Where were you the day the music died?

For the GameXplain crew, we were lounging around our decidedly less opulent version of the Fortress of Solitude, already debating and discussing and deconstructing games – so we figured we’d clean the place up, fancify it with the addition of some all-star guests, and formally turn the topic of conversation over to the short-but-fiery reign of Activision’s Guitar Hero franchise.

Please herald the seating of Bitmob staff writer Rus McLaughlin, Metacafe editorial director Doug Perry, and Game Over Nation co-host Ryan DeLaRosa at the great table of round.

Just remember: rock-n-roll legends never die; they just fade away. Or something like that.

Marc N. Kleinhenz, TotalPlayStation features editor:

While not surprising, it's still a little sad (to me, at any rate): Activision has "temporarily" axed Guitar Hero. While I barely played GH5 and never even touched Warriors of Rock, I still have very fond memories of the distant year 2007, when GH3 ruled the block and Rock Band (which my wife and I bought each other as Christmas presents, funnily enough) just shipped. And not even Harmonix has been immune from the humiliation – the company was just sold by MTV for $50.

Is this truly a five-year fad that now's deader than disco, or will we see a resurgence within the next five-year cycle? Has Activision permanently tarnished the memory and legacy of Guitar Hero for the rest of fanboy time?

Does anyone care?

Sir Gordon Wheelmeier, gaming guru:

On the one hand, this whole thing makes me sad on a number of levels. I was an early fan and can remember the car ride to be one of the first people to play GHII at the sound studio they used before they had the real bands contribute music. While it was still fresh when the first two games came out, it was, almost unarguably, the most fun game on the face of the Earth.

And then Activision took over and Harmonix no longer developed it. I have a soft spot for Neversoft thanks to the early Tony Hawk games (I can't believe GH died first, though), but once Harmonix was essentially cast aside by way of corporate buyouts, I quickly lost interest. I suppose it didn't help, either, that once you have access to almost every song ever made, in some form or another, it starts to get repetitive.

There's a small part of me that's kind of happy, though, simply because I can't help but remember that picture of Bob Kotick with a GH axe over his shoulder and smiling smugly at the camera. It doesn't come close to matching the sadness I feel for all the devs that are now looking for a new gig, but at least it's a small silver lining.

Sam Bishop, TotalPlayStation editor-in-chief:

I'm a crazy person who actually thought Warriors of Rock was really, really fun (they essentially threw in powers and stuff and, by the end of the game, you could do a ton of really neat stuff to help offset the fact that trying to play whatever body-killing-Dave-Mustaine-composition-that-would-surely-be-iimpossible-without-having-Star-Power-regeneration or something), so the news that they're killing the franchise when it finally felt to me like Neversoft was nipping at Harmonix's heels (even if they did, like, twice as many games to get there) is a real bummer.

That said, apparently the only people who didn't see this coming was Activision themselves. Cranking out more than a half-dozen games in the Hero series in the span of just one year isn't just super-saturation, it's destroying a genre in one fell swoop. I can't believe we went from the rise to the fall of music games as a whole in the span of about one console generation (even if it bled from the middle of the last to the middle of this one). There's a lot of stuff that could be said about having a gajillion songs available as DLC and what that does to the idea of purchasing a new game every few years, but I really do think Harmonix had the right idea – at least in theory. Music games are indeed absolute cash vortexes; licensing fees, the burden of having to provide constant, weekly updates to the online catalog... adding the pressure of making a game different not just year after year, but multiple times a year, is just suicide, and the worst part is that the people up top who made the decision to push these games on the public aren't reaping what they sowed; they're just enjoying the view from on high of people cleaning out their desks and looking for work elsewhere.

Do I think the music genre is dead? Naw, not completely, but it's definitely on life support. Had Activision not opted to take a break, and had Harmonix not been sold off for just a couple bucks, it's likely the next wave of releases would have been the death knell. Now, hopefully, we get to wait and see what a few years' experimentation will do to the clicky-plastic-instrument genre. Part of me really, really hopes it means the creation of a third game in the Frequency/Amplitude series, but given Harmonix's rocky relationship with Sony, I'm guessing that'll have to stay a dream for a while longer.

