Pulse2 Technology and Social Media News » Rock Band

Viacom Wants To Sell Off Haromonix, Developer Of Rock Band

Amit Chowdhry — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 21:42:22 +0000

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.

“Harmonix has and will continue to create terrific video games, but for us it is about focus,” stated Viacom’s CEO Philippe Dauman. “The console games business requires an expertise and scale that we don’t have.”

MTV bought Harmonix in 2006 for $175 million in cash plus a two-year earns-out. Although the games Harmonix sells have positive reviews, the company had a loss of $65 million EBITDA. Some of the potential buyers for Harmonix include Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, and Activision.

[DealBook]

Bad News For Tapulous, Rock Band Is Coming To The iPhone

Amit Chowdhry — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:44:08 +0000

The Tap Tap Revenge franchise was started by Nate True and is published by Tapulous. Tap Tap Revenge was the most downloaded game on the Apple App Store in 2008. The game features tapping on different colored balls before moving from the top of the screen to the bottom. The colored balls are in sync with the song playing with the game. This concept is similar to the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchise.

Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) has already been successful on the App Store and now they are bringing their Rock Band franchise from gaming consoles to the Apple iPhone/iPod Touch. The game announcement was made at the CTIA conference.

The Rock Band iPhone application will have 15 songs and 5 more that can be unlocked as you progress in the World Tour. There will also be an option to buy additional tracks. The game will have single player, multiplayer over Bluetooth, and Facebook Connect integration.

All the instruments will work too. That means you can select the guitar, drums, bass, and vocals. No word yet on the release date, but it is expected to arrive within the next few weeks.

Rock Band Game Opening Up To Independent Musicians

Shan Sadiq — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 22:11:54 +0000

MTV Games and Harmonix announced the launch of an independent track store for the Rock Band game. The store, called Rock Band Network, will launch in August. Rock Band Network will allow independent musicians to sell tracks they create for the game through Microsoft’s XNA Creator’s Club.

First a track will be submitted for approval. Once approved, the track gets put on the Rock Band Network store. Players on the 360 can then download the track if they like it. Track artists will receive royalties.

A selection of approved tracks will later be added to the PS3 and Wii.

Party Like A LEGO Star: LEGO Rock Band

Amit Chowdhry — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 01:50:53 +0000

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.

Students At RIT Hacks Guitar Hero Controller Into A Banjo

Amit Chowdhry — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 00:21:06 +0000

At the Game Developer Conference there were several students from the Rochester Institute of Technology showing off their banjo controller used for games such as Rock Band and Guitar Hero. The students gutted the wires and buttons out from a guitar controller and moved it into the banjo.

The students involved in the project include Michael Ey, Sela Davis, Alex Lifschitz, Joe Pietruch, and Dominick D’Aniello as a project for Professor Schwartz’s Alternative Controllers Seminar. The project was called “Oh No! Banjo.”

All you need to complete this picture is the guy to be wearing overalls and have him chewing on a weed.

[via BoingBoing]

Rock Band Franchise Hits $1 Billion Sales

Amit Chowdhry — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 01:11:38 +0000

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.

[via Ars]