Harmonix made a major announcement today on Facebook of all places. The next iteration of the Rock Band series, Rock Band 3, will be launching this coming holiday season. Here’s the full post:

Harmonix is developing Rock Band 3 for worldwide release this holiday season! The game, which will be published by MTV Games and distributed by Electronic Arts, will innovate and revolutionize the music genre once again, just as Harmonix did with the original Rock Band, Rock Band 2 and The Beatles: Rock Band. Stay tuned for more details!

Innovate and revolutionize you say? Could that possibly mean that this Rock Band will finally be the one that actually teaches you how to rock?

Source: Facebook

It’s easy to think of Guitar Hero as a mint, a source of nearly endless money for everyone involved that’s just now starting to dry up. That’s not exactly the case.

Darren Richardson, the president and CEO of peripheral manufacturer Mad Catz, told Kotaku today that his company paid $300,000 so it could back out of the original contract due to an ongoing lawsuit with Konami.

“Guitar Hero was a game that we were actually involved with early on and pulled out because of a lawsuit with Konami,” Richardson said. “We were doing the Xbox SKU and that’s why there was only a Playstation 2 launch. That’s why. We were in there and we pulled out as a result of (the lawsuit) and (Red Octane and Harmonix) went forward and it turned out to be a success, a huge success.”

Somehow Richardson has a sense of humor about the whole thing. “Everyone else made hundreds of millions and we paid money to not be a part of it,” he said. “It was brilliant. I come up with these strokes of genius from time to time. That was my best.”

If only sarcasm could turn back time.

Source: Kotaku

The world’s love affair with plastic instruments was bound to end some time and it looks as though that time is now. According to the latest NPD data, rhythm games are struggling, showing weak sales despite new genre releases like DJ Hero and The Beatles: Rock Band.

As always, things are relative. The games may not be doing as well as they were, but Michael Pachter still thinks the niche will level out somewhere around $500 million in sales a year. That’s a pretty little penny, even for a company like Activision. Developers need to pick their ventures wisely, though. DJ Hero tanked. Hard. In a shrinking market that’s the last thing you want, especially after paying for the likes of Jay-Z and Eminem. Even The Beatles: Rock Band undersold expectations by 200,000 units.

Source: Reuters

No Doubt is suing Activision over unauthorized use of the band’s image in the new Band Hero. Originally the two parties had a contract that allowed Activision to use likenesses of the band members for its own songs. The new game allows players to use No Doubt members as avatars playing other songs, which the band alleges turns them into a virtual karaoke act.

You might remember Courtney Love raising the same stink about use of Cobain’s image for other artists’ work. In this case, though, it seems Activision has put the avatars into situations that could have some legal ramifications. As the lawsuit states, Band Hero stages Gwen Stefani, No Doubt’s sassy frontlady, singing The Stones song “Honky Tonk Woman.” The problem is that the feature “results in an unauthorized performance by the Gwen Stefani avatar in a male voice boasting about having sex with prostitutes.” I’ve certainly heard celebrities cry foul over less.

As expected, Activision claims to be within its rights. No Doubt is looking for damages, an injunction, and a recall of existing copies of the game. Good luck with that one.

Source: Reuters

Really, Polk? You used to be so respectable. None of this whoring about trying to make a dollar. Just good, quality audio equipment. Not anymore, though. It seems you’ve jumped on the Field-of-Dreamsesque “If we make it they will buy” mentality that us free-thinking types truly loathe.

Yes, folks, Polk has decided to make a ridiculous video game monitor as well for all of your video game jam sessions. As with Altec Lansing’s Stage Gig, you simply plug your console into the side of the monitor and voila, you’re transported to a world of 60-watt, rock-induced ecstasy. Coming for the holidays, an automated bra-launcher/boobie-flasher to tuck behind your TV for that authentic rock experience.

It looks like Altec Lansing wants a piece of the Rock Band accessory action, even if it means making a product as ridiculous as the Stage Gig. This guitar amp for fake guitars is really just a 40-watt speaker set on an angle so you strike a rocker’s pose in your mom’s basement.

