Oh, no doubt we were inspired by this and the Johnny Bazookatone guitar game too. But I can say they ripped us off, because they took our demo to Harmonix and ripped us off.....I don't know how else to say it. Yes, but the Karaoke portion of our game is almost EXACTLY Guitar hero....they only took a small portion (which we were going to have as a party mode) and made Guitar Hero. We also 3 other band mates, that played, the drums, the bass, and rythmn guitar in your party - thus the Rock band portion, that you could also play in party mode. In addition we had many many more instruments from Keyboards, to Saxaphones.... Dylan, I know for a fact that MTV showed our game to Harmonix, spoke to some of the guys that left MTV. Believe me if I owned the IP outright, I would be suing, but the whole Gizmondo bankruptcy thing has clouded it significantly. We showed MTV this game, under NDA (Non Disclosure Agreement) and when Gizmondo bought us, essentially making Warthog a shell company, they took it to Harmonix, and the Karaoke portion of our demo was what (ehem) inspired them to make Guitar Hero. You guys may not care about this, but to my team and to us, we feel screwed....we had the idea to do exactly what Harmonix is doing, and much much more......and they ripped us off, and it is a HUGE success. How would you feel if you knew your stuff was stolen, and there wasn't much you could do about it? Especially after you had signed contracts that said they couldn't do that type of game? That is the maddening part, because Gizmondo went up in smoke it clouds ownership of the IP...... Sure it is possible for two simultaneous parties to have the same idea, but that is not what happened here. Contracts were signed, and broken, and portions of our game were stolen and it created a massive hit (RAZZA FRACKA RAZZA FRACKA) You guys are free to believe or not believe, I just hope you never own a company and get something you put your heart and soul into stolen out from under you and your team....it hurts. And whether you believe me or not, it doesn't change the facts, and I am not sure I could prove it to everyone here without going to court and going through all the due dilligence etc....but I and my team, and the producers at MTV and Harmonix know what REALLY happened, whether you believe it or not. Look, I am just a bitter old man, so don't listen to me. DD
maybe you shouldn't have sold the IP to your guitar game to gizmondo and kept it to yourself? as the ceo/owner of your own company, i'm positive you could've negotiated and kept the IP to your idea if you truly felt it could've been a huge success.
Gizmondo bought us, and Johnny Whatever was one of the biggest reasons they bought us. And at the time of purchase I had sold my company to Warthog (I was the largest shareholder, but not CEO) I guess that just adds to the bitterness, and when we sold the company I had about xxx,xxx shares owed to me over time, and they were trading at a bit more than $32.00 a share.....I never got any of them. Really a lot is lumped into my anger over this...MTV/Harmonix is a part, but the Directors of Gizmondo stealing millions of dollars and sinking our company (which was doing an I-phone style of product), is a bigger part. Honestly it was a very bitter time in my life/career, and it took me a year to get over it... To be so close, and then have something simply ripped off by sheisters....maddening. No worries though, I am onto something else that I hope people enjoy, and when I can announce it, Clutchfans will be first on the list...
That was up to the publisher, we were close to signing with Disney, Sega/Sammy, and a couple of others. We were seeking a $8 million development deal. We were the developer, they were the publsiher, but probably in the $49-$59 range. And all of our stuff was being played on the regular controller, we had discussions with 3rd parties (Hip Interactive for one) about making side products for it, like a guitar and drum set, but that was to be decided AFTER we signed with a publisher. Actually in my new venture we are considering resurecting this type of action rythmn game and making an episodic adventure to be downloaded through the PC or console. DD
oh ok, I misunderstood, lol I thought there was going to be a hardware peripheral for every single one of those instruments you listed
I don't know when the first of these games came out, but as a kid in the mid 90s I thought it'd be cool to have a game that was basically Rockband on drums only. I envisioned it as an arcade. Anyway, I don't have any reason to disbelieve DaDakota who is usually a cool poster, but who the F is tomato anyway. I'm sure this thing happens all the time, don't know if I'd be able to get over it
Oh one other cool thing, not only were we going to have a studio section of our game, but we were going to allow people to set their own music etc. For instance, if there was some music that you or someone had figured out, we were going to let you change around the music to something you liked by making the riffs programmable. So not only would we have the licensed music, but you could create your own original stuff and figure out unlicensed stuff to create your own experience. DD
Honestly, I don't understand what Johnny Whatever has to do with you getting ripped off. That game appears to be completely different from Guitar Hero. I must be missing something here. Was the odl demo for Johnny Whatever, or a different game?
