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Viacom: The Beatles: Rock Band sales strong, overall RB growth slow

by David Hinkle { Nov 4th 2009 at 8:29PM }

Even though John, Paul, George and Ringo have been rocking the disc tray of your favorite console with The Beatles: Rock Band, its expectation-exceeding sales haven't helped boost overall Rock Band sales. Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman told USA Today the "economics of our Rock Band franchise are improving, though not as quickly as we'd like." There's still hope that Rock Band could at least break even or show a small profit, though Viacom CFO Tom Dooley said that will depend entirely on the franchise's performance this holiday season.

Despite tanking sales, the music genre still remains one of the best in the industry and The Beatles: Rock Band shows us that the right approach could still determine financial success in the space. Its September debut was very fortuitous and it even managed to best Guitar Hero 5 in the US -- which not only came with a free game, but is also one of the most recognizable brands to the mainstream.

Source - USA Today
Source - Viacom earnings report

Auditorium flowing to XBLA, PSN and PSP next year

by Griffin McElroy { Nov 4th 2009 at 7:30PM }

We haven't heard anything about Cipher Prime's plans to port its hypnotic musical puzzler, Auditorium, since the studio won a publishing contract in the 2BeeGames competition back in July. Today, a press release from newly named publisher Zoo Games revealed a few details about the title's console destinations: It's coming to Xbox Live Arcade and PSN, both as a PS3 and PSP download "early next year."

For those who want to know what the soothing buzz is all about, you can check out Auditorium for free on the 2BeeGames site. For those who can't access that site for some reason, just turn on some classical music, go turn on the nearest water faucet, and try to redirect the stream with your hands.

Hans Zimmer believes in the legitimacy of games, approached MW2 as a 'novice'

by Ben Gilbert { Nov 4th 2009 at 6:00PM }

Hans Zimmer may have a laundry list of feature films he contributed to on his resume, but the renowned film composer says he still had to approach his work on Modern Warfare 2 "truly as a novice." In an interview with USA Today, he speaks like a true convert. When asked about the legitimacy of games as an art form, he frankly states, "Absolutely, that we can't even question anymore."

Zimmer says his first experience working on a game has, unsurprisingly, been very different than working on a film. "I had never done this before, so it was nice to sort of go at it a little fresh." Due to the length of major video games (even the shorter ones), Zimmer was forced to create considerably more music than the average project. "I never added it up [because] then I would have panicked," he admits. Looks like that "ridiculous" budget was good for something!

Easy Piano easing into North America next year

by JC Fletcher { Nov 4th 2009 at 4:45PM }

Band Hero's reign as the DS music game with the silliest peripheral in America will soon be over. Valcon Games has announced that it will release Easy Piano, the piano teaching game with the 13-key keyboard attachment, in North America. It'll join the piles and piles of other games coming out in early 2010, but then those don't have keyboards.

Easy Piano includes a piano teaching system -- a mini Miracle Keyboard, essentially -- but also allows players to record four three-minute long performances, and includes a piano-based rhythm game. What it doesn't include, for obvious reasons, is DSi compatibility. Maybe the company will make a version for the DSi XL that connects wirelessly to one of those floor pianos from Big.

Also, we've changed our minds -- Band Hero is still the silliest.

Deal to see EA music licensed for TV commercials, movie trailers

by Alexander Sliwinski { Nov 4th 2009 at 4:00AM }

Electronic Arts has signed on the dotted line for Extreme Music to represent its catalog of 2,000 original pieces of music for five years. Variety reports that Extreme will place the publisher's owned music in things like television commercials, movie trailers and anything else that Extreme sees fit -- and to which EA agrees.

EA has obtained original pieces of music over the years from many A-list Hollywood composers, as the publisher has sought to blend the realms of film and games. So, if you happen to hear a theme from The Sims playing in the background of a pool insurance ad, or that armed forces ad suddenly makes you want to play Battlefield, you'll know why.

[Via Big Download]

Margaritaville trademarked for video game use

by Griffin McElroy { Nov 3rd 2009 at 7:00PM }

From the second our feet left the comfort of our bed in favor of the harsh, cold ground this morning, we knew it was going to be a terrible day. What we expected were little accumulative annoyances -- stubbed toes, traffic, cold coffee and the like. What we got was a report from supererogatory pointing us to a terror-inducing trademark filing, which permits "Margaritaville" to be used for video game software purposes.

As we see it, there's an infinite number of ways that Jimmy Buffett's tropically-tinted tune could manifest itself in video game form:

A near-endless RPG: The Quest for the Lost Shaker of Salt
A sailing simulator: Son of a Son of a Sailing Simulator
A smooth rhythm game, which is sadly what it probably will be
A smooth rhythm game/sailing simulator, which ... which might be kind of magical

Alvin & the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel game tie-in coming in early December

by Ben Gilbert { Oct 29th 2009 at 4:00AM }

If there's one wonderful thing we can say about movie game trailers, it's that they keep us on top of what's happening with the kids these days. Take for instance Alvin & the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel -- we didn't even know there was a second film coming out!

What we can glean from the trailer above is that there will be some form of illicit chipmunk love affair angle to the film that will play into the game's story. Also, it may or may not be music-rhythm game of some form. As you can imagine, we were so entranced by the slurry of colors and sounds that it was hard to discern any clear information. We did discover, however, that the game will be coming to the Nintendo Wii and DS on December 1.

Band Hero's DS 'drum skin' in action

by JC Fletcher { Oct 28th 2009 at 9:50PM }

Activision is making people believe in the weird DS "drum skin" attachment for Band Hero the best way it knows how: by finding the most excitable shills it can in shopping centers, and putting the game in their hands. Predictably, they love it. We've never seen a mall so full of people willing to dance awkwardly to a DS game.

