This afternoon, video game publisher Ubisoft announced a new, highly anticipated video game for the 2010 holiday season. You might think it involves a certain pair of sibling plumbers, space marines, or sword-wielding elf, but you’d be wrong. Instead, the game features…The King of Pop?
Despite the creation of “Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker” for the Sega Genesis (hey, it was the 80’s…), this game seems incredibly strange. Granted, rather than a side-scrolling adventure game where you kill thugs by throwing your hat and forcing them into choreographed dance routines, the game will be in a “Rock Band” meets “Dance Dance Revolution” style setup where players will be able to re-enact some of MJ’s most famous performances in a game that will “immortalize” his music.
Still, I have to ask, why?
I know that he was a major part in shaping pop music throughout the 1980’s-1990’s, but still, is this game really something that will showcase good music and entertain a younger generation of gamers that haven’t been acquainted with his music, or is this Ubisoft’s attempt to cash in on the King of Pop and all the DVDs and albums being sold since his death?
Personally, I thought Micheal Jackson made some decent music, but I never considered myself a fan, so maybe I just don’t see the appeal of this kind of game. All the same, much like the “Guitar Hero” and “Rock Band” franchises, I expect to see this milked for all it’s worth, selling copies based solely on the name of the game and not the content.
The game will be available holiday season 2010 on the Xbox 360 (using Kinect), PS3 (using Playstation Move), Wii, Nintendo DS (a handheld?), and Playstation Portable (???).
MetalNerd 