Aged REO's still got game

REO Speedwagon may be passé, and Curious Sense totally obscure. But the combination of the two, in a new video game, could prove explosive.

The release of the new online game featuring the classic rock band has sparked a rush of interest and a taste of the big time for Curious Sense, a Durham media company with five full-time employees.

For the tiny outfit, Wednesday was a swirl of congratulatory e-mails, media interviews and calls from managers of other acts from the classic rock era.

"I feel like I'm on cloud nine," said Adam Blumenthal, 38, chief executive of the company he founded last year. "This is more than a typical payoff."

The concept behind the new REO Speedwagon video game could reignite interest in bands old and new, and provide a much-needed financial boon for the struggling music industry. That's the bold claim in the New York Times story that coincided with the Wednesday release of the REO game, "Find Your Own Way Home."

As a downloadable online game for casual fans, it's not limited to hard-core gamers who play console-based music games like "Guitar Hero" or "Rock Band."

The game's target market: women age 30 and older. Among the objects that players must find in the game: a hairbrush, slippers and a purse. The ultimate missing object: Kevin Cronin, the band's lead singer.

The REO game is based on solving mysteries, finding hidden objects, saving the day for the band and winning real prizes. The main character, in addition to avatars of the rockers who thrilled teens in the 1970s and 1980s, is a Hollywood TV reporter named Ruby Easton who seeks to solve the disappearance of the Cronin, a 58-year-old tunesmith, in time for an album release party.

The top prize - to be awarded to 20 game players - is a "golden ticket" to an REO concert and a chance to meet the middle-age musicians backstage. Blumenthal, who has chilled with the band backstage, can vouch for the experience of meeting the real people he turned into avatars.

"I loved hanging out with them and meeting them," he said. "They were just so genuine."

On Wednesday, National Public Radio picked up the story. Blumenthal and Cronin did a slew of interviews with major media.

But the biggest potential payoff could be the calls from managers of other classic rockers dating to the 1970s. Blumenthal wouldn't drop names, but he said these major acts ruled the charts in their day and still have loyal followings. The managers who called want to explore creating similar games for their bands.

"Consumers don't buy albums anymore - they buy singles," Blumenthal said. "A video game would be a neat way to take an album, unpack it and put it back together again."

REO Speedwagon is thinking globally for its potential fan base of female admirers. The new game is available in German, French, Spanish and Japanese.

"There is a need for us to explore all kinds of different avenues to get our music out there," Cronin told The New York Times. "If you just think about how it used to be, you'll be left in the dust."

REO has come full circle since packing sold-out rock arenas and belting out power ballads like "Can't Fight This Feeling," "Keep On Loving You" and "Take It On The Run." Now in their adult contemporary phase, the REO band recently released a seasonal album of power carols, "Not So Silent Night - Christmas With REO Speedwagon."

The musical tastes of Blumenthal tend to the Grateful Dead, Frank Zappa and the Talking Heads. He has attended at least 100 Grateful Dead shows and he named his company after one of the band's songs.

There are thousands of downloadable mystery games available and no shortage of music-themed games, but "Find Your Own Way Home" (named after an REO album) combines the mystery format with a rock group concept. The game was written by Blumenthal's wife, Juditta Musette, and developed by Game Tantra/Dhurva in Bangalore, India.

Curious Sense has potentially tapped a deep vein. The management company in charge of REO also handles arena rock stalwarts such as Journey, the Eagles, Aerosmith and Guns N' Roses, among hundreds of other artists.

And online video games, even when coupled with bands that refuse to die, are fleeting experiences, creating a constant demand for new material.

"The life span of a game like this is only four to six months," Blumenthal said. "The dedicated gamers download a game, play it and move on to the next one."

Curious Sense has also provided online marketing services for Duke University, National Geographic, Hasbro and Mattel, Blumenthal said.

The REO game is downloadable, for $8 on average, from gaming sites such as www.bigfishgames.com and games.yahoo.com