With scant hours to go, Harmonix’s vision of a high-definition remake of Ampltiude has become a reality.
The game scraped past its funding target of $775,000 earlier this morning after a massive swell of support, possibly brought on by the high-profile news that Insomniac’s founder Ted Price had pledged $7,500 to the project. Previously, it was looking unlikely that the game would reach its target, with barely half of the required funds raised, but a last-minute push saw over $400k being pledged in the last two days.
Amplitude HD sees Harmonix returning to the franchise which originally made their name, before Guitar Hero, Rock Band and Dance Central. A controller-based music game and the sequel to Frequency, Amplitude was a PS2 game that required players to tap out notes in time to various different sections of the song’s audio - for example vocals, drums or guitar. It was rather brilliant, and also brutally tough at the highest difficulties. The game was also known for its eclectic soundtrack, featuring everything from J-Pop to Heavy Metal.
While the latest version of the game is unlikely to have any licensed songs due to the costs involved in obtaining the rights, Harmonix is promising a varied selection of original tracks to play through, with backers helping to make the final selection.
The campaign still has a few hours left to run - so feel free to head over to their campaign page and take a look for yourself.
Amplitude HD is expected to be released in March of next year for PS3 and PS4. Unfortunately, Xbox owners will miss out, as Sony holds the rights to the IP.