DD is saying that one mode (mini game?) of Johnny Whatever IS Guitar Hero. That Harmonix took one part of Johnny Whatever and made it into its own stand alone game.
All I saw in the video was a guy running around shooting rays out of his guitar. Did I stop watching too soon? EDIT: I clicked one of the other links and saw the video where you have to press the buttons corresponding to what's on screen. But still, can't you just say that DD's game borrowed (heavily) from the Japanese arcade games for that portion of the game, and all Harmonix did was basically release an American version of the Japanese arcade games? I'm still not getting it.
EXACTLY. They did not take the best part of our game (the 3d Action adventure), but they took the party/mini game and made it into Guitar Hero. It was the Karaoke portion in Johnny Whatever. It was a place where you went to get missions at the Krash Klub.... You played in a band and based on how you did you got street cred(its). Anyway, ClutchCityReturns, believe what you want. I know what happened - I heard it straight from my friends that left MTV, (which is why I turned down a job running MTV's mobile game division - I was pissed, plus didn't want to move to NY) and it sucks to know the truth and have your hands tied. DD
Ugh, no they were clearly making rythmn games prior to GH, but a guitar game was not on their radar, and neither of those game is of the caliber of gameplay as GH. I get called out in this thread, decide to go ahead and let everyone know what happened, and... It is funny how many doubters there are, whatever. But now I understand how people that have insiders info in the GARM feel, they drop the knowledge and people jump all over them going "Prove it...prove it" It is just funny.....why would I make something like this up? Just forget it, believe what you want. DD
their saving that for the next guitar hero. i dont think people are doubting you as much as doubting you came up with the original idea. saying you took it from that japanese game and honestly i don't see how guitar hero is so popular.
DD the idea and game play style have been out for a long time. _____ For the Playstation 1999... The premise is simple: You have a guitar, and it's your job to play the melody lines of accompanying music. Here's how it works. Guitar Freaks has a vertical bar staff in which notes float to the top of the screen (similar to Konami's other Bemani games, such as Beatmania). There are three different-colored bars (red, green, and blue) that coordinate with the three respectively colored buttons on the guitar. link _____ FreQuency FreQuency is a music video game developed by Harmonix and published by SCEI. It was released in November 2001. A sequel titled Amplitude was released in 2003. In the game, a player portrays a virtual avatar called a "FreQ" (pronounced "freak"), and travels down an octagonal tunnel, with each wall containing a musical track. These tracks contain sequences of notes. As the player hits buttons corresponding to the note placement on the track, the "sonic energy" from within is released and the music plays. If the player plays two measures of the track without any errors, the track is "captured" and the music plays automatically until the next pre-determined section of the song. link ______ From the gamespot hands of JW... We found we could trash robo-bobbies by playing the appropriate chord (based on button color), and when we talked to random passersby, we were given a song (complete with scrolling PaRappa-style button display) that we had to complete. PaRappa the Rapper Considered revolutionary in its day, PaRappa the Rapper is fundamentally similar to the classic 1980s game Simon, in which the player is required to repeat a sequence of sounds and light. PaRappa the Rapper demands that the player not only get the sequence correct but also the timing of the sequence. The game provides small portions of spoken vocals that are triggered when the appropriate buttons are pressed. Pressing the buttons in the correct order, with the correct timing, provides an intelligible imitation of rap, while pressing the buttons in an incorrect order or with lousy timing rewards the player with nothing more than unintelligible garbage.
Yes, but not exactly our version. Playing musical notes is not what was ripped off, it was the whole 3d character playing the songs in a bar/stage type of setting. And Parrapa and other inspired us to take that next step... Look, you guys believe what you want. I know what happened, I was there, I talked to the guys that were involved at MTV and at my company, I have the signed contracts. I understand you don't believe, ignorance is bliss. And Vanilla Ice didn't rip off Queen either..... SHEESH ! But thanks for constantly ripping the band aid off my owie...and then continuing to rip it off over and over again...it really helps. DD
