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We don't hear much about music games nowadays, and it's at no surprise seeing as how flooded the genre got for awhile. I'm glad to see a game like Child of Eden, but that didn't sell fantastically, and beyond that we haven't seen anything new or innovative really. Now the reason I bring this up is because I think there's room for new and innovative music games, and that's coming from someone who is DONE with Rock Band and Guitar Hero. That same type of game with just new songs just won't fly anymore, and we all know it. What I would like to see is a game that actually teaches you how to put together music. I know this has been discussed before in regards to the aforementioned music games, but I'm not talking about Guitar Hero with a real guitar fandangled to plug into the 360 or what not. I'd like to see a game more in the vein of Rez or Child of Eden, where it's more of an adventure rather than a competition of stamina.
Each level of this adventure would be broken up into different sections, clearly defining for the user the different elements they need to make for the song. Also, the musical choices you make would alter the level your playing in. For instance, the first part might put together the drum beat for your song. As you advance through the level you would choose your kick, snare, high hats and so on. Each time you choose one it would repeat at your chosen patter, such as every 4 beats your kick would hit or whatever. Every time you make a selection of what you want the level would change appearance slightly and after playing through the game and collecting things you would unlock additional sounds to use. Another level might have you choose your bass line, having you choose the sound, and giving you the option to alter it, or have you choose when it kicks in. Eventually you would have a full song generated at the end of a world and each world would be set up to make sure you make something decent sounding but entirely your own.
Later levels would introduce more advanced filters and what not to give your songs more variety. You could even use the headset to throw in an impromptu voice sample. After you've played through some worlds and unlocked a bunch of sounds you could go through a free for all type of mode where you just edit to your hearts content and generate whatever music you want. Of course you'd be able to share your songs with other people with some sort of online mode, maybe even a cooperative mode where you make a song with another person. This is just my thought at least of a music game that could teach people about music and also give us something fresh in the game-music arena, without making us buy a real instrument, or an expensive plastic one even.