Gaming Gets Serious with “Rock Band” Release, Microsoft Pack

In what promises to be a busy season for online gaming and the service providers that look to cash in on it, Viacom-owned Harmonix today released “Rock Band,” a multiplayer game for consumers with Xbox and PlayStation consoles.

The retail release of the game, which follows the vendor’s hugely successful “Guitar Hero” single-player franchise, combined with Microsoft’s long-promised and content-capable IPTV for Xbox 360 package could make the holidays frenzied for telcos.

Many have already taken general steps to support optimal gaming by deploying symmetric Internet access links, which eliminate delay by beefing up often-slower broadband uplinks to the Web.

How far Viacom takes “Rock Band” remains to be seen as company Chairman and CEO Philippe Dauman said in an interview with xchangemag.com that his company is considering hosted options for the game in addition to straight store-shelf sales.

Sales flyers from Sunday’s paper have the package, which includes the game and plastic instruments, listed at $169. Harmonix, which Viacom bought last year, enabled pre-ordering of the game in anticipation of demand.

The popularity of gaming, with “Guitar Hero” as a prime example, creates challenges in the household, including the need for a decent-sized monitor to fully enjoy the game and those that follow. Beyond bandwidth, however, the biggest test for telcos will come when consumers look to make these games a node on home networks.

Today, whether it’s in playrooms, dorm rooms or game rooms, the games are not connected to any in-home network.

And with the looming arrival of the Microsoft IPTV software for Xbox 360, many predict the system will take on the capabilities of a set-top box as it support communications services such as messaging and other community features, voice and more.(Link- http://www.xchangemag.com/tdhotnews/71h811324470727.html)

Microsoft announced the software project almost a year ago at the Consumer Electronics Show, claiming it would be available by the holidays for interested telcos. The vendor said there’s nothing to update on the quiet front since the intro.

The plan is to offer this package to telcos so they could use gaming as another service that could help them differentiate their video offerings from those of cable operators. AT&T, Microsoft’s highest-profile IPTV customer, has yet to commit.

Making gaming a new front in home communications makes big sense as there’s a huge installed base of gaming consoles, very loyal, technology-savvy customers spanning multiple age groups that, unlike that Chia pet they receive at the yearend holidays, don’t frequently put the consoles down.

Harmonix Inc. www.harmonix.com
Microsoft Corp. www.microsoft.com
Viacom Inc. www.viacom.com

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