KickBeat Launches Today for PS3 and PS Vita

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KickBeat Launches Today for PS3 and PS Vita

KickBeat has been in development for more than three years, and today we’re full of energy as we release the game into the wild and onto your PS Vita and PS3. Here’s one last look at KickBeat, and what you can expect before you decide to spend your hard-earned cash on it (don’t forget, it’s Cross-Buy)!

Why KickBeat? Here are a few reasons we made this game, and why we know you’ll enjoy it:

  • KickBeat lets you interact with music! We’ve given you the power of an endless game by allowing you to create your own KickBeat tracks using the “Beat Your Music” mode, which allows you to generate levels with your own music.
  • KickBeat is the first rhythm game with fully 3D interactive characters. Once you have the basic mechanics down, we remove the button cues and the characters themselves become the cues! Beat matching with 3D characters is no simple process — our guys ended up animating all of these movements by hand in order to make them precise enough for beat matching! Further, these are all running at a solid 60 FPS!
  • The KickBeat soundtrack is comprised of 18 hard-hitting tracks from a diverse lineup of artists, from well-known bands such as Pendulum and Marilyn Manson, to indie pioneers Celldweller and Blue Stahli — even to hidden talents like electronic music producer Voicians and Taiwanese rapper Shen Yi. (The story of how we got Shen Yi in the game is pretty funny, we are happy to tell it upon request!)
  • Zen Studios created a story-driven, single-player campaign to tie it all together. All of the cutscenes are hand animated and done in the flavor of old school kung fu movies. The balance of story and combat is tricky, but we feel the finished game presents quite a novel blend of story and rhythm combat, none of which has been done to date.

So, there you have it! We truly hope you enjoy KickBeat, and we look forward to hearing what you all think.

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88 Comments

17 Author Replies

  • Can’t wait, will be picking it up today :)

  • I’m still on the fence about this game, and that trailer did more harm than good.

    I’d like to see clean, direct feed gameplay of a single level to be able to gauge the game, an AMV does not show the game’s synchronization with the music at all, and is in no way reflective of the actual game experience.

  • I’ll be getting it for both ps3 & vita, the game looks like alot of fun. I like the idea of being able to use my own music, but I’m interested in knowing if there will be more downloadable tracks in the future, lol I’m not too confident in my own beat matching skills

    • Right now, we don’t have plans to add more, but setting up your own music in the game is super easy and we’ll be around to help you out if you need it.

  • a part of me wants this, the other is weary. Will there be a demo?

  • but i do like that you can upload your own music. that feature has me wanting it.

  • @3: You buy one , you get the other.. :) so I’ll also be getting it for both.. though mostly on the Vita.. I love me some rhythm games.. and this one has some style to it.

  • 60 FPS is nice.. what’s the file size?

  • Can’t wait to play this with my own music. Beastie Boys!!!!!!

  • Looking forward to picking this up later today, and it comes just in time for my flight tomorrow :)

  • Tell us the story ¡¡¡¡¡¡¡ I’m picking the game up once i get home

  • Is 850MB the size for PS3 or Vita? What’s the size on Vita?

  • Right.. what Undrey said. VIta and PS3 file sizes?

    and one more question: Is there a platinum or just a gold trophy to achieve?

  • excited to get this. my only complaint is the limited space on my over priced Vita memory card to add my own music for it D

  • Thanks for being so great at answering questions. :) You rock, Bobby!

  • I can’t believe this day has finally come. Minute 1 buy!

    Nice to see it’s cross-buy, but I’ll be playing the vita version 99% of the time.

  • Too late. Game took wayyyyyy too long to come out so I’m not buying. Also no Plat?!?!?!?! Really?

    All that aside I’m being facetious, can’t wait to finally get this game.

  • Thanks for answering the questions :D, I’m getting the game but not on launch day, I’m saving up for the PS4.

  • You guys did a great job of keeping me interested in this game. There was a bit of a lull, I am assuming when it was decided to you would make a PS3 version, but I was still interested for some reason. Just the right amount of PS.Blog posts, with the right information, and follow-up replies.

    I’ll thank you with my wallet later today…well done!

  • Anyone else think Bobby is drop dead beautiful, oh ya the game looks good too ;) keep up the great work I keep refreshing the store in anticipation !

  • Been playing all weekend! Awesome game and quite addicting! Wrote a review of it here:

    http://www.gameinformer.com/blogs/members/b/chiefmojorisin_blog/archive/2013/09/03/kick-ass-to-the-beat-in-kickbeat.aspx

  • So you can use your tracks and it will make an arena to fight in, in sync with what the song is?

