With a little help from the Beatles, Super Mario and price cuts from Sony and Microsoft, the ailing videogame industry expects a revival in sales this fall.
The season began this week with the launch of "Guitar Hero 5", a play with music by the Rolling Stones, Nirvana and other popular bands. Then, on September 9 is the release of "The Beatles: Rock Band," which marks the debut of these icons of rock in a videogame.
It was the first time since the last generation consoles - the Xbox 360, Wii and PlayStation 3 - hit the market in 2005 and 2006.
The music game genre - the most popular category after action games - has suffered in particular, but that's partly because it was so popular in recent years would need exceptional sales just to stay the same. According to the NPD Group, in late July, sales of this category of games in the U.S. were almost $ 390 million lower than the same period last year.
Invite musical games to play and sing real songs, offering on-screen signals about when to put your fingers on the guitar or play drums. When he plays well, the songs sound great.
"You just go along, you feel like you're in a real band. It's like you're actually on stage," said Martin Alexander, 14, who bought two sports games Monday in a shop in San Francisco. He said he plans to insist that your mother to buy him the game of the Beatles - even though she barely knows the band.
"Never heard of them until I was 7 years. It's just another game, another challenge," he said.
John Lennon once boasted that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus. Time will tell if the video game fans today feel that way. On Thursday, Microsoft Corp. announced a price cut for the Xbox 360 Elite, which now cost $ 299. A few days earlier, Sony Corp. slashed the price of the PlayStation 3 sn $ 100. Now it's up to Nintendo Co., whose Wii console will cost $ 250 since its launch. Analysts expect the company to reduce the price of the Wii, although it could keep the base price and include games with it.
One obstacle to the industry: game makers have delayed several major releases for the season this year. "BioShock 2" Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., "Splinter Cell: Conviction from Ubisoft and" StarCraft II "Activision has been pushed back to 2010.
As popular as the Beatles, in many ways Activision is trying to be less at risk and attract a much wider audience with their next musical games than EA and Viacom are doing with "Rock Band".
Besides "Guitar Hero 5", Activision also released "DJ Hero" and "Band Hero", each aimed at a different audience.
Following the success of "Guitar Hero," Activision CEO Bobby Kotick said the company realized that there was still unsatisfied audience - fans of hip hop, dance music and songs more familiar. Good demand is expected to play the Beatles, but added, "is a single category, is a certain type of music."
With the latest version of "Guitar Hero," Activision is attracting fans of Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and John Mellencamp. With "Band Hero" aims to attract younger people who are fans of Taylor Swift and Maroon 5. With "DJ Hero," Activision for fans of 50 Cent, LL Cool J and Gorillaz.
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