NBA Baller Beats: best basketball-controlled music game of E3
The unimaginable weirdness of NBA Baller Beats finally became a reality in my mind today, as I saw, and played, the ball-dribbling Kinect rhythm game for myself. In practice, it works out to a sort of blend of Dance Central and Guitar Hero, in that you see instructions coming down a "lane" at you, directing you to dribble the ball with your left or right hand.
Gestural "moves" show up to transition from one hand to another, or to dribble through a leg, or perform a fake, or a (partial) pass, all to the rhythm of the licensed soundtrack, which included songs by Busta Rhymes and Gorillaz, among others.
But of course the big difference between this and those games is that you are bouncing a basketball instead of dancing or hitting buttons. I can see this being an excellent tool for teaching someone this fundamental basketball playing skill, within an exciting, clever rhythm game package. I say this as someone who could clearly use a few hours of practice, as evidenced by the video above.
