You may remember Amplitude from the PS2 days. It was overall well received, and though not nearly as famous as its developer’s work on Guitar Hero and subsequently Rock Band, the game has, over time, accrued a passionate fan base. We’ll find out just how passionate in the very near future, as Harmonix has launched a Kickstarter for a new Amplitude, planned exclusively for PS3 and PS4.
Harmonix is seeking a minimum of $775,000 to get the game made, and considering their workload with other projects such as Chroma and Fantasia: Music Evolved, it doesn’t seem all that unreasonable. There’s already some awesome-looking concept art posted to the Kickstarter page, as well as a promise to uphold the game’s legendary challenge on higher difficulty settings. Experience developing Rock Band will help improve the new game, Harmonix says, and the developer is shooting for 60fps in order to ensure musical timing “feels snappy.”
As for the PlayStation exclusivity, it had to do with a desire to create the next “actual” Amplitude, and not just a spiritual successor. Harmonix art director Ryan Lesser elaborated to IGN about the studios’ reasoning.
We didn’t want to get into a production schedule where we were creating something [else] like Amplitude. We really wanted to bring this awesome game back for people. It made more sense for us with our original partner.
A $20 Kickstarter donation will get you a download code when the game releases, while going as high as $250 will score you original Amplitude vinyl and VIP access to Harmonix’s panel at PAX Prime. I’ve never played the PS2 original myself, so I’ll have to check it out before I commit to anything serious. If I like it, maybe I’ll drop a cool $7K to get some of my amateur tunes in the game! I’d say it’s a worthy investment.
