
And yet, MSRP of $160 is still pretty darn spendy. Happily, in an effort to avoid flaming suicide, it was just announced that there will be cheaper bundles available. $249 for the full Beatles: Rock Band set. Even a game for the Casual Market (tm) has to have SOMETHING to it. Pressing the red button to hit the red light and the green button to hit the green light does not compelling gameplay make. But for everyone else, well, let's face it. There is a certain sort of brain that has a compelling, all-consuming urge to hit those little colored spots as they come down the track.

Everyone else had migrated to the next room. I stopped throwing Rock Band parties after my last one, when I looked around during one song and realized I was the only one left playing. Getting four people to pick up the plastic instruments was easy.

But isn't the magic gone? When Rock Band was new, I and two other friends frequently threw Rock Band parties, and they were well attended. Now, most of this is based on my own personal observations and thus should be taken with a grain of salt.

It's easy to blame the glut for the death of the fad, but, even if music games had been released at a reasonable pace, the thing was doomed to collapse. The Beatles game will goose the genre a little, but even new releases with serious, broad appeal (Led Zeppelin? Pink Floyd?) will only slow the decay.īut, here's the thing.
