More innovation in music games?

Even the layman is familiar with games like Guitar Hero and Dance Dance Revolution. Those games focus on rhythmic precision, while other gems that focus on the musical experience, a la Rez, waste away in obscurity. From new developer OneBigGame comes the solution to that problem.

In Chime, players try to fill the grid with various block shapes, which should remind you of Tetris. If it doesn’t, you may be on the wrong website. Try this one. Digression aside, placing pieces on the grid doesn’t directly give you “coverage,” (pictured). What you want to do is create sections of blocks 3×3 or larger. The location of every piece you place affects the song, but to hear the song in its fullest, original form, you must reach 100% coverage. Apparently, that’s pretty difficult. Especially since you’re timed. Luckily, there’s a kind of sandbox mode as well, so you can just sit back and enjoy the music, filling the grid differently every time you listen.

But hey, my words don’t mean much. This is a music game. Bask in the glory:

More gameplay here. Oh, and get this: It’s non-profit.

It’s due out before the end of the 2009. Excellent Christmas present? I’m thinking yes. Tell us your thoughts in the comments!