Happily ignoring the fact that the Nintendo DS has a touchscreen RIGHT THERE , Activision plans to bundle a “drum grip” add-on alongside Band Hero DS when the game launches later this year. The silicon grip slips over a DS Lite (there’s no mention of DS phat compatibility yet), covering the little guy’s d-pad and face buttons. Tapping one of the grip’s larger colored buttons plays the corresponding on-screen drum.
Cute, but is it necessary? Other music games on Nintendo’s handheld have allowed players to tap drum icons displayed on the touchscreen, a technique that seems to have worked well. Here’s Executive producer David Nathanielsz justifying the decision to Kotaku:
“When we sat down and started prototyping drum play we wanted to replicate the rhythmic, kinesthetic experience of drumming. What we quickly realized is the movement of your thumbs in a horizontal and vertical direction was really compelling and fun.”
Fair enough. And here’s my reasoning for yet another extraneous add-on : it’s Activision . On the bright side, this is less likely than the Guitar Grip to reduce my fingers to gnarled talons.
Band Hero DS ships later this fall, and will allow players to link upto four DS systems for full band play.
[Thanks, Kotaku ]
