The History and State of Music Games

With the emergence of rhythm and music games in North America--and around the world, it?s the perfect opportunity to go back in time to see how the popularity of Guitar Hero and Rock Band rose to stardom. Before guitar and band games, the world was introduced to a gaming phenomenon. This particular game uses the will of your feet as you step on arrows on a metal pad as they pass through transparent arrows on the screen.

Released in 1999, Dance Dance Revolution was the start of a new genre in the world of gaming. Spanning a decade and 10 expansions (or "mixes") and several spinoffs for the arcade and gaming systems, Konami, the publisher of Dance Dance Revolution, invented the Bemani brand. A game labeled with the Bemani logo obviously involves music, along with a unique controller.

Games in the Bemani series include Beatmania (a DJ Simulator using a mixing table controller), Pop 'n Music (Beatmania with anime theme songs), Keyboardmania, Drum Freaks, and Guitar Freaks. Two other games in the Bemani series do not involve physical interaction with a controller, but with motion sensors. Para Para Paradise and Dance ManiaX uses this technology, as the player times their hand (or feet for Dance ManiaX) to the indicators on the screen. Out of all of these games, you would think another Bemani game made it to the US with similar results as Dance Dance Revolution. This is where the story begins...


-Let the Beat Hit 'em!-

At the time, Dance Dance Revolution (DDR for short) was the only globally successful game in the Bemani franchise. Later on, the United Kingdom was introduced to Dance Dance Revolution, but was renamed Dancing Stage for the UK market. Then Korean versions of Dance Dance Revolution were also released, with dozens of Bemani favorites, as well as original songs released for the Korean market.

With only 3 expansions released, that wasn't enough for Korean fans. Korean game publisher Andamiro step in and released Pump it Up. The concept of the game is similar to DDR, except the arrows are diagonal as opposed to straight arrows. Songs used in PiP games are preformed by popular Korean artists, as well as in-house artists.

After the success of Dance Dance Revolution, Konami released the next game involving music called Karaoke Revolution, with the help of Harmonix Music. But it's not an "official" Bemani game as it wasn't the traditional rhythm game. When Karaoke Revolution was released, it was the first video game to involve voice interaction. It was also released in Japan, but included music by popular Japanese artists and from theme songs from well known anime series.

As of today, Karaoke Revolution is still around for newer next-gen consoles in the US. Unfortunately, it?s nothing more than a video game version of American Idol. A few years prior of the release of Karaoke Revolution, Harmonix released their very first rhythm video game called Frequency for the Playstation 2 back in 2001. It's something like Konami?s Beatmania, sans the turntable.

The game used the network adapter that allowed players trade songs, as well as facing head-to-head in multi-player modes. However, this feature was only available in the North American version. In 2003, a second, and last game in the series was released entitled Amplitude. Unlike Frequency, the song list comprised mostly of remixes of mainstream songs from artists such as RUN-DMC and Pink.

-Getting into the Groove-

After the success of Karaoke Revolution, a new singing game stepped up to the plate. In 2004, UK based developer London Studio (responsible for the EyeToy) released SingStar for European gamers. The game was eventually released in non-European countries, such as the US, and currently spans 15+ expansions, as well as Downloadable Content (DLC).

A few years after Dance Dance Revolution's success, it was time for other music games. The first non-DDR game released in the US was called In the Groove, and was released by Roxor Games, with supervision of a popular Dance Dance Revolution peripheral retailer, RedOctane. In the Groove?s tracklist was very different than what was offered on a DDR game. While DDR had in-house artists for its lineup, many of ItG's artists were known to the general public, either in the US, Canada or UK. ItG also had game modes that dwarfed DDR's usual characteristics.

Sadly, In the Groove only lived to see only one release as in 2006, Konami filed a lawsuit against the publisher for copyright and patent infringements, as well as obtaining the rights to future ItG releases. As of 2008, there hasn?t been anymore ItG games; if not, in a form of an existing DDR game. In the Groove was praised as a DDR killer that killed its self. After the suit, it was clear that Konami had the advantage when it came to dance simulators. Perhaps the US wasn't ready to adapt dance simulators that didn?t originate in Japan. However, there are always other music and rhythm games that Konami eventually released outside of Japan.

