Everyone’s favorite third-party peripheral company, Mad Catz, is getting in on the Rock Band craze. Early next year, the company will begin producing a bass guitar and a “portable percussion set” for the Wii version of the Rock Band franchise.
I’m not sure how well a bass guitar would go over (not saying it won’t) but the idea of some sort of foldable, collapsible, hide-able version of the drums would be much appreciated by my wife. Apparently the Rock Band drums with the duct-taped bass pedal “don’t look cool” in the middle of our living room when we have company over.
No word on pricing or an exact availability date, but the “early 2009” part likely means we’ll see these things at CES. Here’s the full press release:
Mad Catz Enters into Multi-Year License Agreement with Nintendo for Wii Rock Band™ Peripherals
SAN DIEGO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Mad Catz Interactive, Inc. (AMEX/TSX: MCZ), a leading third-party interactive entertainment accessory provider, announced today that it has entered into a multi-year licensing agreement with Nintendo of America Inc. whereby Mad Catz has secured the rights to produce and distribute peripherals for the critically acclaimed Rock Band™ video game for the Wii™ system.
The agreement provides Mad Catz these rights worldwide, outside of Asia. The products to be produced under the agreement are a bass guitar and a portable drum percussion set. Mad Catz expects these products to be available early in 2009.
“We are thrilled to enter into this agreement with Nintendo,” said Darren Richardson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Mad Catz. “Together we will provide Rock Band fans the opportunity to enhance their gameplay with Mad Catz’ premium instruments for Nintendo’s extremely popular Wii system.”
The Rock Band series of video games, published by MTV Games and developed by MTV Network’s Harmonix Music Systems, allows music fans and gamers to interact with music, challenging users to master the lead/bass guitar, drums and vocals as solo artists or cooperatively as part of their own band. Built on deals with the world’s biggest record labels and music publishers, the music featured in the Rock Band games span all genres of rock and includes many master recordings from the greatest songs and artists of all time. Rock Band for Wii is currently available in North America and in Europe.