Tapulous

Who? ROGUE WAVE

What Song? Good Morning (The Future) from their brand-new album “Permalight.”

How’s your winter going? Are you frozen and buried under 10 feet of snow or waterlogged from an El Nino deluge? Certainly, the foul elements are good for your Tapping regimen. Long stretches of uninterrupted hibernation, just you and your avatar shut indoors, racking up countless hours and massive coins. But a lack of sunshine will turn your skin to paper, and there is a danger the touchscreen will no longer register your taps.

Fret not! The thaw is upon us, and soon we’ll be basking in the glorious sunshine of spring, leading directly to summer 2010: The Summer of Tapping. To help usher in this eagerly anticipated transition, we’ve selected the deliriously upbeat GOOD MORNING (THE FUTURE), the first single from the brand-spanking new album from ROGUE WAVE!

Northern California indie-rockers Rogue Wave are emerging from their own cold season, having in the past two years weathered the liver transplant of drummer Pat Spurgeon and near paralysis of singer Zach Rogue, debilitating medical challenges that would have broken up lesser bands. Instead of surrendering, they rose from their infirmaries, and have returned with an album that is their most upbeat, joyous, and danceable yet, a bold rebellion against the dark times through which they’ve come. GOOD MORNING (THE FUTURE) masterfully captures the current global mood: a realistic view of the world as it is, but also a harmoniously optimistic anthem to what it can become. And just in time, because we all need some sun!

Play ROGUE WAVE for free right now! Click HERE for TTR3 and HERE for TTR2. You must be on your iDevice and have one of our tappity-apps installed. Once “Good Morning (The Future)” has infiltrated your being, tap over to roguewavemusic.com, and find out where you can see the band out on tour this spring.

The Rogue Wave Contest

After seeing the online video of a rogue wave taking out the crowd at this year’s Mavericks Surf Contest, we thought we had this week’s contest: send in a video of yourself playing TTR while surfing at Mavericks, site of the mainlands biggest waves. One small problem: great whites are HUGE iPhone fanatics, and will evidently bite off your hands to get one. I’m actually writing this with my toes.

So instead, here’s this week’s legally-approved, dry-land challenge, THE ROGUE WAVE CONTEST!

The LOOT: One grand prize winner gets a brand new iPod touch preloaded with Rogue Wave tracks and music videos! Five runner-up winners get Permalight on CD AUTOGRAPHED by the band!

How to win: It’s a battle contest! Send & play battles on Rogue Wave’s “Good Morning (The Future)” in Tap Tap Revenge 3. You can send battles to your friends in Tap Tap Revenge, post them to the public battles board, or even send them to any email address. Each battle you send gets you one contest point. Each battle you play from someone else also gets you one contest point. Rack up as many points as you can — the player with the most contest points at the end of the contest is the grand prize winner. The next five players with the most points are the runner-up winners.

The contest begins on Friday, March 5th at 12:01AM and runs until Sunday, March 7th at 11:59PM Pacific Time. All battles must be played on Rogue Wave’s “Good Morning (The Future)” in Tap Tap Revenge 3, while online, for entry into the contest.

Riddim Ribbon On Sale For $1.99! + Exclusive FREE Imma Be + Rock That Body BEP Mashup

The game has now officially changed. This past week, Apple’s iTunes Store sold its 10 Billionth track, a staggering figure after only 6 1/2 years of existence. In reaching this digital milestone, music has completely cast off the vinyl and plastic that shackled it for so long, and is free to travel at light speed to previously uncharted areas, including, of course, rhythm-based iPhone / iPod gaming applications. Hmmm…do any jump to mind?

AMAZING FACT: iTunes just released their top-selling tracks of all time, and 6 of the top 10 are playable in our games. I Gotta Feeling (#1) and Boom Boom Pow (#3) by the Black Eyed Peas in RIDDIM RIBBON. Poker Face (#2) and Just Dance (#6) by Lady Gaga, Viva La Vida (#5) by Coldplay, and Tik Tok (#10) by Ke$ha in TAP TAP REVENGE.

How awesome is that?! To celebrate this beautiful partnership between chart-topping music and #1-downloaded gaming, we’re putting our latest, greatest app, RIDDIM RIBBON, ON SALE FOR $1.99 UNTIL THE END OF SUNDAY!!!

If you don’t have the game yet, this is the weekend to get it. If you have already got it, get a message out to your friends to pick it up, and get the Riddim rivalry going in your crew. But act fast; when this sale is over, it’s over!

