Let's see, how many Guitar Hero games are coming out this year again? I can't even keep track of the releases anymore. Last I checked, there was GH: Metallica, GH: On Tour 3 (I didn't even know that On Tour 2 was out yet!), GH: On LSD, GH: Jonas Brothers, DJ Hero, Didgeridoo Hero, Groupie Hero... Ugh, when does it stop?

With Rock Band, it's basically like iTunes, only it's a video game, and while it's not as profitable as Guitar Hero as a franchise (yet), consumers get a way better deal. They've got a gigantic catalog of songs that you can pick from, and all of the songs you download to your account can roll over from one game to the next, so you never have to re-buy a song. Best of all, you can even pay a $5 license fee to roll over all the songs from the disc into the next game!

With Guitar Hero though, Activision insists on doing their DLC half-assed, because they would rather release new content as an entire new game. All they have to do is throw in a "new" guitar, and they can sell it for $100. And unfortunately, all the little Jimmies out there who don't realize how crappy Guitar Hero is in comparison to Rock Band are going to put it on their wish lists instantly.

Worst of all though, they don't even have to come up with new content! They've realized that they can simply mix and match songs from the older games and sell them as "greatest hits" titles. I'd bet you a buck that next year, Activision is going to announce "Greatest Hits vol. 2" that has a bunch of tracks they didn't bother using this time around. It's like Activision believes they've stumbled upon a perpetual snowball of wealth, and they're going to keep rehashing it until people stop buying.

Essentially, Activision knows that Guitar Hero makes money, but they didn't learn their lesson from overmilking the Tony Hawk franchise. They are taking the old phrase "make hay while the sun is shining" a bit too close to heart, because they aren't even remotely concerned about what will happen when people get sick of Guitar Hero. If you told them that it's going to happen, they'd laugh at you, but that's because they're a bunch of idiots. It happened with Tony Hawk, and it WILL happen with Guitar Hero. It's only a matter of time.

Today, Kotaku posted a story about a home arcade cabinet Dream Arcades, and they called it an ideal solution for people looking to play Street Fighter IV "the authentic way."

http://kotaku.com/5151618/dream-arcades-offers-street-fighter-iv-arcade-solution

Well, there's certainly some truth in that, however I figured I'd share my 2¢ on the topic, since arcades are something I have a lot of passion for, and I also happen to own my own arcade cabinet, which I converted into a Mame (Multi Arcade Machine Emulator) machine.

Since Kotaku's story was about Street Fighter 4, first of all I'd like to point out that Dream Arcades are OK, but they are more for retro 2D games (like the cab I made). I'm pretty sure they all use standard-definition CRT monitors, which make old games look gorgeous, however a new game like Street Fighter 4 or HD Remix begs for something a bit flashier. Dream Arcades are a great solution if you're looking to relive the glory days of the arcade at home, and you lack confidence with power tools, however I'm not quite sure I'd say they're ideal for bringing the modern arcade experience into the home rec room.

On the other hand, an HD arcade setup with a fancy flat panel monitor will make new games on PS3 and PC look amazing, but ****c games from the 80s and 90s will not look so hot. If you really are an arcade nut, having both setups would be the ideal, but that obviously is extremely expensive and takes up a lot of space. I spent about $800-1000 on my project (including the PC inside), but if I was going for an HD setup it would have easily run me into $2000 territory.

It's a shame that Capcom won't just give SF4 a proper US release. Even if they were just selling conversion kits, it would be a godsend to most arcade operators. SF2 made arcades the scene to be at in the 90s, and SF4 would have been a much needed shot in the arm for our ailing industry. Chances are, we're only going to get it here through gray market imports, which means it's going to be rare and extremely expensive. My local arcade's imported Tekken 6 machine costs $3.00 a play! It makes me wish I could build myself a sligh HD arcade machine to play these games on, but that's not happening since I have neither the money nor space. For now, I'll just have to content myself with my PS3 and my portable custom arcade stick.

Last generation, when I heard "RPG," it was synonymous with games like Final Fantasy. Ever since Final Fantasy VII, Japan pretty much ruled the RPG scene, but in the current generation, JRPGs seem to have been going into somewhat of a decline. Take a look at the scores that the heavy-hitter JRPGs on current-gen systems have gotten:

Blue Dragon - 6.0
Lost Odyssey - 7.5
Eternal Sonata - 8.5
Tales of Vesperia - 8.5
The Last Remnant - 6.5
Infinite Undiscovery - 6.5

Out of all of them, only 2 have broken the AA barrier. All of Square's games have been strictly B-grade in the 6.0 range. In fact, the highest scoring JRPG in the last few years was Persona 4, which got a 9.0, and that is a PS2 game! Japan's RPG kings have really dropped the ball this gen IMO. When you look at the RPGs that are actually recieving acclaim these days, they're all from American developers. Fallout 3 and Oblivion both managed to pick up game of the year awards, and Mass Effect, while AA game at Gamespot still did recieve a good amount of praise, and is considered to be one of the better RPG's of this generation. I loved both Oblivion and Fallout 3, and I hope to try Mass Effect at some point in the future, so for all intents and purposes, the WRPG developers have "stolen" me away from the JRPG market-- or more likely, the JRPG market handed me over.

So what happened that's causing JRPGs to dwindle this generation? Are the developers simply having trouble adapting to the new hardware, or is their creativity simply drying up? Whatever the case is, the Japanese RPG scene doesn't look very good this generation, and I really don't see any JRPGs on the horizon that I'm particularly excited about right now.