Disney Set to Take Center Stage With Ultimate Band
By Shawn on Thursday, February 28th, 2008 at 4:47 PM PST In Game Companies, Game Consoles, Game Platforms, Games, Nintendo, Nintendo, Portable
Disney Interactive Studios has announced their answer to today’s popular music games, Ultimate Band. The title will be available for the Wii and the DS, and will require no specialized peripherals other than the Wii controllers or DS stylus.
“Ultimate Band invites kids, tweens and teens to join in the jam session,” said Craig Relyea, senior vice president, global marketing, Disney Interactive Studios. “And whether they choose guitar, drums, bass or front man, members don’t need to buy costly, single-function peripherals to play their way through Ultimate Band’s deep song list, dynamic venues, and customizable characters. The Wii Remote™ and DS stylus are the only tools they’ll need to reach rock stardom in Ultimate Band.”
Disney has collaborated with London-based music consultants, Radial Music, to include classics from the 60s to today’s hits on the play list.
The DS version of Ultimate Band includes a built-in recording studio. Other than that, the game is similar to Rock Band accept for the peripherals.
I understand that Disney is trying sell this based on the game not needing specialized peripherals, but I think they may have missed the point on what makes Guitar Hero and Rock Band so popular. It’s not just the performance of music, but the use of the peripherals themselves that give players the illusion of actually playing in a band.
Ultimate Band has received an E10+ rating, and is scheduled for release for the 2008 Holiday season.
via Business Wire
No peripherals=No fun.
I like how there are still original ideas floating around at Disney. I guess they’re used to ripping other people’s work off though. I mean, most of their older cartoons were based on popular children’s books. All they did was animate the stories, put a catchy tune or two in it, and made millions.
Looks like they’re at it again…