The buttons that go on top of the DS's buttons are only one of the selling points espoused in this trailer. Band Hero's extensive track list and flexible multiplayer (just like in the console version, you can combine instruments in any configuration) get lip service too. But they aren't as noticeable as that thing you put on the DS to play drums.

Use a real guitar to play Rock Band 2 AND get punched while doing so!

by Ben Gilbert { Oct 28th 2009 at 5:00AM }

Normally when people mod real instruments for use in music-rhythm games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero, they don't intentionally include the ability for someone else to play along by punching them. For Norway's Morten Skogly, that choice seemed only natural. On his website, you can see a shot-by-shot breakdown of the process necessary to transform something that creates music into something that plays along with music.

In fairness, the entire (ridiculously intricate) process leads to the hilarious video you'll find after the break. You see, rather than strum on the strings of his guitar, the punching gloves (punching him, mind you) approximate a strum for him. That means that every time he pushes a note, he gets punched. It's like penance!

[Image credit]

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Here's what you'll Just Dance to

by JC Fletcher { Oct 26th 2009 at 5:45PM }

So, you've just purchased Just Dance, hypothetically, and you're ready to pick up your Wiimote and humiliate yourself thoroughly -- even more than you did at the store. Good news! The track list is, in fact, profoundly embarrassing. We're not music snobs or anything, but there's something on this list guaranteed to make everyone feel bad.

How embarrassing is the Just Dance selection? Try New Kids on the Block's "Step By Step." It's "Step By Step" embarrassing. It's "Who Let the Dogs Out" embarrassing. But at least it doesn't have Britney Spears's "Womanizer," right?

It's got a cover of "Womanizer." Slink past the post break to see the list.

Gallery: Just Dance

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Guitar Hero co-founder expects DJ Hero to have slower initial sales

by Griffin McElroy { Oct 25th 2009 at 3:30PM }

It's rare that we hear anything but doe-eyed optimism from publishers of yet-to-be-released games -- however, Activision's Kai Huang, co-creator of the Guitar Hero franchise, recently voiced some fairly realistic expectations for the upcoming disc-spinning rhythm title, DJ Hero. "We're expecting this to be the type of game that may come out of the gate a little bit slower, but continue to grow over time," Huang explained during a speech at the PLAY Digital Media Conference in Berkeley.

Huang mentioned that while overall sales will be bolstered by the Hero part of the game's moniker, the DJ portion may scare potential players off -- causing Activision to focus on in-store demos to push the product on passersby. If we were unenlightened of DJ Hero's existence, we'd probably be snared by the siren call of the demo unit's mash-up of "Hollaback Girl" and "Give it to Me." Curse you, Stefani/James!

[Via VG247]

This is it: a dancing Michael Jackson cat game for iPhone

by JC Fletcher { Oct 24th 2009 at 4:00PM }

When Robot Symphony alerted us to its upcoming iPhone debut, MeowWalker, we were prepared to dismiss it out of hand based only on the premise of combining Michael Jackson with the staple of lazy internet humor, cats. But instead of a tasteless cash-in, the trailer for the dance game (after the break) reveals what could turn out to be our, well, third favorite Michael Jackson-based game, right after the Genesis Moonwalker and the arcade Moonwalker. Sha-meow!

The gameplay is simple: tilt and swipe the phone to make a lanky, Thriller-jacketed feline perform MJ's signature dance moves to the tune of the Michael Jackson songs already on your phone. The addition of quirky animation and (especially) sound effects, which reimagine Michael's weird vocal tics as cat noises, result in something that we can't get enough of. Which means, according to the MJ canon, we haven't stopped watching the trailer.

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Trivium to rock God of War III with exclusive tune

by David Hinkle { Oct 21st 2009 at 7:45PM }

We can all admit the God of War series is pretty metal -- it's about a dude killing gods and tearing apart most of the Greek mythos' bestiary with his bare hands! And even though all of the orchestral tunes playing Kratos along his rampages have certainly been nice so far, Sony has seen fit to spice it up a bit and tap metal band Trivium for an exclusive track for God of War III.

The news was revealed by Trivium guitarist/vocalist, Matt Heafy, during an interview with Baltimore rock station 98Rock's Kid Christoff. It's definitely an "original song," Heafy said -- don't expect a tune lifted from one of the band's previous albums. If you're looking for a sneak preview, we suggest you crank this and watch this.

[Via G4]

Altec Lansing feeds rock fantasies with mini monitor

by Justin McElroy { Oct 21st 2009 at 1:00PM }

Ever have a musician friend over to your house, only to find yourself ever-so-slightly embarrassed by the pile of fake instruments filling your den? Well, you should probably never let them catch you with the Altec Lansing Stage-Gig, a replica monitor meant to give guitar heroes the sense of a real rock show by blaring their audio straight up at them from the floor.

It's kind of a cute idea, but we're not sure we're willing to pay $99 to have our 5.1 audio replaced by a single Altec Lansing speaker. Sure, you could buy two and have a really inconvenient stereo setup, but we think it's safe to chalk up another victory for imagination.

[Via Engadget]

Resident Evil and Street Fighter join the Capcom music store

by Justin McElroy { Oct 21st 2009 at 5:00AM }

For the longest time, we didn't understand game soundtracks. "Hey, just turn the game on and walk away," we said. But after our 17th red ring and 10th Cell chip to commit melty, plasticy suicide, we quickly began to see the value.

Capcom's feeding our new habit with three new additions to the Music section of the Capcom Store: Ten Years Of Resident Evil: The Official Soundtrack, Resident Evil 5: Original Soundtrack and Street Fighter IV: Original Soundtrack. If you too are hesitant about leaping into game soundtracks, Capcom's sweetening the offer with 25 percent off the Mega Man 9 score for anyone who purchases one of the new offerings.