Kotaku: Music Games

Create Your Own Musical Villages With the Lovely Isle of Tune HD

Kirk Hamilton — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 11:00:00 EDT

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Take one part Sim City, one part Rock Band, and one part music sequencer and you've pretty much got Isle of Tune, which was released today for the iPad. It's not quite a "game," but it's still totally cool enough to merit consideration for our Gaming App of the Day. More »

The Worst Music Video Games Ever

Scott Steinberg — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 12:00:00 EDT

Music games aren't what they used to be, and in some cases, the world is safer for that. Video game expert Scott Steinberg and author of the new digital book "Music Games Rock", tells us what the seven worst music video games of all time are. More »

Leaked Activision Memo: There's Just No 'Appetite' For Guitar Hero Now, But It May Rise From Its Grave

Michael McWhertor — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 17:40:00 EDT

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Publisher Activision put its Guitar Hero business on ice earlier this year, signaling the end of a genre that was once white hot, but quickly flamed out. Why did Activision just bail on this formerly billion dollar business instead of taking it in a radical new direction? More »

The Next Hit Music Game is Already Out There on Facebook

Mike Epstein — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 21:30:00 EDT

French developer MXP4 says they want you to "play with your music." They just launched Bopler Games, a set of classic games on Facebook with an added musical slant. To play, choose a song from the Bopler library, (which features an inordinate amount of 80s pop) choose a game, and go. The kicker is that each of the games automatically syncs to the beat of your chosen song, creating a potentially exponential growing set of variation. Shmup enemies dance to the beat, Tetris blocks drop at different speeds depending on the speed of the song, etc. At the moment, there are four games available, including versions Tetris and Snake, with six more on the way. More »

Music Games Will Make A Comeback, But How Is A Mystery

Stephen Totilo — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 15:00:00 EST

Rock Band and Guitar Hero aren't the sensations they used to be. That doesn't mean they're bad. Not Rock Band 3. But they're not the cultural phenomenons they once were. That's temporary, according to a man who should know. More »

Rock Band 3's Pro Guitar Mode Is Lefty-Compatible

Stephen Totilo — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 23:00:00 EDT

Ever since we previewed Rock Band 3's Pro Guitar mode, readers have been asking if lefties can play this mode. They can. More »

RZA Joins The Ranks of DJ Hero 2 Playable Characters

Brian Crecente — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 15:40:00 EDT

Wu-Tang Clan founder and world-famous DK RZA will be a playable character in upcoming game DJ Hero 2, Activision said today. More »

How Multiplayer Kinect Dancing Works

Stephen Totilo — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 18:40:00 EDT

Dance Central, the body-controlled dancing game from the makers of Rock Band, has multiplayer. It's no Kinect Adventures multiplayer where you'd be standing side-by-side, in a gesture vs. gesture frenzy. No. It does dance battles. You take turns. More »

Rock Band 3, Just How Big Is It?

Michael McWhertor — Wed, 19 May 2010 21:30:00 EDT

Music game maestros Harmonix have already promised to "innovate and revolutionize the music genre" with Rock Band 3, but even in the face of that hyperbole, the designers believe "you'll be surprised at just how big this game really is." More »

New Game Riffs On Guitar Hero, With A Real Electric Guitar

Stephen Totilo — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 08:00:18 EST

There are strings on the newly-unveiled Power Gig guitar, which is coming, with a brand-new music game to video game systems this fall. But you won't have to be Jimi Hendrix to play it. More »

Activision Narrows Music Focus To Guitar And DJ Hero

Mike Fahey — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 17:30:00 EST

Having released 25 different rhythm game SKUs in 2009, Activision narrows the focus in 2010, with only a new Guitar Hero and DJ Hero 2 slated for release in 2010. More »

The Role of Music Games

AJ Glasser — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 02:30:00 EDT

I got kicked out of choir in middle school and ever since, I've limited my study of music to whatever Guitar Hero and Rock Band have bothered to teach me. More »

Band Hero DS Braces For The Skeptics, Offers A Lot

Stephen Totilo — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 13:00:16 EDT

They know some gamers will groan. But they're confident: you just need to try it. "It" is not Guitar Hero 5 DS, which you might have expected this fall. There's no such thing. Enter Band Hero DS. More »

All Metal Music Game Being Forged

Mike Fahey — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 11:40:00 EST

Not enough metal for you in Guitar Hero and Rock Band? How about a music game that is completely metal? Visual effect consultants EBT3 Creations and talent management company Indevent USA have formed a new multi-media company called Reign Productions, and their first project is said to be a multi-million dollar video game containing nothing but metal. Details are scant at the moment, pending a major announcement regarding the project at the annual NAMM global music products show in Anaheim, California in January, but the game will apparently feature artist cameos as well as the formation of a metal supergroup within the game. More »

Rolling Stone's 50 Best Rock And Roll Video Games

Mike Fahey — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 12:20:00 EST

Rolling Stone's list of The 50 Best Rock & Roll Video Games of all time starts off well enough, but as you can see by the image accompanying this post, things quickly start to go downhill. The fact that they had to include Spice World for the PlayStation, Britney's Dance Beat and the original 50 Cent title in their list just goes to show that maybe it's just too soon for this list. For every Guitar Hero and Parappa the Rapper in the list, there's a Wu-Tang Clan and KISS Psycho Circus lurking close by. More »

Yes, I Really Did Watch A Guy Play Boogie Superstar

Leigh Alexander — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:20:00 EDT

Girls, girls, girls. No, it's not a Vegas review, it's the target audience for EA's Wii title Boogie SuperStar, which was announced yesterday. I swung by EA's New York press event yesterday, too, where the game was on display, and I took a look at it. More »

Survey: One Third Of Gamers Buy Music Game Songs

Leigh Alexander — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 12:20:00 EDT

Have you bought a song or album because of Guitar Hero or Rock Band? Jacobs Media, a radio consulting company did a survey that found one third of players buy songs from the games, calling music video games "game changers" for rock music. More »

Take-Two Ponders Entering The Music Game Genre

Leigh Alexander — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 19:20:00 EDT

Would Take-Two ever consider setting Rockstar loose on the music game genre? Last night, during Take-Two's Q1 financial results call, Board chairman Strauss Zelnick addressed an analyst who asked exactly that, "given Rockstar's nature." I guess he meant, "as rockstars"? More »