Any 'gamer' type who thinks they have the general public's reaction to this game pinned down is delusional and incredibly myopic. (Really, that's all most will need to read to get offended.) And probably between 12 and 21 years of age. ('Cause you guys are granted temporary omniscience!) We can't even begin to guess how people are going to react to the potentially cost-prohibitive nature of starting a 'band', and how many people will, for better or worse, just decide to stick with their music game 'comfort food', i.e.
Guitar Hero III. In short, we can't get outside our frame of reference here, which is not needed for figuring whether
Persona 3 is going to be the next mass market hit or if
Madden 08 will become a niche title. This is a game with a ton of possible outcomes and a very flexible future, it seems.
Also, even if cost isn't an issue, getting the right combination of people together for the purpose of making music ain't easy. This game
will bring out the clashing egos. Actually, I see a lot of bickering amongst the 18-and-under set about who does what (the younger, the worse), the group I think will easily have the biggest slice of this game's demographic pie chart. Is that a fun experience, everyone always wanting to do everything
but what they're assigned? 'Cause you know how kids are.
I'm not rooting against
Rock Band,
per se, but I really dread thinking about the toxically obnoxious 'cute' YouTube videos and kids who forsake playing
real music together that are both surefire byproducts of this game's existence. I think rock would be much better off if half the people into mimicking others' songs on--let's face it--toys, actually applied themselves to the real thing. And before you even say it, no, that just doesn't happen. The kid that graduates from his plastic, four-buttoned guitar to a real one--with any sort of dedication--is the distinct exception. It all seems to contribute to a mentality where no one can really 'rock out' without winking at what they're doing. "Hey, I like to have fun, but I can't take this geezer shit seriously!" These games, as much as they introduce great music to new generations**, make that same music safe for the family living room. And that ain't
ing rock and/or roll.
Lastly, there's no accounting for taste and no accounting for the mass market's fickle
zeitgeist. We might be mere months away from music games being "
So 2007." Who knows? Not you. Not me.
*--And this not currently being on the Wii hurts its potential, of course. You wanna talk about a crowd that would buy it without a second thought....
**--It's kind of like the difference between classic rock/metal and
Jack Black demonstrating his love for them: the latter, while very sincere and not without talent, makes the whole thing look silly and cuddly, even if that angle is what ultimately makes the rock palatable to, you know, people who have not an ounce of rock in their souls whatsoever.
Rock Band Collection (PS3)
Rock Band Collection (Xbox 360)
Rock Band Collection (PS2)
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