Whatever happened to the Musical Instrument games?

rp2000 · 7 Mar 2012 at 21:24

A couple of years ago they were huge, huge sellers. There were huge threads on here for Rock Band and Guitar Hero, people bought special edition peripherals, loads of DLC, Artist specific versions etc. IIRC ahuge percentage of Activision's profits came from whichever of these franchises they owned.

Are these all sitting unplayed in people's collections? Not being that musical I never got into these (closest I got was tap tap revenge on iPod!!), but curious why interest in these has waned? Did people grow out of them, or did content run dry?

(Random thread, I know, just curious after I noticed some DLC listed in today's PS store update).

rp2000

Shamikebab · 7 Mar 2012 at 21:27

Burnt out completely, nowhere really the genre could go without getting stupidly expensive (see Rock Band's pro instruments) It was a great gimmick but think people just lost interest.

fergie128 · 7 Mar 2012 at 21:27

Ive got a 2 guitars, drums, a keyboard and a microphone from various Guitar Hero and Rock Band games all stashed in the loft.

Never really bought the DLC, only stuff I really thought would be interesting to play. I havent really touched the games since early last year, or longer!

Jokester · 7 Mar 2012 at 21:29

Shamikebab said:
Burnt out completely, nowhere really the genre could go without getting stupidly expensive (see Rock Band's pro instruments) It was a great gimmick but think people just lost interest.

Pretty much this, just a fad like dance mats or anyother novelty game.

cheets64 · 7 Mar 2012 at 21:59

One genre I never bought into, remember getting a Guitar for £10 from Argos, hated it and sold it for a profit

rp2000 · 7 Mar 2012 at 21:59

cheets64 said:
One genre I never bought into, remember getting a Guitar for £10 from Argos, hated it and sold it for a profit

Business man of the year. move over Alan Sugar

rp2000

cheets64 · 7 Mar 2012 at 22:37

I didnt even buy a game, just downloaded a few demos

Just couldnt take to the feel of the controller

Nexus · 7 Mar 2012 at 22:38

They just over saturated themselves by bringing out too many titles and I believe Activision even made an announcement explaining why they were stopping making Hero games.

Psymonkee · 7 Mar 2012 at 23:07

Still got all my gear, host regular parties, get drunk

Makes me want to learn to drum for real, does as a substitute until I can get some decent cash together.

Wakinglimb · 7 Mar 2012 at 23:18

Psymonkee said:
Still got all my gear, host regular parties, get drunk

Makes me want to learn to drum for real, does as a substitute until I can get some decent cash together.

As a drummer and a rockband player, can say that it does help your skills somewhat, but playing drums is a lot harder than you think if you've come from the rockband world.

chaparral · 7 Mar 2012 at 23:25

rp2000 said:
but curious why interest in these has waned? Did people grow out of them, or did content run dry?

Most likely because people couldn't download the Guitar & drums

Strife212 · 7 Mar 2012 at 23:31

The stores were getting sick of stocking them, they had millions of various plastic guitars and stuff taking up all the storage room.

Psymonkee · 7 Mar 2012 at 23:50

Wakinglimb said:
As a drummer and a rockband player, can say that it does help your skills somewhat, but playing drums is a lot harder than you think if you've come from the rockband world.

Oh I'm well aware of that from the few goes of a real kit I've had

Upgraded what I have though: double chain driven pedal with beater and practice pad,full ION kit (pretty much e-drum w/ different brain!) and extra pintech cymbals.

The next step (working hi-hat) is expensive so think I'm just gonna jump to a decent brain when I can. No way I can afford/store a real kit

finite · 8 Mar 2012 at 00:20

Don't knock it unless you've tried it I was quite impressed with the Wii Music drum set up a bit awkward, but it was all there. One drawback with it was you really needed a solid floor to put the balance board on for proper control or a fairly hefty bit of MDF. The latter creates a problem with chair height.

I think I learnt something from that that I never did when I had an actual Premier APK kit. I had to sell that after years of just looking at it because that I basically couldn't play any more once I stopped working shifts and there were more retired folks in all day.

K1LLSW1TCH · 8 Mar 2012 at 00:38

I do enjoy Guitar Hero now and again just as a bit of fun. I think Activision brought too many games out, too quickly and didn't something happen to the company that makes the Rock Band games? Probably why we don't see any new guitar/band games being produced.

TheVoice · 8 Mar 2012 at 01:04

This pretty much explains it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guitar_Hero#Oversaturation

You only have to look at the charts to the right and further down the page to see that they went crazy with them in the later years.

MikeHunt79 · 8 Mar 2012 at 01:06

There are still quite a few music games on the iPad, especially now that it has midi in

kdd · 8 Mar 2012 at 02:42

I still quite like dj hero.

Zefan · 8 Mar 2012 at 02:58

What I want to know is what happened to properly good lightgun games?

Time Crisis 1, is the only good lightgun game. This is a fact. We need more games like that that are actually good and not a pile of crap. I love lightgun games. Seriously, I'd commit to a modern actually decent lightgun game.

Psycho Sonny · 8 Mar 2012 at 03:15

Zefan said:
What I want to know is what happened to properly good lightgun games?

Time Crisis 1, is the only good lightgun game. This is a fact. We need more games like that that are actually good and not a pile of crap. I love lightgun games. Seriously, I'd commit to a modern actually decent lightgun game.

the technology died with CRT TV's.

light guns cannot work with plasma's and LCD's, etc.

you now have to use a sensor (wii bar or kinect or PS eye) and special controller but the accuracy is terrible in comparison which makes the gameplay terrible and unrealistic.

they need someone to invent a new tech which will work with modern tv's, but seeing as there are so many more variables now than there was before; refresh rates, 3D, plasma, LCD, LED, etc. it is going to be hard to make something which works with all of them with very little problems.