Joystiq http://www.joystiq.com Joystiq http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/http://www.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif Joystiq http://www.joystiq.com en-us Copyright 2013 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[Harmonix talks about future projects, returning to Frequency and Amplitude]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2010/10/10/harmonix-talks-about-future-projects-returning-to-frequency-and/http://www.joystiq.com/2010/10/10/harmonix-talks-about-future-projects-returning-to-frequency-and/http://www.joystiq.com/2010/10/10/harmonix-talks-about-future-projects-returning-to-frequency-and/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Though Rock Band 3 certainly seems to be doing its fair share of innovation, what with the keyboard peripheral and fancy real guitars, Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopulos recently told Edge Online that the studio isn't in danger of drying up the idea well. "There's a lot of creative terrain to explore with Rock Band," Rigopulos explained, "new forms of interaction between the player and the music. We still have some very exciting things planned."

One of those "very exciting things" was possibly referenced earlier in the interview, when Rigopulos explained the studio would love to return to its earlier rhythm titles -- namely, Frequency and Amplitude. "In terms of rhythm-action-type games focused on electronica," Rigopulos said, "that's something we'd love to come back to at the right moment in time. Or something completely new focused on that style of music." Ooh, ooh, we know! How about a game just called Rave, which uses two PlayStation Move controllers. We'd be so down for that.

JoystiqHarmonix talks about future projects, returning to Frequency and Amplitude originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 10 Oct 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Believe it or not, things weren't always going so well for Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchise developers Harmonix. Starting out in 1995 as a "music tech" company, founders Alex Rigopulos and Eran Egozy took four years of "misstarts and product concepts that never made it anywhere" before they had any success. Talking to CNN Money, the two detail five years of strange, misguided, or ill-informed ideas that eventually somehow lead to The Beatles: Rock Band.

First up: "The Axe," something that Rigopulos describes as "a joystick music improvisation system." In so many words, you moved the joystick around and various sounds were produced. Unsurprisingly, only 300 were sold -- "a horrendous failure that led to a painful lesson," Rigopulos says. "You can't really build a business on an entertainment experience that only keeps people entertained for 15 minutes." Second, the two tried breaking into the (at the time) $10 billion Japanese karaoke market ... and met with resounding failure once again.

Luckily for us, lessons learned overseas came back with the duo and Harmonix became a game company. Rigopulos and Egozy quickly changed their company's focus from "music tech" to "gaming," creating Frequency and Amplitude soon after. Though the games didn't directly lead to the financial success achieved later with Guitar Hero and Rock Band (GH didn't get off the ground until RedOctane approached Harmonix in the early oughts), both helped the now major developer to get a foot in the door.

JoystiqHarmonix founders detail the company's failure-ridden road to success originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 03 Sep 2009 21:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>alex-rigopulosamplitudecnncnn-moneyeran-egozyfrequencyguitar-heroharmonixmtvmtv-gamesredoctanerock-bandthe-beatlesthe-beatles-rock-bandThu, 03 Sep 2009 21:15:00 EST<![CDATA[Harmonix to 're-energize' its franchises after The Beatles: Rock Band]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2009/09/02/harmonix-to-re-energize-its-franchises-after-the-beatles-rock/http://www.joystiq.com/2009/09/02/harmonix-to-re-energize-its-franchises-after-the-beatles-rock/http://www.joystiq.com/2009/09/02/harmonix-to-re-energize-its-franchises-after-the-beatles-rock/#comments
Sure, The Beatles: Rock Band developer Harmonix has been busy working on next week's big release for some time now, but did you know it's also working on "re-energizing" its "core franchises?" Harmonix PR overlord John Drake told CVG as much, saying that while the studio is ready to refocus on its existing portfolio, it's been busy making sure it got The Beatles game 100 percent right. "We were terrified while making the game, hoping we don't make [Apple Corps] mad at any point -- they're really nice and easy to work with, but this is The Beatles, you can't afford to mess this up."