BUT THAT’S NOT ALL! As an added thank you to everyone, we’re also giving away for FREE the current #1 song on iTunes, Imma Be by The Black Eyed Peas, mashed up with Rock That Body (our very first mashup level in Riddim Ribbon). This is a limited time offer, so don’t miss out!

Playing the IMMA BE mashup level before Monday, March 1st also enters you in a chance to win two (2) tickets to see a live broadcast performance of the Black Eyed Peas during their LA concert on March 30, 2010 at one of the 500 select theaters across the United States. (Check your local theaters for exact showtimes/locations.)

I gotta feeling this is going to be a great RIDDIM RIBBON WEEKEND! So get in there, get the game, get the FREE new music, and GET ROLLING!

We are delighted to announce that Tap Tap Revenge 3.2 is now out, the final part in our big push our quality and reliability. The new version includes a number of bug fix and performance improvements. Performance has also gotten a boost, and we now let you turn off avatars in Online Play for a further performance boost. We’ve also removed 16x from online play, and more finely throttle the amount of weapons that are deployed online. We display the prices of items in the store in your local currency. We’ve made it easier to flag offensive users, and improved the filtering of offensive words. The list of tweaks goes on and on… and it all adds up to the fastest, most reliable and polished Tap Tap Revenge experience yet!

Happy tapping.

The Band: LADYTRON

The Jam: GHOSTS from the album “Velocifero”

There is a fast-spreading, ultra-contagious virus infecting the vast labyrinth of hallways at Tapulous World Headquarters. Once you begin working here, you are completely infected, with no known antidote or cure. The resulting disease? GENRE BLINDNESS!

See, we at Tap Tap HQ don’t hear music in terms of musical style. People tell us, “I only want to hear black metal! Or alt country! Or dubstep, nintendocore, or throat singing!” To which we say, “Hey baby, it’s all good! We love music, period. If it’s got a nice beat, and you can tap to it, we’ll get it in the game!” Just free your mind, and your fingers will follow.

A great example of that philosophy is this week’s track “GHOSTS” from UK electronic-rock trendsetters LADYTRON. Since their influential 2001 debut album “604,” this pristine foursome has used their museum-quality collection of vintage synthesizers to create sweeping pop narratives, and earned themselves a worldwide cult following. This week’s free feature track “Ghosts” immediately launches you into a hypnotic zone of bouncing tribal beats and slyly layered sonics. Lush with secretive vocals, tense harmonies, and skyrocketing vintage synth sounds, the track takes you on an ecstatically relentless ride you’ll never want to get off.

Get this week’s free track “Ghosts” by Ladytron NOW! Click HERE for TTR3 and HERE for TTR2. You must have our killer app installed, and be on your iPhone / iPod touch. Once you’re feeling sufficiently Ladytronic, tap on over to Ladytron.com, and get your groove on.

Be sure to give Anoesj a big shout out for assisting Ernest with his programming expertise in the Ladytron theme!

The Ladytrontest

“Why aren’t I winning the contests?” That is the question we get the most, besides “When is the Tap Tap Revenge breakfast cereal coming out, because I’m starving.”

First, the cereal is in Beta; as for the other question, the answer is, “Too much competition.” There are literally millions of people playing TTR now. The trick is to start disrupting other peoples’ games. Anytime you see anyone, anywhere, tapping a touch screen, give a tap on it yourself. If they’re playing TTR, it will surely mess up their perfect game. If they’re not playing, well…better safe than sorry.

Follow that tip, and the prize will be in the bag. Literally! This week’s LADYTRONTEST prizes are red Ladytron “Velocifero” cloth tote bags, stuffed with goodies like a “Ghosts” vinyl 7″ and Ladytron button packs. The Grand Prize winner will get all that plus the entire Ladytron catalog!

Here’s how to win:

It doesn’t get any easier than this. Download and play Ladytron’s “Ghosts” in Tap Tap Revenge 3. Each score you submit to the global scoreboard is added to your contest total. The player with the most total points at the end of the contest wins the grand prize. The next five players with the highest total are the runner up winners. You can play it as much as you want, on any difficulty, just remember – scores are only submitted on completed games!

The contest begins on Friday, February 19th at 12:01 AM and runs until Monday, February 22nd at 11:59 PM, Pacific Time. You must submit your scores in Tap Tap Revenge 3, while online, during the contest period for entry.

The Man: TIËSTO

The Jam: “KNOCK YOU OUT (FEAT. EMILY HAINES)“

OK people, this is not a drill. This is go time. We are now less than a week away from the launch of our brand-spanking new game, RIDDIM RIBBON, on February 8th!

