Digg this story here.  Goodbye “mouse nuts”
Rigopulos comes off as a humble guy (probably because pre-Guitar Hero efforts like Frequency and Amplitude sold “mouse nuts”). Although he could fuel the fires of hype by proclaiming what many already expect—that Rock Band will revolutionize the entire music genre—he’s thinking about the bigger picture.
“Frankly, I really think we’re just at the very beginning of what this category is going to become,” says Rigopulos, foreshadowing the future of an entire category, but certainly banging around ideas in his own head that may eventually be applied to future Harmonix efforts.
If you go back a few years and think about how narrow of a market the music game category was, it’d be hard to imagine that a "music game" would come out and create such a phenomenon. Sure, Parappa was great and all, and Guitar Freaks may have pioneered guitar-controller games, and who can forget Dance Dance Revolution and its ilk—but Guitar Hero literally struck a chord with the mainstream.
As an entire genre, Rigopulos thinks that the music category will grow to the extent that it will be able to sustain many successful music franchises. The fact is that we’re already seeing this. Karaoke Revolution, SingStar, Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero come immediately to mind. Harmonix will do its part in nurturing the genre by introducing innovations born from the successful formula it has created.
But one potential creative rut that could hinder music games such as Rock Band or Guitar Hero is one that involves sequels that don’t do anything to innovate gameplay, opting to merely update song rosters with each iteration.
Rigopulos hopes to avoid this. “Content is not the only area in which we want to innovate,” he says of Harmonix’s efforts. “You’ll see a whole host of things in the future. First of all, there are other instruments that we haven’t touched yet, there are other music genres. Closer to home with Rock Band, the online dimension of the experience is potentially enormous, and I think we’ve only begun to scratch the surface.”
"I suppose it’s somewhat weird to be competing against a product that we helped create." Even more intriguing than online or even new instruments is that Harmonix is thinking of ways to actually have players be musicians instead of just pretending. Rigopulos categorizes music games today largely as “performance simulations,” but few actually give people the opportunity to create music. “There’s some untapped potential in having freestyle and creative elements in games,” says Rigopulos, calling that area an exciting part of Harmonix’s current R&D efforts.
Guitar Hero III vs. Rock Band?
This holiday, Harmonix is in the ironic position of battling against its own creation with its new baby. Activision-owned Neversoft picked up development duties for the Guitar Hero franchise as MTV Games scooped up Harmonix in an acquisition. But Rigopulos doesn’t see this holiday as much of a stage for a Rock Band vs. Guitar Hero III battle of the bands.
“Honestly, I really think that [Guitar Hero III and Rock Band] are going after two very different things… There are some elements of competition, but I think that we are going for something different with the Rock Band franchise.”
However, he concedes, “I suppose it’s somewhat weird to be competing against a product that we helped create. It was a little bittersweet at first, the idea of letting go of that franchise.”
But Harmonix isn’t dwelling on its past hits. The studio couldn’t if it wanted to, considering the full steam ahead development of Rock Band.
Pricey for a “game,” cheap for a “platform”
For all the hype surrounding Rock Band, there is an elephant in the room: the price tag. At $169 a pop for the Xbox 360 or PS3 bundle, or $159 for the PS2 pack, it’s not cheap.
Will that price tag put a damper on the game's reach? “I don’t think it will [restrict sales],” argues Rigopulos. He says that the package is good value, insisting that Rock Band isn’t a “game,” rather a “platform” with some longevity. “When envisioned that way, it’s actually not expensive at all.”
Harmonix also logically expects many people to purchase Rock Band bundles together (or a few will at least mooch off a rich friend). The Harmonix head confirms that the software will be available separately at the launch, so “band members” can practice their instruments separately—quite like, you know, a real band.
Although buying the bundle or separate software will be the only options at Rock Band's November launch, Rigopulos says separate instruments are coming soon. “We are working diligently to get individual instruments into the channel as soon as humanly possible and we have a huge effort in place to make this happen.”
Frequency, Amplitude (and Phase?)
We love Rock Band’s guitar controller, the drum kit is solid and the mic will see enough action to have to be disinfected every now and then. What about more non-peripheral-based games from Harmonix? The aforementioned Frequency and Amplitude were unique and really fun, but proved too abstract to market when they released.
Rigopulos suggests that the current market may be more accepting of abstract, non-peripheral-based music games. “Before music games exploded in the US, it was much harder to explore those opportunities,” he says “…Now that music games are more prominent, I think it reintroduces opportunities to revisit ideas that we’ve had for non-peripheral-based music games as well.”
Does this confirm that Harmonix will complete the modulation trilogy and release “Phase”? Not exactly, but it’s fun to speculate.
"You could’ve learned to play a real instrument"
We’ve seen that YouTube kid who can blast through Reverend Horton Heat’s Psychobilly Freakout on Guitar Hero II (on expert mode, no less). It’s pretty amazing. But more cynical people may have thought, “that kid probably could’ve learned to play a real guitar in the time he spent learning that dumb game.”
Rigopulos unsurprisingly doesn’t feel that way at all. Conversely, signs point to a resurgence of interest in real guitar thanks to Guitar Hero’s success.
“All of the evidence that we've received indicate that in fact the millions of hours that millions of people have spent playing Guitar Hero over the past couple of years translates into a huge surge in actual guitar study,” he says. “We’ve heard from multiple guitar instructors that their business is actually booming because of Guitar Hero.
“That’s really heartening, and you’ll see with Rock Band that the connection to real instruments is much more direct.”
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