When most people think of rhythm action or music games, their first thought is either of Dance Dance Revolution's frantic foot-stomping or the equally tense button-shredding of Guitar Hero. Both games make a fair shake at simulating the real life experiences of dancing and playing guitar, respectively; are simulations art? Would that make FIFA art? Or Goat Simulator? Possibly not. Unlike Dys4ia, most people will have at some point danced or tried to play guitar. The more creative side of rhythm action games are the like of Electroplankton, a title released on the Nintendo DS in 2005 where you tap animated creatures with the touch screen to make music. There's not much of an aim to Electroplankton you don't have to tap the right plankton, or do it under a time limit and it's actually been used as an instrument by outsider musicians like Xiu Xiu. Director Toshio Iwai primarily works in making art installations that are similarly interactive and, like Electroplankton, are beautiful but mostly without practical purpose. Art!
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
