Amplitude successor?

[ToolShuggah]

With the recent release of Synthesized (Symbion Project) for Rock Band, I've gotten really nostalgic about another little HMX game I used to obsessively play called Amplitude. And before that Frequency.
It made me go to youtube and look up some gameplay. Immediately I noticed something. Amplitude was more fun to play than Guitar Hero or Rock Band!

Alright let's go back some. Back in the stone age (2003) me and my girlfriend played Amplitude every single day for hours. It was our get together fun time. She loved the song "Everyone Says Hi" and I absolutely hated it, so she'd play it just to piss me off. Good times.
I remember hearing the news that HMX was making a game called Guitar Hero. Being a guitar player and loving music in general, I of course was ecstatic. I was looking forward to it so much that it became a joke to my girlfriend. While eating dinner she'd bust out in a severely ******ed way "Guitar Hero!!" emphasizing the word hero. It was no surprise how much I was looking forward to it.
Well let's fast forward though.
The old Guitar Hero's and Rock Band is fun, yes. But I feel like I'm missing the adrenaline factor like there was with Amplitude. Changing instruments on the fly, freestyling, watching psychedelic graphics pass through your brain as the music is flowing, releasing dopamine and making it an incredible experience.

Now too many people just think because I play and am good at Rock Band that it somehow means I'm trying to pretend to play the real instruments. That's another thing I loved about Amplitude. It shows that these games aren't about trying to be cool. It's about the music and rhythm. Plain and simple. No one ever said "hey look at this guy trying to play a controller, learn to play a real controller you douche."

Anyway, don't get me wrong. One could say Guitar Hero and Rock Band are the successors to those days of old. And maybe I'm just being grumpy because I've been playing Rock Band for years now and want something new. But I just felt the need to at least express my love for Amplitude, and hope HMX brings some new things and elements I loved so much about Amplitude to the table in the future.

[elfreako]

It's called Rock Band Unplugged.

[snwns26]

It's called Rock Band Unplugged.

It's just not the same on a PSP.

Amplitude was the only game I played on my PS2 for many summers, I would do unspeakable things for a PSN sequel.

[cherokeesam]

With the recent release of Synthesized (Symbion Project) for Rock Band, I've gotten really nostalgic about another little HMX game I used to obsessively play called Amplitude. And before that Frequency.
It made me go to youtube and look up some gameplay. Immediately I noticed something. Amplitude was more fun to play than Guitar Hero or Rock Band!

Alright let's go back some. Back in the stone age (2003) me and my girlfriend played Amplitude every single day for hours. It was our get together fun time. She loved the song "Everyone Says Hi" and I absolutely hated it, so she'd play it just to piss me off. Good times.
I remember hearing the news that HMX was making a game called Guitar Hero. Being a guitar player and loving music in general, I of course was ecstatic. I was looking forward to it so much that it became a joke to my girlfriend. While eating dinner she'd bust out in a severely ******ed way "Guitar Hero!!" emphasizing the word hero. It was no surprise how much I was looking forward to it.
Well let's fast forward though.
The old Guitar Hero's and Rock Band is fun, yes. But I feel like I'm missing the adrenaline factor like there was with Amplitude. Changing instruments on the fly, freestyling, watching psychedelic graphics pass through your brain as the music is flowing, releasing dopamine and making it an incredible experience.

Now too many people just think because I play and am good at Rock Band that it somehow means I'm trying to pretend to play the real instruments. That's another thing I loved about Amplitude. It shows that these games aren't about trying to be cool. It's about the music and rhythm. Plain and simple. No one ever said "hey look at this guy trying to play a controller, learn to play a real controller you douche."

Anyway, don't get me wrong. One could say Guitar Hero and Rock Band are the successors to those days of old. And maybe I'm just being grumpy because I've been playing Rock Band for years now and want something new. But I just felt the need to at least express my love for Amplitude, and hope HMX brings some new things and elements I loved so much about Amplitude to the table in the future.

I got dizzy with all the fast-forwards and rewinds.....now I don't know what century I'm in :confused:

(also, I've been specifically told "hey look at this guy trying to play a controller, learn to play a real controller you douche." What hurts the most is that came from my 8-year old son)

[ToolShuggah]

Rock Band Unplugged does bring the changing of the instruments, which is a big part of it. But yeah, it's basically just Rock Band on a small screen. And there's an awkwardness with the button layout. Somehow just using 3 shoulder buttons was more fun. PSP is just something to play when you get bored, it's not really an experience you can get from playing on a big screen with surround sound.

What I'm thinking is maybe some kind of keyboard peripheral and the ability to change sounds and instruments, much like a synthesizer.

[pelemerengue]

I remember emailing Harmonix about this years ago (back when Guitar Hero II first came out).

I think Sony owns the rights to both Frequency and Amplitude, so they would have to go through them if they were to do a direct sequel.

Rock Band Unplugged has similar mechanics, of course, but the whole "FreQ"-style isn't there, and that's a big part of it -- trippy tunnel visuals, lots of electronica music, something like 8 instrument tracks to switch through, an assortment of power-ups... the base "scrolling through tracks" mechanic is really the only similarity. And I agree with the previous post: it does indeed feel WAY more natural to play with three shoulder buttons rather than face buttons.

