Guitar Hero studio exploring new music genres and Natal tech
Despite criticisms that music games have already hit a creative and commercial plateau, RedOctane is convinced the genre will continue to evolve.
“We're really just at the beginning of music games,“ says RedOctane’s co-founder Kai Huang, speaking in an interview with The Seattle Times.
Huang went on to discuss how the studio is looking to expand Guitar Hero’s audience by accommodating different genres.
“In the US, country music is obviously very popular. Globally, classical music has always been very interesting. Latin music — there are just so many different genres of music and instruments that haven't been tapped into yet.”
And Huang sees Microsoft’s upcoming Natal device as another avenue to explore.
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“One of the areas we're exploring certainly is camera technology and what you can do — track your movements and maybe have your characters on the screen do certain things you're doing, or personalize it more so it can look more like you on stage rather than just be an avatar,” he said.
Image: Activision
I think that we have to also acknowledge the fact that the Guitar Hero fad is similar in ways to the Wii fad, in so much as the players have access to an "fantasy" world. Whenever products like this have come out, they have generally sold extremely well. Even the Eye Toy.... So yes the music potential is there because of it's personal relation to a players interests, but it's more to do with the fact that Augmented and Virtual reality are on our door steps. I'll be shocked if the "next gen" of Video Games console and PC games, don't feature Virtual Reality games as part of the initial package (at average consumer price) or at least an add on. It has to be the next step, aren't people bored with slightly better graphics???
A pair of glasses, gloves, socks and a mat of a relevant size! Easy, current and personal, it's not just the music industry that carries this strong personal affinity, there's so many other personal interests that someone would want to play out in this potential. Music is a big one, but not the all, by any means!!!
