Rock Band "not just a game," says MTV

With the recent release of Rock Band, MTV Games executives are touting the title as the integration of music and gaming on a whole new level.

"Our belief is that 'Rock Band' is not just a game," Jeff Yapp, executive vice president of program enterprises at MTV Networks Music Group, told Reuters.

"It's a new platform for which to engage with music, and that's what we're most excited about."

Despite competition from Activision's Guitar Hero franchise, Rock Band is expected to sell at least 80,000 units by year's end according to Banc of America Securities analyst Jonathan Jacoby.

Further, many analysts think that MTV and Harmonix are ideally situated as a conduit for the music industry to move into gaming.

"For most of our history, it's been hard to get the music industry to pay attention to games, but at this point in time we've really broken down a lot of those barriers," said Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopulos.

"With 'Rock Band,' we have almost 90 per cent original masters in the game and a lot of artist participation."

The high retail price of the game and its music peripherals, USD 169 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 360 versions, doesn't bother Rigopulos.

"We don't see this as just a game title -- it's a platform in the same (way) that you spend money to buy a stereo system or a game console," he said.

"With downloads and new content that we'll be making available on a weekly basis, you can continue to expand and tailor your play experience."

MTV's Yapp hinted at a strong Hollywood connection for the company's gaming division in the future.

"[O]ur next big announcement, which is coming up fairly quickly, is a move to a whole other realm," he said.