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Harmonix's Fantasia: Music Evolved is made of pure magic
I can name the exact moment that I fell in love with Harmonix's latest game, Fantasia: Music Evolved, at this year's E3. Periodically throughout the game, you're presented with an on-screen globe, and you can wave your hand over it to create a tune. The science of how it works isn't exactly clear (you're adjusting the pitch and rhythm of a tone somehow), but the tool is simple, it works, and the game will periodically play back your creation to you, and then allow you to redraw it over if you don't like it. Once the tune is set, you can swipe both your arms outward to zoom out to the game's "overworld" level, which in this case was a beautifully rendered, very animated robot factory, with various pipes and pistons jumping up and down in time with a rhythm. This was the moment Fantasia showed me just how magical it was. As I tried to navigate around the stage and solve a problem by manipulating the world with the Xbox One's new Kinect sensor (a group of robots needed to get into a small doorway, so I had to swipe over some magic to shrink them down to fit), I suddenly realized that I recognized the tune that the pipes and valves were dancing to in the background. It was the one I'd just made, subtly mixed into the rhythms of the stage itself. %Gallery-190255%
Fantasia: Music Evolved ties back to legacy with 'Night on Bald Mountain'
Harmonix's Fantasia: Music Evolved will include "Night on Bald Mountain," one of the most iconic segments from Disney's 1940 classic Fantasia. "It's one of the first songs we're announcing from the heritage of the Disney Fantasia film, bringing some of that music into the track list that runs the gamut from the original classical music from 1940 to contemporary pop today," said John Drake, head of communications at Harmonix. "Music is a living, breathing thing and we want to respect the entire canon of music, that's what Fantasia is all about." It's not entirely clear how "Night on Bald Mountain" will be used in the game, whether it'll be a standalone track or used as a part of hub world. Harmonix is going for a different type of music game experience with Fantasia and Drake tells us the reactions have been all across the spectrum, saying some folks during the E3 presentation actually cried.
Harmonix and Disney delve into 'Fantasia: Music Evolved' for Kinect
Harmonix is teaming up with Disney to develop Fantasia: Music Evolved, a new motion-driven audio game for Kinect on both Xbox One and Xbox 360. It's not an overt adaptation of the 1940s feature film, but a contemporary, interactive take on Fantasia's evocative melding of music and visual artistry. Nix "Night on Bald Mountain" for Bruno Mars and you're halfway there. You complete songs in Fantasia: Music Evolved by responding in rhythm to on-screen symbols and willing your feeble sausage arms into various pushes and directional swipes. You can also augment the music and its accompanying input pattern at several points by seamlessly swiping into one of two different possible remixes. In a demo shown to press, I was able to switch to an oddly formal but pleasant orchestral rendition of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody." Harmonix has also included a strong freestyle component in Fantasia, reflected in abstract but intuitive symbols that allow further augmentation of the current track. Drawing shapes on a sphere with your hand, in one example, can create new instrumentation and layer that on top of the active track. Once a song is completed, it spills into the level hub and gradually enriches the environment. One such hub, "The Shoal," is an aquatic playground for fish that becomes more dynamic as you complete songs and prod the scenery back to life and sound. The musical progression, so perceivably tied to the gorgeous environments, does conjure memories of Fantasia, even though the two share no characters – save for a certain wizard. Fantasia: Music Evolved is currently set to debut in 2014. In the meantime, you can enjoy the game's first trailer (above), in which a bunch of gyrating Bieber-mages duel to the max. The track list as announced thus far is right after the break.%Gallery-190255%
Rock Band creators team up with Disney for next-gen in 'Fantasia: Music Evolved,' headed to Xbox One / 360 in 2014
The tattoo-laden, musically-inclined game developers behind Frequency, Amplitude, Guitar Hero, Rock Band and Dance Central are taking on Disney's Fantasia, this morning announcing next-gen Kinect game Fantasia: Music Evolved. Like its last game franchise, Harmonix is keeping exclusive to Microsoft game consoles with Kinect -- the game is planned for launch some time in 2014 on both Xbox One and Xbox 360. Fantasia: Music Evolved -- which we're assuming must feature Master Chief somewhere given the naming convention and Microsoft exclusivity -- aims to turn gamers into aspiring orchestra conductors. Er ... sort of. The game is played by using both your arms to synchronously gesture in a variety of directions, with two on-screen icons indicating how to place your arms and which direction you'll be gesturing toward. Ostensibly, the game asks players to conduct various pop songs (Bruno Mars' "Locked Out of Heaven" and Queens' "Bohemian Rhapsody," among others), occasionally punctuated with a push, depth-wise, for various auditory flairs (among other things). You are the sorcerer's apprentice, conducting the heavens (as it were). Moreover, the songs get remixed as you go along, with players choosing one of four musical styles to introduce dynamically as the track continues to play in the background. If it sounds overwhelming, that's because it is.%Gallery-190189%
Dance Central 3 routines 50% off until June 3
If you're searching for beauty and a beat, the entire Dance Central 3 downloadable content catalog is on sale through June 3. The routines are 50 percent off at 160 Microsoft Points ($2) apiece, with over 80 tracks featuring original choreography available - don't worry, Gangnam Style still features the horsey move. Developer Harmonix is also offering dance packs for particular tastes. You know, if you only want Fergie, Rihanna or the Biebs at an even greater discount. Some of those tracks are listed after the break, the full list can be found on Harmonix's DC3 site.
