Tap Tap Revenge has owned the “rhythm music” game genre on the iPhone. Earlier this year, research showed that as many as a third of all iPhone users had downloaded the game, which lets you tap on the iPhone’s screen in to the beat of a song.
But one of the big video game brands, Rock Band, is now crashing the iPhone/iPod Touch party. Electronic Arts’ mobile division, MTV Games and Harmonix announced today that a Rock Band game will debut on Apple’s mobile platform AppStore in October.
That could lead to a brawl in music games. Tapulous is releasing its own Tap Tap Revenge 3 game this fall. Both games are likely to draw similar audiences, and both are likely racing to tie up the rights to popular artists and songs. Meanwhile, Activision Blizzard still seems to be waiting in the wings with its Guitar Hero brand. The competition is going to test whether established brands can negate the early head start of upstarts such as Tapulous.
The Rock Band game will have multiplayer via Bluetooth connections between gadgets. It will also have vocals and 20 songs. You’ll be able to buy more songs through in-app purchases. Here’s the list of available songs:
Attack-30 Seconds To Mars
Girls Not Grey – AFI
Move Along – All American Rejects
Sabotage – Beastie Boys
All The Small Things – Blink-182
Hanging on the Telephone – Blondie
Learn To Fly – Foo Fighters
Everlong – Foo Fighters
Bad to The Bone – George Thorogood & the Destroyers
Hymn 43 – Jethro Tull
Bad Reputation – Joan Jett
Simple Man – Lynard Skynard
Ace of Spades ’08 – Motorhead
Debaser – Pixies
Ladybug – Presidents of The United States of America
Give It All – Rise Against
Lazy Eye – Silversun Pick Ups
Cherub Rock – Smashing Pumpkins
Take The Money and Run – Steve Miller Band
We Got The Beat – The Go Go’s