Related Sections: Music Games
Activision's idea of innovation is the 12 year old idea behind DJ Hero
On a CNBC interview, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick responded to a question about innovation in videogaming by effectively announcing the unannounced DJ Hero.We have this product called DJ Hero coming out later this year, which is a turntable that you can actually play competitively and spin discs and mix songs.
It's called Beatmania, I think. And Konami introduced it into Japanese arcades 12 years ago. It even predates Dance Dance Revolution, the Konami game that started the whole concept of music games with peripherals. There's been a home version of Beatmania available for ten years. Poor Konami, can't get any respect.
To be fair to Kotick, there's a thin line in the videogame industry between innovation and recycling. Maybe it is time to give Beatmania -- under whatever name -- another shot now that music games are the new hotness. But I just can't see scratching being as universal as the stuff you do in Rock Band and Guitar Hero.
By Joshua at 10:01 AM ON 02/02/09
There are lots of American fans of this series, and Konami really hasn't done anything to court them. And this "DJ Hero" game has been rumored for about two years, more than enough time for Konami to start moving these games over to the US. Konami deserves to lose the American audience for this one, I am afraid.
By Marmoset at 1:43 PM ON 02/02/09
Although they might not produce the best product, it feels like Konami should be getting much more money than they do...And for the love of god someone shut Kotick up.
By unbongwah at 4:38 PM ON 02/02/09
There's also the little fact that the GuitarFreaks arcade game came out in 1998, predating Guitar Hero by 7 years, followed by DrumMania in `99. But I guess everything old is new again eventually.
BTW, the Beatmania series is still ongoing: the most recent title was Beatmania IIDX 15 DJ Troopers, which came out last year for arcade & PS2.
By ducker at 6:29 PM ON 02/02/09
Had Beatmania... ugh.. it's horrible vs. the new line of rhythm games. Primarily because the key strokes required to make in the game appear to have very little rhyme or reason as to their location or frequency. It's a very disappointing game. I've also seen this game in the arcade (in the US) pretty much the same thing. Fun, but annoying due to the notes not matching up with what is heard.
ducker:
Had Beatmania... ugh.. it's horrible vs. the new line of rhythm games. Primarily because the key strokes required ...More »