The Rock Band franchise has an easier time attracting music talent than its competitors, claimed Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman during the UBS 36th Annual Global Media and Communications Conference on Tuesday.
"There's a strong music orientation to our company; many of our networks are ideal vehicles to promote the game, and you'll see more and more of that as we move forward," said Dauman.
"We also have the opportunity to attract talent to [Rock Band] in a way that our competitors have greater difficulty doing."
The best argument for Dauman's claims is the recently-announced Harmonix-developed Beatles music game, which will feature music from the group that spans the Fab Four's entire career.
"[The deal] is something that we probably got because we're Viacom--we're MTV Networks," Dauman said.
The Rock Band franchise breaks the 500 song mark this week with the release of the 13-song No Doubt track pack.
But Activision and its Guitar Hero series is no slouch either in the music business, particularly after its merger with Vivendi, a conglomerate that owns Universal Music Group. The Guitar Hero franchise broke $1 billion in sales in North America in January.
The most recent Guitar Hero release, World Tour, has around 150 songs, including on-disc songs and downloadable tunes. With downloadable songs costing around $2 apiece, the more songs a game has available, the better.
MTV acquired Cambridge, Mass.-based Harmonix in 2006 for $175 million. But Dauman said other major acquisitions related to games are not planned. "We expect [music games] to be a significant business for us. We'd like he games business to grow organically, we're not looking to make big acquisitions. We may want small acquisitions... that fits in with our fundamental business."
Growing that business will include taking advantage of Rock Band's multiple revenue streams, which includes the retail (software, peripherals, bundles) and paid downloadable content.
"We view this as a strong long-term franchise for us," Dauman said.
He offered a bit more color to the recent Beatles game announcement. "It will just blow you away," he claimed. "It really goes through the history of The Beatles and they're collaborating with it. [Gamers] will start out in clubs in Liverpool and work [their] way through to the Abbey Road studio with never-before-heard dialog from when they were recording their music."
Hmmmm - I think they need to sort out their release dates to truly trouble Activision. I really, really can't understand what they think they're doing releasing the instrument pack so long after the solus game has been released. They've probably missed a lot of sales due to people just going and getting the GH: WT instruments.
Other than that - they're right with what they said about attracting the artists. The DLC they've racked up has been nothing short of brilliant.
Really not sure what this 'Beatles' project is going to turn out like....I have a horrible feeling that this could be the biggest waste of a license in the history of videogames.
Really not sure what this 'Beatles' project is going to turn out like....I have a horrible feeling that this could be the biggest waste of a license in the history of videogames.
Sadly, it'll be a stand-alone disc rather than DLC which automatically means I won't be getting it. I quite like the Beatles, but not enough to buy a game dedicated to them. However, were it DLC, I could pick a few of the best tracks and be done with it. I don't want YET ANOTHER installment of this game. The only thing that sold me on RB2 was the ability to rip RB1 tracks to your hard drive - meaning I can then trade RB1 in...
Really not sure what this 'Beatles' project is going to turn out like....I have a horrible feeling that this could be the biggest waste of a license in the history of videogames.
Sadly, it'll be a stand-alone disc rather than DLC which automatically means I won't be getting it. I quite like the Beatles, but not enough to buy a game dedicated to them. However, were it DLC, I could pick a few of the best tracks and be done with it. I don't want YET ANOTHER installment of this game. The only thing that sold me on RB2 was the ability to rip RB1 tracks to your hard drive - meaning I can then trade RB1 in...
I wouldn't worry too much - they do still have the license, so I fully expect some Beatles DLC for RB to show up at some point.
I have this nagging feeling that the Beatles project will end up more like Wii Music than Rock Band - they'll certainly want to tap in to the 60's generation....who probably own Wiis, if any console at all.
I have this nagging feeling that the Beatles project will end up more like Wii Music than Rock Band - they'll certainly want to tap in to the 60's generation....who probably own Wiis, if any console at all.
If that turns out to be true, then it'd be truly dead to me - my feelings towards Wii Music are hardly secret.
considering how they screwed up the AC/DC rockband. Essentially a glorified track pack that you can also rip to Rockband 1 or 2 making it utterly pointless, I hold little to no hope for this game.
At least Activision bothered putting Aerosmith in thier game. Even if it was ridiculously short.
considering how they screwed up the AC/DC rockband. Essentially a glorified track pack that you can also rip to Rockband 1 or 2 making it utterly pointless, I hold little to no hope for this game.
At least Activision bothered putting Aerosmith in thier game. Even if it was ridiculously short.
Looking forward to Guitar Hero Metallica more.
I'm not really 100% sure what you mean about the AC/DC RB - it was literally a DLC track-pack.
