by Sean “Rothbart” Workman

I’m starting to think the music game bubble’s already popped. I initially thought Guitar Hero was a pretty stupid idea… that is until I actually played it at a friend’s house. There may have been some “liquid assistance” getting past the absurdity of playing a 3/4 size plastic guitar in front of others… but I did it, and was instantly hooked. When Guitar Hero II came out, I was there again and couldn’t remember having that much fun on my PS2 in a long time. I even bought the full version with a 2nd guitar so I’d have a full multiplayer setup. Hell, I even fell for the lamely implemented Guitar Hero II for the Xbox 360. I say lamely because I bought it on the promise of someone finally doing Downloadable Content right. More like “Yeah, right”. Guitar Hero II for the Xbox 360 has really soured me on the franchise and as a probably unfair side-effect, the music game genre altogether. We’ve received ONE BATCH of DLC comprised of three song packs each containing three oddly bundled songs that were previously available for Guitar Hero on the PS2. So in other words, for a true Guitar Hero devotee, we got jack. And I’m starting to doubt we’ll ever see any decent downloadable songs for Guitar Hero II. But hey, we got online leaderboards! We now “officially” know how much we suck.

Enter “Rock Band”. The red-headed stepchild of Guitar Hero. Technically it’s related, but that relationship seems pretty unwanted. Rumors of $199 “full meal deal” Rock Band packages have set off those same alarm bells that the Guitar Hero and Guitar Hero II for the 360 did before. Why should I pay that much money for these specialized controllers that may only be used for one or two games? Should I be excited for Rock Band? This footage sure doesn’t do anything for me. If anything, the “atmosphere” of the game has been replaced by an entirely “functional” interface with notes flying everywhere. Maybe if I and three friends had a strong desire to cram into a small space, play fake instruments and sing… but that doesn’t really describe me or my friends. Check out this footage and let me know in the forums what you think.

EDIT: I updated the (apparently nuked) video link. If they nuke this one, we’ll all have to imagine it…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9b-8LYLGq8]

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