So, here’s a few things that I’ve come across:

PAX East is coming up, there’s a “pin” thing where people collect pins…Harmonix’s pin design is a surprise:

Then this was posted on the HMX forums by one of the forum regulars:

"Wire: Bloomberg News (BN) Date: Feb 18 2015 17:30:16

New Rock Band Game Said to Be Developed for Latest Consoles



********************************************************************************

BFW 02/18 17:35 New Rock Band Game Said to Be Developed for Latest Consoles

********************************************************************************





By Danielle Burger

(Bloomberg) -- Rock Band, the video-game series where

players jam along to recorded music, is developing a new title,

the first since 2012, according to a person familiar with the

plan.

Harmonix Music Systems Inc. is creating the new game for

the latest generation of consoles, such as Sony Corp.’s

PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox One, said the person,

who asked not to be named because the matter is private.

Rock Band, along with similar titles such as Guitar Hero,

grew in popularity in last decade, leading Viacom Inc.’s MTV

unit to buy Harmonix for $175 million in 2006. Trends in casual

gaming have since shifted toward digital and mobile play and

Harmonix was sold to investment firm Columbus Nova LLC in 2010.

The band genre, once a significant part of software and

hardware sales, has been silent for the past few years.

Activision Blizzard Inc. last released a Guitar Hero game in

2010 and disbanded the unit a year later. The genre was a three-

year fad largely driven by casual gamers, said Doug Creutz, an

analyst at Cowen & Co.

“After a while, people got tired of it,†Creutz said in a

phone interview. “I don’t think they stopped gaming -- a lot

went to Facebook and mobile.â€



Losing Money



Rock Band became the top-selling title in 2008, Viacom

President and Chief Executive Officer Philippe Dauman said in a

earnings call at the time. But within a few years, the unit

began to lose money, prompting New York-based Viacom to seek a

buyer.

Before 2005, instrumental music video-games represented 2

percent of all U.S. software sales, according to Creutz. The

genre reached its peak in 2008 at 18 percent. After a steady

decline, the genre is now less than 1 percent, he said.

At retailers, floor space for the plastic instruments is

shrinking as the industry trends toward digital. Publishers of

instrumental games have to fight for space with toy games like

Activision’s Skylanders and Nintendo Co.’s Amiibo. Still, Creutz

says casual gamers like the idea of a rhythm game timed to a

song.

“I really don’t think we’ll see any big revival of the

plastic instrument trend,†said Creutz.

The last title in the series, Rock Band Blitz, was released

in August 2012. Speculation regarding another Rock Band title

began after Harmonix released two add-on songs for Rock Band 3

on Tuesday. The game maker also sent out a poll in January,

surveying consumer interest in an updated Rock Band for

PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.



For Related News and Information:

Sony Sells Online Game Unit to Investment Firm

Viacom Ordered to Give Up Claims to Harmonix Deal Funds

Top Media Stories: TOP MED



To contact the reporter on this story:

Danielle Burger in New York at +1-212-617-9370 or

dburger7@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:

Anthony Palazzo at +1-323-782-4228 or

apalazzo@bloomberg.net

James Callan, Stephen West





[TAGINFO]



NI US

NI TEC

NI TEL

NI GAMES

NI EXCLUSIVE



-0- Feb/18/2015 22:30 GMT



====================

Copyright (c) 2015, Bloomberg, L. P.



################################ END OF STORY 1 ##############################

Article:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ … t-consoles

Then, perhaps more interestingly, all these new job postings are currently up on

http://www.harmonixmusic.com/jobs/

Job Listings

Art

UI Artist

UI Technical Artist

Engineering

Software Engineer - Animation

Software Engineer - Gameplay

Software Engineer - Graphics

Publishing

Director of Marketing

Intern

Web Developer

Let’s take a look at some of the job details:

Software Engineer – Gameplay:

Responsibilities:

– Invent, prototype, iterate on, and deliver novel gameplay mechanics.

Preferred Additional Qualifications:

– Regularly exercised strong applied math skills (discrete math, simulation, or signal processing).

Special attention will be given to candidates with experience in audio programming, including:

– General Game Audio Integration: triggering/event handling, parameter/state updates, occlusion calculation, ambient simulation, etc.

– Midi: parsing/processing standard midi file formats.

– Synthesis: wavetable synthesis, sample rate conversion, pitch shifting, envelope generation, oscillators, DSP, etc.

– Audio Streaming: multithreaded, compressed audio pipeline (disk -> memory -> decompression system -> software mixer -> platform audio system)

UI Artist

Desired Qualifications:

– Understanding of when to sacrifice quantity or quality to adhere to schedules and milestone deliveries

– Ability and willingness to create games that do not follow traditional game-art styles

– A love of music and an openness to new music

All of the above seems to hint at something interesting. This next position makes me wonder what exactly though, since there’s no way they’re going to let go of their existing rock band engine and create a new one.

Software Engineer – Graphics

Preferred Additional Experience:

– Built and implemented own engine

Might be nothing. Might be something. Discuss?