Considering the longtime rhythm game developer more or less re-energized its Amplitude and Frequency franchises with Rock Band Unplugged, we're taking a wild stab in the dark here when we suggest Drake's likely talking about Rock Band 3. And does "re-energizing" in this case mean "adding Project Natal functionality?" We're not sure yet, but we've got our fingers as uncrossed as possible, just in case.

JoystiqHarmonix to 're-energize' its franchises after The Beatles: Rock Band originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 02 Sep 2009 17:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Before they were cranking out unwavering weekly DLC and allowing single-minded fathers to finally form that family band they've always dreamed of (despite having thoroughly untalented children), Harmonix produced a little-known gem titled Frequency, and shortly thereafter, a sequel named Amplitude. While attention on these titles was washed away by the rising of the Guitar Hero and Rock Band tides, we might be seeing more of them yet.

In a recent interview with Ars Technica, Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopulos declared his love for Amplitude, and mentioned his wishes to eventually revive the series. Considering that Sony owns that particular property, it would likely come in the form of a PSN download -- however, given their tireless Rock Band DLC schedule and their rapid, company-wide expansion, it might be a while before they can divert the necessary amount of focus to put Amplitude back on the multi-colored, instrument-specific tracks.

JoystiqHarmonix CEO wants an Amplitude sequel for PS3 originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 17 Jan 2009 12:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>amplitudefrequencyharmonixPS3psnrock-bandSat, 17 Jan 2009 12:15:00 EST<![CDATA[Wii Warm Up: By the numbers]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2008/07/30/wii-warm-up-by-the-numbers/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/07/30/wii-warm-up-by-the-numbers/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/07/30/wii-warm-up-by-the-numbers/#commentsFiled under:

After some of the responses to yesterday's morning question, we thought it might be time to revisit something we've asked before: how many Wii games have you purchased? If you include renting and borrowing, how many have you played? Of course, this leads us to also ask ... how many "big" games (defined as you like) do you want to see Nintendo releasing for the Wii in a year's time? How many would you like to see released each month? Or, let's try it this way: if new Zelda, Animal Crossing, Pikmin, Metroid (we'll include Samus for the hell of it) and Mario games were all released within six months of one another, along with, let's say, a Kid Icarus game, would you buy them all (assuming you enjoy all those franchises)? What if, in that same period, we also saw games like Fatal Frame IV, Madworld, The Conduit, Samba de Amigo, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Dead Rising, and more, would you get them all? Right away? Or would it take you more than six months to accumulate the funds (and time) to play them all? Feel free to substitute with games you prefer if these aren't to your taste.

Of course, this isn't even considering WiiWare and Virtual Console releases.

JoystiqWii Warm Up: By the numbers originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 30 Jul 2008 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>frequencypurchasereleasesWed, 30 Jul 2008 09:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Sony hates music games: no Traxion or Frequency?]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2007/01/04/sony-hates-music-games-no-traxion-or-frequency/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/01/04/sony-hates-music-games-no-traxion-or-frequency/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/01/04/sony-hates-music-games-no-traxion-or-frequency/#commentsFiled under:

IGN's David Doel recently had a conversation with Harmonix, the development team behind games like Frequency and Guitar Hero. The team proposed a sequel to the fan-favorite Frequency and Amplitude for the PSP, however Sony declined their request. The music game would've been well suited for the PSP, as the excellent gameplay of other music games, like Gitaroo-Man, show.

However, to add insult to injury, it appears that the other music game heading to the PSP, Traxion, has also been canned. This music game from LucasArts was supposed to allow players to import their own songs into the game, a "Frequency-killer," as reported by IGN's nixice. He didn't give a reason, but it's sad to see that the music genre seems to be so neglected on our handheld.

JoystiqSony hates music games: no Traxion or Frequency? originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 04 Jan 2007 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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