All Posts Tagged ‘Rock Band’

Jennie White

Harmonix Games Nominated 7 Times After E3 2010

Jennie White | June 30th, 2010
Harmonix nominated for Game Critics Award

Harmonix is nominated 7 times for Games Critics Awards Best of E3 2010

You may not know this about me, but I like to dance and I can bust a move if I do say so myself.

Since dancing is one of my “secret” talents, I was stoked to find out that local video game development company, Harmonix, based in Cambridge, Mass., has been nominated seven times in the Game Critics Awards Best of E3 2010.

Harmonix, the makers behind video games like Guitar Hero, Rock Band, and Game Critics favorite, Dance Central, have developed some noteworthy technology and the best part about it? It’s the kind of technology that gets you dancing.

Yesterday, the Game Critics Awards announced their nominations for the best games at this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), the trade show for the computer and video games industry. (more…)

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David Bolton

Serious Gaming Can Improve Your Health

David Bolton | May 26th, 2010

Games Beyond Entertainment Week LogoGames Beyond Entertainment does exactly what it says on the box. This is a conference where the serious aspect of gaming and development is taken to the extreme. Although most of the presentations so far in this week-long event have been by individuals who admit to being gamers, for them the business of gaming is not about pointless activities. For the minds being exposed during Games Beyond Entertainment Week, the game has to appeal to human motivation and the desire to provide solutions.

Yesterday, Day 2 of the event focused  on emerging markets and communities. Three distinct threads were woven throughout the sessions: game accessibility for those with chronic or lifelong disabilities, the use of mobile games for purposes beyond entertainment and the opportunities that virtual worlds can provide in the field of healthcare.

Three tracks featuring 42 speakers and starting at 9:00am and finishing at 6:30pm?

If that’s not a serious gaming conference, I don’t know what is.

The presentations were a mixed bag of styles that used phrases such as “extrinsic motivation,” “self-determination theory,” “behavioral coping,” “breath therapy” and “human-computer interaction to demonstrate the adaptation of gameplay dynamics.” This was a day when the slightest lapse in concentration was not permitted, never has the term “serious games” been more apt. (more…)

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David Bolton

Re-Envisioning the Summer Blockbuster: A Look at Video Game Hype

David Bolton | May 16th, 2010
Prince of Persia film

This movie swaps the trend of film to game, by trying to make movie magic out of a blockbuster game series

In the summer of 1975, a film set on Amity Island in New England and starring a great white shark was released in cinemas across the country. For audiences, it meant 120 minutes of adrenaline, and it was so effective as a cinematic experience that many who had been swimming in the ocean their whole lives re-considered. Moviegoers rushed to see it; word of mouth spread, and the summer blockbuster was born.

The film, of course, was Jaws — Steven Spielberg’s aquatic horror movie filmed in and around Martha’s Vineyard. It became a cultural phenomenon and set the tone for what consumers could expect from entertainment. In the summer of 1977, Star Wars entered the arena and enjoyed a spectacular period of success as well.

Fast forward to May 2010 and we have entered blockbuster season once again — a time of year when the big budget movie fills the multiplexes and works hard to persuade us to immerse ourselves in the world of the corporate filmmaker. Already, Iron Man 2 is making it’s mark on the box office. Later, Robin Hood will attempt to banish the memory of Kevin Costner and before the end of the month we will see the return of Shrek and Carrie Bradshaw in the new Sex and the City 2 (although they have never been seen in the same room together.)

For gamers, May 27th will be the latest attempt to turn a best-selling video game into a watchable movie when Prince of Persia hits the screens. That day, the film’s financeers will be hoping not to have another Tomb Raider on their hands. Within the realm of pop culture, a great many films have been turned into video games. Prince of Persia will attempt to take a fantastic gaming experience and turn it into a blockbuster. (more…)

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David Bolton

Gaming Giants: If We Build It, They Will Come… But What Happens After They Arrive?

David Bolton | April 30th, 2010
Warner Brothers & Turbine logos

Warner Brothers just bought Turbine... Great news, for now

It is now official. In the world of video game development, Boston rules.

This unassuming city is home to some of the most talented developers and designers that the virtual world has ever seen. Whether you want to beat up on orcs, strap on a Gibson or dive off buildings, this is the place to be.

Warner Brothers Home Entertainment Group’s acquisition of Turbine Entertainment on April 20th was the latest corporate thumbs-up in a long list of investments into the local community. Turbine, which was the largest privately-owned online gaming studio in North America before being purchased, was the developer behind popular online role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons and Lord of the Rings. Millions of players channeling their inner dwarfs by fighting the minions of Sauron to ensure that Middle-Earth will not overrun by the forces of darkness — That’s nothing to shake a stick at.

