Is the Rock Band/Guitar Hero concept getting silly?

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If you haven't noticed that video games are increasingly becoming like movies, you haven't been paying attention. Graphics, storylines and voice acting are all generally top-notch these days, making many games indistinguishable from something you might see in a theatre – except, of course, for the interactivity.

It's only natural, then, that video game makers are falling into one of the movie business's biggest pitfalls – a lack of fresh ideas. Case in point: two of this season's big games are DJ Hero and Lego Rock Band. Both recently released games are descendants of Guitar Hero, the title that has grown into a smash franchise.

For the Guitar Hero uninitiated – and there can't be many of you left – the premise is simple: you strum along to songs on a plastic guitar, pressing coloured buttons on the neck in time with notes as they scroll down the screen. In 2007, this basic idea begat Rock Band, which added plastic drums and a microphone for vocals, and resulted in another huge hit. Both franchises have reaped big rewards for Activision and Electronic Arts, their respective publishers, which have milked them for a slew of sequels. Activision recently released Guitar Hero 5, while EA countered with Rock Band: Beatles.

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/media/story/2009 ... -band.html