Guitar Hero is dead, racing games are next.

With the death of Guitar Hero, gamers can agree music game are on the way out. Guitar Hero was the victim of over saturation and waning interest. Hands down racing games are the next to go. It seems that only the established IPs such as Gran Turismo, Need for Speed, and Forza can succeed while newer gamers such as Blur and Modnation racers struggle. Who knows what's next, some are even saying the fps genre is dying.

[Warprincess116]

Ya racing games are boring. I always wonder why people buy them.

[DigitalRaptor]

Racing games can be so much fun and highly intense experiences. It seems you are just not interested in cars and/or driving and the adrenaline rush and excitement that comes with it.

They failed to mention the classic MotorStorm series in this article. The pinnacle of arcade off-road racers.

[imvix]

Racing games which get milked will suffer. I am talking about EA here.

Companies taking their time releasing a good product will always see sales. I loved Dirt 2, Grid specially running in eyefinity.

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

Cant wait for the sequels specially DX 11 version of grid will be awesome.

[another_jackhole]

says the slut with guy avatar

[UnSelf]

wow

rly?

[another_jackhole]

yes, but it doesnt matter. i'm not one to start a war.

[Dart89]

"Ya racing games are boring.*

Yea try telling that to the 6 million people who bought gt5.

[ChristianGamer]

6 million shipped

[DigitalRaptor]

aww ChristianGamer, you are so cute...

[roblef]

agreed. They're over rated, and over hyped. However, they don't clutter up my house with plastic instruments.

[MintBerryCrunch]

i can only imagine Gran Turismo and Forza being two guys sitting on a couch, smokin a blunt and just going LOL looking at that statement as well as all the fanboyism between the two franchises

someone needs to make a comic of this

[HOSe]

blunt? where?!??!?!?!?

[MysticStrummer]

While Dirt rolls another. Racing games aren't going anywhere.

[MintBerryCrunch]

hejjjjj man, when are you coming out??

these 2 are blazed over here....join in

[creamsoda]

Racing games have been around for more than 20 years since when are they next?

[OpiZA]

Was the series not selling well? Always seemed like a cash cow to me

[BDSE]

Music games aren't dead- they're just not being churned out year after year with no regard for quality, if anything it's a GOOD thing for the genre.

[ReBurn]

I don't agree with the author's opinion. I think that any game that's well designed and implemented can be successful with the correct marketing behind it.

It is my opinion that good games die for one of two reasons. The first is lack of exposure, the second is over saturation. Racing has always been more of a niche genre than a mainstream one, and there are really only a few series that have broken out of the niche status. Two of those are Gran Turismo and Forza. The arcade racer has never really been mainstream, despite names like Need for Speed.

What the author is missing is racing games typically don't cost as much to develop and publish as music games. Two of the biggest contributors to the losses in the music game space has been the licensing cost of the music and the creation of the peripheral instruments. Racing games don't require either, so there is much lower overhead.

Games like Split/Second and Blur haven't sold through the numbers of other games. But they don't need to. Both have sold above the 500K threshold that many developers have said is necessary to break even in this generation. The Burnout and Motorstorm franchises have done very well. I suspect that we'll continue to see a new Ridge Racer in every console generation since it seems to have become Namco's proof of concept title for new hardware.

Racing will be ok. It's been around as long as there have been home consoles. Those of us who enjoy the genre will continue to support it.

[mcstorm]

I don't agree with this guy. Split/second blur n modnation were all good games but they were not a raceing game imp they were pickup and play car games like Mario kart which people for some reason only want Mario kart. When you look ar the other racing games forza gt need for speed dirt grid ect they all sell well and are about racing real life cars than arcade shooting. So I don't see racing games falling away and time soon. Last year alone gt5 and f12010 proved people want car games.

[bwazy]

Racing games boring? Hell no! I loved Forza 3, but now that I don't own an Xbox anymore I've been pondering the thought of buying a Racing Wheel/Pedal and GT5.... Anyone recommend?

[NotSoSilentBob]

If you do get GT5 get a wheel. It makes the game so much better. I got to level 20 without a wheel but I picked up a G27 and now I am 30. Only been a week.

[another_jackhole]

agreed. get a wheel. if you can't afford a $200 wheel, get the driving force gt. it's still worth it. you'll never forgive yourself if you don't buy a steering wheel for GT5.

[WharenPeace]

Racing games? That's a stretch, especially since they've been around for as long as we've been gaming. The real problem with Guitar Hero was that greed got the best of Activision and they milked it severely over the course of two years. Where they could have cultivated the genre, they decided to rather slash and burn for $$$. In hindsight, I'm sure they regret this decision because ultimately, a once profitable product has now been reduced to ruin.

I'd wager a guess that racing games will be fine.

[Ether]

Yeah, that's not happening.

Guitar Hero and Rock Band pretty much had a monopoly on the music genre, and when they started getting rehashed sequels, the genre as a whole simply dropped. The racing genre, on the other hand, has a variety of franchises with different styles. Sims for the realism lovers, Criterion's games for the arcade racers, and everything in between.

[Gen0ne]

Nope. Racing games aren't going anywhere. They've been here since the Atari 2600 ( Pole Position ) and will continue on. And thank God, Grid 2 can't be far away. *checks calendar*

[billulsund]

There is a huge difference between the type of people who enjoy racing games and guitar hero. People who enjoy racing (including professional drivers) like racing games. I play guitar and do not enjoy guitar hero. Many of the other guitar players I know feel the same way. Playing a real guitar is nothing like guitar hero, but games like GT5 do very well at simulating driving. I am extremely interested to try the new Rock Band controller that is a real guitar. I think that it coule be a real game changer for guitar games and make them more into simulators, like playing GT5 with the wheel. Unless a time comes where people no longer enjoy car racing, there will always be racing games.

[Relientk77]

Hopefully

racing games are boring IMO

they are basically all the same

[hiredhelp]

racing games of today come in many forms of styles. for that reason racers wont just go away. wtf is this article.

guitar hero yeh im fedup. FEDUP with DLC every week i say you pay for guitar and game pay quite bit for it you should get DLC with it. but this typical activision. anything new should be added to the sequels not trying to empty pockets.