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Endless Space receives free 'Light of Polaris' update
Endless Space keeps receiving solid support from its development team, adding a third content pack for free to the 4X space strategy game. The "Light of Polaris" includes new achievements, Steam Cloud support, holiday stuff and welcomed updates.The holiday specials include the new Polaris Factory Wonder and Oros Gec Faction Hero. The general updates include some faction tweaks and a "no pirates" option. There's also enhancements to the battle AI and automatic battle actions.Strategy fans should keep an eye out for this game in the upcoming Steam sale.%Gallery-173759%
Endless Space content update today, adds new faction
Endless Space will launch its first free content update, "Rise of the Automatons", today on Steam. Red Alert: The update is not compatible with older saves. Developer Amplitude Studios stated the update was created with input from the 4X strategy game's community."We really appreciate our players' devotion and ideas; they've given us ammo for many more updates and upgrades beyond this one," said Amplitude CEO Mathieu Girard. "They're numerous, argumentative, and occasionally challenging, but we wouldn't have it any other way."Other improvements to the game in today's update include a new trade route panel, upgraded diplomacy, improved hero management, improved AI and other necessary "fixes, amendments and changes."%Gallery-167279%
'Free form' lens over mobile display could improve audio and haptics, says Motorola patent filing
It's hard to tell exactly what Motorola is thinking of here, but it probably isn't a billowing sheet of fabric stretched loosely over the face of a smartphone -- even if that's what it looks like. Instead, this appears to be a patent application for a "free floating display lens" that helps the panel of a mobile device to be used as a Beo-style acoustic speaker. The idea is that you can get louder and less resonant sound without having to dedicate more precious real estate to a larger traditional speaker unit. The application also talks about generating haptic feedback on the lens, using the same underlying piezoelectric structures that would power the audio. Creating vibrations this way could require "eight times" less voltage than current methods while also delivering a higher-amplitude sensation. Merge that with KDDI's weird vibrational speaker technology and the results could be deafening.
IK Multimedia reveals trio of iRig iOS accessories for mobile podcasting and music making
Its no secret that many musicians use their iPhones and iPads to help them craft their tunes, and go-anywhere podcasting holds great appeal for many others. To serve such folks, IK Multimedia has unveiled three new peripherals joining the likes of its AmpliTube adapter and iMic accessories: the iRig MIC Cast, iRig MIX, and iRig Stomp. The MIC Cast is a unidirectional mic aimed at mobile podcasters that hooks up to your iOS device through its headphone jack (and has a 3.5mm port for headphone monitoring). It has a compact form factor that matches the iPhones slimness, and comes with recording and voice processing apps to get things sounding just right. Look for it Q1 of this year for €29.99 ($38). Next up is the iRig Stomp, an electric guitar pedal crafted from aluminum that works with any iOS guitar, amp or instrument app. It connects to your iDevice's 3.5mm headphone jack and comes with a free AmpliTude app for adding effects and will cost €44.99 ($58) when it lands in Q2. Lastly, there's the dual-channel iRig MIX mobile music mixer, which can be connected to iDevices, CD players or other music sources using it's stereo inputs. It's got gain, bass, treble and volume controls along with a channel crossfader to tailor your tunes using the included apps: DJ Rig, AmpliTube, VocaLive, and GrooveMaker. Diplo wannabes can pick up the MIX in February for €74.99 ($96).
Harmonix talks about future projects, returning to Frequency and Amplitude
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.
Harmonix founders detail the company's failure-ridden road to success
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.
Harmonix to 're-energize' its franchises after The Beatles: Rock Band
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.
Supersonic Wii: Classic music game revived through homebrew
We miss Harmonix's pre-Guitar Hero games FreQuency and Amplitude. Well, we don't miss them -- we've got them right here on the shelf -- but we're sad that Harmonix's plastic-instrument games got so ridiculously popular and the company left its more complex, musically varied series behind.Aaron Lindsay and Kevin Dodge, rather than just writing wistful blog posts about the defunct series, have created a homebrew "tribute" to Amplitude on the Wii. Supersonic Wii: Winter Edition, submitted to the Drunkencoders Winter Compo, is a pretty accurate imitation of Amplitude, right down to the typeface. In Supersonic, as in Amplitude, various instruments in a song correspond to "tracks" on the game field, and players must complete measures on each track, quickly jumping from track to track to maintain combos. The game features nine songs, and is totally free! Provided you can run Wii homebrew, of course. If not, there's potentially some cost involved with the setup. Check after the break for gameplay footage![Via 4cr]
Harmonix CEO interested in Amplitude sequel for PS3
PS2 owners might vaguely remember the names Frequency and Amplitude. These were some of Harmonix's first games and they ultimately set the stage for more successful rhythm-based franchises such as Rock Band. While most might not remember the six-year old title Amplitude, the people at Ars Technica haven't and have even asked Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopolous if there were any plans to bring the series over to PSN.It's a game that's "still close to my heart" said Rigopolous. "I'd love to do a sequel to Amplitude, actually. I would love to come back and do it right for the PlayStation 3." And it would have to be on the PS3. Sony owns the Amplitude property; if there were to be a sequel, there's only one logical place ... or maybe PSP. Anyway, Harmonix is interested, but the ball is in Sony's court.[Via Joystiq]
Harmonix CEO wants an Amplitude sequel for PS3
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.
SCEE severing several servers for online PS2, PSP games
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe has posted a portent of doom on its website concerning the online servers for several PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable games. SCEE notes that it has wrapped its hand around the power cord and is ready to give it a good tug on June 30th and sending the following titles quietly into the offline night: PlayStation 2 Amplitude Destruction Derby Arenas Everybody's Golf EyeToy Chat F1 '04 Jak X Lemmings PS2 My Street Syphon Filter Omega Strain This is Football 2004 This is Football 2005 Twisted Metal: Black Online PSP Lemmings World Tour Soccer 2 Sony Computer Entertainment America has made no similar announcement.[Via Shacknews]
Amplitude servers going offline, 'farewell party' Sunday
Before Guitar Hero there was FreQuency. After FreQuency came 2003's sequel Amplitude. Harmonix's Sean Baptiste dropped us a note to let us (let you) know that Sony is pulling the plug on Amplitude's servers this coming Monday, February 26. Baptiste is organizing the final "shindig," currently scheduled for Sunday, February 25, at 7pm EST. All are welcome!Reminder: this will be your last chance to download user-created remixes from the Remix Repository.
Neversoft to develop Guitar Hero sequel
Activision looks to be taking full advantage of the Red Octane acquisition as Neversoft is gearing up to take on the illustrious Guitar Hero franchise. While there was a small blurb in the latest issue of EGM concerning this very arrangement, Neversoft has updated their website tonight in hopes of bringing some new talent to the board specifically to rock. GameDaily seems confident that Neversoft will take over the franchise beginning with Guitar Hero III, but this is only one possibility. Other current Guitar Hero rumors (again, perpetuating from EGM) include an 80's version of the series to see release this year, which Neversoft could be working on, leaving the brand name sequels to Harmonix.And where does this leave Harmonix? While one would assume they'll still be involved with the series, they could very well be off starting up a new franchise, or perhaps working on one of those rumored Amplitude sequels. Regardless, they've laid out the foundation for an extremely popular and established series. Hopefully this changing of the guard will be more like a Sammy Hagar and less like a Gary Cherone.
Sony hates music games: no Traxion or Frequency?
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.
