It’s time for us to all find out if the Apple TV can really cut it as a gaming machine, and Rock Band developer Harmonix is one of the first developers pleading the device’s case.
Beat Sports is out today for Apple’s latest media box, and you can download it for $10. Harmonix is promising to deliver gamers a rhythm-based athletics simulator like Wii Sports but for people who are also decent at dancing. You’ll play games like tennis, volleyball, and golf using the Siri Remote’s motion sensors, but it’s not just about swinging harder or faster since you’ll get the best results of you time your reactions to the in-game music.
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The rest of Beat Sports looks like a combination between the Michael Jordan and Looney Tunes film Space Jam and Nintendo’s Rhythm Heaven music games.
While you play a cute little kid in Beat Sports, the opposing team is a group of musical aliens. And the tennis minigame, at the very lease, reminds us of Rhythm Heaven’s table-tennis level:
Considering that is one of the best stages in Rhythm Heaven, a great DS game, we’re all for playing Harmonix’s take on the idea.
Beat Sports also includes a multiplayer mode, and you probably won’t even have to go out and buy extra controllers. The studio is also launching the Beat Sports Remote App for iOS devices today, which will enable you to use an iPhone as an extra controller for the four-player challenges.
Finally, since this is a music game, Harmonix brought in Masaya Matsuura, creator of the PlayStation rhythm game PaRappa the Rapper, to help compose the original tunes.