Harmonix sites back online following last week's attack
Harmonix websites are back, following an attack last week that brought down the official Rock Band and Dance Central websites. Harmonix disabled passwords for all accounts as a precautionary measure and now suggests it's safe for users to head back and reset their passwords.There's no word on who initiated the attack, though Harmonix assured there aren't any signs of user information being published or misused. The attack comes a week after Harmonix concluded its DLC campaign for Rock Band, which delivered new songs every week for over five years.
Rock Band's first Metallica DLC pack pulled from store, license expired
The Metallica Pack 01 DLC for Rock Band – featuring "Ride The Lightning," "And Justice For All" and "Blackened" – is no longer available for new purchase on the Rock Band store and will soon be removed from first-party marketplaces, because the license has expired. This won't affect those who already own the DLC, and even allows them to redownload the content if necessary. If you already own the Metallica Pack 01, it's still all yours.Harmonix launched Metallica Pack 01 in November 2007 for $5.50, or $2 per song."Now, over 5 years since the release of the first batch of Rock Band DLC, we're reaching the end of some of the earliest licenses we secured," Harmonix writes on its Facebook page. "Our Music Team has been hard at work extending these licenses to make sure that this has as small an impact on the community as possible, but there may be a very limited number of songs that will no longer be offered for new purchases in the Rock Band store."Harmonix plans to post relicensing updates on a quarterly basis, hoping to give players a heads up if songs expire.
Harmonix sites attacked, go down for the weekend
Harmonix notified registered users of RockBand.com and DanceCentral.com that its servers will be down for the weekend due to an apparent attack from an outside source. The developer disabled passwords for all Harmonix site accounts as a precautionary measure, and will require users to reset their passwords when the sites are live again.The email sent to Harmonix site users noted that "at this time, we have not found that any of our users' information has been published or misused. None of our sites maintain any credit card information, social security numbers, or financial account numbers for any of our users."The person behind the attack on Harmonix's sites might not have been a fan of Don McLean, the "American Pie" artist featured in the final piece of weekly Rock Band DLC.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
Rock Band Weekly and the day the music died
A long, long time ago, I can still remember how that Rock Band Weekly used to make us smile. After 281 consecutive weeks, beginning in November of 2007, the impressively regular Rock Band updates conclude this week with Don McLean's "American Pie."In the final tally, the Rock Band music catalog includes 1,400 artists and over 4,000 tracks, with more than 130 million songs sold. Bye, bye, RBW. We'll miss you. Now, what does Harmonix have up its sleeve for the next generation?
Harmonix receives more financial backing; three new games in pipeline
Harmonix, the developer of the Rock Band and Dance Central franchises (and creator of Guitar Hero), has received investment from venture capital firm The Foundry Group. The VC previously backed Zynga and Sifteo."Last fall, Alex Rigopulos and his partner Eran Egozy showed me the three new games they were working on. Each addressed a different HCI (Human Computer Interface) paradigm. Each was stunningly envisioned. And each was magic, even in its rough form," wrote Foundry Group Managing Director Brad Feld, who will now take a spot on the Harmonix board. "Earlier this year I saw each game again, in a more advanced form. And I was completely and totally blown away – literally bouncing in my seat as I saw them demoed."HCI is essentially an exploration of interacting with computers beyond the keyboard and mouse interface, which is something Harmonix has demonstrable experience with, given its history with new tech like Microsoft's Kinect.Although Feld's words should not be taken to mean Harmonix is working on several peripheral-based games, it does mean that the developer is utilizing different concepts for player-game interaction. There's still no word on when Harmonix will reveal these projects, but Microsoft has been a good partner for the company. We've got E3 coming up, as well as an expected new Xbox announcement in the coming months.
