Is the future of music video games not going to be with consoles? It is no secret that the console creators get a pretty large sum of the money for games that are sold, but is it really worth the money these companies may have to spend in development of the hardware to make them run separately and then the loss of sales due to the large price increase worth it?
Harmonix’s Josh Randall thinks so. He thinks that the instruments contain plenty of space to store all the needed components to make the games work, and that they could plug in to the tv just like a console or similar standalone games. What would be missing if they were to rid themselves of the console? The online play would be nearly impossible as a standalone. Users would have to resort to playing with their friends at their houses or not at all. What would it mean for upgrades? Could they plug into the computer and be able to add new songs? What about a new game altogether? Would we need to buy more instruments?
I think that most gamers would prefer that the game remains on consoles, but there is some obvious benefit and profit in creating a standalone music game. Don’t expect a standalone until 2011 or later if they are going to happen at all.
