'Guitar Hero' Maker to Create 'Rock Band'

The developer behind the "Guitar Hero" video game franchise today announced "Rock Band," an all-new music-based game that takes the ideas of "Guitar Hero" to another level.

Harmonix, along with MTV and Electronic Arts will release the game which will allow gamers to perform music from the world's biggest rock artist with their friends using drums, bass and lead guitar, and microphone peripherals. The game will also feature online connectivity.

"Harmonix was founded to create new ways for everyone to experience the pleasure and satisfaction that comes from playing music. Our work on Guitar Hero was an instrumental step toward that goal," stated Alex Rigopulos, co-founder and CEO of Harmonix. "But Rock Band is Harmonix's most ambitious project to date, and it will take music gameplay to an entirely new level. MTV has given us the freedom and the resources to really swing for the fences and make the game we've always wanted to make."

The game is going to include unprecedented deals with record labels and music publishers allowing the music in "Rock Band" to span the genres of rock. The game will include music from some of the greatest rock artists of all time.

Harmonix was able to use its new relationship with MTV to acquire multi-track master recordings from the catalogs of some of the biggest labels in the music business.

Top music publishers EMI Music Publishing and Warner/Chappell Music are allowing access to their catalogs of songs for "Rock Band." In all, EMI Music, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group's Universal Music Enterprises, Hollywood Records, and Warner Music Group's Rhino Entertainment have agreed to supply master recordings by their respective artists to be used in the game.

It is not yet known how much music each publisher will make available to Harmonix, but they will emphasise working with the artists themselves.

The game is scheduled to be released on the Xbox 360 and PS3 in time for the 2007 holiday season.