2007

Rock Band

FROM: MTV Games

BEHIND THE MUSIC: The first game to combine all aspects of the virtual music-making experience (singing, pounding skins, playing guitar or bass) was also the initial offering to deliver peripherals for all (including microphone, plastic drum set and faux axe) in one kit. Roughly 21 million digital song downloads; dozens of master, re-recordings or alternate tracks (all playable) by artists like Rush, Metallica and Weezer; and countless satisfied fans — who could now perform as cohesive four-man bands online — later, the world will never be the same.

WHY IT ROCKS: Invented the globe's fastest-growing vehicle for the sale of digital music, and provided MTV a marquee entrée into the gaming universe. Backed by the network's cachet, Harmonix founders Alex Rigopoulos and Eran Egozy were able to assemble the greatest video game soundtrack ever, and snag a well-deserved slot on Time magazine's 100 most influential people of 2008.

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