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Sony Reports Its Fourth Straight Quarterly Loss, Though Sony Music Sold a Ton Of Michael Jackson CDs

Sony continued its run of quarterly losses and showed a net loss of 26.3 billion yen ($292 million) for its second quarter with a decline in sales at Sony Pictures, Consumer Products (TVs), Sony Ericcson and Sony Computer Entertainment, the company reported today.  These #s compare with their profit of 20.8 billion yen a year ago, making this current quarter Sony's fourth straight quarterly decline.

Sales for the quarter that ended September 30, 2009 also went southward, dropping 19.8 percent to 1.66 trillion yen ($18.26 billion) from 2.07 trillion yen in the year-ago quarter. 

Recent cost cuts, that included layoffs, and increased sales of the price reduced Playstation 3 game console provided some relief, but Sony was hurt by a  downturn in sales for its Playstation 2 despite its recent claims that PS2 was "showing no signs of slowing down." Weak demand for the Vaio line of PCs, also dragged down the quarter and had revenue in the Networked Product and Services division, which includes Sony Computer Entertainment, fell 24.2 percent to 352.6 billion yen from 465.2 billion yen in the year-ago quarter.

09 09 09, Beatles Rock Band, Today !!!

(click on image above  to buy Beatles Rock Band software and accessories. - ad )

The Beatles ROCK BAND Trailer #3

     MUSIC NEWS- Two weeks to go to BEATLES DAY --- Remastered catalog and ROCK BAND. In the meantime, check out Beatles Rock BandTrailer #3-

Order your Beatles Remastered, here.

Sir Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono Lennon and Olivia Harrison Come Together for World Premiere of "The Beatles:Rock Band"

     MUSIC NEWS - Original band members Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, along with Yoko Ono Lennon and Olivia Harrison, appeared together today to kick off the 2009 E3 Media & Business Summit in L.A. and fpr the world premiere of The Beatles : Rock Band.  They didn't play the game, but others demo'd it (see below) but the annoucemnet immpressed all on this first-of-its-kind music-based video game that will offer a revolutionary tour of The Beatles' music, career, and legacy. The game will be released worldwide on 9/09/09 (for  Xbox360, PLAYSTATION3 and Wii systems).  That's the same day as the release of the full, original, digitally re-mastered Beatles CD catalogue (order below). 

The game will be the first time fans will be able to experience The Beatles' musical career for themselves. From their early touring days in 1963 Liverpool to the memorable, final performance atop the Apple Corps building, you will be able to follow in the band's footsteps as they travel the globe at the height of Beatlemania. Players will also be able to to experience three-part vocal harmonies int the game play, allowing gamers to revel in the vocal harmonies of the Fab Four.  You'll also hear previously unreleased authentic voice recordings from John, Paul, George and Ringo chatting between takes during studio sessions recorded at Abbey Road more than four decades ago.

Of The Beatles' huge catalogue of music, 45 songs will be available on-disc. Giles Martin, co-producer of The Beatles innovative LOVE album project and Music Supervisor / Creative Producer for The Beatles : Rock Band, unveiled the first ten songs that will be on the game-disc: "I Saw Her Standing There," "I Want To Hold Your Hand," "I Feel Fine," "Taxman," "Day Tripper," Back In The USSR," "I Am The Walrus," "Octopus's Garden," "Here Comes The Sun," and "Get Back." Additional songs will be announced at a later date. Along with these 45 songs, the entire Abbey Road album will be available for download purchase (date tbd), as will additional music from The Beatles' catalogue.

Order Beatles Remastered CDs , here

The BEATLES "Rock Band" Game Gets a Release Date

     MUSIC NEWS  -  The makers of "Rock Band",  MTV Games and Harmonic have announced a September 9, 2009 release date for the previously reported Beatles edition of  the top selling game.  As you know, this is the first time the Beatle's music will be officially released digitally, ending the in-fighting between EMI and Beatles company Apple Corps.

The game releases simultaneously for the Xbox, PlayStation and Wii worldwide, and the release will coincide with the launch of a range of new Rock Band 'instruments' modelled on those used by Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr, and the game will play on traditional Rock Band system as well. No word yet on what songs will be included, though the producers have said the game will include songs spanning the entire Beatles career.  

See Beatles RockBand video game details and ordering info.  Pricing (SLP):
• The Beatles: Rock Band Software - Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION 3, Wii: $59.99 MSRP
• The Beatles: Rock Band Standalone Guitars - Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION 3, Wii: $99.99 MSRP
• The Beatles: Rock Band Limited Edition Premium Bundle: Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION 3, Wii: $249.99 MSRP

Happy WEEZER Christmas, They Sing the Classics !!!

