411mania talks about this week's game releases. Highlights include Little King's Story, Katamari Damacy Tribute, Shatter, and Wii Sports Resort.
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BeefJack writes: "Rock Band devs, and Pepsi, want you to become the next big star in rock music.

While you're deciding which song to unleash your wicked headbanging skills to, you can win a $20 Rock Band giftcard, right here."
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Ben Kuchera of ArsTechnica writes:

"The great thing about Guitar Hero and Rock Band packages is that they come in OMG-XBOX-HUGE packages. Why is that a great thing? Because boxes that big cost retailers money to store, which means that, with new rhythm games coming by the end of the year, it costs more to keep them around than it does to sell them at a huge discount. That means it's time to blast out existing inventory at OMG-GAMEBOY-MICRO prices. Let's take a look at what you can grab.

You have the name of the game, the system, the old price, and the price that the bundle is on sale for. If you don't have the game, or if you just need to pick up a few instruments to have as extras, this is a great time to do so."
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It sometimes seems as if a new music rhythm game is released every five minutes, but Harmonix honcho Josh Randall believes things may change in the future. Randall thinks that games like Rock Band may eventually abandon consoles altogether, instead taking the form of instruments with built-in music.
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G4TV writes:

Harmonix developer HMXHenry posted a request on the official Rock Band boards for music fans to help contribute to a "forthcoming Rock Band" project involving Pearl Jam.

"We need your help!" reads the request. "Ten Club, MTV Games and Harmonix's Rock Band, and Rhapsody are teaming up to let you, Pearl Jam's biggest fans, help us choose the best versions of Pearl Jam live songs that will be presented for the first-ever fan voted set list for a forthcoming Rock Band project."

Here's what songs you get to choose from, courtesy of the band.
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Buried in today's Elecrtonic Arts earnings call was this amazing revelation from COO John Pleasants: Revenue for music/rhythm games was down 36% during the first quarter of the year and 42% in March, per NPD. As a result, EA has cut the gross sales revenue it expects from its EA Partner division, which distributes "Rock Band" for Viacom.

That's a huge decline. And keep in mind that there weren't any major music game releases during the first quarter of last year, while 2009 saw "Guitar Hero: Metallica" (albeit at the very end of March). As we started to see in late 2008, sales of "Rock Band 2" and "Guitar Hero: World Tour" must be down massively from the original "Rock Band" and "Guitar Hero III."

And while EA CEO John Riccitiello said he feels "really bullish" about "Rock Band: Beatles Edition," the fact that the company is expecting $400 million less in sales indicates just how big an impact continued sales of "Rock Band" through last year mattered, and how far "Rock Band 2" is lagging.
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From The Site...Rhythm/Music games are cash cows that everyone wants to ride and now it PEPSI's turn to ride, Last month it was rumored that in thier upcoming promotion PEPSI will have daily giveaways of Rock Band downloadable tracks, allegedly up to a million tracks.
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Although music games may see moderate decreases in sales this year, the genre is "here to stay," according to Cowen Group analyst Doug Creutz -- and he's betting on Activision and Guitar Hero as the category's ultimate leader.

Band games, in attracting new audiences, have created a permanent market position, says Creutz. And as the industry is challenged to post year-over-year growth in the current climate, he expects Activision's music games will be up "modestly," or .7 percent year over year.

"We believe music genre sales for the company will be driven by an expansion of the release slate in 2009, which should broaden sales to core consumers," says Creutz.
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Harmonix and MTV Games announced today that the officially licensed Rock Band Kick Pedalwith Double Bass Adaptor from Performance Designed Products (PDP) is available now at retail stores. The Rock Band Kick Pedal with Double Bass Adaptor allows players to use two Rock Band kick pedals at the same time.
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Harmonix and MTV Games today announced that metal band Bullet For My Valentine and alternative rockers The Shins will make their debut next week in the Rock Band® Music Store of downloadable content. In addition, heavy metal band Black Tide delivers another explosive track to Rock Band fans.
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