Bye Bye, Miss Rock Band: Last ever weekly DLC song is 'American Pie'
The very last weekly downloadable Rock Band song is to be, very fittingly, Don McLean's "American Pie." As Polygon reports, Harmonix revealed the news at its PAX East party last night. The song will be included in the final Rock Band update on April 2.Not only is American Pie one of those timelessly brilliant songs, but it's full of lyrics that cutely mark the end of what's been a mammoth run of over 275 weeks and 4000 added songs for Rock Band DLC. We can still remember how all that music used to make us smile, and now we wait for the day the music dies.
Rock Band Weekly: Kool & the Gang, Shinedown, Tears for Fears
The Rock Band Blitz transfer campaign concludes next week on the Rock Band music store, shortly before all DLC updates finish April 2. One final reminder that Rock Band Blitz is $15 and all 25 tracks are compatible with Rock Band.
Rock Band Weekly: Oingo Boingo, Toto
Although we all know Danny Elfman now as a prolific movie soundtrack composer – and as the singing voice of Jack Skellington from Nightmare Before Christmas – once upon a time he headed a band called Oingo Boingo, which gave us the memorable "Weird Science."
March is last month of Dance Central 3 DLC 'for the near future'
This month marks the last time that we'll see downloadable content for Dance Central 3 anytime soon, Harmonix has announced. "As Harmonix moves forward with several new titles currently in development, the talented developers who make this content are needed on other projects," reads the Dance Central blog. The studio doesn't completely shut the door on more content, however, stating that March is the last month of new DLC "for the near future." Live challenges and leaderboards will continue to be supported, and all DLC tracks will remain available.This is the second time Harmonix has made such an announcement this year. Last month, the developer revealed that Rock Band 3 will receive no more DLC after April 2. The Rock Band franchise as a whole has had weekly DLC since the original game debuted in 2007.That raises the question: Just what is studio working on now? Dance Central has consistently been one of the best-received products for Microsoft's Kinect, so it wouldn't be surprising to see a new Dance Central debut on the next Xbox, which is believed to have a more advanced Kinect sensor. The PS4 Eye is capable of motion-track as well, so a multiplatform title is also possible. Or who knows, maybe we'll see something entirely new.
Rock Band Weekly: All-American Rejects, Blink-182, Red Hot Chili Peppers
The Rock Band Blitz transfer shakeout continues as the Rock Band music store makes its way to the final update on April 2. Rock Band Blitz is $15 and all 25 tracks are compatible with Rock Band.
Rock Band Weekly: The Flys, Queensryche, Staind
After years of writing Rock Band Weekly, we're coming close to its conclusion, with the DLC announcements for April 2 the end of the line. 275 consecutive weeks (over five years) is an impressive run and Harmonix deserves much respect for pulling it off.
Harmonix drops the mic, Rock Band weekly DLC ending on April 2nd
After 275 consecutive weeks of DLC that produced over 4,000 songs, Harmonix is tuning up Rock Band for its final content release on April 2nd. As the once-prominent rock star sim walks up the Stairway to Heaven, its studio will release additional tracks and pro guitar upgrades. This final planned run of new content will include music from unnamed artists who have yet to be featured in the Rock Band series. Sure, this news is a bummer, but not all hope is lost. Harmonix clarified that this isn't the end of the Rock Band franchise as a whole, only its weekly DLC releases. So, don't go listing your plastic axe on eBay just yet, because you never know when or where Harmonix could announce a reunion tour.
Rock Band weekly DLC lowers the curtain April 2
The final weekly DLC release for Rock Band will be issued on April 2, Harmonix announced today. Due to other ongoing projects at the studio, production on Rock Band DLC has slowed in recent months. Up until April 2, Harmonix will release weekly DLC per usual.Harmonix has been issuing Rock Band DLC songs for over 275 consecutive weeks, which comes to over five years of consistent weekly releases. The Rock Band DLC catalog includes over 4,000 supplemental tracks, spanning all Rock Band games and the Rock Band Network.
Rock Band Weekly: Soft Cell, REO Speedwagon and more
On February 12, Rock Band will add another eclectic mix of songs to its massive DLC set list, highlights of which include REO Speedwagon's "Keep on Loving You" and the intoxicating '80s cover of "Tainted Love" by Soft Cell.
Dance Central 3 gets Bieber, One Direction, Ellie Goulding, B.O.B.
Dance Central 3 is set to receive a hefty infusion of new tracks this month. One Direction and its ubiquitous "What Makes You Beautiful" will drop on February 5. On February 12 the Beebs returns with two new jams in "Justin Bieber Dance Pack 01," which features "Beauty And A Beat" and "All Around the World." The pack will run $5, or each track will be available individually for $3.On February 19 you can grab the number one song on your jogging megamix, Ellie Goulding's "Lights." The month is rounded out on February 26 with "Airplanes" by B.O.B., though we're not really sure what music from a 16-bit action game is doing in Dance Central.