To be perfectly honest, I think Unplugged was a bad idea. It capitalized on the Rock Band brand, but it introduced nothing new or exciting to the series and drew from the same catalogue of songs. Maybe players who only have a PSP appreciate the game, but personally, it makes absolutely no sense to me to own a console version of Rock Band AND Unplugged (let alone separate DLC for both platforms).

Considering Unplugged is a PSP exclusive, I wonder why Harmonix didn't work with Sony to get a "true" Frequency/Amplitude sequel released, with similar mechanics, style, and music. :\

[weirdphil]

There's also Lego Rock Band on the DS, but I kid. Have you looked into AudioSurf? (http://store.steampowered.com/app/12910/) It's not the same, but it's something else to dick around with. Is that ok to say? :confused:

[cutmaclass]

On a side note, I absolutely LOVED the Amplitude remix of "Everyone Says Hi."

While I would kill for a sequel to the Frequency/Amplitude franchise, I think Harmonix really hit the nail on the head with Rock Band, finding a formula that is appealing to casual players and hardcore players.

If ever they should not be working on a Rock Band game, I'd love to see a return to the kind of music game that uses a NORMAL controller -- people these days seem to be so upset by "fake instrument" music games that I believe they need to be reminded that some of the best rhythm games came on "classic" controllers. Amplitude and Frequency have an amazing amount of gameplay depth that Guitar Hero and Rock Band have made people forget that music games can have.

[ToolShuggah]

Actually I have played Audiosurf. That's a neat little game. I find that I really don't use it much though. I guess the excitement of dicking around with it just wore thin for me and I hate keyboard controls for games. Hey look I just said dick!
Anyway, after watching more Amp vids it dawned on me too the more things Rock Band is missing. For one, just looking at a screenshot of both games, which one looks more fun?
Also rock band lacks the "game" factor. Where's all of the power ups? Slow mo? We have "score doubler" that's it. And you had to actually hit a series of notes in Amplitude for the bar to raise, which made it more challenging. Just more aspects that I miss.
I also think instead of coming out with "authentic" replicas of guitars and other novelty things, they should concentrate on what really makes these games fun. At the end of the day I think more of us care about what the object actually does and not so much what it looks like.

[Infested Stinger]

I really would like a successor, but this thread is really tempting me to go boot up my ps2 make a remix, since that is what I loved doing on them, and then not be able to play it because it freezes :/

[ricecake]

Even though the gameplay is a bit different, I think Phase was the logical successor to Amplitude (frequency, amplitude, and phase being the properties of a wave). I for one would love for them to make another Amplitude-like game, since Amplitude and Frequency got a lot of play time on my PS2. If they would even just make an HD "remix" of the games and release it on PSN, I would buy it, even though I still have the originals.

[ToolShuggah]

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/10/10/harmonix-talks-about-future-projects-returning-to-frequency-and/


AWWWW YOU GUYS!!!!! *BIG SNUGGLES!!*

[krisko]

I actually borrowed both Frequency and Amplitude from a co-worker of mine a little over a month ago and played them both over the course of a week. I was so shocked when I failed the very first song I tried! :eek: I had to, for the first time in years, really get used to the learning curve on a rhythm game, which I hadn't done since I first got DDR Max back in '03. I wish I could have played the online mode, but of course the servers have been down for years.

Of the two games, I actually enjoyed Frequency more, believe it or not- the music was better, the graphics were more colorful and interesting, and the game felt a little smoother with the tunnel setup rather than the highway. But they were both great games, and I would love to see a sequel to both those and the other "forgotten" Harmonix game, EyeToy Antigrav. I would buy a PS3 for that.

[RoxasXIII]

I still have my demo for Frequency on the PS2.
Even though I can only play four songs, it is still awesome.

[Burntoutat22]

If I'm not mistaken, I vaguely remember an interview with, I think it was Alex Rigopulos, and he said that Harmonix as a company would like to work on something that could be likened to Frequency or Amplitude. I'll try and find the link to the interview, but seeing what time it is, my brain may be making things up. It feels so real though. I think it was on Joystiq, or maybe IGN. Anyone else read this particular interview I'm referring to?

[maeby]

Yeah it's amazing how much replay value those games had when they only had a soundtrack of what, 30 songs or so? My favourite part was when it'd be going so fast your brain can't quite keep up but your fingers end up pressing the right buttons.. good times. I don't think I ever finished the insane level on Amplitude though, couldn't do the last two or three songs maybe.

[Yellig]

Actually I have played Audiosurf. That's a neat little game. I find that I really don't use it much though. I hate keyboard controls for games.

It is very, very fun with a gamepad (I use an XBox 360 controller).

[ToolShuggah]

If I'm not mistaken, I vaguely remember an interview with, I think it was Alex Rigopulos, and he said that Harmonix as a company would like to work on something that could be likened to Frequency or Amplitude. I'll try and find the link to the interview, but seeing what time it is, my brain may be making things up. It feels so real though. I think it was on Joystiq, or maybe IGN. Anyone else read this particular interview I'm referring to?

look up 3 posts

[mayhem117]

Try out Phase for the ipod videos. It was awesome! It turns your entire music library into a rhythm game. you basically have 3 buttons and occasionally keep up with a wavy line on a scroll wheel. Another one to play is Beat Hazard for Xbox live arcade!!That one is really good also. It plays exactly like geometry wars but takes all your music and builds levels based on your songs so just when a song is getting really epic a boss could pop out or a whole slew of ships. It also flashes lights based on the song so it works as a visualizer as well