Music

One of PSP's unsung heroes, the DJMax series, is headed to PlayStation Vita, according to Siliconera. Korean developer Pentavision is to bring its turntablism game DJMax Technika - first released in Korean arcades in 2008 - to Vita, using both front and rear touch controls.

Nintendo is to publish a localised version of Ubisoft's Wii dance game, which together with its sequel has sold more than 14 million units worldwide. But this is no straight translation: instead Nintendo has licensed a host of J-pop songs ahead of its release on October 13. Follow the source link below for a list of artists and songs that have been confirmed so far.

Microsoft has announced plans to bundle a downloadable copy of Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s musical shooter Child Of Eden with the current Kinect hardware offering, which includes Kinect Adventures. Launching in all Xbox Live regions excluding Japan, where Child Of Eden has yet to be released, the new bundle will begin appearing in stores next week for the same price as the existing one, “available in limited quantities and while supplies last”. While Child Of Eden is also playable with a traditional Xbox 360 controller, it is widely regarded as a highlight of Kinect’s software line-up. Our review, which you can read through the link below, labelled the game “a convincing example of how motion control can breathe new life into a niche genre” and, “more than that, a masterclass in audio design and the emotive power of CG imagery”.

The publisher announced Rhythm Thief earlier this month in its Japanese guise, which translates as Rhythm Phantom Thief R: Inheritance of the Emperor Napoleon, but has confirmed a western localisation - and, thankfully, a shorter name - in a press release this afternoon. The game casts players as Raphael, the titular thief, on a quest to discover the truth behind his father's disappearance in Paris with a blend of puzzle-solving and rhythm action. While the visuals may draw inspiration from Level-5's Layton series, the sight of a three-man dance team on a Nintendo handheld brings to mind Inis' DS classic Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan, which can only be a good thing. Rhythm Thief will be released for 3DS - with multiplayer and StreetPass support - early next year.

A trademark filing in July outed Harmonix's next project, an iOS app called Vidrhythm, with the developer at first refusing to reveal anything about it beyond a curt "it will be awesome" and later moving to correct reports that described it as a game instead of an app. At last weekend's PAX event in Seattle, Vidrhythm was formally unveiled as an earnestly lo-fi music video generator: it records a succession of short video clips of users making various sound effects and stitches them together. As IGN's report shows, there's clear potential for some clever creations in the right hands - and some frankly nightmarish efforts in the wrong ones.

First revealed by a trademark filing last month - with the studio saying nothing at the time beyond "It will be awesome" - Harmonix co-founder and CEO Alex Rigopulos has revealed that Vidrhythm is an iOS title. "It will actually be our first iOS release as a studio, coming out relatively soon," he told Gamasutra. "I can't say anything yet about what it is, but in parallel with all these huge console games we have underway, we're commencing our first iOS development project. We think there are a lot of creative opportunities [with smartphones] that we haven't really been able to focus on yet. So we're looking forward to doing more in that space."

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata was clearly referring to Apple when, at GDC in February, he launched an impassioned defence of Nintendo's business model and asked: "Is maintaining the high value of games a priority or not? What we produce has value, and we should protect that value." His belief - that the likes of Apple have no interest in maintaining the high price of worthy software - was contradicted at last week's Edinburgh Interactive by UK studio Somethin' Else. The developer revealed that Apple got in touch before the release of its innovative iOS rhythm game Papa Sangre and expressed an interest in promoting it. "They asked us how much we were going to sell it for, and we said maybe £1.99," said managing director Steve Ackerman. "They said: 'You must be joking. This is a premium app, this is worth more than the price of [a] coffee'." The game eventually launched at £3.99, more than double the price the developer had in mind. We'll have an interview with Somethin' Else's Paul Bennun on the site later today.

In an extensive interview with Forbes, the Activision Blizzard CEO gives his perspective on why the publisher deemed it necessary to close its entire Guitar Hero business unit. "We were so excited about going [in a] new direction with DJ Hero, I think we abandoned a bit of the innovation that was required in the Guitar Hero franchise," he said. "Guitar Hero became unsuccessful because it didn't have any nourishment and care." The series is far from gone for good, though: "We're going to use new studios and reinvent Guitar Hero." Despite cancellations, closures and redundancies following Activision's poor performance in the last financial year, Kotick insists: "The most important thing we do to encourage innovation is give people the freedom to fail."

Ubisoft has announced that a PlayStation 3 version of Tetsuya Mizuguchi's hypnotic Child of Eden will be released on September 23, following its Xbox 360 launch last month. The game is currently listed at €19.99 on Ubisoft's online shop, half the price of the Xbox 360 version. We contacted Ubisoft who confirmed that the price shown is correct - how this will affect the Xbox game's price is currently unclear.

A number of ex-FreeStlyeGames staff have established a new mobile development studio called Music In Colour. Headed up by former FreeStyleGames boss Chris Lee, it’s set to release a music title, Say What?!, for iPhone on July 20. A collaboration between the studio, music production company Reactify and independent recording studio Metropolis Group, the game uses an increasingly cryptic collection of scrolling icons which relate to song lyrics, which players have to correctly identify and tap on to progress. Debuting with four playable tracks from artists Calvin Harris, Scouting for Girls, the Zutons and The Nolans, it’ll be free to download, with additional songs sold via in-app payments of £1.19. “The music business needs to capture a new audience," Music In Colour managing director Lee told the Guardian. "Rather than make a game then license the music, this is much more of a partnership. We think there is a great opportunity to leverage the mobile platform to build something that reaches a wider audience, and monetises music… It's almost a Generation Game mechanic: a simple layer that lives over the music. We're not trying to be cleverer than that. This is about something that appeals in its simplicity, and we're trying not to niche it. It should appeal as much to 8-13 year-old girls as it does to 30-40 year-old males."

The second game in Ubisoft's Wii music series is now the best-selling thirdparty game on Wii, the publisher has announced, and the franchise has now notched up sales of 14 million units worldwide. Ubisoft's Laurent Detoc said: "Ubisoft is incredibly proud of the monumental success Just Dance 2 has had the past nine months. The game’s outstanding performance solidifies the Just Dance brand as a pop culture phenomenon." Just Dance 3 - which sees the series expand to Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, as well as Wii - will be released in October.

Gamasutra reports that Indies Zero, the Tokyo-based independent studio behind experimental DS music game Electroplankton, has been tasked with development of Theatrythm Final Fantasy by Square Enix. Announced last week, the 3DS rhythm action title features characters, music and settings from all games in the series, with character levelling and collectable music and video clips.

Ryan Challinor, who worked on Dance Central, has released Project Synapse, a novel, open-source Kinect hack which lets users control dubstep-style sound effects, known as dubstep theremin, as well as visuals, using Ableton Live and Quartz Composer. It’s completely open source, developed for Nevada’s Burning Man festival, and is available from http://projectsynapse.tumblr.com.

Famitsu reveals that Suda51's studio is at work on a rhythm action game for PSP based on the Evangelion anime, Rebuild Of Evangelion Sound Impact. Sound is being handled by Akira Yamaoka of Silent Hill fame, who is remixing over 30 Evangelion tracks, with Suda the game's creative producer.

Ubisoft moves to capitalise on the enormous success of its 10 million selling Wii series, announcing Move and Kinect releases for Just Dance 3 later this year.

Speaking during Microsoft's E3 conference, Harmonix audio director Kasson Crooker announced Dance Central 2 which, along with simultaneous two player dancing, introduces a new campaign mode, reworked Break It Down mode and the ability to import all songs from the first game.

FreeStyle Games to continue under Activision's watchful eye with "a new, innovative project."