A statement issued by Warner Brothers on the Turbine website showed the media giant’s commitment to the continued success of the studio. But how will that success be defined and by whom? (more…)

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David Bolton

Rock Band Network: The Next Iteration of Music Gaming Arrives

David Bolton | April 25th, 2010

RBN LogoMusic and technology have always had a special relationship. With the exception of mini-discs, which appeared to have a bright future before being crudely crushed under the jackboot of mp3s, technology has been at the forefront of ensuring music retains a special place in popular culture for many decades.

Today, the badge of mainstream acceptance has gone further than ever before with the explosion of video games designed to combine the musical experience with gaming dexterity and cool graphics. At the forefront of this revolution is Cambridge-based Harmonix Music Systems, the original developer of Guitar Hero (2005) and the maker of the hugely successful multi-player gaming experience that is Rock Band (2007).

In 2009, the company released The Beatles: Rock Band, which gave us all the chance to be John, Paul, George or Ringo, (although sadly there was no Yoko Ono option) and that game was voted Best Music Game at the ’09 Video Game Awards.

In June 2010, the second specific Rock Band title will be released with Green Day bringing their brand of pop-punk to the gaming platforms and the lack of songs from the Nimrod (album) era will concern only the truly devoted. However it is the latest development from Harmonix that is causing a wave of interest amongst the musical gaming community:

In March of this year, the company launched Rock Band Network (RBN) which was designed specifically to allow people to create their own music for the system. Thus, Harmonix opened it’s doors (and downloads) to lesser-known bands. What Harmonix has done is invite the musicians to create a gaming experience that will introduce their songs to new audiences and (hopefully) provide a revenue stream to allow them to tour and produce more product. Harmonix, in turn, hopes to cash in as well.

I met with John Drake, program manager at RBN, last week to talk about the company’s motivation for creating this new music marketplace. (more…)

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David Bolton

Why So Serious? Gaming is Fun!

David Bolton | April 23rd, 2010
Aaaaa I'm not typing all that

This Locally-produced Indie Game Rocks!

The video game industry is a serious business. Locked away in bunker-like buildings and watched over by anxious executives, developers sit in silence working at their craft, shaping and honing their visions of the future, the past, or ensuring that at the very least it is possible to score a goal in a soccer simulation.

Enjoyment in building something creative has been replaced by the desire to ensure that the average gamer will spend all of his or her free time battling the forces of evil and then play it again on a higher difficulty setting.

This is not the way at Dejobaan Games. This is a games development company that believes that the gaming experience is about fun, from the start of game development to when the gamer finishes the last level.

“We just love having fun writing games, games are just all about fun,” enthuses Ichiro Lambe, founder and president of a company that has received a significant amount of publicity in recent months when they debuted the irreverent base jumping game AAaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! — A Reckless Disregard for Gravity, or “Aaaaa!” for short. The game was nominated for Excellence in Design in the 2010 Independent Games Festival and although they didn’t win, the name is enough to grab the attention even if the full death-defying experience of a controlled descent is only available in virtual form. (more…)

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Kyle Psaty

Power Gig: Rise of the SixString – The Holy Grail of PAX East?

Kyle Psaty | March 29th, 2010
Power Gig: Rise of the SixString Logo

Will this product save music gaming and usher in a new generation of real guitar players?

After braving the crowd — some 60,000 video game enthusiasts sweating and jeering in a serpentine line that felt like it stretched for miles in the bowels of the Hynes Convention Center on Friday afternoon — I found myself in the main exhibition hall of PAX East, a first-time event here in Boston. Initially, the bright lights and flicker of over-sized monitors frightened me. This can’t be Boston, I thought. I rubbed my eyes. It certainly was.

The Penny Arcade Expo’s East Coast debut was a three-day festival that certainly meant some serious buzz for the tech sector in Boston this week. But it was more than a grand “Hooray!” in the name of the local innovation economy; it was a chance for some of the most creative minds in Boston to emerge from their 21st Century laboratories and stand toe-to-toe with some of the biggest names in the industry.

One local company that brought it’s A-game was Seven45 Studios, located in the Back Bay. If you’ve never heard of them, don’t worry: You’ll be hearing a whole lot more about them over the next six months. Seven45′s first product, Power Gig: Rise of the SixString is due out this fall, and it could single-handedly save music and music gaming in one fell swoop. (more…)

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