Viacom has been ordered to pay Rock Band creators Harmonix Music Systems $383 million. This is a bit over half of the money that is being sought by former shareholders in Harmonix. Last year, former Harmonix CEO/co-founder Alex Rigopulos and co-founder Eran Egozy sued Viacom over unpaid bonuses. The bonuses are based on Rock Band sales goals that were met. In 2007, most of the payments were made but they stopped coming in 2008. According to arbitration accountants, Harmonix shareholders are owed $383 million as part of the 2006 acquisition. [Kotaku]
Viacom, Inc. (NYSE:VIA.B) has sold Rock Band franchise company Harmonix for $200 million to Columbus Nova. Analysts of Viacom’s business strategy have questioned why a company known for cable networks is involved in the video game industry.
Viacom, the parent company of MT V announced today that they are in talks to sell off Harmonix. Harmonix is a Massachusetts based subsidiary that developed the popular music video game Rock Band. Viacom had recorded $260 million in write-offs on the value of Harmonix for the third quarter.
The Beatles Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band edition has made its way to the Sony PlayStation 3 (starting later today), Microsoft Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii. The game was developed by Harmonix Music Systems and published by MTV and EA.
Lego Rock Band is a music video game that is being put together through a partnership between Harmonix Music Systems, MTV Games, EA, and Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment. This game will be released on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and the Wii on November 3.
Image: Engadget
Today is the Microsoft E3 keynote event and one of the highlights is the launching of The Beatles: Rock Band.
The tracks for the game are remastered Beatles songs and the game also has never before heard studio chat between the band. Below are some of the tracks that will be in the game:
1. I Saw Her Standing There
2. I Want to Hold Your hand
3. I Feel Fine
4. Day Tripper
5. Taxman
6. I Am The Walrus
7. Back In The USSR
8. Octopus’ Garden
9. Here Comes The Sun
10. Get Back
Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney even made an appearance at the event as the snapshot by Engadget above shows. And below is the official game trailer:
LEGOs have been used to make an oversized Nintendo DSi and now it is being used in rock and roll video games. The new game is a collaboration between Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, TT Games, Harmonix, and MTV Games.
Some of the songs included in the LEGO version of Rock Band will include Song 2 (Blur), Kung Fu Fighting (Carl Douglas), Boys and Girls (Good Charlotte), and So What (Pink).
“Players will be able to create their own Lego Rock Band style as they customize their minifigure avatars, band and entourage, including roadies, managers and crew,” stated the companies in a press release. The LEGO Rock Band game will work with music controllers and Rock Band instruments.
In 2007, MTV’s Rock Band franchise launched. Now the franchise as a whole has hit a major milestone, $1 billion in sales. These numbers are based on the North American market. The numbers were released in a press release this past Thursday. Rock Band players have also downloaded more than 40 million songs from the DLC selection.
Even though Rock Band 3 has not been announced yet, there will be a Beatles version of the game for the PSP coming out soon. Electronic Arts is the distribution company of the game and it was developed by Harmonix.
There are about 600 songs available for download to add to the game. It took Guitar Hero about 26 months to hit the same milestone whereas it took Rock Band about 15 months. The complete version of Rock Band costs almost $200.
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