game upon its release last November, while user ratings average a favorable 8 out of 10.

Obviously there’s an anomaly in the system. So for any Infendoites who have played the game, is the hype warranted?

Something has always bothered me about guitar rhythm games: we’re spending all this time to pretend to play a guitar when we could actually be playing a guitar. I felt a little better when drums were thrown into the mix that was actually somewhat like playing the drums – but the guitar? It felt like a waste of effort. Not anymore.

Son of Beatles Guitarist George Harrison, Dhani, revealed that he’s working on “Rock Band 3,” and he’s going to redesign the controller so it actually teaches you to play a real guitar:

“I’m working on ‘Rock Band 3′ and making the controllers more real so people can actually learn how to play music while playing the game,” he says. “Give me a couple years, it’s going to happen.”

Chicago Tribune

A new controller, bound to be incompatible with previous Rock Band games?  An undoubtedly more precise and complicated gameplay system?  Sounds bold. Risky. …but it’s about time somebody changed the name of the game. Rock on, Harrison.

[via Kotaku]

Both Amazon and GameStop have listed DJ Hero for $120, which includes the turntable peripheral. Now I really like DJ Hero, having played it at E3 (game was dang fresh, although the guitar + DJ mode was lame). But this is getting ridiculous! In 2005, Guitar Hero with guitar cost $69. Now a $50 premium? But hey, if the market will bear it, the market will bear it. Will see if it does once DJ Hero drops Oct 27 on Wii.

It’s only a partial shot, but was uploaded to Tweetpic by an account labeled DJ Hero. I wonder where the orange and yellow buttons are?