Marc N. Kleinhenz, TotalPlayStation features editor:

And I'm the crazy person who thinks Guitar Hero III was the best of the bunch. (Granted, I never played number two, since that was the year I was in Japan and, thus, had no access to gaming This comes at a really funny time for me personally. Not only have I been waxing nostalgic for the late, great year of 2007, when I had the likes of BioShock, Portal, Assassin's Creed, GHIII, and Rock Band to keep me warm all through the winter – I really do miss having my friends and family members over for our weekly rock-out sessions, back when it was still a novel experience for all and sundry – but my good buddy, probably going through the same traumatic bouts of nostalgia, has only recently purchased RB3 and has been hammering away at it literally non-stop for the past month. I don't think I've even broken the news to him yet. The poor guy is going to cry his little man-boy eyes out.

At the same time, I'm incredibly interested to see what role, if any, Dance Central will play in the inevitable resurgence – or is that recreation? – of the rock sub-genre.

Rus McLaughlin, Bitmob features columnist:

After the glut of music games over the last five years, it's really time for things to lay fallow for a while. And I've never understood why a Guitar Hero or a Rock Band has to continually release new packaged games instead of just giving fans a steady stream of DLC song packs... except, of course, for the money.

What's a bit more disquieting about Activision's recent announcements is how they seem to be consolidating around a few core, hit franchises and licensed TV/film tie-in games. They didn't push the news in their financials, but the current plan includes sweeping Tony Hawk under the rug (none too soon, it must be said) while having five studios (Infinity Ward, Treyarch, Raven, Sledgehammer, and Beachhead) all concentrating on Call of Duty. I just posted a column talking about just how bad that's going to be for Call of Duty, but the current shift seems to put Activision on a track to produce either cheap, forgettable tie-ins or billion-dollar monsters, with zero room for anything in between. Making their focus that narrow squeezes out any possibility of their producing a BioShock, a Stacked, an Assassin's Creed.

I really feel for the team at Bungie... they're likely expected to deliver the next IP designed to break every conceivable record. How's that pressure going to affect their development process, I wonder? They didn't have to worry about selling Halo 2 or 3. This next game, they're expected (required?) to deliver Modern Warfare numbers.

Rus McLaughlin, Bitmob features columnist:

Of course, the second I sent that, rumors surfaced that Activision's making a play for Take Two. Think they'll fare better than EA?

Marc N. Kleinhenz, TotalPlayStation features editor:

I think that we're likely to see the Next Big Thing music-related come from some small, Friction Games-esque developer who only has access to its audience thanks to the wonderful world of digital distribution. Guitar Hero started out as a (relatively) independent title from a (relatively) independent studio, and I think that's the only way for the genre to move forward once again.

Small fish becomes big fish and gets swallowed by an even bigger fish. It's the circle of life of all media – whether it be television, music, or, yes, videogames – and, I suppose, the best question to ask in the face of all this is quite simple: will the story ever change?

Sam Bishop, TotalPlayStation editor-in-chief:

Honestly, if sales are any indication, dance games are sort of the future of things for now. I do absolutely get games like Dance Central where you're doing something and having it read. What I don't get is how anyone can give a proper score to something like Just Dance, which is a gigantic shitheap of a "game" that continues to sell because if you just fancy up failing around, that's apparently crack to the masses.

Dance Central (not coincidentally, made by Harmonix) is a game and deserves all the praise it's getting. If it's an actual game, one where your actual motions are recorded and judged, then you have reason to get better rather than vague motions that may or may not actually be right and give no actual lasting effect.

It's a shame that I don't dance. It's not that I don't have rhythm, but I'm apparently a robot. I've just never danced; it's not how I express myself. I'll jump up and down for six hours at raves (or did, many moons ago), but I don't bust out dance moves. I will happily waltz with my wife during our first dance, but that will probably be the last time I ever actually go through those motions.

Might explain why I'm terrible in bed, though, hurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Sir Gordon Wheelmeier, gaming guru:

Sam, your answer is throwback '80s dancing. The Robot, Madonna's Vogue dance, the Safety Dance... You're all set if you just look to our synth-loving friends from the “Pac Man Fever” days.

Doug Perry, gaming journo legend:

It's raining cats and dogs here in Santa Cruz as I write this, and I'm really enjoying the range of thoughts in this roundtable. Gordon, I too dislike the Kotick picture with the guitar. What a hack he is. And, yes, I have experienced some real breakthrough moments playing Guitar Hero II, Rock Band 2, and Beatles: Rock Band with friends. I still think Rock Band 2 and, now, RB3 are the greatest party games of all time. And Sam, thanks for letting us all know about your dance and love-making habits. Soooo much information!

