14 DAY TRIAL // Josh Randall, creative director of Guitar Hero developer Harmonix Music will be making a rare trip across the Atlantic later this month to deliver a keynote lecture at the Cybersonica Festival, which takes place at the Science Museum's Dana Centre, 19th and 20th May 2006.
Guitar Hero, developed by Harmonix and published by RedOctane, has redefined interactive music entertainment technology, proving a smash hit in the US and throughout Europe. Coming complete with a replica Gibson SG controller, Guitar Hero marks a landmark in interactive entertainment, conveying the thrill and feeling of playing a real guitar within the context of a game.
Now in its fifth year, the Cybersonica International Festival of Music, Sound, Art and Technology is an international event for anyone interested in the theory and practice of how new technologies are shaping and changing the way musicians, DJs, VJs, digital artists, audiovisualisers and creative software developers make and present their work. The festival brings together a vibrant community of sonic and audiovisual innovation, nurtures new talent and showcases the freshest and latest work in the field.
Randall's keynote will discuss his experience at Harmonix Music, from the company's origins as a funky interactive music start-up, to its growth into North America's leading music game studio. He'll trace the development of their award-winning music games Frequency, Amplitude, Karaoke Stage, and Guitar Hero, and discuss how teams of artists, designers, coders, and musicians all worked together to create these groundbreaking musical game experiences. He'll look at some of the pitfalls of designing interactive music products for a mass audience, and describe lessons learned from over six years of music game development. He'll discuss the role of creative expression within the game space, and how new interfaces and controllers are changing the way we interact with our music and TVs. Music gaming is bringing more and more people together every day, so what is the social impact of these games? Josh will peer into the future of music gaming, and ponder what might be coming next.
"I'm delighted to be delivering the keynote at Cybersonica '06," adds Josh Randall. "Games like Guitar Hero have offered a glimpse at the future of music gaming and I hope my insight can help inspire both current and future pioneers of the medium. I also can't wait to see the reaction Guitar Hero II receives."