December 2008 Archives

By Glenn Chapman Agence France-Presse SAN FRANCISCO -- A "Tap Tap Dance" videogame built exclusively for Apple's hip iPhones was launched Thursday, challenging users to stay in rhythm with songs b y tapping the device's screen in time to the music. Offering an Internet-age stage for a new generation of musicians, the game is t he brainchild of Tapulous, a start-up based in Palo Alto, California. "We went from a game familiar to people that play 'Guitar Hero' or 'Rock Band' to something more similar to an interactive music video," said Tapulous chief e xecutive Bart Decrem. "We are really pushing forward and defining our own exper ience. We are really proud of that." Thursday's launch came on the heels of Apple revealing that the free "Tap Tap Revenge" earned top spot as the most popular iPhone game in 2008. "Geek rock" band Weezer recorded six traditional Christmas songs for a special holiday-season version of the iPhone videogame expected to hit Apple's online A pp Store at iTunes this week. "Dance" is an iteration of the game featuring hot dance-music genre artists suc h as Daft Punk, Moby, Justice, Chemical Brothers and Soul Magic Orchestra. Unlike "Revenge," the "Dance" and Weezer versions of the game are priced at 4.9 9 dollars (US) each at the App Store. Weezer and other musicians connected with Tapulous as "Revenge" gained momentum and iPhone sales continued to soar. Weezer band member Scott Shriner said often fans at their concerts wave iPhones showing on-screen virtual lighter flames, a playful fire-free application for the devices. "The drummer and I are big iPhone fans, and I'm a huge gaming fan at the same t ime and obviously a huge music fan," Shriner said while discussing teaming up w ith Tapulous. "Weezer's goal for a while now has been to get fans more involved in our music and live shows and this seemed a way to get people physically involved in our m usic." Besides, he added, "I love Christmas songs and it seemed like a good match." There have been "well over" three million downloads of "Revenge" during the pas t four months and the appeal is clear to artists seeking ways to sell their mus ic and connect with fans, according to Tapulous co-founder Andrew Lacy. "For the last 10 years the music industry has been struggling to re-invent itse lf and counter slumping sales," Lacy said. "Being on MySpace or Facebook and connecting with fans is more important than e ver. But, if you look at games artists are being more successful selling music there than they are in the traditional model." "Guitar Hero" published by Activision is a videogame sales superstar and "Rock Band" by Harmonix has earned similar acclaim. Shriner said Weezer is "absolutel y" exploring putting its music in more videogames. "People are engaging with the music products and are willing to pay a pretty bi g premium," Decrem said. "The friction gets removed. The iPhone is always in your pocket and always conn ected online, so people can access music and games at all times." Tapulous launched in January of this year with the goal of crafting application s exclusively for iPhones and iPod Touch devices, which are essentially iPhones without the mobile telephone feature. "We got really excited by the device," Lacy said. "We saw it as a truly disrupt ive platform." Tapulous had "Revenge" and two other applications ready when Apple opened its A pp Store in July. "It started as a simple music rhythm game but we developed a relationship with musicians and labels that saw it as a platform to interact with users." "Revenge" launched with about five music tracks that Tapulous hired artists to create but has grown to 55 songs including "some really big hits." Tapulous teamed with musician Trent Reznor to make a version of the game devote d to his Nine Inch Nails music. Tapulous splits revenues with musicians after paying a standard 30 percent of t he price of its games with the App Store. A major overhaul of the free game is planned for early next year. "We are also talking to the artists about refreshing and updating the game, so these are sort of living things that evolve," Decrem said. "We have been approa ched by artists and labels so we will be doing more of these in the coming year ."

By Agence France-Presse SAN FRANCISCO -- Apple replaced advice on Wednesday that people install anti-vi rus software on Macintosh computers with assurances that the machines are safe "out of the box." The move prompted online speculation as to whether Apple was merely polishing t he Macintosh image or that the increasingly popular computers are as impervious to hackers as the California company maintains. Apple routinely touts how rarely Macintosh computers are afflicted with malicio us software as compared to machines based on Microsoft Windows operating system s, which run more than 90 percent of the computers in the world. On Tuesday Apple removed a 2007 Knowledge Base posting telling people to instal l "multiple anti-virus utilities" in Macintosh computers to thwart ill-willed s oftware savants with arrays of defenses. "We removed the Knowledge Base article because it was old and inaccu rate," Apple spokeswoman Monica Sarkar said Wednesday. "The Mac is designed with built-in technologies that provide protections agains t malicious software and security threats right out of the box." Some software specialists believe that Macintosh computers have been spared att acks mostly because hackers see more return in targeting Windows-based machines that make up the bulk of the market. Macintosh sales have rocketed with the popularity of Apple's iPhones and iPods, but the rising profile of the computers has also made them more appealing to h ackers. Software security firms consistently urge people to protect computers with anti -virus software kept up-to-date no matter the operating systems used. "Since no system can be 100 percent immune for every threat, running anti-virus software may offer additional protection," Sarkar said.