Harmonix nominated for Studio of the Year in Spike 2006 VGA's. Click here to see the feature on Harmonix in the Boston Phoenix in May '05. Harmonix is a videogame development company based in Cambridge, MA. The company specializes in music-based games, and we are renowned for groundbreaking design innovation. Our acclaimed rhythm-action games, Frequency (2001) and Amplitude (2003), published by Sony Computer Entertainment, successfully merged real-time music-making with insanely addictive gameplay. Amplitude was a nominee for BAFTA's "Best PS2 Game of 2003" and was chosen by Rolling Stone Magazine as one of four "Best Console Games of 2003". The game was ranked 9th out of all PS2 games in IGN's "Reader Top 10". Frequency and Amplitude are also the world's first and only online multiplayer music games. Our Karaoke Revolution series of titles (2003 to 2005), published by Konami Digital Entertainment, turns singing into a competitive game and turns the game console into a high-end interactive karaoke machine. Karaoke Revolution was named by TIME Magazine as the "#1 Video Game of 2003" and was a nominee for 1UP's 2003 "Game of the Year", as well as winner of Electronic Gaming Monthly's 2003 "Gaming Innovation of the Year" award. EyeToy: AntiGrav (2004), published by Sony Computer Entertainment, was our one game outside the music genre. With the arrival of Sony's EyeToy, Harmonix saw an opportunity to help define a major new entertainment category: "physical gaming". AntiGrav is an extreme sports title--a futuristic hoverboarding game that gamers play by moving their entire bodies, not just their thumbs. It is the world's first videogame to allow the player to control a 3D game character through the player's own body motions. The company's breakthrough franchise, Guitar Hero, published by RedOctane, is a shrine to the glory of rock guitar and a fiendishly addictive fusion of music and gameplay. The result, as described by Official PlayStation Magazine, is "ridiculously awesome." The original Guitar Hero (2005) was an Interactive Achievement Awards winner in 5 categories, a Game Developers Choice Awards winner in 2 categories, and a nominee for Game of the Year in both. The sequel, Guitar Hero II (2006), is one of the Top 10 rated games in the history of the PlayStation 2. In 2006, Harmonix was acquired by MTV Networks, a division of Viacom, Inc. Harmonix's newest title, Rock Band, is the company's most ambitious project to date: a full-blown band simulation game that combines guitar, bass, drum and singing gameplay, as well as online multiplayer competition and co-op play. Rock Band is coming holiday 2007. Harmonix was founded in 1995 by Alex Rigopulos (CEO) and Eran Egozy (CTO), who met while working in the computer music group at the MIT Media Laboratory. Alex and Eran formed Harmonix initially not to develop videogames, but rather to create new ways for non-musicians to experience the unique joy that comes from making music. Before developing videogames, the company created interactive music attractions for theme parks, including Disney's Epcot Center, and other location-based entertainment venues. These exhibits allowed users to improvise music simply by moving their hands in the air. Harmonix's first product, The Axe, was PC software that turned a joystick or mouse into a musical instrument with which anyone could improvise original instrumental solos in real time.