New Phase Game

[Brownie]

Who here tried the new phase game? What exactly is it and is it any good? I like games that use my own music libaray like iQuiz. I hope Phase is well done.

[studogvetmed]

See iLounge's "first look" on the main page.

http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/ipod/review/mtv-harmonix-phase/

[Brownie]

Thanks Studo,
I did check that out. Thats where I first heard of the game. I was just hoping someone downloaded it already and had their own first impressions. I'll be sure to check out the ilounge review when it comes out. =)

[eclipxe]

The game is amazing. Very well done. I wasn't a fan of Guitar Hero but Tap Tap Revolution on the iPhone made me try it...Phase is great. Using your own music is great. I'm returning my iPod Touch now because TTR was the only thing that made me hold on to it.

Phase is awesome, I DEFINITELY recommend it.

[mini_me2]

I have to agree with eclipxe, just bought it and it's very good. It's like a poor man's Guitar Hero, but with YOUR music. I'm going to be playing with this for a long time...

I think we need a new thread to recommend good songs to play this game to :)

[hexonxonx]

I'm gonna go buy it now and give it a try. Hopefully it doesn't interfere with my sleep in a few hours. :D

[iEkh0s]

I want it... but I have the touch LOL

[hexonxonx]

Just played a few "rounds" and I'm pretty impressed. I'll have to do some more experimenting with songs to see how they change the game around. I did try three differant Pink Floyd songs and the game seemed to be pretty much the same with all three.

[Brownie]

Sounds like the game is a good one and the hopefully the game is different for each song. I will wait to see the iLounge review before I buy it. I’m a wait and see kind of person. I’m not an early adopter.

[studogvetmed]

I surprised myself and decided to buy it.

On first sync I forgot to sync the Phase play list and even though I got the phase playlist synced, the game refused to recognize it as such until I took the game off and resynced the game.

No further problems, after adding additional songs to playlist it recognized them right away.

It's a fun game. I can't finish a marathon and Medium level just yet, but it's a little addictive. I've never had my iPod battery so taxed ;)

[gadlaw]

Just saw this game show up for the Classic on iTunes and came here to hear the scoop. This site doesn't disappoint and is right on top of new things. I'm cautiously optimistic and will head over and follow the link to the first look as given by Stuart. Thanks Stewie. Is Stewie a nickname for Stuart? Humm.

[studogvetmed]

Well it is a nickname, but not one I usually go by... Stu is fine :D

[hexonxonx]

Just remember, your iPod won't sync playcounts or recently played for a short while after playing a game.

I played a few rounds of Phaze, then played a song. Synced and the song didn't show up. Played a few more songs and this time the songs updated correctly.

[Chillarmadillo]

How do I sync the Playlist/Game? Do I have to have syncing turned on for my iPod? I don't have the music on my computer, just on my ipod, so I made the playlist on the ipod. Shouldn't this work? I have a 5g 30 gb iPod with ~3 gbs free and ~4000 songs and Disk use on.

Help please!

[studogvetmed]

When you made it on the iPod did you create it yourself or drag drop from iTUnes? If you made it on the iPod itself, Delete the one you made on the iPod.

Attempt to transfer songs to the phase playlist that was made in iTunes. Wait for it to analyze all the music, then drag/drop it to the iPod. I think you need to be sure to wait for it to analyze the music before you transfer it to the iPod.

You may need to unsync and resync the game itself.

See if that works.

[Chillarmadillo]

There was a playlist on my ipod called Phase(I did NOT make this), so I put songs from my iPod to that one, but it didn't work, so I tried putting it in the other playlist (on the computer) and that didn't change anything, so I sync-ed the games, but that didn't work. Im going to try to delete the playlist from my iPod and try putting the playlist from itunes onto the ipod

[Chillarmadillo]

I figured it out.

1. Download game (duh)
2. Put it on your ipod (with sync)
3. Put whatever music you want in the playlist (up to 1000) named "Phase"
4. Sync game again (I'm not if this is needed)
5. Drag the playlist in itunes playlists named phase onto the ipod playlist called phase
6. Eject.
7. enjoy

You cannot make the playlist from music on your ipod unless you get it onto your computer

[studogvetmed]

I'd have to do some more testing, but it might be that iTunes can't do the necessarily computations of the songs directly on the iPod.

[ChrisMatchett]

This is godly.

That is all.

[twerth5000]

I'm surprised no one commented on this, but this game is by Harmonix, who actually created Guitar Hero.

[studogvetmed]

Just remember, your iPod won't sync playcounts or recently played for a short while after playing a game.

I played a few rounds of Phaze, then played a song. Synced and the song didn't show up. Played a few more songs and this time the songs updated correctly.

Your post here got me worried and I confirmed today that a bunch of the songs I had listened to today did not sync to the iPod after I played phase and went to immediate sync.

So I have started some testing. I played phase, made it through 4 songs of a marathon (AC/DC Back in Black Album). Exited the game. Played two songs on the iPod and synced.

To my surprise 6 songs synced, the four AC/DC songs and the two other songs.

I am going to do some more testing, play, exit, listen, play, exit sync and see what happens. Will try to find some different combinations and report back.

Edit/Update:

Okay. Playing songs, playing phase, then playing more songs, gets a good sync.

Playing songs, playing phase, then immediately syncing, gets a bad sync.

Seems you may want to play two or more songs after playing games before syncing to make sure all songs played during a sessions get done.

The exciting thing to me is that phase songs ARE getting incremented as played!!!

[Ebonygurl00]

I tried all of the solutions that everyone has been saying in this thread, but the game still can't find the music. I put it into the right playlist. I even took the game off of my iPod and re-synced it, to no avail. I hope I didn't just blow $5. I'm sick of Apple and their buggy products!

ETA: I just restarted iTunes, and now iTunes is updating Phase Playback Information. It should work after that, it's going really slow, though....

[Ebonygurl00]

I finally got the game to work, but I must give a warning to the people who want to buy it: this game is highly addicting, and you'll find yourself wasting so much time playing it! My battery is halfway gone already because I've been playing it so much, lol.

[studogvetmed]

I tried all of the solutions that everyone has been saying in this thread, but the game still can't find the music. I put it into the right playlist. I even took the game off of my iPod and re-synced it, to no avail. I hope I didn't just blow $5. I'm sick of Apple and their buggy products!

ETA: I just restarted iTunes, and now iTunes is updating Phase Playback Information. It should work after that, it's going really slow, though....

This was going to be my suggestion to either restart iTunes, or empty and refill the playlist. It takes 5-10 seconds/song to analyze the game play information for the game.

Hope you enjoy it!

[Galley]

I surprised myself and decided to buy it.

On first sync I forgot to sync the Phase play list and even though I got the phase playlist synced, the game refused to recognize it as such until I took the game off and resynced the game.


So that's what I was doing wrong. I only sync selective playlists, and my Phase playlist wasn't automatically selected. :)

[studogvetmed]

So that's what I was doing wrong. I only sync selective playlists, and my Phase playlist wasn't automatically selected. :)

Most wanted feature of iTunes is to right click a playlist while the iPod is selected (or not) and have something like: Add to synced playlists or something....

[Astro_Digital]

Question about Phase, it did not like one song said something they they need to be converted in iTunes?

Anybody know what that means?

I have two types of songs, songs I ripped for CDs using iTunes and songs I bought from iTunes Store they are all in iTunes I do not know what it meet. The song it did not like I bought from the iTunes store... I like this game.

[studogvetmed]

Question about Phase, it did not like one song said something they they need to be converted in iTunes?

Anybody know what that means?

I have two types of songs, songs I ripped for CDs using iTunes and songs I bought from iTunes Store they are all in iTunes I do not know what it meet. The song it did not like I bought from the iTunes store... I like this game.

There are some limitations to the files, but in your case it is likely that game information didn't get generated for that song.

Remove it from the playlist in iTunes, add it back and see if it analyzes it, then resync.

[Galley]

Most wanted feature of iTunes is to right click a playlist while the iPod is selected (or not) and have something like: Add to synced playlists or something....

I spoke too soon. The playlist is on my iPod, and all of the songs are there, but Phase doesn't recognize it. :confused:

[studogvetmed]

I spoke too soon. The playlist is on my iPod, and all of the songs are there, but Phase doesn't recognize it. :confused:

Unsync the game and then try to resync the game.

If that doesn't work, I recommend adding something to the playlist to get it to analyze it, then resync.

I had to do quite a bit of voodoo to get it to work initially

[Multimoog]

Here's what I've done, and it seems to be the simplest solution:

- Synch Phase to your iPod
- Drag songs from your iPod's main music list/playlists on your iPod to the Phase playlist on your iPod
- Phase analyzes them, and they're ready to go when you disconnect your iPod from your computer.

I have my iPod set up to manually manage songs, don't know if that would affect anything.

[Multimoog]

Also: this game is friggin' AWESOME and so worth the five bucks. If Apple had more titles like this, the iPod could be seen as a legitimate gaming platform, and not a cell phone game ghetto device.

[dammskog]

This game is pure crap and sucks big time

why?

because I cannot buy it, thats why!

apple is still living in the eighties when it comes to selling software since they think that borders are real,

when will Apple ever become a GLOBAL company that acknowledges the importance of GLOBAL sales of software (that in no way are hindered by such physical things as transportation and packaging)?

/bitter swede

[1138]

Also: this game is friggin' AWESOME and so worth the five bucks. If Apple had more titles like this, the iPod could be seen as a legitimate gaming platform, and not a cell phone game ghetto device.
No, and I'll tell you why: the iPod's main function is to be a music player primarily, as it always has been. It's not meant to be a gaming platform. It never has been. Even if it were, it'd probably go the way of the n-gage. The click wheel just can't handle games that would make it a true gaming device. That's why you saw cell-phone styled games and upgraded versions of those.

Now, if you have an older nano or 5.5 g, or maybe even a photo, then you're in business because you can install iPod Linux, and play some games, the most notable being DOOM. But other than that, there's no hope in Apple devoting any of its money into having the iPod try and compete with the DS and the PSP. It's not worth it and it doesn't fit into the whole Steve Jobs thing with simplicity.

Music player first and foremost. Video after. Games? They're pretty low on the list, and they'll most likely stay there. The point of these pre-loaded games is to help you past the time if you're on a subway or bus while listening to music. Do you really think anyone would be interesting in trying to create a whole base or something in age of empires with only 5 minutes to spare? Not likely. Plus, the screen isn't made for gaming.

[Multimoog]

Have you played Phase? You probably wouldn't say that if you had. The way it translates music into game levels is incredible. And what Harmonix did right was make the game use the iPod's controls to its best advantage.

The most popular game console right now is the Nintendo DS, and that also has a nontraditional control setup - a touch screen. And it's a pretty serious business, designing for it. One of the biggest game series right now is Guitar Hero, which uses a toy instrument as a controller. Made by - surprise! Harmonix. With these two sucesses, it's been proven that you don't have to have a traditional gaming powerhouse system to be successful.

Age of Empires, sorry to say, isn't what most people would call successful on the levels of, say, Pokemon, Nintendogs or Guitar Hero. The average person who plays GH or Animal Crossing DS probably doesn't even know what Age of Empires is.

Like I said, if Apple had more games available that were of the same caliber as Phase, it could be seen as a legitimate handheld game platform, if for no other reason than the HUGE installed owner base. If everyone who owned an iPod capable of running games actually bought and played them, it would be an enormous market. How many people own iPods? Imagine all those people gaming on them.

[Galley]

So, after syncing about 20 times, I finally got some of my own songs into the game.

[Pedrobear]

Hi everyone. Ok, I really need help. I have pulled out clumps of hair in frustration! (not really but you get the point) I have a Phase playlist in my iPod and in iTunes, I've synced them over and over, removed the game, synced it again, and it still won't show up! Whenever I drag a song in the Phase playlist, it doesn't analyze it at all. it just sits there, as if it was any old playlist. I don't want my 5 bucks to go to waste, It's a great game from what I played on the playlist it comes with. Any suggestions?

[Pedrobear]

Sorry wasn't specific. The game works fine, but my songs won't show up. Help!

[rizzyx]

The game is awesome, hands down.

Anyone who thinks it's crap, don't down it 'til you try it.

Worth it, but only if you start playing on hard immediatly after playing easy/medium once or twice. And for the people who have troubles beating the hard marathon..

Find 5 songs 31-50 seconds long, and download them.
Put them on iTunes, and change the genre of them so it's the same. (I.E Small)
Put them into the phase playlist
Sync and start the game
Click genre after clicking marathon
Choose your genre (mine would be Small)
and play.
The songs only have one phase, and most of them are 2 start-starters. So you'll pass, and get the new levels.

I play on expert. I've only had the game for 2 days.

[iRow]

This game is awesome and so worth it. Next, I'm gonna buy Sims Pool. The only thing I don't really like is the little blue scrolly things. Those suck. I think if would be better if you just had to hold the note, kinda like guitar hero. Great game, though.

[OzCatter]

It's fun, but I wish they would have made it a little more difficult, as I'm so experienced with GH and Rock Band, I was able to start on Hard and breeze through with no problems

[stonesupreme]

this game actually looks pretty dope. def a time passer.. anyone tried it with any hip hop beats? some madlib? premier? dilla anyone?

[gee-oh]

so i bought the game and sync all my songs but everytime i try to play my songs it say that i have to encode them did this happen to anyone else help me

[studogvetmed]

so i bought the game and sync all my songs but everytime i try to play my songs it say that i have to encode them did this happen to anyone else help me

There was probably some kind of mistake during the transfer of the songs to the phase playlist.

I suggest you remove all the songs from the phase playlist and then add the songs back. Watch the status window of iTunes. You should see "encoding songs" or some other message. Wait for this to be done before moving on to sync the playlist to the iPod with Phase.

[gee-oh]

k i see what your saying i did stop the songs from transfering in between

[Cyburn]

Bought this game today, glad I did

[mtber721]

it owns dude, you could play this for 10 hours on a road trip and not get too bored with it.