Most of you may not be familiar with Cetan Clawson, but to paraphrase Bryn Bennett of Bang Camaro, he is described as “basically the next Hendrix.  Simply unbelievable.”  A true expert of the guitar, Cetan’s extensive and intensive musical background has garnered serious attention from some of the most respected blues artists alive.  In fact, he’s recently collaborated with veterans Chris Layton (drummer – Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble) and Scott Nelson (bassist – Kenny Wayne Shepherd).  Oh, and by the way… he’s only 22 years old.

I was able to ask Cetan a handful of questions about himself and his music, Rock Band, and what the future holds for him…

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A long time ago, Konami brought over some games from Japan to the U.S. that involved video games with interactive dancing and singing using attached peripherals to facilitate the experience.  Dance Dance Revolution was a big for a short time, as well as their Karaoke Revolution games.  When they introduced these games, they filed patents protecting their intellectual property, which is common for entrepreneurs blazing new ground with new products and new ideas.  While Konami never established a specific patent over guitar shaped peripherals, they did file three patents relating to music/rhythm based peripherals.  The games mentioned above ran their course, and slowly started to fade from limelight.

Along came Harmonix with Guitar Hero, and the next “hot” video game segment was born.  Konami thought that since they had success with the Dance Dance Revolution and Karaoke Revolution games, they should leverage their experience (and naming convention) into a similar game and call it “Rock Revolution.”  As well all know, it failed miserably.  And as a result, Konami’s  inevitable sour grapes reaction was “If you can’t beat ‘em, sue ‘em,” and so in July of 2008, they filed a lawsuit against Viacom for infringing upon three of their patents.

Harmonix didn’t take this lying down, and decided to fight fire with fire by suing Konami in 2009 for infringement against two of their own patents, specifically copyrighting “realistic interaction by a player with a music-based video game using a game controller simulating a guitar,” and another regarding hammer-on and pull-off techniques.

Now, there are many more specifics that I won’t get into; part because they get very technical in terms of copyright law, but mostly because I just don’t understand them.  But last week, it appears that a motion was filed by both parties to stay the proceedings (meaning to halt the trial), which means a settlement is probably in the works for Harmonix.  Konami’s initial case is still moving forward as planned, but it wouldn’t surprise if all lawsuits were eventually halted.

So what does this mean for us?  Well… nothing for now.  But if anything changes, you’ll know where to find additional details!

[via Patent Arcade]

There’s been no official word out of Harmonix about the official release day for Green Day: Rock Band, but video game retailer Gamestop may have spilled the beans on when we can expect this on our next gen consoles.  Right now, Gamestop is listing Green Day: Rock Band releasing on Tuesday, June 1st.  I know Gamestop has inadvertently done this before, but sometimes they’re aren’t always right.  This would make sense, however.  It would be the perfect time for the game to come out, with all kids being home from school for the summer (which is arguably their target demo for this game).  Gamestop is also listing the price at $59.99 for the Xbox 360 and PS3, and $49.99 for the Wii.

Does any of this info (particularly the price) change your purchasing decisions?

[via Gamestop - Thanks to @BrittenKinley for the tip!]

Well, this would be pretty amazing if true, but I’m going to go ahead and say right now that this is definitely a rumor for now, so let’s not get our hopes too far up (too late, I know).  I’ve always thought Pink Floyd might not be a band that would be charted very easily or very well for Rock Band.  Anyway, I’m including the quote and link to the original rumor posting below.

Time to “Run Like Hell” people. You heard it here first. The Wall, Pink Floyds double album is in the works at Harmonix. Marketing head Carl Weathers explains “With the success of the Beatles RockBand, Pink Floyd’s The Wall was an obvious choice”. Working closely with Roger Waters the wizards at Harmonix are prepping The Wall to be a huge event.

Hmm… So is this DLC or Pink Floyd: Rock Band?  No other details are available at this time.  Feel free to speculate in the comments as to the validity of the rumor…

[via 1up.com]

The fine folks at Fender have got an auction that I highly recommend some of you should get in on.  Fender is auctioning off two different Mad Catz Fender Stratocaster Replica Rock Band Guitars (Xbox 360) for charity… and BOTH are signed by Roger Daltrey of The Who!  Bidding starts at the retail price for each of these bad boys at $300, so this is one for the die hard Rock Band and The Who fans.

There are two separate auctions, so go here for the first one, and here for the second one.  Bidding ends on Febuary 10th.  Both items appear to be identical models with the sunburst finish signed by Mr. Daltrey.  The auctions support Teenage Cancer Trust, a leading UK charity which funds and develops specialist teenage cancer units within hospitals which enable young people to be treated together, by an expert team, in the best possible environment for their age group. Teenage Cancer Trust focuses on quality of life and aims to improve the chances of survival for young people with cancer.

In addition, Mad Catz has pledged to donate 15% of all proceeds from the sale of its Rock Band Wireless Wooden Fender Stratocaster Guitar Controllers for Xbox 360® through its online UK and US retail destinations: store.gameshark.net (UK) & store.gameshark.com (US) between now and Feb. 10.

Take it from me.  I just bought one of these (unsigned, obviously), and it is a DREAM to play on.  It’s basically a real Fender guitar made of wood and metal finishings (actually made at the Fender factory), except it’s a Rock Band controller.  I liked it so much, I bought two… except I don’t know what to do with the spare one… (tease, tease)

[via Fender]

It’s not the same as being recognized in Time magazine’s top 100 most influential people of 2008, but this is a pretty big accomplishment nonetheless. USA Network, the home of “Monk,” “Psych,” and “Burn Notice” have recognized Alex Rigopulos and Eran Egozy as a 2010 Character Approved honoree.  They are featured among other big names in pop culture, including Kathryn Bigelow (director of “The Hurt Locker”) and ironically enough, Green Day!

From the article…

Alex Rigopulos and Eran Egozy are co-founders of Harmonix Music Systems, the game development company responsible for the wildly popular Guitar Hero and Rock Band video games. Rigopulos and Egozy first met as graduate students in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s renowned Media Lab. Brought together by a shared love of computers and music, the two accomplished musicians (Rigopulos rocks out on the drums, while Egozy is a professional classical clarinetist) went on to found Harmonix in 1995, with the mission of bringing the joy of music-making to the masses-even those with no musical training. After designing several well-reviewed music-based games, the duo broke through to the big time with the 2005 release of Guitar Hero, followed in 2007 by the equally popular Rock Band. Rigopulos and Egozy’s potent combination of musical training and advanced technical skill-combined with a healthy dose of innovation-has fueled explosive growth in the category of music games and earned the two a place on Time Magazine’s 2008 list of the 100 most influential people in the world. (Not to mention brought joy to air guitarists, shower singers and living room rock stars the world over.)

Congratulations!

[via USA Network]