Interview with HMXSean @ rockgamer.com

[mike_rockgamer.com]

HMXSean was nice enough to grant us an interview... He hasn't had a chance to answer all of our questions but he did have time to answer enough for us to post 'Part 1' of the interview.

Here's an excerpt:

Rockgamer.com: Is there thought to expanding the peripherals, such as keyboard? I would love to play some Doors tunes.

HMXSean: It was something we briefly considered. The problem is multi-fold. First problem- there are many good songs that have synth parts, but if we were to support a keyboard peripheral the right way ALL of the songs in game would have to have a synth part which would really be quite limiting. There is also the issue of taking a 60-80 key keyboard and distilling it down into something readable on the screen. Once that happens would a five to ten key keyboard be terribly compelling idea or just an idea gone awry? Lastly there is the problem of screen real estate. Where would a fifth instrument go, especially if it had a ton of keys on it? Cool idea but a lot of difficult design and implementation hurdles.

Click here to read the interview (http://www.rockgamer.com/2008/02/17/interview-with-hmxsean-manager-of-community-development-for-harmonix-part-1/)

If you enjoy the site, feel free to add your gamertag to the 'extra's' section (If you have the xbox version). We've got a nice little community going of people who like to Jam online

Mike, rockgamer.com (http://www.rockgamer.com)

[TheRocker]

Reading Reading :D

[mike_rockgamer.com]

Reading Reading :D

Thanks again to HMXSean for giving us his valuable time

[sidman69]

how many parts is the interview?

[thakswet]

how boring.....

[undertow]

Tips for an interview:

Find out information we don't already know
Ask direct questions
Establish an agreement to be able to include atleast one bit of new/exclusive information (ie; a hot scoop)

[erickOnasis412]

cool interview.. for the second one make sure u dig deep with the questions :cool:

[God]

What undertow said

[Ventura]

Tips for an interview:

Find out information we don't already know
Ask direct questions
Establish an agreement to be able to include atleast one bit of new/exclusive information (ie; a hot scoop)

That's all well and good, but if they did that they wouldn't get an interview in the first place.

If you ask Sean if they're working on a patch, and what they plan to change, he's not gonna say anything. But ask him how he got the job, and yeah he's gonna talk.

Granted though, it really wasn't worth reading. That guy included the only bit really worth reading in the excerpt anyway (by design, of course).

[TribalProphet]

maximum awesomosity

Clue #1 that the interviewee isn't taking the interviewer seriously....

[sidman69]

PLEASE ask Sean if GH has any exclusive deals with artists that prevent rock band from using those artists songs?

[Sayburr]

Thanks for letting us know about this interview.

[mike_rockgamer.com]

Tips for an interview:
Find out information we don't already know
Ask direct questions
Establish an agreement to be able to include atleast one bit of new/exclusive information (ie; a hot scoop)

I've been talking with HMXSean for some time now. He's a good guy, and has done what he can to help us. We sent him about 15 questions, and he answered only a few of them, being honest telling us he's been slammed with announcements (Which I read as the fires of the DLC leak), and has been traveling alot. We're not Joystiq or IGN, we're just the little guys, yet he gave us his time, and even went in and answered a question about one of the local boston bands in the interviews comment section.

I'm sorry if you expected more about an interview but I never expected any breaking news from HMXSean. Marketing doesn't work like that, and I purposely didn't ask him any questions that I knew he wasn't going to answer. That would have been a waste of his time, and mine.

As for how many parts to the interview there will be, that's up to Sean's time table. He's been good to us and we're in no hurry.

[rvashko]

I'd love to know if they're still reluctant to do a PC version, or if they've loosened up on that front. I know it will never be a priority for them, but it'd be nice to know if they're open to the idea.

[hmxhenry]

Clue #1 that the interviewee isn't taking the interviewer seriously....

Or is it Clue #1 that HMXsean is an excellent guy and fun to interview?

I thought this was a great read. Thanks for throwing this up for us, mike_rockgamer.com! The questions were solid, and provided a good window into some of the Rock Band workings that are not entirely common knowledge. I'm sure there's a lot of of people out there who don't spend a great deal of time on this board who are going to read that interview at rockgamer.com and say "Oh, so that's why they sometimes use cover songs. Good to know!"

[howclever]

Yeah, some of the info I had heard before but it was nice to hear it straight from the horse's mouth rather than from some idiot in a forum.

I hope there is a part 2.

[BathTub]

PLEASE ask Sean if GH has any exclusive deals with artists that prevent rock band from using those artists songs?

It's been answered before, 2 artists (unnamed) had exclusivity as far as the the release disc was concerned, but not on downloads.

[RockGamerGirl]

I actually thought the answers were pretty cool.. I had no idea that master recordings had to be done in pieces or anything about all that technical stuff, or that perhaps the master has been destroyed or whatever. Plus I liked the part about who all was in the bands that did the bonus songs that works at the company. I"m looking forward to the next installment myself.

[slickpitt]

Kinda short... lol

[Frederf]

Cute but it's filler. It's a nice reminder that DLC is an involved affair and 3-a-week is not a trickle but impressive.