Talk:Harmonix

Plagiarism

Most of the following was simply stolen from the "about us" page at the official Harmonix website. I've moved it here for reference. (The page it was taken from: [1])

Harmonix Music Systems is an independent game development company based in Cambridge, MA. The company specializes in music-based videogames, and are renowned for groundbreaking design innovation.

Their acclaimed rhythm-action games, FreQuency (2001) and Amplitude (2003), published by Sony Computer Entertainment, successfully merged real-time music-making with insanely addictive gameplay. Amplitude was a nominee for BAFTA's "Best PS2 Game of 2003" and was chosen by Rolling Stone Magazine as one of four "Best Console Games of 2003". The game was ranked 9th out of all PS2 games in IGN's "Reader Top 10".

Their Karaoke Revolution series of titles (2003 to 2006), published by Konami Digital Entertainment, turns singing into a competitive game and turns the game console into a high-end interactive karaoke machine. Karaoke Revolution was named by TIME Magazine as the "#1 Video Game of 2003", was a nominee for 1UP's 2003 "Game of the Year", and won Electronic Gaming Monthly's 2003 "Gaming Innovation of the Year" award.

EyeToy: AntiGrav (2004), published by Sony Computer Entertainment, was their one game outside the music genre. With the arrival of Sony's EyeToy, Harmonix saw an opportunity to help define a major new entertainment category: "physical gaming". AntiGrav is an extreme sports title--a futuristic hoverboarding game that gamers play by moving their entire bodies, not just their thumbs. It is the world's first videogame to allow the player to control a 3D game character through the player's own body motions.

The company's newest title, Guitar Hero, published by RedOctane, is a critically-acclaimed[2] and award-winning[3] game of sight reading with a custom guitar-shaped controller. The game was described by Official PlayStation Magazine as "ridiculously awesome."

Harmonix was founded in 1995 by Alex Rigopulos (CEO) and Eran Egozy (CTO), who met while working in the computer music group at the MIT Media Laboratory. Rigopulos and Egozy formed Harmonix initially not to develop videogames, but rather to create new ways for non-musicians to experience the unique joy that comes from making music. Before developing videogames, the company created interactive music attractions for theme parks, including Epcot at Walt Disney World, and other location-based entertainment venues. These exhibits allowed users to improvise music simply by moving their hands in the air. Harmonix's first product, The Axe, was PC software that turned a joystick or mouse into a musical instrument with which anyone could improvise original instrumental solos in real time.

A few of their early employees came from Looking Glass Studios.

Pele Merengue 07:50, 4 September 2006 (UTC)

public or private?

How is Harmonix a private company when they are owned by a public company? I'm not a business expert... Tehw1k1 03:02, 2 June 2007 (UTC)

moved?

I have friends working at Harmonix and they just moved their offices across the street to the space upstairs on the East corner of Prospect & Mass Ave. Not sure if the whole company moved or what, perhaps there's a press release or something somewhere? Slugabed 14:10, 24 July 2007 (UTC)

Brian Gibson

Is Brian Gibson of Harmonix and Megasus the same Brian Gibson that's in Lightning Bolt? The Megasus article says that he is, but when I edited the Harmonix article to reflect that, it was reverted.

FAQ: Guitar Hero name

Many readers may be visiting wondering why Harmonix is no longer developing games with the Guitar Hero name. The Activision/MTV purchases of RedOctane/Harmonix (i.e. the franchise went to Activision while the talent went to MTV) should be clarified on this page.