Posts Tagged ‘harmonix’

Yeah. This is what I want from Harmonix.

OK, while I’m a self-admitted Harmonix fanboy, I usually try to keep only news related to Rock Band here on this site. But sometimes I see things that may be fringe-related, and they have to end up on the site, like this little “recommendation.”

In the November 2011 issue of Fast Company, a business publication that I actually enjoy based on my real life livelihood in finance, a piece is included that is titled “Six Companies That Should Take The Plunge In 2012,” and includes companies that should take some big risks to reclaim the glory they once previously held. This list includes Barnes & Nobles, Honda, Burger King, the NBA, Quiznos, and… Harmonix Music Systems.

The piece mentions that the problem with Harmonix is that the company behind Guitar Hero “hasn’t done much since, and consumers are losing interest in disc-based video games.” OK.. let that sink in for a little bit, because it’s gonna get worse before it gets better. Nevermind the success of the Rock Band and Dance Central franchises, because apparently it has been all downhill since Guitar Hero: Rocks the 80s. And if it’s one thing that we all know, it’s that no one is buying disc-based video games anymore. This sounds like bad news for games like Batman: Arkham City, Skyrim, and Battlefield 3. Too bad no one will be purchasing those…

OK, let’s continue with what the strategy guru at Fast Company recommends Harmonix Music Systems should do to pull out of its tailspin.

“Spend whatever it takes to create the world’s first immersive shoot-’em-up, where gamers move their bodies to take cover. “It’s bound to happen,” says Marc Nesbitt, a former video-game producer, “and Harmonix has a head start with Kinect technology.“

Um… What? Fast Company made the effort to print out the full name of the company, Harmonix Music Systems, and then goes on to talk about how they should leave their core competency to make another first person shooter clone? What would such a game even be called? And if this was a two years ago, he would have wanted Harmonix to make a MMORPG using the WiiFit. It might not entirely be the author’s fault for this “plunge,” as the “former video-game producer” referenced is currently listed as a Senior Producer at MTV Games, so read into that for what it’s worth.

Oh, and in case anyone is wondering, he also recommends that the NBA should play FEWER games, Honda should make a “space wagon,” and Quizno’s should go food-truck only.

[via Fast Company]

We kinda had a feeling this was coming, especially since the stockholders of Harmonix had filed suit against Viacom way back in December of last year for bonuses they believe they earned, but were never paid . And now, in what essentially amounts to a legal tit-for-tat, Viacom is now suing stockholders of Harmonix, for the sum of $131 million. While the amount does come as somewhat of a surprise, Viacom did state on their financial statements last year that “we believe that we are entitled to a refund of a substantial portion of amounts previously paid,” so I can’t say I’m completely surprised this is now public knowledge.

In Viacom’s lawsuit that has now been officially filed, they are seeking $131,827,980 of the original $149,770,149 payment to Harmonix. If we go back in time to February of last year, Viacom had originally gone public with the knowledge that they were coming after this money, and we analyzed Viacom’s reasoning for wanting their money back.

This is a pretty bold move from Viacom, as it’s fairly uncommon for corporations to go after bonuses that were actually paid, and then attempt to ask for the money back after things don’t pan out as expected. I can only speculate that this suit is going to be used as leverage against Harmonix’s litigation against Viacom, and that the whole thing will be settled out of court in arbitration, ending in a a wash for both companies.

You can review the entire legal document here.

[Hollywood Reporter]

PAX is serious business

Presented in its entirety, below is the video of Harmonix’s “Reverse Q&A” panel video from PAX 2011. The whole video comes in just shy of an hour, much like the previous PAX videos we have featured here on the site. As it is Harmonix, and they’ve got other products besides just Rock Band now, the video also talks about Dance Central, and their new iOS app Vidrhythm. Check out the entire video below, and as Anon said in the comments, the Rock Band discussion starts about 36 minutes in.

With PAX 2011 only a few days away, we thought those attending would like to see where the cool cats from Harmonix would be so they can bug them and ask questions about Muse DLC. While they are still primarily promoting Dance Central 2 (and probably will have more info about VidRhythm coming, as well), they are always up for talking Rock Band, as well.

Unfortunately, the folks from RockBandAide won’t be at PAX this year, so we’re relying on the community to provide us with any good pics, videos, and stories from the coming weekend that would be cool to feature here on the site!

How The Hell Do I Get My Foot In The Door?
Serpent Theatre - Friday 4:30pm – 5:30pm

So you’re over just playing games – you want to work on them. That’s awesome – but how do you get started? How do you get industry experience without having worked in the industry before? Is there one straightforward path to making a career in videogames? Join a few folks from around the industry as they offer insight into nontraditional paths into the industry, resume writing tips, interview strategies, networking, and much more. Find out what recruiters and managers are looking for in new hires as well as how to leverage experience you may have towards getting that awesome gig you’ve been eying.

Panelists include: Lisa Mason [Software Development Manager, The Nerdery], Sam Houston [Online Content Manager, Playfish - EA], James Stevenson [Senior Community Manager for Insomniac Games, Insomniac Games], Lindsey McQueeney [Manager of Talent Acquisition, 38 Studios LLC/Big Huge Games], John Drake [Director, Communications and PR, Harmonix Music Systems, Inc], Jim Rivers [Hiring Manager, Obsidian]

Movin’ On Up 2: How to Make It (or not) in Videogames Journalism
Raven Theatre - Friday 7:30pm – 8:30pm

We are back for our annual panel where we tell you how you’re doing it wrong, what you are doing right, and then John and Chris get into an argument about game reviews. We’ll drop knowledge on how to get your site or your writing noticed, how to run into the “right” people, and how to just get started in the first place – all straight from the PR folks you want to get in touch with and videogames journalists who have gone virtual unknowns to writing for some of the biggest sites or publications out there. Three out of four panelists agree that this is THE panel to attend if you are looking to get started in videogames journalism or want to get a leg up over the rest of the writing hacks out there. We’ll also dedicate a good amount of time to answer to your questions, so come prepared!

Panelists include: Chris Kohler [Game|Life Editor, Wired.com], Arne Meyer [Community Strategist, Naughty Dog], John Drake [Director of Communications and Brand Management, Harmonix]

The Return of The Reverse Q&A with The Harmonix Community Team
Serpent Theatre - Saturday 6:00pm – 7:00pm

The Harmonix Community Team spends a lot of time answering questions about Rock Band & Dance Central, but what happens when they get to question a captive audience at PAX? Part focus group and part interrogation, this panel promises to turn the idea of a traditional Q&A on its head. Harmonix employees will kick off discussion by sharing secrets about your favorite games, unveiling features for upcoming titles and maybe even announcing a new project… assuming it hasn’t all been leaked already.

You may be wondering: “What kind of questions will be asked?” and “What kind of cool new things will they announce?” and “Will this be as big a disaster as the time they did this panel at PAX East?” All valid questions, but you’ll have to attend to learn the answers!

Panelists include: Annette Gonzalez [Community Manager, Harmonix Music], Eric Pope [Community Manager, Harmonix Music], John Drake [Director of Brand Management, Harmonix Music], Aaron Trites [Manager: Community Development, Harmonix Music]

For more information on PAX panels and a map of the convention center, check out PAXsite.com.

For several years, Harmonix had essentially all it’s time invested in developing Guitar Hero, and ultimately Rock Band. When things were good, it was great. But once the genre started slowing down (to put it gently), Harmonix had to refocus on other things besides just Rock Band. Dance Central appears to be the must-have game for Microsoft’s new Kinect hardware, and newly announced VidRhythm will feature Harmonix’s first dedicated effort for the iOS platform. But what about Rock Band? WHAT ABOUT US?!

Harmonix CEO and co-founder Alex Rigopulos recently chatted with gaming industry news site Gamasutra about the “reinvention” of Harmonix. While much was discussed about the other two intellectual properties listed above, a few solid questions were raised about the current state of the Rock Band franchise. When asked about the creative change from being owned by Viacom, Rigopulos mentioned this:

“I should mention that we do continue to support the Rock Band business, which is actually now quite a profitable business for us in terms of the downloadable content, and we have fairly ambitious plans on where we want to take the Rock Band franchise in the future in what I think will be some big, unexpected directions.”

While we could speculate all day on what those “big, unexpected directions” could be, we really have no idea. Based on another comment Rigopulos made, we can take assurance that DLC won’t be going anywhere for awhile.

“[DLC is] a meaningful source of profitability for us. There’s still a dedicated core of Rock Band fans that come in week after week to buy new releases of this content. So it’s an important source of business that we will continue to foster for quite some time, independent of the more substantial reworkings of the Rock Band franchise that we have in mind.”

I HIGHLY recommend checking out the rest of the interview. Since we only cover Rock Band here on the site, Rigopulos makes numerous mentions to multiple new iOS IPs, as well as leaves the door open to a revisit of the Amplitude/Frequency franchises.

[Gamasutra via @Delibird444]

The gaming industry is a fickle one. After almost single-handedly creating an entire genre of video games, Harmonix continues to work hard to keep interesting and engaging products in the hands of its fans. As I’m sure you can recall, Harmonix went through two different rounds of layoffs to refocus the direction of the company since late 2009. And this was in addition to being sold from Viacom late last year.

Despite all this, Harmonix is embracing its self-owned status once again. With Dance Central 2 coming out later this year, newly-announced VidRhythm to be unveiled soon, and Rock Band DLC consistently being churned out each and every week, it’s clear that Harmonix isn’t going anywhere. Harmonix VP of production Tracy Rosenthal-Newsom talked to Eurogamer about what it is like to be independent again:

“I think it has been a terrific opportunity for us. We are very well supported but really the most important thing is there’s a huge amount of creative energy that has bubbled up during our independence. As we’ve been in development on Dance Central 2 we’ve also been in development on a bunch of new ideas. It’s just been terrific to see the company get back to the core collaborative design process that we have – putting small games together, making prototypes and thinking up really innovative gameplay. We’re super excited to see what comes of that in the future.”

But what about Rock Band? What does the future hold for our favorite franchise? Tracy also commented on that:

“It’s still a very successful business for us. There are a ton of Rock Band players out there waiting to see what’s next every week. We’ve get a lot of really high profile artist [lined up]. There’s been a real focus on some incredible content and that will continue on week after week.”

But what about a new Rock Band title?

“At this point we’re not announcing anything. Right now our focus is on Rock Band DLC.”

While some analysts are expecting Rock Band to follow in Guitar Hero’s footsteps (that would be a first), the commitment to weekly DLC proves Harmonix still truly believes in the franchise. After all, Rock Band 2′s sequel took a full 2 years to arrive. I’m still confident that Rock Band 4 is something worth waiting for.

[Eurogamer.net]