Monday, September 28, 2009
QD3 talks to HipHopWired.com about Scratch
Think about it: we’ve got Timbaland’s Beaterator which includes lessons on
real music theory in the tutorial, DJ Hero which introduces the concept of an
artist who uses other people’s music to make an original song and elaborate
music studio components in Rock Band and Guitar Hero that put the power
of composition directly in your button-mashing fingers. And let us not forget
Wii Music and all its lofty educational ambitions.
To tone deaf choir reject like myself, the music game scene isn’t just over
saturated – it’s downright intimidating. Am I supposed to be entertained,
educated or indoctrinated? I can hardly decide.
All of this came up today while talking with Carlo Delallana (designer) and
Matt Leunig (associate producer) about their game, Jam Sessions 2 – a guitar
simulator. I was playing Good Reporter and trying to find out how the game
would treat me as a gamer and also as a would-be musician (despite my
evident failure in middle school).
I asked about the scoring system and Delallana said the game wouldn’t punish
me or make the song sound bad for messing up a note. I started to ask about
competitive multiplayer and both Leunig and Delallana emphasized that their
game was more about making music than trying to be better than the next guy.
Finally, I told them about Beaterator’s music theory lessons and asked for their
take, and Delallana dropped this bomb:
