Product: Autodesk Products Used In Guitar Hero II, Viva Piñata

Autodesk, Inc, creator of noted 3D graphics creation tool 3D Studio Max, has announced that the company's 3D software was used in the development of Harmonix's Guitar Hero II for the PlayStation 2 and Rare's Viva Piñata for the Xbox 360, as well as Midway's multiplatform movie tie in, Happy Feet. Based on Warner Bros. Pictures' feature film of the same name, Happy Feet was developed by Montreal-based A2M with Autodesk Maya, and is available for the newly launched Wii, as well as the PC, Nintendo DS, GameCube, Game Boy Advance, and PlayStation 2. Maya was also used by Rare to develop Viva Piñata, a sandbox style family oriented Xbox 360 exclusive that allows players to grow a garden in order to attract colorful piñata animals to live in a gamer-controlled virtual Eden. Rare explained that the Maya software’s open architecture and customisable toolsets were key components to creating the landscape, plants and piñatas’ fur. In addition, Boston-based Harmonix leveraged off of Autodesk's popular 3ds Max software to develop its popular rhythm game Guitar Hero II for the PlayStation 2. The package was also used in developing the game's predecessor, as well as the forthcoming version for the Xbox 360. “More people than ever before are experiencing interactive entertainment. Game developers are diversifying beyond traditional first-person shooter games to create imaginative titles with Autodesk 3ds Max and Autodesk Maya,” said Marc Petit, Autodesk’s Media & Entertainment vice president. “Through their highly creative use of gaming hardware and Autodesk’s 3D software, Harmonix, Rare and A2M have invented novel ways to appeal to our fantasies. Their games are breaking the age and gender barriers typically associated with the game-playing audience, attracting entirely new markets to the fun of playing video games.”