Harmonix launches Kickstarter for Amplitude

A noteworthy new Kickstarter has sprung up in the form of Rock Band creator Harmonix's attempts to revive the old PS2 classic Amplitude for PS3 and PS4 audiences (it's also worth noting that a Vita version is a stretch goal).

The campaign, which hoping to attract $775,000 before May 23, is designed to give Harmonix the means the develop the game independently, as well as bringing back a fan-favourite franchise to a modern audience.

In the Q&A on the Kickstarter page a couple of key points were explained: "Simply stated, Amplitude is a passion project at Harmonix. Without your support, development resources will have to be dedicated to other fully-funded third party projects. Kickstarter and crowdfunding allow us to make this game a reality."

They then revealed why the game was heading to Sony's platforms, and not Xbox or PC: "We think it's important for a game built on the history of Amplitude and FreQuency to be focused on Sony hardware in order to remain faithful to the core gameplay experience."

"While we'd love to bring this game to other platforms, including PC, the Kickstarter promise is for PS3/PS4 only at the moment. While we never say never, PC support for this title is very unlikely and not in our current development plan."

What's also noteworthy is that Amplitude has its own entry on Sony's PlayStation Blog, which might well be a first for a Kickstarter campaign. That kind of visibility might also explain why the project has already attract in excess of $100k in just a few hours.

In the PS Blog Harmonix's Ryan Lesser wrote: "We love this game, and PlayStation fans have asked us for years to revive the franchise. We think that in a post-Rock Band world, a new Amplitude will really blow people away. It smashes together familiar beatmatch mechanics with fast-paced navigation, tactical terrain choices, and an intensity that is totally addictive. With the inclusion of four-player local multiplayer, online leaderboards, and other great improvements, we think we can build something really special for the new generation of PlayStation consoles."