However, the game was poorly-received by critics, despite selling four times as many copies as FreQuency or Amplitude. A departure from music games, the title used the PlayStation 2 EyeToy camera peripheral to enable one's body to perform as a controller for a futuristic extreme sports game. Īlso in 2004, Sony Computer Entertainment released the Harmonix project EyeToy: AntiGrav.
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The series was much more successful due to its mainstream music and its marketability. Konami was responsible for publishing the Karaoke Revolution titles, of which Harmonix developed and released three "volumes" between 20. Konami, known for their Bemani line of music games, wanted to distribute their games in the United States, and Harmonix was the only music game developer in the country at the time. Īfter Amplitude, Harmonix was approached by Konami to create the Karaoke Revolution franchise. The two attributed the poor response to the games due in part to the lack of a mainstream soundtrack and that the gameplay was difficult to connect to if one was not playing the game. And again, Amplitude achieved awards, critical praise, and a small cult following, but it was not a financial hit. Several changes were made from its predecessor to broaden the game's appeal, from gameplay tweaks to a more mainstream soundtrack. Harmonix developed a sequel, Amplitude, released in 2003. Released in 2001 on the PlayStation 2, FreQuency was critically acclaimed and won numerous awards, though it failed to become a mainstream success. The game was backed by SCEA Vice President of Product Development, Shuhei Yoshida. Featuring songs by a number of underground electronica artists, FreQuency allowed players to perform and remix a variety of music. The game's development began in 1999, backed by a larger team at Harmonix, many of whom were musicians. A key factor of Harmonix' contract with Sony was that it was allowed to keep its intellectual property, which allowed for Harmonix to build on the game for its future endeavours. Harmonix' first major video game was Frequency, with its development funded by Sony Computer Entertainment along with about $2 million in investments in the company. With this realization, the two returned to the United States and regrouped their company as a video game developer, though they had to let about 40% of their current staff go. These games also focused on bringing musical experiences to gamers through simple, understandable interfaces commonly found in games. They came to a realization that games like karaoke were popular not due to personal expression, but because they encouraged players to try to accurately recreate the songs through their actions. They attempted to sell their CamJam equipment to these entertainment centers but found little interest for it. They then considered the entertainment industry in Japan, where in 1997, was taking off with the introduction of karaoke bars and music video games such as PaRappa the Rapper, Beatmania, and Dance Dance Revolution. This led the two to consider approaching entertainment businesses like Dave & Buster's to include their products, but they soon realized that this would be a year to a year-and-a-half effort, too long for their needs. CamJam was utilized at Disney theme parks. Harmonix then designed "CamJam", which performed similar functions, this time using simple body gestures to trigger music sequences. This product only sold about 300 copies, with Rigopulos and Egozy realizing that people, while initially entranced by the game, lost interest after 15 minutes of playing with it.
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The Axe enabled consumers to easily perform unique instrumental solos by using a PC joystick. The company's earliest product was The Axe on PC CD-ROM. The company was initially funded with about US$100,000, and for the first five years, had nearly zero revenue. Promotional video for The Axe, Harmonix' first product The company was built on the premise that the experience of performing music could become accessible to those who would otherwise have trouble learning a traditional instrument. The two realized that after graduation that they probably couldn't pursue such ideas working at any existing companies, so they chose to start their own. After building a computer music generation system that could algorithmically create music on the fly, the two considered how one could use a joystick to control the system, and set up a demonstration of the unit for the Lab, which gained interest from others in the Lab. Egozy was an electrical/computer engineer with an interest in music, while Rigopulos was a music composition major with an interest in programming both met while working in the MIT Media Lab. Harmonix was founded on by Alex Rigopulos and Eran Egozy, who met while attending MIT.