(* Source:Nick Wingfield *)
Let the games begin.
New videogame consoles from Sony Corp. and Microsoft Corp. made a splash when they went on sale during the last two holiday seasons, but many consumers sat on the sidelines waiting for prices to come down and better games to show up.
Game makers hope to fix at least part of the problem next week, when they show off their new lineup at the annual E3 games conference in Los Angeles, where game companies pound the drums for products that will go on sale to the public by the holidays.
![[Guitar Hero III leads a pack of music-themed games.]](http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/images/PJ-AK512_pjBIGG_20070703195219.jpg) |
| Guitar Hero III leads a pack of music-themed games. |
The high-profile titles to be unveiled there may finally prod more gamers to buy the two most-expensive game consoles on the market, Sony's $599 PlayStation 3 and Microsoft's Xbox 360, which starts at $299. Among them: new versions of the blockbuster Halo and Grand Theft Auto franchises, the first to exploit the graphics horsepower of the Sony and Microsoft consoles that enable heightened levels of realism.
The conference will also feature updated versions of familiar hits aimed at the most "hardcore" gamers, like Electronic Arts Inc.'s Madden NFL football game and Activision Inc.'s Call of Duty. But there will also be a special emphasis this year on easy-to-play games aimed at "casual" players, a market that Nintendo Co. has been courting with great success with its Wii console. One big new category publishers are rushing to exploit: music-themed games that allow users to play, dance and sing along.
• Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Activision Inc./RedOctane)
Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PS2
• Rock Band (Electronic Arts/MTV Games)
Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
• Jam Sessions (Ubisoft)
Nintendo DS
• SingStar (Sony)
PS3
• Boogie (Electronic Arts)
Wii
![[A cityscape from Grand Theft Auto IV.]](http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/images/PJ-AK515_pjBIGG_20070704170709.jpg) |
| (Top to bottom) A cityscape from Grand Theft Auto IV.; The protagonist from Assassin's Creed.; A guitar controller for Rock Band. |
• Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party (Konami)
Wii
One unexpected development in the games industry has been the explosive popularity of games centered on music, a number of which feature clever game controllers shaped liked musical instruments. Guitar Hero kicked off the craze a few years ago by allowing non-musicians to play along with popular tunes by tapping colored buttons on the neck of a plastic guitar as matching colors flew by on screen.
Guitar Hero III will feature songs by the Rolling Stones, the Beastie Boys and Pearl Jam, with an added bonus for people who buy the Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360 versions: a wireless guitar controller that will free up players from cords connected to their consoles.
The product will face stiff competition from the original creators of Guitar Hero, who now work for MTV and are debuting a game called Rock Band, a title that will come with a guitar controller, drum-set controller and microphone.
For players that want a simpler musical experience on the go, Jam Sessions turns Nintendo's handheld DS game player into a portable guitar. Players will strum their virtual guitars by scratching a pick across the DS's touch-sensing screen. SingStar, meanwhile, will allow PlayStation 3 users to do karaoke in the comfort of their living rooms, capturing their performances using a videocamera that attaches to the console. Users will be able to upload the clips to the Internet.
There's even a new wave of dance games coming that take advantage of Nintendo's Wii, with a motion-sensing controller that lets users manipulate on-screen action by swinging their arms around in the air. Konami is coming out with a Wii version of its popular Dance Dance Revolution franchise that will allow users to engage in dance contests by moving their bodies around. EA is getting into the dance act with Boogie, in which players make customizable game characters called Boogs shimmy on screen.
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