Are you ready? Have you been eating your carrots, to improve your eyesight? Cleaning out your ears, to hear those beats? We hope so. To get you extra pumped up, we’ve completely redesigned this week’s featured Tiësto track “Knock You Out” with a SUPER-FRESH RIDDIM RIBBON THEME! That’s right, two powerhouse games, come together for one glorious song! It’s like King Kong and Godzilla having a dance off!

And no other DJ could handle the soundtrack to this massively magnificent mash-up but TIËSTO! If you’ve ever emerged from one of his sets, sweaty and squinting into the sunrise, then you know that he is a true innovator and master of mixology. Named “World’s #1 DJ” for 3 consecutive years by DJ Magazine, Tiësto is the unofficial muse of the Tapulous crew. His epic runs of house and trance music seem engineered specifically for tapping, and now for RIDING!

After your mind has been blown by the triple play of TTR, Riddim Ribbon, and Tiësto, check out the Tiësto 6-pack premium bundle in the Tap Track store, featuring the original theme for “Knock You Out,” “Ten Seconds To Sunrise,” and more!

The Tiësto Contest

Just north of Tapulous HQ, up in San Francisco, there is a billboard towering over SOMA. It features a giant picture of TIËSTO, watching over the cars as they come careening off the Bay Bridge, and advertises his concert at the Cow Palace this past November 2009. Seeing as it is now February 2010, and he long since rocked the house, we figured no one would miss this sign, and it would make an awesome grand prize this week. So we sent Ed up on a little stealth mission, to score that sweet pic.

24 hours in jail and $7500 in bail later, we decided to change the prizes. But they’re just as awesome, and can be yours in THE TIËSTO CONTEST!

The loot: One grand prize winner gets a pair of DJ-style headphones and a free copy of Riddim Ribbon! Five runner-up winners get a Tiësto album.

How to win: Challenge your friends on Tiësto’s Knock You Out (feat. Emily Haines). Each challenge you send with a score OVER 300,000 points counts as one contest entry. The player with the most entries at the end of the contest is the grand prize winner, the next five players are the runner-up winners.

The contest runs from Friday, February 5th at 12:01 AM PST until Monday, February 8th at 11:59 PM PST. You must send the challenge while online, during the contest period for entry into the contest. Sending the same challenge to multiple players only counts as a single entry!

Hey Tappers –

It’s been a crazy month here at the Tapulous Shop, focusing almost entirely on quality and customer service! Here’s a quick rundown of the most recent happenings:

1. Online Games: Some of you sent us some messages that this was getting a bit laggy… well we hear ya. We doused the servers with WD-40 last night, you should see things moving a bit more smoothly.
2. Online weapons: Don’t like all the weapons in the online rooms? Cruise over to online play for some smaller, more intimate games — and more “No Weapons” rooms.
3. Facebook: It’s back in Tap Tap Revenge in all its glory. Connect up with Facebook and post your top scores and personal bests on each song.
4. Remember all that tapping you did in TTR2? Well we do, and it wasn’t for nothing. We’re bumping up your level so you can access more free songs. Check out your Tap Tap 3 news feed this weekend for the news.
5. Were you one of those folks that got Tap Tap 3 for $.99? Aside from the fact that you’re some of the coolest people on the planet, you also get a bunch of extra stuff — unavailable to the rest of the world: First and foremost, you get NO third party ads (well, almost all of you…), you got the game 60 days before everyone else, and you had access to an entirely different and unrestricted collection of music.  Now, in addition, and as promised, you also get a one-of-a-kind avatar item: THE CROWN, and to top it off – 15,000 coins to spend at your leisure. But, best of all — you get a huge THANKS from everyone at Tapulous.
6. Are you a premium user and bummed that you never got one of the SWEET Supernova guitars for 400,000 coins? OK, we hear you. IF you have over 400,000 coins by Monday, you can buy this guitar for 400,000 coins. If you qualify (premium user + 400,000 coins), we’ll send you a feed message on Monday with how to buy the instrument.
7. WHERE IS THE ULTIMATE TAPDOWN?? Due to the large portion of players and finding new creative ways to hack Tap Tap, we had to postpone the greatest tournament of all time. Well it’s on the way… The dev team & the beta crew spent the last few weeks working out the final kinks to ensure a fair tournament. The update is on the way — THEN IT’S TAPDOWN TIME.

There is plenty more to do, and we haven’t forgotten. Keep us in the loop and let us know what’s on your mind.

Meanwhile, get ready for Riddim Ribbon, which is now just one week away!  Head over here for another quick video, more wallpapers… and we’ll be making a special Riddim Ribbon avatar item available in TTR3 this weekend.

See you in February!

