Harmonix to be acquired by MTV for $175 Mil
Posted by inpheaux on September 22nd, 2006 at 11:54 am
According to the New York Times, MTV is slated to pick up Harmonix immediately for $175 Million in cash. The article says it's more than just a branding thing, citing some crazy stuff about "expanding web channels" and "remixing songs", but really it boils down to branding.
MTV obviously wants some street cred, and having one of the premier developers of music-based games under their corporate umbrella is a very easy way of accomplishing that if - like MTV - you have more money than talent. It's a logical acquisition though, seeing as MTV has already had some kind of hand in Guitar Heros 1 and 2, though I'm still not entirely sure what they did apart from slap their logo in the boot process.
I wouldn't worry too much about future Harmonix titles being overly "MTV-ized", MTV won't likely be messing around too much with Harmonix' creative freedom. MTV knows that Harmonix knows what they're doing. For Harmonix this means now they have huge financial and corporate backing, even better accessibility to a wider range of songs, and even more exposure via MTV's assortment of media formats.
While we're at it, let's wrap up the couple other items of Guitar-Hero-related news from the past week or so.
Back on Wednesday, Activision's CEO confirmed that after GH2, Guitar Hero is going multi-platform and next-gen. I am shocked and amazed. This is clearly not something we have already heard. Like, months ago. It's been pretty clear from the start that GH2 was the last PS2-exclusive version. Plus, we've all been salivating over the possibilities made available by the 360 or Wii. A 360 incarnation of Guitar Hero would obviously open up the possibility of downloading new tracks over XBL. A Wii version could open up the ability to have even more immersion from a Wiimote plug-in. And the PS3 . . well . . who knows.
However, this is all speculation, because they said nothing other than "GEE GUITAR HERO SURE IS NEAT! WE'RE GOING TO PUT IT ON NEW PLATFORMS OK!" Thanks for the informative announcement, guys!
In wonderful ironic news, back on Tuesday, Red Octane sued one of the third-party manufacturers of Guitar Hero controllers, specifically "The Ant Commandos", the guys who make assorted Flying-V-styled controllers. The offenses Activision and Red Octane listed off include trademark infringement, false advertisement, copyright infringement, unfair / deceptive trade practices, unfair competition, etc etc etc. They're basically pissed that these guys are selling unlicensed peripherals. The irony? Back before Red Octane was the super big-shot publisher of Guitar Hero, they were known for making unlicensed third party DDR pads. Great job remembering your roots, guys.
Finally, there's a new Official Guitar Hero 2 Teaser Site. You can preorder the game from Red Octane, get a bonus t-shirt, and listen to a few snippets from most of the recently announced tracks. Good News: most everything sounds great. Bad News: the vocals on Heart Shaped Box are nearly as bad as the ones on Trippin' on a Hole in a Paper Heart. Could be worse, though.
Guitar Hero 2 is still slated for release for the PS2 on 09 NOV 2006.
Sources: New York Times, Gamespot
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