The You Rock Guitar Pre-Sale Deal

Here’s how it works:
1. You place your order for a You Rock Guitar
2. You tell some friends and give us their email address.
3. We do the rest. We’ll email them referencing you.
4. If they also place a pre-order, you get a $10 discount on your order.

Here’s the totally cool part, you can refer a bunch of friends and save big on your purchase. All they have to do is ultimately buy a guitar and you had to refer them first.

What’s the hitch? No hitch. Your friends can do the same thing. This is that viral “friends-only” thing gone rock and roll gamer. Everyone wins.

The You Rock Guitar is the first guitar that connects the world of video games and playing real music by combining the best of both worlds. Plug it into an amplifier, a computer, headphones and play it like a musical instrument, or with GameFlex™ cartridges to any of the console video games. It’s ideal for the millions of Guitar Hero and Rock Band guys tired of being told, why don’t you learn a real guitar… OK, this is better than real.

With Guitar Hero – you became one.
With Rockband – you joined the band
With You Rock Guitar – YOU ROCK!

You can learn more at our website: www.YouRockGuitar.com, including links to several videos:

This video will show the major features and benefits of the You Rock Guitar.
http://www.youtube.com

This video is an interview with the Guinness Book of Records holder for Guitar Hero, Danny Johnson.
Danny Johnson Video

This last one is older, but it features George Pajon Jr. of the very popular band the Black Eyed Peas, playing a Rev 1 version of our guitar.
http://www.youtube.com

Our YouTube site
http://www.youtube.com/user/YouRockGuitar

Follow our tweets about gaming, the gaming market and guitars.
http://twitter.com/yourockguitar

Our pre-order form
http://www.yourockguitar.com/order-form/

Please become a fan on Facebook. Search for the “You Rock Guitar” fan page.

Have fun, Rock will happen.

The Inspired Team
info@inspired.com

Music Made Mobile for the Masses

First Timers:

• The You Rock Guitar is a great learning tool for anybody that wants to play because:

• No stringing required offers a smoother learning curve while maintaining the feel of frets & strings all the way up & down the neck.

• No tuning – Chords don’t sound ‘off’ because of the constant retuning requirements of strings.  The two features combined allow you to pick it up and play right away – no wasted time setting up or adjusting.  It’s truly plug & play.

• Ease of Use – Between the strings and the You-Rock Mode that auto-corrects common finger-positioning mistakes, early practice is a lot more rewarding as users sound good from the get-go.

• Versatility – It can emulate almost any instrument, providing the user with a wider choice of songs to play. The Chord-progression modes help the player growth and expand his/her musical horizons at their own pace.

Composers/Musicians:

The You Rock Guitar is a great compliment to any guitar player because:

It is small, lightweight, and portable – perfect for travel/on the road playing

Versatility of multiple sounds/instruments in one – don’t have to carry multiple instruments with me to write/compose different sounds on different instruments.

Plugs into headphones or amps so I can use it anywhere (plains, trains, automobiles)

Long battery life (~8 hours) – compose from LAX to Heathrow airports.

Fun; all the different effects, sounds, recourses of the instrument push the boundaries of creativity.

Video Gamers

The You Rock Guitar is the first instrument to truly bridge the worlds of gaming and real music, enabling you to use an actual instrument right from your game.

In 2009, those benefits are limited only by the games themselves.  While the instrument (combined with the Game Flex Module) works out of the box with existing games, there is no additional/incremental functionality to the experience other than hitting strings instead of buttons.

But as game developers/publishers takes advantage of a new peripheral that begins where today’s accessories end, there’s no limit to what kinds of innovation will be possible through the You Rock Guitar.  Here are some obvious examples:

Games will be able to offer modes that increase in degree of difficulty by more closely associating in game notes to real notes played in any song.

Speed, rhythm, number of notes, complexity of notes, chords, and songs, will enable a continuous transition from simple/easy beginners, to ‘playing along-side the real music’ as the actual performers would see fit.

Both developers’ and gamers’ creativity will drive game development and a natural evolution between 100% game (role play) and 100% performance (music play).

The game’s appeal will broaden, as more people of all ages & skills will relate to the experience.

Teachers/Educators

The You Rock Guitar makes teachers’ roles easier:

• The properties of the guitar inherently make it easier for students to immediately see results – the satisfaction comes quicker and hurdles are overcome more easily.

• Measure progress – when connected to a computer, the instrument can keep track of every note and chord that you play, and will provide you with ‘reports’ on what/how you did, what errors/mistakes were ‘corrected’, along with behavioral trends.

