Sex, Drugs, Rockband

fragland.net - Viacom and Harmonix are sueing Konami over Rock Revolution, claiming the game violates a patent for game controllers that simulate musical instruments.

The complaint, filed yesterday in federal court in Boston, seeks to block sales of the video game by Tokyo-based Konami, plus cash compensation.
The funny part: in July last year, Konami started a lawsuit against Viacom and Harmonix for… “violating a patent for game controllers that simulate musical instruments” in Rock Band.

These patent lawsuits are becoming a joke!

nme.com - Guns N’ Roses’ long awaited comeback album ‘Chinese Democracy’ is set to be made available on the ‘Rock Band’ series.

The LP is to be released this spring as a full record of downloadable content, reports MTV.COM.

“They [MTV Games/Harmonix] felt the record - based on the nature and complexity of the depth of instrumentation - deserved a bit more attention and some more involved elements than they’ve generally dealt with,” Axl Rose said in an interview with Billboard.

“I have no idea what that means, but it’s my understanding they were very enthusiastic.”

The star’s comments come just months after Rose slammed Activision for making his band’s song available on ‘Guitar Hero’, as previously reported on NME.COM.

There hasn’t been much news regarding the Beatles/Rockband merger since the Harmonix-helmed Beatles game was been announced in October. And Beatle fans have been looking for any scrap of information.

Well, the latest comes from one of the band members courtesy of Entertainment Weekly. Here’s what Paul McCartney said on the upcoming game:

QUESTION:Can you tell me about this special Beatles edition of the Rock Band game that’s coming out this fall?
ANSWER: It will feature different periods of the band — you get early days, Liverpool, then psychedelic, and on from there. It’s very cool. And I like the idea that the game introduces kids to music, you know?

I’ve never been a huge Beatles fan, but perhaps, the video game can make me one. It’s what these video games are good at. Guitar Hero and Rock Band have led me to pick up some songs on iTunes …

gamefocus.ca - Harmonix and MTV Games announced the addition of two bands that are set to make their first Rock Band® appearance next week. The three track lineup coming to the Rock Band Music Store catalogue of downloadable content includes two songs from heavy metal band White Zombie and a track from punk band Turbonegro.

Release Date

Tuesday, February 17, 2009 (Xbox LIVE Marketplace for Xbox 360®)
Thursday, February 19, 2009 (PlayStation®Store)

Tracks

Turbonegro “Wasted Again”
White Zombie “Black Sunshine”
White Zombie “More Human than Human”

(All tracks are original master recordings)

Price

$1.99 (160 Microsoft Points for Xbox 360) per track

Get out your guitars and drums - at least your fake ones - because Rock Band will hit Atlantic City in a major way next month.
Through a national deal with Harrah’s Entertainment and MTV, Rock Band nights will be offered three times a week at Harrah’s Resort, Bally’s Atlantic City’s Wild Wild West Casino and the House of Blues at Showboat Casino-Hotel.

And to get you out of your house, Harrah’s is offering some big-time prizes, including a grand prize of $10,000 and a chance to open up for the B-52’s at the House of Blues on May 9.

“We’re really hoping this gets some regional and national buzz,” says Harrah’s Regional Director of Entertainment Jason Spencer. “The initial buzz has been great. We have high hopes.”

Here’s how it works: The competitions start on Wednesday, March 4, at Harrah’s Eden Lounge, followed by Thursday, March 5, at the Sports Bar at Bally’s, and Friday, March 6, at the House of Blues. They will continue each week on those same days at the respective casinos. Registration and warm-ups begin at 8 p.m., followed by competition at 9 p.m.

Participants must be 21 years old and older and must bring a whole band: singer, bassist, guitarist and drummer. Up to 20 bands will compete per night. Using the Rock Band scoring system and a predetermined difficulty level, bands will have more than 100 songs to choose from. Harrah’s will provide top-notch equipment, including basses and Fender-weighted guitars that look and feel like the real thing instead of the normal plastic ones people have at home.
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It appears that Viacom, MTV, and Harmonix are losing money on every Rock Band bundle sold based on the cost of the game’s peripherals. Ouch.

Thankfully, the game itself turns a profit for the company. Remember back before Rock Band launched and Harmonix would continually say that they were selling a platform, not just a game? Turns out they were right.

The metaphor used by the company is:

“It’s the razor, razorblade phenomenon. You’ve got the razors out into the marketplace and sold now we have to push the razorblade through.”

The DLC sales can’t hurt, either. Also, call me crazy, but I’m pretty sure that new-fangled Beatles game will sell a LOT of copies. Speaking of DLC, it’s almost time for Pearl Jam’s Ten to be released for Rock Band!

computerandvideogames.com - he Rock Band franchise has shipped ten million units worldwide, according to MTV daddy Viacom.

That’s despite the game not meeting the company’s sales targets during the fourth quarter.

“The soft retail environment that took hold in the fourth quarter impacted sales of our consumer products, including Rock Band,” Viacom said in a fourth quarter earnings presentation.

“However, the franchise has had great success so far, ranking as the #1 game title of 2008 by revenue across all genres with more than ten million units shipped worldwide since launch.”

Not bad going at all. Rock Band developer Harmonix’s next outing will be a Beatles-licensed game, but there’s no Rock band 3 planned for release this year.