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Rhythm Based Music Game Snaps Together Best-Selling Franchises to Create Fun Family-Friendly Experience for All Ages

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and TT Games are joining forces with the LEGO Group, Harmonix and MTV Games to merge two of the most popular videogame franchises with the creation of LEGO® Rock Band. The unique family-friendly music experience is currently in development by TT Games in partnership with Harmonix, and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. The game, which will allow families, tweens and teens to experience a wild journey to rock stardom where they can “Build a Band and Rock the Universe,” will be available for the Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii. LEGO Rock Band for Nintendo DS will be co-developed by TT Games and Harmonix in partnership with Backbone Entertainment, a Foundation 9 Entertainment studio. All versions are scheduled for release holiday 2009.

LEGO Rock Band combines the multiplayer music experience of Rock Band with the fun, customization and humor of the LEGO videogame franchise packed with brilliant chart-topping songs and classic favorites suitable for younger audiences, including:

Blur: “Song 2″
Carl Douglas: “Kung Fu Fighting”
Europe: “The Final Countdown”
Good Charlotte: “Boys and Girls”
Pink: “So What”

Players will become rockers as they embark on a journey to stardom that the whole family can enjoy as they work their way through local venues, stadiums and fantasy locations on Earth and beyond that mimic the imaginative settings that the LEGO world offers. Also continuing the LEGO “build-and-play” gaming experience, players will be able to create their own LEGO Rock Band style as they customize their minifigure avatars, band and entourage, including roadies, managers and crew. LEGO Rock Band supports Rock Band instruments, as well as other music game controllers.

“LEGO Rock Band combines two compelling properties and creates an experience that family members of all ages will enjoy playing together as a group,” said Tom Stone, Managing Director, TT Games. “Harmonix and MTV Games are the world experts in music gameplay, and we’re genuinely thrilled to bring the unique and humor-filled LEGO experience to their Rock Band universe.”

“We’re thrilled to offer another LEGO branded gaming experience that will deliver humorous and social play for families and friends,” said Henrik Taudorf Lorensen, Vice President, the LEGO Group. “LEGO Rock Band is built around the same values of imagination and family-friendly creative role play that is present in other LEGO videogames. It will deliver innovative new elements of game play that complement the fun of the Rock Band experience.”

“Rock Band is a social game experience that crosses every generation and every genre of rock,” said Bob Picunko, Senior Vice President of Electronic Games for MTV Games. “Harmonix and MTV Games are big fans of the LEGO game franchise and excited to work with TT Games to develop a new take on Rock Band that focuses on great music and LEGO humor that’s fun for the whole family.”

WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT IS PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE

LEGO Batman scoops Best Videogame at the UK’s Prestigious 2008 Children’s BAFTA Awards

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment today reveals that LEGO Batman: The Videogame won the prestigious Award for Best Videogame at the Children’s BAFTA Awards this week.

Produced by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment’s development studio, TT Games, Lego Batman: The Videogame beat off stiff competition from Nintendo’s Mario Kart Wii, Professor Layton and the Curious Village, and its very own sister title, Guinness World Records: The Video Game to seal the BAFTA win.

“We’re absolutely thrilled with this win,” said Jonathan Smith, Head of Production, TT Games. “It crowns a brilliant year for us.”

TT Games was bought by Warner Bros. in 2007 and has since enjoyed a hugely successful 2008 with the releases of, among other titles, LEGO Indiana Jones and LEGO Batman: The Videogame.

Developer TT Games was snapped up by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment in 2007 and has since had a hugely successful 2008 seeing the release of LEGO Indiana Jones and LEGO Batman: The Videogame.

TT Games beat stiff competition from Nintendo’s Mario Kart Wii and Professor Layton and the Curious Village to scoop the top prize at the Children’s BAFTA Awards. Only four titles were short-listed for the award two of which were titles developed by TT Games – LEGO Batman: The Videogame and Guinness World Records: The Videogame.

“We’re absolutely delighted; it’s a very special accolade for the whole team” said TT Games head of production Jonathan Smith.

“To get this acknowledgment, here in our home country of the UK, to be acknowledged by the British Academy for the work that everyone’s done on LEGO Batman, was really thrilling.”

Spencer Crossley, head of videogames UK at Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment said, “We extremely happy for everyone at TT Games. They have brought to life two great brands through fantastic game play and lots of humour which works perfectly for children.”

About LEGO Batman: The Videogame
LEGO Batman: The Videogame is the latest game from the award-winning team behind the LEGO Star Wars series of games. With trademark LEGO fun and charm, the game takes you into the world of the ultimate crime-fighting hero. LEGO Batman: The Videogame brings the one-and-only Caped Crusader to life in a completely original storyline. Players will take control of the Dynamic Duo, Batman and Robin, to fight Gotham City’s most notorious criminals including The Joker, The Penguin, Catwoman, Scarecrow, Killer Croc and many more. The criminals have broken out of Arkham Asylum and are set to wreak havoc on the city.

This one i’m excited about! I know the kids will love this game.

Lego Universe MMO: http://www.legouniverse.com

Before the official LEGO Universe logo was revealed on the game’s website, The LEGO Group’s design team faced several challenges in creating an emblem for the upcoming MMOG: How do you symbolize an online world so huge with one little logo and still incorporate The LEGO Group’s stunningly high quality standards?

First, the logo had to reflect the excellence of a LEGO product. Second, since the continuous creation of LEGO Universe is in the players’ hands, the design team wanted input from the game’s fans. That input came in the form of hundreds of submissions to the LEGOUniverse.com image gallery. Finally, the visionary LEGO Universe design team utilized its full arsenal of graphic expertise to symbolize the massive new virtual world. The designers overcame the challenges and created an innovative icon for the revolutionary game.

The LEGO Universe logo incorporates The LEGO Group’s longstanding company logo with the hand of a LEGO minifigure. Minifigs are the game’s central characters, and the yellow curve of their hands makes a stunning “U” for the word Universe. The designers built the logo in 3D to boast maximum potential for cinematic storytelling. Soon LEGO Universe animators will be taking the logo one step further by bringing it to life, just as the game will merge the physical LEGO bricks with a virtual play experience.