Much like developer Harmonix established a name for themselves in rhythm gaming by creating Rock Band and Guitar Hero, the company has more recently created a flagship series for both dancing games and the Kinect peripheral with the Dance Central series. The newest game in the franchise, Dance Central 3, was released in October, and like previous entries, has received continuous downloadable content in the form of additional songs to dance to since November.
This is about to change, though. Via an update on the game’s official website, Harmonix has announced that as they are developing several new titles, members of the Dance Central 3 DLC team have been shifted to work on these other, currently unannounced projects, with the last currently planned DLC hitting this month. The developer did note that they will continue to put up weekly in-game challenges, and that all current DLC will remain available via the in-game music store. They also revealed that the current tally of songs playable in Dance Central 3, which includes all current DLC and imported songs from the first two games in the series, clocks in at an impressive 200+ songs to dance to.
As a fan of the series and Harmonix’s work in general, one can’t help but wonder what these new titles are. We already know that DLC for Rock Band will also be ending on April 2, and the developer has confirmed that there are currently no plans for another entry in that series. Unlike the rhythm game genre, though, motion-based party games like Dance Central and Just Dance are still quite popular, so it seems doubtful that Harmonix is abandoning the series as a whole. Rumors have been swirling about Microsoft’s new console coming with a more advanced Kinect sensor packed in, so perhaps a fourth Dance Central title is in the works for it. Another possibility is that Harmonix is working on an entirely new IP, which could end up on any system.
Only time will tell. As always, we will keep you updated on future Dance Central and Harmonix-related news as it develops.
Published: Mar 9, 2013 11:58 am