PS: Check out the awesome, newly redesigned David Guetta premium bundle theme.

The Band: DATAROCK

The Jam: Fa-Fa-Fa from the album “Datarock Datarock”

Did you know that Tap Tap Revenge has built in GPS capabilities? No, no…not THAT kind of GPS, the global positioning system. We pack in our own type of GPS, the Guaranteed Party Starter. TTR doesn’t have to be something you do by yourself, headphones on, slumped in the corner. Here’s a quick guide to using your TTR GPS:

1. Download this week’s block-rockin’ featured track from DATAROCK
2. Crank up those teeny-tiny iPhone / iPod speakers, or better yet, plug into your boombox’s line in. (Note: all cool people carry a boombox wherever they go)
3. Go to a public place and start tapping.
4. Get your head noddin’, your booty shakin’, and your feet stompin’. If you can, occasionally moonwalk.
5. Watch the party form around you!

There it is, the magic of Tap Tap Revenge GPS. However, it doesn’t work without the crazy-fresh electro-rock of Datarock’s Fa-Fa-Fa. So it’s lucky we have it FREE this week!

Hailing from Bergen, Norway, a mountainous town known as “The City of Rain,” Datarock members Fredrik Saroea and Ket-Ill came together with a simple goal: To alter the face of contemporary music as we know it, by transforming themselves into what they call “the peak of pop evolution.” Or, as Saroea once explained their formation, “We fell in love. He became pregnant and gave birth to a small Casio watch. As our love grew, the Casio watch grew to become a Casio keyboard. And that’s how we became Datarock.”

Now you will experience Datarock. Once you’re plugged into the Datarock machine, tap over to datarockmusic.com, and check out all their videos, albums, and remixes.

The Datarock Contest

OK, so the slick disco beats of Datarock’s “Fa Fa Fa” have got you covered musically. But what if your fashion is lacking? Well, they’ve got you covered there, too. Literally. Part of this week’s grand prize is an official DATAROCK TRACK SUIT! Now you can look as awesome as these guys:

But that’s not all! They’re also throwing in a STEINBERGER GUITAR! Wow, these guys rule! 5 runners-up will also receive an autographed copy of the Datarock CD. Here’s all you have to do:

This one is easy. Download and play Datarock’s Fa-Fa-Fa in Tap Tap Revenge 3. Every score you submit ABOVE 250,000 points counts as one contest point. The player with the most contest points at the end of the contest is the grand prize winner. The next 5 players with the most points get the runner-up prizes. You can play on easy or hard — as long as you get over 250,000 points.

The contest runs from Friday, January 29th at 12:01 AM through Tuesday, February 2nd at 11:59 PM. You must submit your scores in Tap Tap Revenge 3, while online, during the contest period for entry into the contest.

Lunchtime is a very serious affair here at Tapulous. Having employees from all over the world, with a variety of culinary tastes, we found it necessary to “persuade” (definitely not “kidnap”) one of the Bay Area’s surplus rock-star chefs to come set up shop in the Tap Tap Kitchen. He has taught us that between our courses of Torta Espanola and Waterzooi, it is very important to “cleanse our palettes.”

Cleansing the palette is exactly what we’re doing with this week’s FREE featured track. We’ve had ALOT of synth-pop last week between La Roux and Ke$ha, so it’s time for a complete 180. We’re gonna break it way on down, and get back to the basics, the nuts and bolts, AND the brass tacks with the fundamental flow of MOS DEF!

QUIET DOG comes from the Brooklyn freestyle legend’s 2009 release “The Ecstatic,” which landed on numerous critic’s top album lists, and was for many fans a musical throwback to the glory of Mos Def’s breakthrough group, Black Star. “Quiet Dog” is a deceptively stark, intensely rhythmic affair, that initially sounds like a studio jam session gone really right. But don’t be fooled by the sparse instrumentation: once Mos Def effortlessly unleashes his lyrical mayhem, you have a global club-banger on your hands. And when the song is in Tap Tap Revenge, that means literally.

For more Mos Def, check him out at mosdef.com. Or go watch him in a movie, ’cause he’s also an actor (he was Ford Prefect!), or hear him on the Gorillaz album next year. Just make sure you heed his advice, stay cool, and maintain the rock!

The Mos Def Contest

The question was emailed to us, “Can you Tap too much?” The short answer is no, and the long answer is NOOOOOOO! Remember, there’s always some punk right behind you, ready to snatch that global high score, so you’ve got to tap more. And this is no week to slack off, because you’re mos def going to want to win THE MOS DEF IRON MAN CONTEST:

You and your fellow Tapaholics are competing for a Mos Def / Downtown Records GRAND PRIZE: 5 CD’s of your choice from the Downtown Records library, a vinyl copy and digital download of Mos Def’s album “The Ecstatic,” and an Mos Def T-Shirt! Runner’s up will receive a vinyl and CD copy of “The Ecstatic.”

