Rolling Stone to Bring Its Notoriously Contemporary and Up-to-the-Minute Touch to Video Games
Rolling Stone, that bastion of baffling optimism about our dying profession, the magazine that actually dared to not only conceive of but actually make a reality TV show about rock writer interns, is now apparently lending its name to a video game the mag may or may not have actually had a hand in developing. According to Media Industry Newsletter:
- Licensing media titles into console video games is common enough, but this is not a venue where you expect to find many magazine brands. Rolling Stone is leveraging its cachet in the music world to lend its name to a music simulation for the Nintendo Wii. "Rolling Stone Drum King" lets gamers imagine themselves as rock drummers playing into thin air. Partnering with 505 Games, the Wenner-owned title will appear in video game stores this spring.
Says Rolling Stone's publisher: "With more people paying console video games than ever before, this was a natural next step for the Rolling Stone brand." Sure. Developing a video game is total natural step for a print publication. At least video games are a growth industry. Right?
- In fact, Rolling Stone may be coming into the game a bit after the curve. Rock Band 2, one of the most hotly anticipated music games of last year, sold solidly but behind expectations. There has been some worry in the games industry that the genre has peaked. In recent years, band simulators have become powerful forces in the games industry as well as the music business. Labels now vie for inclusion in the games, and special editions around classic bands like Aerosmith have helped reignite catalog sales.
So, yeah--exactly the kind of forward thinking that has made Rolling Stone such a media juggernaut in the 21st century.
Rolling Stone Gets in the Game [Media Industry Newsletter]
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