• Custom learning – The instructor can utilize the SDK to create customized learning plans that meet the specific needs of their students and that assist in measuring and analyzing their progress.

• Fun will drive more players into the market for real instruments; driving demand from more students and the desire for more lessons – translating into increased revenues.

SDK for Games & Education

We will be releasing our first release of the SDK soon.  If you are interested in the Beta program or feel as though you can make a contribution to the development process, please contact us.  Programmers with existing MIDI games or music based computer games might take great delight in our SDK program. We expect it to be a lot of fun and likely profitable for those early adopters.

The current platform integration with the You Rock Guitar includes: MIDI, APPLE, WINDOWS, Wii, X-Box, Sony Playstation, iPhone, and BlueTooth.

Application SDK Gamers
The You Rock Guitar Software Developer Kit Gamers (SDK) will allow a new generation of music game developers, or those with existing computer and gaming applications, to develop and market their games and programs for the You Rock Guitar platform.

Application SDK Education
The You Rock Guitar Software Developer Kit Education (SDK) will allow a new generation of guitar teachers and music education developers to convert previous work or teaching ideas into products that can be offered on the YouRockGuitar.com web site, much like Apple™ sells songs and movies.

YOU ROCK GUITAR… the perfect wave of learning, creating and rocking.

Microsoft Xbox to gain access to Sky channels

Microsoft Xbox to gain access to Sky channels

By Saskia Preston and Tim Bradshaw

Published: May 29 2009 02:07 | Last updated: May 29 2009 02:07

Owners of Microsoft¹s Xbox 360 are to be able to use the games console to
access a range of pay TV channels over the internet, following a deal struck
with BSkyB, in the latest sign of the digital revolution taking place in the
nation¹s living rooms.

Last year, the Nintendo Wii became the first games console to deliver UK
television content over the internet, through the BBC iPlayer. The iPlayer
is also available on Virgin Media¹s on-demand service and through Sony¹s
PlayStation3.

From the autumn, viewers will be able to view Sky¹s films, culture shows,
documentaries and children¹s programming ³on-demand² over the internet,
while its sport and news channels will be streamed live in what Microsoft
claims is a world first.

The deal is a sign of manufacturers¹ plans to make games consoles play a
much broader role in home entertainment.

Xbox owners will be able to watch Premier League football matches while
chatting online with friends or even sitting together on a virtual sofa in
front of the game.

Sky says hundreds of thousands of people already use its Sky Player service
to watch selected Sky content on a PC or Mac. It is expected that the Xbox
service will retain the present format of the Sky Player, which is free for
Sky subscribers but costs £15 to £38 ($24 to $61) a month for new customers.

A pricing structure specifically for the Xbox is yet to be confirmed but it
is likely any payment model will allow for greater user control than the
traditional tiered subscription offering, including pay-per-view.

Stephen Nuttall, director of Sky¹s commercial group, said that this
partnership would put ³more choice and control in the hands of customers².

Microsoft already offers a limited selection of films to download in the UK.
The Sky partnership goes further towards justifying Xbox¹s initial promise
of providing ³360 degree entertainment², as it tries to boost sales beyond
traditional gamers.

³This is a sign of the times,² said Martin Olausson of Strategy Analytics.
³We are going to see much more of these types of deals going forward. ²

Microsoft has sold 30m Xboxes worldwide, two-thirds of which are connected
to the internet.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009

Teachers & Educators

The You Rock Guitar makes the teacher’s role easier & better because of its USB and MIDI interface:
The inherent properties of the You Rock guitar make it easier for students to plug into computers via USB and stretch their creativity with music composition tools.

Measure progress; when connected to a computer, the instrument you will be able to keep track of every/all you notes/chords and practice, and provide you with ‘reports’ on what/how you did, what errors/mistakes where ‘corrected’ and behavioral trends. (We’re looking for developers now!)

Custom learning; The instructor can utilize future tools with the SDK to create customized learning plans to meet specific needs of students as they see fit and based on measuring and analyzing that progress
Fun will drive more players into the market for real instruments; driving demand from more students and the desire for more lessons – translating into increased revenues.

What does a You Rock Guitar sound like?

CD quality rock and acoustic guitars with music loops to jam with. The best electrics perfectly recorded clean and grungy for great rock sources. Pristine acoustic, nylon and 12-string guitars and that’s just the beginning.

The sound loops are developing nicely.  Check out the splash sound, a few of the loops and guitars, and the obligatory screaming fans.