HARMONIX HEAD RIGOPULOS ON PS3 AMPLITUDE, IPHONE PLANS

1.16.2009

Ars Technica’s latest interview with Harmonix head Alex Rigopulos has scored an effortless Unison Bonus with my heart, and it’s got little to do with the state of the music industry’s involvement with Rock Band going forward.

Instead, (and finally!) Ben Kuchera presses Rigopulos on the idea of working with Sony to get the studio’s earlier work, particularly the Sony-owned Amplitude, done right via the PlayStation Network:

Rigopulos: I would love to. That game is still close to my heart. I love it. I’d love to do a sequel to Amplitude, actually. It’s an issue of prioritization… For us, that lingering question of “what are we going to do about Amplitude” is still very much out there. I would love to come back and do it right for the PlayStation 3, for example.

And, even better, gets him to elaborate on the studio’s obvious next best move: the iPhone, a place I’d love to see HMX show the Tap Tap ilk just how it’s done, either with a reworked port of its outrageously under-appreciated iPod game Phase [buy it now if you haven’t already], or something more original:

Rigopulos: Believe me, we’re looking at the iPhone. If we take a stop on that platform, we want to do it right, so we’re thinking about the specific attributes of the iPhone so we can make it the right step where we can make the product that’s the right product for that platform. We could just do a port of Phase, but I’m wondering if there isn’t something that’s more ambitious that we could do as well. I don’t think we have any specific plans there yet, but needless to say, we’re looking at it.

King of Rock: Ars talks to Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopulos [Ars Technica]

Previously:
Going deep on music with Harmonix – Offworld
Rock Band bucking the sequel trend in 2009 – Offworld