Arcades drumming up business
It's official - Koreans are all insane
It started with karaoke. Then came dance mats and arcade classics like Dance Dance Revolution, giving you the chance to make yourself look really stupid. More recently things took a turn into the surreal with Dreamcast hit Samba De Amigo, the only game we can think of which is controlled by a pair of digital maracas. And now a South Korean company called Doogi Doogi Drm Co. is going one better by giving you an entire drum kit to embarrass yourself with.
Yes, Doogi's debut product is an arcade machine consisting of a genuine acoustic drum kit sat in front of a monitor, the idea being to pound along to the tune as the drums light up under your sticks. Sensors attached to each of the drums in the kit then register whether you have hit the right drum at the right time and in the right way, while lights blink on and off around you to give you that genuine live concert feel. Apparently. Doogi are promising 45 levels featuring "the latest popular songs", although as their motto seems to be "rock will never die", it's questionable just how popular those songs will be. Both game and learning modes are available depending on how serious you are feeling, and arcade owners and visitors alike will be glad to hear that, as well as the standard "open" machine, there is also a version encased in a sound-proof booth.
Whether this bizarre contraption will ever make it to the west remains to be seen, but given that every other insane fad to emerge from the Far East has eventually reached our shores it seems only a matter of time before Doogi follows. Pass me the earplugs...