Have Guitar Hero and Rockband finally jumped the shark?

[Knoxville]

I ask because it's November and for the first time in a couple of years nobody, not one single solitary soul, has asked me which set of badly made plastic of plastic instruments should grace their lving room this festive season. More than that to be fair, nobody has even asked which of the big franchises big releases has the better set list

For me, personally, it was game over after Guitar Hero Metallica, not that I dislike Metallica at all, I love them (except of course for the album that nobody talks about any more) but after playing that and going back to Rockband 2 or Guitar Hero World Tour they just felt a little bit lacking and soulless. The set list tailor made for people who (like me) enjoy their heavy metal aside it felt like Guitar Hero Metallica was put together by people that enjoyed the music and that were genuinely enthusiastic to be a part of the game. After that every evolution of the series has felt lazier than the last to me and was nothing more than a license to print money. For instance... You remember the song creator Activision hyped up something fierce at press events for GH:WT? Well its back in Band Hero along with most of Guitar Hero 5 if I'm honest, and when you try and save a track you've created the default filename is still "GHTune1", be ashamed Activision, be very ashamed.

It's not just a lack of innovation that bugs me either. So far this year we've had, Guitar Hero Metallica, Guitar Hero 5, Guitar Hero Smash Hits, Guitar Hero Van Halen, DJ Hero, Lego Rockband and Beatles Rockband....that's just since May. Now I admire Activision for at least attempting DJ Hero, no matter how hard it looks set to fall on it's arse but there is no excuse in my opinion for releasing that many retail games that use the same instruments everbody already has when they have the ability to release new tracks as DLC.

Enough of my rambling anyway..... what do you think? Are expensive plastic instruments set to go the way of the Power Glove any time soon? or are they here to stay?

[Ferral]

No doubt they are here to stay. Should imagine the way forward now is going to be getting big bands like Metallica to do dedicated games.

What you also have to bear in mind is the sheer amount of stuff that has come out and is coming out before Christmas. Going on games like Uncharted 2, Borderlands and Batman which are out and we are ready for Assasins Creed 2 amongst others there will be other games on peoples wishlist for the festive season.

[Trash Man]

Sales are on the decline for these types of games at the moment. DJ Hero bombed massively, went into the charts at something like 20. There are only so many sets of drums and guitars you can buy before you think to yourself, no more Also after a while, they all feel pretty samey as well.

GH: Metallica was the last one I played and unless I can pick up GH:WT, GH:5 or RB:Beatles cheap, I doubt I will bother with them.

[danroyle]

i cant believe they haven't thought of doing a guitar hero/rock band Guns N Roses, i know so many people that would kill to play that game.

[Trash Man]

i cant believe they haven't thought of doing a guitar hero/rock band Guns N Roses, i know so many people that would kill to play that game.

As long had it had nothing off the last album, I would pick it up

[Knoxville]

Maybe Activision are beginning to get the message...

http://kotaku.com/5404532/expect-few...vision-in-2010

Activision plans on shipping less product into the crowded music game genre next year, but that doesn't mean you won't be getting new Guitar Hero, Band Hero and DJ Hero titles in 2010.

Dan Rosensweig, CEO of Activision's Guitar Hero business, tells MCV that we will "probably see fewer SKUs" from the publisher in the company's 2010 slate, "but the focus on making the best-selling, most fun to play, best-reviewed games will continue."

"[There will be] more DJ Hero, and the next iterations of Guitar and Band are on the way," Rosensweig says. "But we will see how the market plays out. What you will see is the games will live longer and be more vibrant through DLC."

When you ship over 25 games featuring the Hero brand—Guitar Hero: Metallica, Guitar Hero 5, Guitar Hero: Van Halen, Guitar Hero: Smash Hits, Band Hero, DJ Hero—and do so with multiple SKUs of each title—full band kits, guitar only bundles, "Renegade Edition" turntables—and you've reached over 9,000 individual SKUs. Maybe not. My math may be off.

Regardless, it might be difficult not to ship less. Especially when a company like Activision takes a look at the sales of titles like DJ Hero and notices that the PlayStation 2 version only sold 3,300 copies at launch.

Honestly I think something will have to change or these games will start to die out, artist focused titles like Guitar Hero Metallica and Beatles Rockband might be one way to go but you're very quickly going to run out of bands with a big enough mainstream pull to ensure good sales. Guitar Hero Aerosmith didn't do very well, neither did the Rockband AC/DC disc and I haven't even seen Guitar Hero Van Halen in stores over here so obviously just attatching a big name isn't quite enough. Rockband Beatles had huge mainstream appeal but there aren't many other artists that can match them for that, maybe Led Zeppelin (which will never happen) or Guns and Roses (about as likely as Led Zep) but beyond those two I can't think of anyone else really that could sell a Guitar Hero game on their own and the "best of" style set list can only go on so long before they run out of classics.

I've said it before and I'll keep saying it. What someone needs to do and I don't care if it's EA or Activision is design some instruments that'll last longer than six months without destroying themselves and not rely so heavily on annual retail games but on DLC.

[Trash Man]

www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/11/18/

Reminded me of this thread when I read it.