    • Yes! KickBeat walks you through the process of setting up the song, but it only takes a few seconds before it’s ready to rock :)

  • From looks of the trailer you just have listen to the beat and push triangle. Will there be an option to download other peoples beatmaps? For a song that you own of course

    • Unfortunately not – each player has to set up his/her own songs, but it only takes a few seconds to do so.

    • Just wanted to add that you can (manually) share beat info with your friends. So if you both have the same song, and one of you has already calculated the beat info, the other person can enter those numbers manually and generate the track without using the BPM calculation tool. I’m hoping that people will come to the Zen KickBeat forum and start collaborating on a big master list of song settings! We’ll also be there to help people with specific songs if they can’t get good settings from the tool, so come on by if you’re having problems or if you want to share the settings for your favorite tracks!

  • Will we see an assassins creed sale for plus owners, or ac3 free before ac4 comes out?

  • Wrong area Alika2009 this is for KickBeat ;)

  • come on come on come on. store needs to update, have had money aiting for this for weeks now.

  • No worries on the beatmaps Bobby seems fast and simple :-) maybe an idea for a kickbeat2 or dlc ;) yes you can hire me lol

  • True, there is no custom beat map generation in “Beat Your Music” mode. And it does make the imported songs play a little flat compared to the ones that Zen put into the game. But that is only because they did such an awesome job of sinking the gameplay with the songs that come with it. This really is a wonderful game.

  • Oh, and I have a comment further up that is awaiting moderation, I guess because I put a link to a review I have written about this game. I got a promo code and have been playing all weekend. It is quite an awesome game and very addictive! Hopefully they will approve my link so you can read my full review. But this is easily a 9/10!!

  • I’m glad that there’s a demo for this game. I’ll try the demo & then if I like it – I’ll buy the full game.

  • That’s what demos are for, JK! I hope you enjoy it as much as I have been!

  • Will the demo allow you to upload a song of your own? I would love to see how the game works with some of more heavy metal music rather than what is in the actual game like marilyn manson

  • is this 14.99 ? i hade my eye on this for a while. will def try the demo.

  • Price is $9.99, I believe, and it’s a cross-buy, so buy it once and play it on PS3 and Vita.

  • I’m buying this.

  • 20% off for Plus Members too!!!

  • 9.99 ? nice i just may get this today then. i will try the demo first. does this do a good job on rap and hip hop songs ? if you even tried of course.

    • Yes. Wu Tang Clan is especially appropriate. I’ve also tried Ludacris, Xzibit, Eminem, and a few others. And there’s some in the game soundtrack, although no A-listers.

  • Discounted the first week same as every game on the PS Vita Summer Select

  • Been excited for this game ever since I played it at GDC!

    It’s the one and only rhythm game I’ve ever been excited for!

  • i also jus remember that sony gave me my 3$ from buying 2 games from that promo they hade going a while ago. looks like il have a discount to technicaly since im not a plus user. ha

  • Neil Sorens , you named some of my fav rap artist. im glade you was able to confirm rap will work well. def getting this once the update goes live.

  • @Neil Sorens (response to #21) That’s a very good idea! Could you by any chance post a link to that forum you’re talking about?

  • PainOfSarrow, anything with a solid beat should work, although it won’t be as solid as playing the Zen created levels. But there is some rap on there including a song that sounds ALOT like Eminem but isn’t. :)

  • You gotta play this to “Kung Fu Fighting”. I’d share the BPM (for the Kung Fu Panda version), but I’m at work right now.

  • Neil, one question. What EXACTLY does changing the variance in Beat Your Music do?

  • Doesn’t really seem like my kind of game but I’ll check out the demo, thanks. :)

    Also, can we expect any news on more Star Wars tables for Zen Pinball any time soon? Thanks again. :)

    • Yes! More Star Wars Pinball tables are coming this fall. I got to check them out for the first time recently – they do not disappoint! Very proud of what the team has done with this next pack :D

  • as long as it works atleast well enough il be happy. dont need to be as perfect as the normal tracks but as long as its good enough and is responsive. good looks on the info mrmojo.

  • My review link was finally approved! See comment 20 for my review.

  • @41 Thanks Neil!

  • Big fan of Frequency/Amplitude… so this looks up my alley. Will probably check out the demo first and then purchase if all goes well.

    Sorry if already answered, but what are the restrictions on file type? Just MP3s? FLACs? More curious than anything. Would be even better if this could connect to my Rdio or Music Unlimited accounts.

  • CallnMrMojoRisin , very good review. well done and informitive.

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