Despite the proliferation of the two labels, there's no concrete distinction between hardcore and casual gaming.

They've also helped turn an entirely new segment of the population into gamers. That success has woken the industry up to the potential of games as a platform for content delivery, and that's a good thing for consumers, as long as they remember to vote with their wallets.

Harmonix has now become the world's largest manufacturer of drumsticks. The Rock Band franchise has sold more than 40 million downloadable tracks to date, which is a number so ridiculous that it looks like a typographical error (it's not). Games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero have done some great things for gaming, including opening up the floodgates on downloadable content. Now what? Like a mediocre college band's hastily arranged tour of the Mid-Atlantic states, I soon realized that I wasn't in it for the long haul and that I had better things to do with my time and money than play rock star. No other gaming genre has lost its luster for me quicker than the Rock Band/Guitar Hero/Sing Star fantasy fest. Then, one day I just woke up, looked around at all the plastic peripherals and realized I was done. I'd downloaded songs, played the fake drums and stayed up far too late singing along to Police songs while my fake band mates humored me. I'd lived the fantasy and acted like a rocker with my friends. I hit the wall with play-along music games. I can't put a finger on an exact date, but it was likely around the time I was previewing the AC/DC Live: Rock Band standalone game from Harmonix and MTV Games. Matsuura's argument is that, while games like these are fun, they have proliferated so quickly that the genre has become oversaturated and stale, focusing mainly on music as a commodity rather than integrating it into games in new and exciting ways. And don't forget about The Beatles: Rock Band, Rock Band Unplugged, Band Hero, Guitar Hero 5, Guitar Hero: Van Halen and DJ Hero, all of which are scheduled to hit store shelves this year. That's seven Guitar Hero games, three retail Rock Band games, Wii music, Rock Revolution, Lips, Sing Star, Karaoke Revolution and its many incarnations, and more Disney sing-along tie-ins than IGN's database can handle. Between 2007 and today, the videogame industry has produced nearly 20 separate music games for multiple platforms. His exhortation for change couldn't have come at a more fitting time.

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