Electronic Arts has signed a deal to publish Guitar Hero developer Harmonix's next game, the company revealed at its GDC press reception.

"I'm delighted to announce that after a long period of discussion Electronic Arts has reached an agreement with Harmonix and MTV to produce the next great thing from the makers of Guitar Hero, which will be... to be announced," joked EA Partners general manager David DeMartini. "We are fantastically excited to have a relationship with MTV and Harmonix."

Amidst much drunken hollering, Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopulos then took the stage to add: "As incredible as the last year has been for Harmonix with the phenomenon that was Guitar Hero, the truth is that Guitar Hero is really just the tip of the iceburg; it's the very beginning of what these kind of game can and will become."

Above: Will Harmonix's secret project contain the same level of ROCK(!) as Guitar Hero?

"The new project that we're working on is by far our most ambitious undertaking ever."

Harmonix has already confirmed the obvious that its new project is indeed music-based, but can it really drastically improve upon the excellent Guitar Hero series? We expect to find out what the studio's up to in the next few months.

March 7, 2007