-A "Revolution"-



In 2005, Karaoke Revolution developer Harmonix teamed up with Activision (or Blizzard Entertainment) to create a new music game called Guitar Hero. Just like Konami's now defunct Guitar Freaks, Guitar Hero requires coordination of the hand and eye--with the use of a Guitar peripheral. In Guitar Freaks, Konami used their in-house artists for the music. In Guitar Hero, it's serious business: full length tracks from international rock stars are used.

In the midst of GH's popularity, Red Octane and Harmonix went their separate ways. In 2006, Activision acquired ownership RedOctane, taking over future releases of GH, and Harmonix was purchased by MTV Games (aka Viacom). Despite the change of hands, the demand for more GH stood strong. When Harmonix was purchased, Neversoft took over later GH titles.

Two years after the release of Guitar Hero, a new game entered the genre. Rock Band was released in the Fall of 2007 on every game system under EA Games...and by former Guitar Hero developer, Harmonix--aka MTV Games. Rock Band is the ultimate package of what gamers have seen over the decade; equipped with a Microphone (Karaoke Revolution), Guitar (Guitar Hero/Guitar Freaks), and a first for North American gamers--a Drum Set (Drum Freaks). The game bundle comes with the aforementioned peripherals, with a price tag of $130 per system. However, there are choices to buy the game separately and use any one controller the player chooses.

-Meanwhile...-

Earlier in 2008, Konami revealed themselves from the caves of publishing Metal Gear Solid and Silent Hill titles. The popularity of Dance Dance Revolution waned as the arcade business went into a decline, thanks to the boom of next-gen consoles--and rising fuel prices. It was the perfect opportunity for Konami to release more home versions of DDR, including Ultramix for the Xbox, taking advantage of Microsoft's Xbox Live service for online multi-player mode (which might have killed the arcade versions for the most part).

Sales of home versions of DDR have been steady with every game. Konami released few more Ultramix titles for the Xbox/360, including Extreme 2 and SuperNova (which was also released in arcades) for the Playstation 2, and Hottest Party for the Nintendo Wii. In July 2008, Konami announced the tenth installment of the longest running Bemani game, Dance Dance Revolution X. The release marks the 10th year anniversary, as well as the 10th title in the series--sans the spinoffs.

While Konami haven't forgotten about the game that made the Bemani brand, it hasn?t forgotten the games that shaped Bemani into what it is. In May 2008, Konami announced Rock Revolution, from the name alone, is a clone of Guitar Hero and Rock Band. The creation of the game could have been a response to GH and RB?s popularity; Konami sued lawsuit MTV Games for patent infringement. (If the lawsuit was more serious, Rock Band would have suffered the same fate as In the Groove.)

-What's to Come?-



With a few months remaining in 2008 and with the shopping season just ahead, we see more and more music games getting release dates. In September, Rock Band 2 was released for the Xbox 360, and will be released for other systems throughout the remainder of the year. Konami's Rock Revolution will be released in mid-October, and Guitar Hero?s next installment, World Tour will be released in late October?along with a Drum Controller sold in a band kit; a first in the GH franchise. While it?s a first in the series, it could also mean a possible legal bout with EA Games.

Now that band games are dominating the music gaming genre, others are finding new styles of music to incorporate in to a whole new game. In October, a new game was announced entitled Scratch for the Xbox 360. You can guess as to what this game is about?and if your guess was right, it could mean trouble for another hopeful, Activision, when they release their upcoming DJ Hero.

Remember that turntable game Konami released in Japan back in 2000? If both of these games go well, Konami will have to look back on their ill-informed US release of that very same game and wonder what went wrong. Of course, they can just sue the publishers for a game that they couldn?t promote on their own. If that's the case, it will be an eternal battle of the rhythm and music game supremacy for years to come.