I can never understand the uproar made about some of the band-based editions of GH. For a start, the Aerosmith edition contains some of the best songs of any GH (the ones I'm thinking of are not even Aerosmith tracks - check 'All the Young Dudes' and 'Always on the Run'). Also, it seems as if people think that they should be DLC - if they were, they'd cost more than the boxed version (admittedly, you'd probably be able to pick and choose your tracks that way - although, I don't think you could with RB's AC/DC) and you'd miss the graphical things like the band and the stadiums.
I've got no problem with the band-based editions - I'll pick and choose the ones I want based on the tracks available, but I'm always willing to give them a chance.
The RB AC/DC isn't DLC its boxed. Fair enough it's only going to be Ł20 but considering the pedigree of the band they could of done so much more with it.
If it'd been a guitar hero game it would've been like the Aerosmith one which would of kicked ass. Carttony Angus Young would be fantastic especially if they exaggerated his height. or lack thereof.
Guitar hero Hendrix would be great, but you can already get a feeling of what it'd be like on World Tour by playing as him.
The RB AC/DC isn't DLC its boxed. Fair enough it's only going to be Ł20 but considering the pedigree of the band they could of done so much more with it.
If it'd been a guitar hero game it would've been like the Aerosmith one which would of kicked ass. Carttony Angus Young would be fantastic especially if they exaggerated his height. or lack thereof.
Guitar hero Hendrix would be great, but you can already get a feeling of what it'd be like on World Tour by playing as him.
It's boxed?!? - when was this announced?...I'd heard it was basically a load of songs to download for a ridiculous amount of money - I may have skipped some of the details, I'm not the biggest AC/DC fan. I know that I saw some boxed expansions for the Wii version of RB when I was out in the States (made sense on the Wii).
Don't get me wrong - I love the DLC side to these games, but I do think it's quite nice to get the boxed 'full-game' versions rather than simple add-ons.
I'm pretty much 100% sure that the Hendrix game will be much like the Aerosmith one - they've secured the exclusive rights from 'Experience Hendrix', so I think they'll want to milk it for all it's worth. I absolutely loved the moment in GH: WT when he makes his appearance - plus, 'Purple Haze' and 'Wind Cries Mary' are two of my favourites in the entire game (plus the DLC pack - minus 'If 6 Was 9', which is pretty rubbish really).
I am a big AC/DC fan. Thus my rage. It was Wallmart exclusive or some madness. Yep no DLC its just like the wii expansions but with AC/DC slapped on the box.
The HEndrix parts of world tour do kick ass. Purple Haze is my favourite Hendrix song.
Can't see how anybody can like Rockband more other than it having tons more Dlc. gameplaywise guitar hero is so far ahead of it.
I am a big AC/DC fan. Thus my rage. It was Wallmart exclusive or some madness. Yep no DLC its just like the wii expansions but with AC/DC slapped on the box.
The HEndrix parts of world tour do kick ass. Purple Haze is my favourite Hendrix song.
Can't see how anybody can like Rockband more other than it having tons more Dlc. gameplaywise guitar hero is so far ahead of it.
Walmart exclusive? - that really sucks, it makes sense why I've not seen an awful lot about it.
In terms of why people would enjoy RB over GH - I guess it's purely just down to simple preference, they do play slightly differently and you have to admit that RB wins on presentation. I think GH just about edges it for me, especially now that they've added the cool new gameplay features - but, it's a close call...I guess I'll have to stick to buying both.
The Wallmart exclusive is just for the States. It's out over here next Friday in all stores.
And as a long time player of Guitar Hero and Rock Band, and being the games i would choose over any other, i can honestly say that in my opinion GH:WT is the worst in the series by a long shot. Totally god awful hardware (the guitar is well built but the new slider addition renders itself useless on harder levels) and the tracklist is worse than any other. Apart from about ten tracks i've never heard of most of the artists, and the genius that came up with the idea of foreign language songs needs a knighthood. Since Activision took over the games it's just lost it's soul. Stupid, STUPID overcharting on a load of the songs (people moan that Rock Band is easier....it's not....it's just charted correctly. If you're looking for hard go onto the insane challenge mode in Rock Band and you will see the definition of your fingers melting!!)
The only think i will give GH over RB is the hammer ons/off. They work better in GH than they do in RB (RB basically tells you where you're allowed to do it, you can't deviate at all!)
I really like World Tour. Its got some class tracks on it and the tool level is the muts nuts. The Kit beats the s**t out of rockbands shoddy efforts. especially the drumkit.
At least guitar hero is trying to change the gameplay a bit and make a definite difference between guitar and bass. RB2 is almost identical to 1.
I really like the slide buttons. they just take some getting used to.
I really like World Tour. Its got some class tracks on it and the tool level is the muts nuts. The Kit beats the s**t out of rockbands shoddy efforts. especially the drumkit.
At least guitar hero is trying to change the gameplay a bit and make a definite difference between guitar and bass. RB2 is almost identical to 1.
I really like the slide buttons. they just take some getting used to.
Ah man...i have to disagree on all points. The "make your own music" tools should be renamed as "make your own polyphonic ring tone"....it's awful!
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