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MTV spending $500 million on games in next two years
MTV intends to spend over the next two years $500 million dollars in the video game industry. OK, seriously, maybe seeing the full line of digits will have more impact: $500,000,000. Eight zeros, a half billion dollars. This is big news and goes way beyond anything having to do with MTV's potential mega-hit Rock Band."We're putting well over $500 million behind building our games business across all of the brands in our portfolio ... I'd like to see more game applications on some of our current big brands across the music group," MTV chairman Judy McGrath said. It's still not absolutely clear if this money includes the $100 million already announced for MTV Network's Nickelodeon. This continues MTV's march across the industry having already acquired major properties like GameTrailers and Harmonix. No announcements yet where this money is going, but it's going to be very interesting to see MTV flex its financial muscle in the industry.
Stephen Colbert's Tek Jansen opens chrono-rift in XBLM
Solar plexus! Now that Viacom's gotten the lawyers involved, it's become increasingly difficult for us to track down our favorite Tek Jansen clips on YouTube. Sure, we can always go to Viacom's own iFilm property and watch the preroll ad (and they still can't be embedded in our posts).As Microsoft looks for more ways to fill those 120GB hard drives they want you to buy, they're enlisting the help of Stephen Colbert Presents: Stephen Colbert's Alpha Squad 7 -- Tek Jansen the New Adventures. Available this week, the first short will be free while future installments will cost an unspecified amount. Our favorite? Operation Dragontongue: Chocolate Blades of Thunder. But hurry! If you don't click this link and watch the video immediately, you risk opening a chrono-rift in the space-time continuum and may miss important life lessons (hint: DON'T GO IN CAVES!).[Via Arrogantics]
Apple confirms Paramount and iTunes deal
It's official, Viacom's Paramount Pictures will indeed offer its movies for download over Apple's iTunes service. Some 250 titles in fact, including Tomb Raider, Italian Job, Wrath of Khan, Chinatown, Zoolander, School of Rock, and Sum of all Fears. The titles are currently being moved into the iTunes store and once available, should cost the same (no pricing was given) as the Disney films already available: $9.99 apiece for most titles, $14.99 for new releases and $12.99 for pre-orders.
Paramount movies coming to iTunes?
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Viacom -- parent company to CBS and Paramount Studios -- is set to join Disney in offering movie downloads via Apple's iTunes store. This, according to "people familiar with the situation." For the moment, the deal will only cover Paramount's back catalog of titles such as "Forrest Gump," "Mission Impossible," and "The Truman Show." The deal could be announced as early as today. No mention of any LionsGate deal which we've been expecting since August. So come on in, join us for our live coverage of Macworld and find out for yourself.[Via ArsTechnica]Read (subscription required)
Time Warner to carry MHD
In a new deal between Time Warner Cable and Viacom, Time Warner and Bright House Networks cable companies will be adding MHD to their HD lineup. While we are always happy to have another HD channel, many would prefer some other channel like National Geographic HD or even ESPN2 HD. There is no word when we can expect to see the channel online and no doubt those local branches without enough bandwith will go without MHD despite the agreement.
Zidane, Bush and Cheney walk into a videogame...
AddictingGames.com (part of Viacom), just created a newsgames repository for web games based on current news events. Games include the Zidane game we blogged back in June, Cheney's Fury, Bush Backrub and Darfur is Dying. The company expects most of these games to come from users of the site (aka, free labor!), with game developer Persuasive Games filling out the offering where needed. Persuasive Games founder Ian Bogost is characteristically academic (and characteristically right) about the venture: "the news is constantly changing, and games give us a new way to understand current events." This idea ain't new (see The Guardian's The Role of Play from May 2004), but that doesn't mean it's not worth pursuing. Here's to hoping that they'll bring us a mix of goofy content like the Zidane headbutt game in addition to more serious, impactful games like September 12 (from which the post image is taken) or Madrid.