       Music News - Weezer is in the holiday spirit and is celebrating by recording six Christmas song classics that will be exclusively featured on a new version of the "Tap Tap Revenge" game for the iPhone and iPod Touch.    "Christmas With Weezer," will be avail later this week and includes the exclusive tracks "We Wish You A Merry Christmas," "Silent Night," "O Holy Night," "First Noel," "Hark, The Herald Angels Sing" and "O Come, All Ye Faithful."  Two bonus tracks and a video message from the band will also be included for a $5 cost.  This is the first time Weezer has recorded songs for mobile units.  "Weezer is getting in the Christmas spirit," bassist Scott Shriner recently  told moconews.net. "People want to be able to engage with music [and] we want people to participate so this goes along with that."  "Tap Tap Revenge" is a hot game for the iPhone and was developed by Tapulous.  It's a "lighter" version of a "Guitar Hero" or "Dance Dance Revolution" type game.  Players earn points by tapping the screen in time to the music while targets scroll down throughout the song.  This past summer, a Nine Inch Nails version of the game was released. 
"I think in the last 10 years there's been such an explosion of technology," Weezer drummer Patrick Wilson told mocoNews.net, and has played the original "Tap Tap Revenge." "I think that device, the iPhone and others like it, is how you're going to interact with all kinds of things."   Sounds like phun !!

UPDATE 12/15/08 - Today WEEZER announced that demand was so great from non-iPhone users that they decided to make the songs available digitally at on line stores link iTunes and Amazon.com . This marks the first time Apple released App music on iTunes. The songs on the EP are: "We Wish You A Merry Christmas", "Silent Night", "O Holy Night", "The First Noel", "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" and "O Come, All Ye Faithful".  Check your on-line shoppes on December 16th to buy !!!

The KILLERS, New CD Release and on Guitar Hero World Tour Game

   MUSIC NEWS - After they made their entry in a Guitar Hero set list with "When You Were Young" on Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, alt rockers The Killers are playing in a downloadable encore in Guitar Hero World Tour, it was announced today. The game release will be on the same day the band's third album, Day & Age, on November 25th from Universal Music comes out and will feature two singles off Day & Age;  "Human" and "Losing Touch."  Also on the GameTrack Pack is the group's GRAMMY nominated hit "Mr. Brightside" from the band's debut album Hot Fuss.  The Killers Track Pack will be available on Xbox LIVE Marketplace for the Xbox 360 system for 440 Microsoft Points and on the PLAYSTATION Store for PS3 system for $5.49.  Also, "Human," "Losing Touch" and "Mr. Brightside" will be released as single downloadable songs for Xbox 360 for 160 Microsoft Points, PS3 3 system for $1.99 and Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection for Wii for 200 Wii Points.  See The Killers on Jimmy Kimmel on November 24 and live in-concert, itinerary below-

The BEATLES Tunes Enter the Digital Age via MTV Video Games !

     MUSIC NEWS -  MTV and The Beatles' Apple Corps Ltd have today announced "an exclusive agreement to develop a global music project" (aka video game).  Although no details such as song list or firm release date have been issued yet, though Giles Martin will oversee the music production and a simultaneous world-wide release for holidays 2009 is assured, this means that Harmonix (Harmonix is a division of MTV) video game has secured the top-selling catalog band of all time for a version of the hit game.  Songs from the entire Beatles catalog will be included, with a game name still tbd. It was announced that the "Rock Band" name will not be used!  The Beatles have, so far, remained out of digital music services, including iTunes Music Store, Amazon MP3 and others.  No announcement of other digital deals was made.  Harmonix/Rock Band and Activision's Guitar Hero are engaged in heated competition over exclusive rights to use music by major acts, having entered into multimillion-dollar licensing agreements with a few of the biggest names in the music biz.  The Beatles are, of course, the biggest prize to date in the game business with their over 600 million records sold worldwide !   Guessing when the Beatles songs will enter into the download business has been afrequent source of industry discussion. That a videogame publisher got The Beatles songs before iTunes and its rivals really shows how important music-oriented game titles are to artists. With recorded-music sales continuing its long, steep decline, videogames can be more financially rewarding for well-known, sought-after bands than traditional sales.  This game has the full co-operation of the surviving Beatles, Sir Paul and Ringo, and the OK of Yoko and Olivia Harrison.   “The project is a fun idea which broadens the appeal of The Beatles and their music. I like people having the opportunity to get to know the music from the inside out,” Sir Paul McCartney said.

UPDATE- see Beatles RockBand video game details and ordering information.