MTV To Acquire Guitar Hero Maker Harmonix

An anonymous reader writes to mention a Gamasutra article about a surprise announcement from MTV. They're going to be acquiring Guitar Hero creator Harmonix for $175 Million. From the article: "Harmonix have had a long history of critically acclaimed, largely music related titles, including Amplitude, Frequency and EyeToy: AntiGrav for Sony and the Karaoke Revolution series for Konami. However, none of these games have proven significant commercial successes until the release of Guitar Hero last year for publisher RedOctane (itself recently acquired by Activision). MTV intends to uses the developer's expertise creating content for the company's websites, as well as for mobile services and VMTV - the online virtual world due to be introduced next year - and in general 'increase audience engagement and time spent with the brand across all screens.'"

Comments

The M is for ???

[richdun]

from the damnit-i-like-it-that-guitar-hero-plays-music dept.

Well, Punk'd Hero has potential... but Cribs Hero is going to suck.

Re:The M is for ???

[Anonymous Coward]

Goodbye guitar hero, hello "Spring Break Booty Shaking Hero"

Can't wait to see that controller

Re:Just fucking great...

[nb caffeine]

"My balls, sir. You're breaking my balls"

I guess the GH series was cool while it lasted. Hopefully GH2 is too far along for MTV to fuck up.

Damnit

[dctoastman]

Son of a bitch. This is going to suck.

MTV Hero

[tgpo]

I suppose star power will now refer to your ability to lipsync and hold a mic at the same time.

I've got a voice too

[steveo777]

This will suck balls. Any balls will do. I know it's redundant, but I've got a voice and I know nobody from MTV will ever hear this, but Guitar Hero is going to suck without music.

Oh, and not a chance in Hell will I play Hip-Hop Hero with turntables and "bootie" gauge instead of star power.

M is for Marketing

[AmazingRuss]

It is only for music when music is the most effective way to market something.

Well, it's not the first time...

[twoallbeefpatties]

Anyone remember the "MTV Music Generator" created by Codemasters?

Re:No more console games from the Harmonix guys?

[slipster216]

For some reason, the NYTimes writer replaced the word 'online' with 'website', leading to mad confusion about what we do here at Harmonix. So, in other words, we're still focused on console games as always..

Awesome!

[Anonymous Coward]

This can only improve the game! I've always felt that the songs were too long and unbroken, and now my dreams have come true! Nothing will break up the tedium of "More Than a Feeling" better than an FMV clip of some girl in Times Square yelling "HEY! My name's LaBreeanna and I'm fourteen and I want to give a shout-out to my homies at Horace Greely Private Academy! This game needs more Pussycat Kate and the Trannity Dolls... woooOOOOOOOOOEEEEWWWW!!"

Bring the rawk, MTV!!

There goes Guitar Hero...

[RyoShin]

Great, so the next Guitar Hero will be songs broken up by stupid segments from shows like Jackass, and the Guitar Hero after that won't even have songs, just teen reality dramas where you have to push the correct button in time with the previously coreographed drama onscreen.

Unless you play it late at night, and then you'll be able to choose one of five songs you hate to play.

However, if you shell out the extra cash and buy a second copy of the game, then you'll be able to choose from 12 songs any time of the day.