The unit has a single stereo input and output, so you can hook the console straight into the speaker, or chain gang it as a part of your regular setup. If you’re actually willing to spend $100 on this thing, please never contact me for any reason. I’m all for getting into your games, but this takes fake musicianship to an unhealthy level. Like air guitarists but decidedly less cool.

If there’s one thing to love about Rock Band for the iPhone and iPod Touch it’s that playing the vocal part doesn’t actually involve singing. Can you imagine all the little teenies walking around acting like you’re doing something wrong by staring as they sing to themselves. Seriously, the iPhone version of the smash franchise is the inbred cousin to the real deal, bastardizing the best parts of the other games and charges too much for too little.

For starters, the game is $10. If by some freak accident you’ve not completely worn yourself out on Rock Band or finally picked up a real instrument, you just might be willing to pay that much. If you’re at all sane, though, that’s just ridiculous. You’ve heard of Tap Tap Revenge right? You know it’s $.99? Granted, you only get to play three “strings” as opposed to the four in Rock Band, but c’mon guys, it’s on your phone. It’s as far from actually playing an instrument as it gets.

If you really want this game, wait on it. I can’t imagine there will be a ton of people ready to drop $10 on such a weak game.

When I first heard Band Hero I thought it was a joke. Shouldn’t that be “Band Heroes?” In any case, isn’t it the most terrible name for a video game ever? I just didn’t think it was real. Well, it is. As it turns out you can actually get the demo on Xbox Live.

Here’s the blurb from Major Nelson:

Band Hero features an all-star lineup of pop music featuring the best variety of classic chart-topping hits and current hot artists. This demo features Finger Eleven “Paralyzer”, Katrina & The Waves “Walking on Sunshine” and Taylor Swift “Picture to Burn”. Includes Party Play and the all-new Sing-Along mode.

I’m willing to admit that the music games usually illicit at least a tepid interest for me, but this is an exception (right along with DJ Hero). Not my kind of music, and even if it was, I might boycott in protest. Alas, it seems nothing can stop Bob Kotick and his relentless quest to swindle the masses out of every last penny we’ve got.

It’s hard to say whether Queen guitarist Brian May was joking when he called his appearance in Lego: Rock Band “the ultimate accolade, to be portrayed in Lego. My dreams are all fulfilled now.” I guess for a guy like May, though, there probably wasn’t much left on that list before he scratched off the Lego achievement. The guitarist picked up his doctorate in astronomy in 2007.

The bigger news in his recent chat with the BBC is that a Queen version of Rock Band looks pretty likely. May confirmed that the behind-the-scenes discussions are already happening and said, “Yes we’re into it, I think it may happen.” Not the strongest impression I’ve heard about such a game, but it’s definitely good news. For the friends of mine who read this, I’m going to go ahead and call mic on “Don’t Stop Me Now.” Sorry, Todd. It’s mine.

Okay, so maybe that wasn’t much of a secret. After all, when Harmonix first announced that the world’s greatest band would be getting the “Rock Band” treatment back in 2008, everyone pretty much expected the game to be awesome. Now that we’ve had the chance to play it, however, we can say with complete confidence that while it may not be much of a revolution, it’s exactly what the music rhythm genre needed. Released today (The Beatles always had a thing for the number 9) for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii, “The Beatles: Rock Band” is a visually stunning tribute completely deserving of the same unique identity that the band brought to its amazing, decade-long career.

Though many will no doubt complain about the fact that the game doesn’t work with past (or future) “Rock Band” releases, if anyone was going to get a standalone title, it was going to be The Beatles. Thankfully, Harmonix has done a great job of translating the band’s prolific career to video game form, taking you on a musical journey that starts with their early performances at The Cavern Club to their rooftop farewell at Apple Corps. Rewarding players with iconic photos and never-before-released audio and video clips, “The Beatles: Rock Band” really is the ultimate fan experience. Better yet, although the game only boasts 45 songs, full-length albums have already been announced as DLC in the future. The first to be released? Abbey Road.

Check out Bullz-Eye’s full review of the game and, after you’ve had a chance to play it yourself, come back to let us know what you think.