Are Rhythm Games Peaking?

Added 03/06/2008 by ArtG

Ever since the release of the original Guitar Hero in November 2005, the rhythm genre has seen an explosive, meteoric rise from obscurity to prominence in gaming.  We’ve seen two direct sequels to the Guitar Hero franchise, two spin-offs, (one was released last summer, one is being released this summer) and Rock Band, which probably put the last iterative stamp on rock rhythm games.  (Unless we see Keytar Hero, of course!)

Much of the growth we’ve seen in the rhythm genre can be attributed to the above two franchises—Guitar Hero and Rock Band. These games, through their peripherals, allow you to act as if you are re-creating some of the greatest rock songs in history. They’ve undeniably also sparked an interest in the rhythm genre itself.

There was a time where Dance Dance Revolution was the standard-bearer for the rhythm genre. Now, games such as Elite Beat Agents, which conventional wisdom would all but point to a sales flop in the United States, sold a respectable 120,000 units in its first month on store shelves. You also have two new “innovations” to rhythm games in Audiosurf, which could be best described as a psychedelic mind-fuck for PC owners, and Phase, which is a more conventional rhythm experience for the iPod. (There is also Beats for Sony’s PSP)  All of these titles take existing music from your computer, analyze the songs, and then use the information it gathers to create a unique experience.

Yet, with the steady stream of tremendous rhythm games to come out in the past two years, it’s hard not to wonder if the rhythm genre might be peaking and setting up for an inevitable decline. At the same time, It is easy to see that the once barren landscape that was the rhythm game market has been mined for new mechanics, ideas and probably most importantly for game companies—dollars.  Are we beginning to see that the rhythm genre is all tapped out?

I can’t honestly answer that question, obviously. I would be the last person to doubt the immense talent, ability and ingenuity of game creators worldwide, but at some point you’ve got to ask yourself “what’s there left to do?”—well, aside from pumping sequel after sequel out. (Dance Dance Revolution says hello.)

Well, there are a couple of potential avenues that developers have been pushing into recently that gives some hope that there is still some innovation to be found in this crowded genre. Activision, according to Trademork, a blog dedicated to reporting on trademark fillings, filed to protect the trademark “DJ Hero.” While this doesn’t necessarily mean they will actually release a game where you take control of the turntables, it’s a pretty safe bet that this will happen one way or another—Activision or no Activision. It’s a smooth way to enter into the rap rhythm market, and it makes a whole hell of a lot of sense.

The next evolutionary step for all rhythm games is the ability to not only play existing music, but to be able to create your own music. There have been some attempts at doing this, most notably Jam Sessions for the DS, which allowed you to turn your DS into a guitar. The problem was that you had to actually have the ability to play an actually guitar. (Shocking, I know.)

That fact raises serious doubts as to if this really is an avenue worth exploring for developers. The amount of time, energy and talent that would have to go into a project like that would be immense. Even more so when you factor in that it would have to be user-friendly and allow idiots like myself to understand what the hell I’m doing.

Yet, between these two, that’s pretty much all she wrote on anything ‘new’ coming out of the rhythm genre. I say ‘new’ and use the dreaded sarcastic quotes because DJ Hero is more of a way to ensure that all mainstream music genres are accounted for, while mainstreaming the creation of music through a video game would be one hell of a nut to crack.

Perhaps I’m being a bit too demanding for innovation. Why can’t I just be satisfied with what we’ve been given over the past two years of rhythm game bliss? Well, don’t get me wrong; I am loving the current crop of rhythm games available—it’s more of a cautionary feeling that we might be hitting the peak of the genre and on our on the rails straight down into a valley of endless yearly sequels and spin-offs that slowly but surely erode the appetite for this style of gaming.

None of us want to see that.