Fighting fire with Xfire: Sony's version of Xbox Live [update 1]
[Update 1: A Sony Online Entertainment has contacted 1UP and clarified that the Xfire technology was only being evaluated for the PS3 launch title, Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom. "This proposed deal is completely separate and independent from the PlayStation Network Platform, and is something that SOE was examining specifically for Dark Kingdom." It seems we're back to square one. Thanks, Sanchinos. Original post text retained below.]Sony's answer to Microsoft's online network has, up until now, been a vague structure loosely comprised of PS2 network adaptors, a variety of developer standards, some sticky tape and at least one used copy of Final Fantasy XI. With the arrival of the PS3 and its PlayStation Network Platform, Sony aims to round up all the loose components of online play and rudely shove them beneath something resembling an umbrella. 1UP has the scoop on just how the Japanese giant hopes to accomplish this -- enter Xfire, an established matchmaking and messaging client that Windows PC users are bound to be familiar with. By incorporating a modified version of Xfire into PNP, Sony should be adequately (and one should hope, rapidly) equipped with all the rocks it needs to create a mass avian extinction within the online realm.Extracted from the transcript of a Viacom earnings conference call, the information creates some expectation as to how exactly Sony's service will function and what adantages it may have over Xbox Live. Firstly, it seems fair to suggest that the PS3's network may interact with the PC in the same way Microsoft's Live Anywhere initiative does. Other features from Xfire should also make the migration to PNP, along with server browsing, friends tracking, voice chatting and matchmaking that inevitably connects you to a person keen on highlight pathetic skills and sexual orientations.Of course, it's still unclear as to how exactly PNP deals with private servers and those run by developers. Will it be a completely seamless process of joining and creating games, or will the only online unification be in the form of a PS3 menu that lets you search for servers across a myriad of games? More answers and details should be forthcoming soon.[Note: The above image is a mock-up. It is not a true representation of what PNP will be like. So there.]
Hello MHD: MTV on our HDTVs today
MTV's high definition channel MHD continued its stealth launch on Comcast at least in the Detroit area, showing up on this blogger's channel listing late last night. INHD2 is but a memory, Tour de Gorge and Twilight Zone reruns, you shall be missed. 8~ hours in it's a welcome addition, many widescreen videos obviously mastered for HD including the Gorillaz Feel Good Inc. video that played during MTV-HD's original debut in January. Is this the HDTV killer app that will truly give high-def a boost along with game consoles and next gen DVDs? That remains to be seen but we can't help thinking it might be nice if the cable company actually told people it was on. We'll be able to give some more in depth impressions once this Rihanna video goes off we've had some time to let it sink in.
MTV's high-def channel (MHD) coming to Comcast in August?
TVPredictions says yes. Although the network is already available to some Comcast, Time Warner and Charter subscribers, most cable customers don't have the channel yet. According to their source the channel will be added in Philadelphia at the beginning of August, and roll out in other cities shortly afterwards. With the Xbox 360 already available and the PS3 debuting this fall, their 18 to 34 year-old target demographic has an increasing number of reasons to pick up an HDTV and MTV is obviously looking to be at the forefront. MHD getting more exposure on a national level will almost certainly bring more viewers (and subsequently more HD content) than other cable networks making the switch like HGTV and Food Network.A big question is whether this will be in addition to ESPN2-HD or replacing it, with the sports network fading out in many areas post-World Cup the way Universal HD did after the Winter Olympics. While Real World HD would be cool, we need Cribs in high-def so we can look at other people's HDTVs on our HDTVs.
Live Anywhere bad news for gaming IM
Being able to seamlessly connect with your friends while playing games is becoming increasingly important, both to gamers and to games companies. Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony all emphasised the importance of online as well as offline play, but Microsoft's announcement of Live Anywhere must surely have struck a nerve with a few niche companies.Niche up till now, that is. Companies like Viacom and Verizon who are heavily investing in the gaming IM space -- bringing social networking and gaming closer together -- are now in direct competition with a company that can reach multiple platforms easily. By connecting Xbox Live, Windows Vista, MSN Messenger and mobile phones together, Microsoft will make it hard for others to encroach on their territory.
Xfire joins MTV family [UPDATE 1]
Combining instant messaging with games seems to be a magic formula for Xfire. The popularity of the program hasn't gone unnoticed, and today Viacom -- which operates the MTV brand -- announced the acquisition of Xfire, Inc for $102m. Not bad for a company with a free product and "no desire" to advertise. Xfire joins Viacom's other gaming assets Neopets and GameTrailers, both of which continue the "gaming community" theme, which means we can guess at MTV's plans for the future. They want gamers, whole communities of 'em, to extend their reach to those disaffected generations who shun the TV for games. Either that, or they've a nefarious plan that involves an evil robot gamer clone army -- you decide.[Update 1 - fixed typo, thanks SeNiLe]
Is MTV's The Real World going high definition?
MTV announced today that the next season of their granddaddy of reality TV will be shot in Denver, CO. Where is MTV's high definition station MHD based? Colorado. It makes complete sense to me for them to use one of their longest running and most popular series (especially since they don't show music videos anymore) to promote their new station.
MTV-HD is on the air
MTV's new high definition channel MHD went live yesterday on Cox Communications and Verizon, it is available in Florida and California only for the moment. Another interesting note is that besides the launch concert featuring the Goo Goo Dolls, MTV has been shooting in high definition with 5.1 surround sound for over a year, building up content for the new network. Any HDBeat readers notice a new HD channel in their lineup today?
