Music Game Heads Get Schooled In Scott Steinberg's New Book!
Game - Simon
Game - Break Dance
1984 – Break Dance
Behind The Music: California Games wasn’t even a twinkle in daddy Epyx’s eyes when the company first offered Commodore 64 owners the chance to do the worm by using joystick inputs to repeat back computerized dancers’ moves.
Why It Rocks: As primitive as popping-and-locking may seem here, it nonetheless kicked open the door for game makers to shine the light on musical subcultures, not just songs (a method later to be explored in titles like B-Boy and Def Jam: Fight for New York). Besides, as rudimentary as the animation is, every move looks like you’re doing the robot.
Did You Know… The most recent game to bring breakdancing to videogames was Red Bull BC One for the Nintendo DS, which sees players drawing geometric shapes on the touch screen in order to recreate breakdance moves in one-on-one street battles. The game is licensed from the official Red Bull Breakdance Championship, which takes place every year. Also, new Commodore 64 computers with familiar old-school, chunky beige styling but modern-day PC hardware inside are now available, in case you want to compare the original Break Dance using a software emulator such as Frodo or C64 Forever.
Game - Rock Band 3 Lead
Game - Otocky
Game - Just Dance
Game - Guitar Hero
2005 – Guitar Hero
Behind The Music: Not heard of Guitar Hero? What planet have you been living on? It’s a $2 billion franchise that’s sold over 25 million units worldwide and spawned piles of spin-offs including dedicated tributes to bands like Aerosmith and Metallica, not to mention the likes of Band Hero and DJ Hero. The series also scored chart-topping adaptations for nearly every platform from Nintendo DS to mobile phones, once enjoyed a cult-like following amongst teens and twenty-somethings and even boasts entire South Park episodes devoted to its charms. That said then, you could be forgiven for forgetting that prior to launch, the dynamo which sparked an entire industry was once just a risky, unproven gamble from RedOctane, a little-known manufacturer of dance pad peripherals and dabbler in online video game rentals.
Why It Rocks: Guitar Hero turned the nation’s youth into drooling vidiots, single-handedly built today’s fastest-growing game category and potentially helped save rock through the sale of online music. But despite being directly responsible for the last decade’s fastest-growing (and collapsing) gaming genre, the title once-hailed as the music industry’s possible savior has sadly been placed on temporary hiatus by now-owner Activision. While the publisher insists that reports of the franchise’s death have been greatly exaggerated though, it’s still sad to see the former king of the castle being left to rot in the dungeon. Thankfully, there’s still hope for a rebirth via online, social and downloadable platforms.
Did You Know… In a list of top grossing games published since 1995 released by NPD in March 2011, Guitar Hero 3: Legends Of Rock came out on top with life-to-date sales of $830.9 million—more than the Call of Duty games—and that’s not including revenues earned from additional downloadable content.
Game - Def Jam Rapstar
2010 – Def Jam Rapstar
Behind The Music: Succeeding where earlier rap-based karaoke efforts such as Get On Da Mic failed, Def Jam Rapstar made rapping along with tracks by Drake, Lil’ Wayne and The Notorious B.I.G. realistic, enjoyable and socially acceptable in shared company.
Why It Rocks: One of the first games to pay proper respect to hip-hop culture, it eschewed earlier outings’ such as Def Jam: Icon and Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style’s gonzo fighting elements to focus instead on beats and rhymes. That MCs could also share videos of freestyle battles online was simply an added bonus, helping aspiring lyricists the world over step up their game by schooling Internet haters with witty one-liners and quirky couplets.
Did You Know… The game had four different track lists depending on which version you bought—the US and UK versions had ten diferences (with the UK one adding in the likes of Dizzee Rascal and Tinchy Stryder), while the German and French versions included seven unique tracks each.