My theory on why Activision lustily flooded the music market in such a short timeframe was precisely because it had experienced the same trending type of business with action-sports. Remember the O2 division creating the Tony Hawk games and including Kelly Slater Pro Surfer and Wakeboarding Unreigned Starring Shaun Whoever? (Both great games, by the way.) My belief is that Activision learned a lot from that experiment and decided this time to absolutely hammer the market as fast and as long as it could until the market couldn't bear it any longer; instead of waiting until the end of the market cycle, it proactively spoolged it. I'm very suspicious of Activision because I believe it's a very cynical company, the worst of its efforts reflected by the super-ghettoized Van Halen iteration – with its finger on the pulse all the while.

I do, however, applaud Activision's efforts with DJ Hero; that was a ballsy and original game that seems like an anomaly compared to Activision's other by-the-numbers efforts.

As for the future of music games, I agree with Sam that Just Dance is a super shite excuse for a game that's apparently so easy to play, everyone can do it in the first five minutes, but there is no "hard to master" part, which is why it leaves gamers feeling so empty (and pathetic and dirty) after playing it. So, hopefully, Michael Jackson: The Experience brings some innovation on the PS3 and XB360 – not expecting anything, except to improve my moonwalk a little.

The truth is, Harmonix really pushed the music genre forward with Rock Band 3: the svelte new interface, the real guitars, the pro mode, and the keyboards are like three Guitar Hero updates all in one.

I intuitively look to Harmonix to lead any and all things music-related. Maybe Microsoft publishes another Dance Central, maybe not. I hope so. I don't have any visibility into the success of the Rock Band Network, and the commercial success of such a network, so it's hard to know where that will lead.

My guess is that the next advance in the music genre is integration. Yes, you'll get your cheesy, low-budget games such as Just Dance and Disney's Hannah Monblanda nonsense, but what about a game that integrates the excellent parts of the music genre into action, adventure, or RPGs? Sort of like Brutal Legend did? What about a full music RPG with both full RPG and music elements – call it Rock Hero, a mixture of Fable and Rock Band. Does that sound terrible? Did I just jump the design shark?

Regardless, I firmly believe that EA is negotiating with Harmonix right now on a new deal of some kind for their next new thing – unfortunately, I'm not clever enough to figure out exactly what that is if, in fact, it's not Rock Band 4. I mean, if you were EA, wouldn't you?

Andre Segers, GameXplain co-founder:

I agonized over what to write before realizing that I really just don’t care about this news. Sure, I enjoyed Guitar Hero when it first blasted onto the scene, but I’ve pretty much completely forgotten about the franchise since. It seems the market has only just caught up with me. Honestly, had Activision not made this a formal announcement, I strongly suspect very few would have noticed the series’ absense in the years to come.

Ryan DeLaRosa, GameOverNation co-host:

As far as music games go, you're speaking to somebody who has very much been on the outside looking in. I bought Guitar Hero II, played it for about three weeks to a month, then it collected dust until I lent it to my little sister. I never saw it again. For me it was a fad that never really took hold.

That being said, I think it was likely the right move for Activision to pull the plug on the franchise for the time being. They flooded the market with their product and really over-saturated it. I'm sure new songs and versions dedicated to popular bands were great, but there's only so much you can squeeze out of a genre like this. I could easily see how the casual party-game audience would tire of buying new versions of music games, and at this point it's unlikely that the niche hardcore Guitar Hero players are a group large enough to support high music licensing costs. It is unfortunate to see something like DJ Hero get cut; it seemed like a franchise that was under-appreciated but was probably already well on its way to that audience-versus-cost limit. It was a great idea, but likely didn't have serious legs.

Now, as to whether or not I think Guitar Hero is really dead... well, no. I think in a few years we'll see the brand revitalized. Plus, with the increasing popularity of indie music, and more people having the ability to produce music on their own, you could see the cost to use music come down. That could make the franchise viable on a smaller scale. Plus, let's be serious – gamers as a whole have never been against buying their memories. Guitar Hero will likely be back riding a wave of nostalgia instead of novelty the next time around.

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