Just a few years ago rhythm based games were all the rage with titles like Guitar Hero and Rock Band ruling the airwaves. However after countless renditions of the former, the hype surrounding these two franchises have died off. In fact, they’ve died down so much that Viacom has actually sold off Harmonix along with the Rock Band franchise. Well, now that Harmonix is sold off, what is to come of MTV Games, one of the publishers behind Rock Band?

Well, according to recent reports, MTV Games has all but shut down. According to MCV, MTV Games has already closed its international office with only a few financial staff members remaining at the New York City office.

Is this to be believed? We aren’t sure quite yet but if it’s true expect an announcement quite soon.

I don’t know about you guys but in the past (N64 era) I’ve had some problems with Mad Catz prodcuts. However, with their release of the various FightSticks and other officially licensed peripherals, the company is really stepping their game up. They are stepping their game up so much, in fact, that it was just announced that they will be in charge of all official Rock Band peripherals from here on out.

This means that Mad Catz produced products will appear in the official Rock Band bundles as they are now the ‘principal peripherals partner’ for the franchise. Try saying that 10 times fast.

Check out the official press release here.

Jimi Hendrix may not be getting his own game like The Beatles and Green Day but he is getting a pretty hefty Rock Band DLC pack dedicated to hi in the coming weeks. Rolling Stone has told us that the Hendrix’s Axis: Bold as Love will be making its way to Rock Band on the week of March 30th. In addition to the CD an unreleased Jimi Hendrix single entitled Valleys of Neptune will also be making it’s way onto Rock Band.

There’s no telling how much the pack will cost but we’ll let you know as soon as we do.

With the massive success of The Beatles: Rock Band it’s no surprise that Harmonix is expanding with other popular bands. The latest of such bands is the Grammy Award Winning Green Day with Rock Band: Green Day. Just like The Beatles version, Rock Band: Green Day will feature likeliness of the band and a bunch of iconic Green Day locations and will drop on June 8th for the PS3, Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii for $59.99, $59.99 and $49.99, respectively.

Additionally, MTV Games and Harmonix let us know that all of the tracks found in Rock Band: Green Day will be exportable to Rock Band 1, 2 and presuambly 3 which was just recently announced.

via thatvideogameblog

Harmonix is proud to announce that later this year they will be launching for the Xbox 360 (PS3 and Wii support at a later date) what they are calling the Rock Band Network. If you’re familiar with Apple’s App Store, this is the same kind of thing.

The Rock Band Network will allow users to upload and price their own tracks which can then be downloaded by anyone with the game. Users are said to be able to price the tracks between 50 cents and $3 while getting 30% of the track sales.

This is great news for up and coming artists looking to reach a wider audience. But the question remains, will the Rock Band Network catch on like similar services or will it be met with lackluster interest? Only time will tell.

You can check out the service in more detail, here.

via Kotaku

Jumping ship from THQ, Scott Guthrie, former executive vice president at the popular publisher, has landed at MTV Games, having been labeled its new executive vice president and general manager.

MTV Games also announced former SCEA sales and merchandise director David Cox as its senior VP of sales.

The company has recently stepped up its efforts to break into the gaming biz, having acquired Harmonix and working closely with Jerry Bruckheimer’s games company. It’s now one of the top five game publishers and is host to the popular Rock Band franchise.

So, what exactly is the company up to these days? Another band-themed Rock Band, some action game, or a totally new game?

If you’ve been looking to get your mobile Rock Band on today is your lucky day – Harmonix and MTV games have recently released a press releasing stating Rock Band Unplugged has hit North American shelves everywhere.

Priced at $39.99, Rock Band Unplugged will allow players the chance to rock through 41 different songs (with 9 of those available on the PSN) using the PSP.

Unfortunately (or maybe I should so fortunately?) there is no instrument peripheral that serves as a controller for the game; you’re going to be using the PSP’s built in controls for this one.

This weeks Rock Band release won’t be garnered towards any specific console as it was announced that it will hit all 3 major consoles. Yes, this does mean that it will be coming to Wii; no console prejudice whatsoever.

Anyways, Steve Ray Vaughan’s Texas Flood, along with a few No Doubt singles will be hitting all 3 consoles, the Wii get’s special treatment with a couple Jimmy Eat World songs that the PS3 and Xbox 360 Rock Bands already received:

Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Texas Flood (200 Wii points apiece):

• “Love Struck Baby”
• “Pride and Joy”
• “Texas Flood”
• “Tell Me”
• “Rude Mood”
• “Testify”
• “Mary Had a Little Lamb”
• “Dirty Pool”
• “I’m Cryin”
• “Lenny”

Individual songs (200 Wii points apiece):

• “New” – No Doubt
• “Futures” – Jimmy Eat World
• “Lucky Denver Mint” – Jimmy Eat World
• “Sweetness” – Jimmy Eat World 

Read (Joystiq)

Microsoft’s attempts at a SingStar clone – Lips – may not have sold well, but that won’t stop Rock Band fans from picking up the game’s wireless microphone as it will soon be compatible with the two Rock Band titles.

This fits in with Harmonix’s open-platform philosophy for controllers for its games. Microsoft and MTV Games are reportedly working on the patch that will address the compatibility. No release date was provided.