Got my ear to the speaker.

Rock Band 2 is nearly here! Which sounds pretty ridiculous considering the original was only released about 9 months ago. I’m not mad at Harmonix though. Rhythm games are probably one of my new favorite genres. So anytime I can get a nice fix of new songs and some fair upgrades, I’m all for it. With the new announcement though, there has been alot of chatter about the battle between Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero: World Tour. I may or may not have been the first to say this, but I think there is enough room in the market for them to each hold their own niche.

While Guitar Hero: World Tour may seem like the more revolutionary game, it looks like that change will be coming at the price of cutting off the casual market. Granted the name alone is mainstream gold, the price is going to scare off alot of your everyday “Wal-Mart shoppers.” For that reason alone, I could see the stand alone disc totally being the way most casual gamers go. That issue aside though, as amazing as the song creation aspect of the game is, I highly doubt this is something that the casual market is going to take any prolonged trip into.

Which leads into why Rock Band 2 is in a pretty damn good spot. They may not have the same popularity as Guitar Hero, but with Harmonix ironing out some of the kinks in the user interface, allowing already purchased DLC to carry over, and the possibility of bringing all of the songs from the prior game into the new one without having to switch discs, things are definitely in their favor with them establishing a platform. Not to mention, Rock Band is noted as being the easier of the two games, making it simple enough for any Joe Blow familiar with a toy guitar to look like they know what they’re doing. Another notch in Rock Band 2’s belt is the fact that they are opening up to 3rd parties to allow them to make instruments for the game. This allows for the possibility of better or even cheaper instruments, making it look a little more appealing in the price department.

With all this said though, I totally see World Tour taking a life of its own. People are going to take the song creation mode and put that shit on its head. I can already seeing some talented people out there doing whole shows with the game. All of that’s for the hardcore though. That’s not a bad thing either, it’s catering to its own crowd; which is exactly the same thing that Rock Band 2 is doing. All this goes to show that while these games may be competing in mind share, there is more than enough of room in each game’s respective niche for them to both be successful.