I used to be so good at Guitar Hero. Back in my day we were scoring our own tracks for GH2 to run on a hacked Playstation 2 and rewiring our controllers with extra strum buttons on the fretboards for wicked awesome two-handed solos. This is the most interested I’ve been in a Guitar Hero clone since then.
Having little if anything to do with guitars (nor heroism), Street Orchestra is an app developed by Swedish devs HiQ in a tag team with equally-Swedish ad agency SCP, in an attempt to get the younger generation interested in classical music. Says SCP’s interactive producer Russel Clark: “The mission given to us by the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra was to introduce a younger audience to classical music. If you want to engage teenagers you have to engage them where they are, and right now they’re crowded in groups poking at their iPhones and iTouches and what not.” Astute observation.
So how does it work? From what I can see, it’s just Guitar Hero, but with classical music. That is all. Lucky for me, I’m already a classical fan, and this app is free. So, score!
A curious feature is the app’s multiplayer function – it works over 3G, and can apparently support ‘unlimited musicians’ (allegedly the cap is 200 thousand iPhones). Um, yeah, can’t wait to rock that 200,000-piece chamber orchestra version of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.
Assuming you’re titillated as hell about this (I am), you can watch this trailer what I’ma leave right here.
[Via 9to5 Mac]
Hi there,
Firstly, many thanks for taking the time to add this article to your website! Cracking site by the way! You can be sure I’ll be spreading the word about your site over here in Sweden…
Just a wee point… I was slightly misquoted by a journalist here: “If you want to engage teenagers you have to engage them where they are, and right now they’re crowded in groups poking at their iPhones and iTouches and what not.” – and alas, this is the quote that’s firing round the web! Whereas a younger generation need to be found in their “natural habitat”, I never used the terms “crowded in groups”, “poking at” or “iPhones, iTouches and what not”. Makes me sound like a bit of a twat! But nothing too outlandish I suppose…
I hope you enjoy the app – it’s genuinely good fun, especially in wee groups of around 5-6 players. Very moreish indeed.
Take care & thanks again for the article.
/Russell