New Slogan: Systematically killing your favorite games since 2008
I am as much of a guitar game fan as anyone, but I have a sneaking suspicion that Activision/Blizzard is actively trying to destroy the genre. Last year, 2008, saw the release of 4 Guitar Hero games: World Tour, Aerosmith, On Tour and On Tour Decades (basically, a proper sequel, a spin-off and two handhelds.) While I think that 2 is 1 too many DS GH games, 3 titles in a series per year seems reasonable. It covers all three bases and naturally progresses the series. This year, Activision/Blizzard is OUT OF CONTROL. So far, all we have this year is Guitar Hero: Metallica (a welcomed edition to the series), but before the end of the year Blizzvision will be flooding the market with the following titles: Guitar Hero: Smash Hits Guitar Hero: Van Halen Band Hero Guitar Hero: On Tour Modern Hits Guitar Hero 5 (working title) DJ Hero Geez people, 7 Guitar Hero games in a calendar year; Is there anyone employed by Activision that is not working on something Guitar Hero related? It wouldn’t surprise me if Modern Warfare 2 ended up being a rhythm game.
Coming in 2010 Guitar Hero Purity Party Starring the Jonas Brothers
On the other front, the Harmonix Crew is taking a much more realistic stance on releases. They only have three titles planned for this year, all of which are firmly targeted at different audiences. The Beatles: Rock Band (target=older audiences) Lego Rock Band (target=younger audiences) Rock Band: Unplugged (target=handheld market) Obviously they will still be releasing track packs, but those can’t really be considered full games as they only contain tracks that were previously released as downloadable content. The Track Packs also have a specific audience (people that don’t have internet access/people that don’t want to be nickel and dimed to death via PSN and Xbox Live.) My biggest fear is that with Activision recklessly pouring games into the market, they are going to kill it, eventually causing Harmonix to stop producing the far more superior Rock Band series. Thoughts?