How to win: Submit a score on each day of the contest above 100,000 points on Mos Def’s “Quiet Dog” in Tap Tap Revenge 3. The contest begins at 12:01 AM on Friday, January 14th and runs until Tuesday, January 19th at 11:59 PM PST. That means you need to submit at least 5 scores (one per day) to qualify in the contest! The winners will be chosen from the pool of all players that qualified.

You must submit your scores in Tap Tap Revenge 3, while online, for entry into the contest.

The Band: LA ROUX

The Jam: BULLETPROOF from the smash debut “La Roux“

Welcome to 2010, Tappers. Now let’s immediately look ahead to 2035, because that’s approximately the year when the trends and fashions of the last decade will resurface. Will the the ’00s be lovingly re-embraced, or remembered as complete zeroes? Will we see:

- An *NYSNC reunion tour with a 54 year old Justin Timberlake?
- Grandpa’s pants sagging below his butt, with JUICY written across Grandma’s?
- A robot implanted with Simon Cowell’s brain, presenting Susan Boyle live from the International Space Station?

That’s why we should be thankful that we’re getting British duo LA ROUX out of the current 80’s revival. The group’s dance-floor-destroying, neon-glowing synthesizers and infectiously fun vocals, reminiscent of Yaz, Depeche Mode, and Erasure, helped “Bulletproof” debut at #1 on the UK Singles Chart. Singer Elly Jackson is bringing back the 80’s goods: the gravity-mocking hair, the androgyny, and the emotionally captivating voice. If Gaga is Madonna, and Katy Perry is Cyndi Lauper, then she is our electro-pop Annie Lennox, the new queen of killer-cool.

When you’re done bouncing around the room to La Roux, take a trip to laroux.co.uk and make plans to see them live immediately.

THE LA ROUX CONTEST

In French, La Roux roughly translates to, “the red-haired one.” Similarly, La Tap basically means, “when a game of TTR overtakes your entire being.” As in, “I didn’t mean to leave you stranded on the airport curb, but I was overtaken with La Tap.”

This week, however, La Tap will be a good thing, and propel you to victory in our massive LA ROUX CONTEST!

The LOOT: One grand prize winner gets to crank up the tunes with a white Beats by Dre headphones! Five runner up winners get the La Roux album autographed by Elly Jackson and Ben Langmaid.

How to win: It’s a MAX POINTS contest! Submit your scores to the global scoreboard — every score you submit on Bulletproof in Tap Tap Revenge 3 is added to your contest total. The player with the most points at the end of the contest wins the grand prize! The next five players are the runner up winners. The contest runs from Friday, January 8th through Tuesday, January 12th. You must submit your scores in Tap Tap Revenge 3 during the contest period for entry into the contest.

The Band: THE AIRBORNE TOXIC EVENT

The Jam: WISHING WELL, from their self-titled debut album.

Sometimes playing Tap Tap Revenge is social experience. You’re online, talking trash and dropping bombs, tapping out suckers left and right.

But sometimes, it’s a very intense, passionate affair, and you become Tap Tap Possessed. The song infiltrates your consciousness, and you visualize the music. Your fingers flawlessly find all the Tappers, your score rolls higher, and the fever builds. You decide to let dinner burn, or postpone sleep for another night, or retake the entire semester.

This week’s FREE track WISHING WELL is the perfect soundtrack for that magical game of TTR. Birthed in the Los Feliz area of L.A. in 2006, The Airborne Toxic Event are rapidly becoming indie-rock superstars, due their abundance of unapologetic emotion, undeniable melodies, and unrestrained talent. Moving beyond the rigid verse-chorus song structure, they’ve found a place where the songs create their own life, pulsing, pumping, and climbing to a powerful, cathartic release. In the year since their debut release, they’ve toured the world, taking the stage at Coachella, SXSW, Lollapallooza, and the Fuji Festival. These guys (and girl) are The Goods.

THE AIRBORNE TOXIC CONTEST

UPDATE: Congratulations to the winners! Grand prize: Chris_Liquid. Runner up winners: flipfox, iPANPAN, 2old2tap, griffindoor, dunniehigh.

Believe it or not, some people were upset there was no TTThursday track last week, despite the abundance of new free music available in the game itself. And we’re happy about that. It means the subliminal code in the graphics designed to get you desperately addicted to Tap Tap Revenge is working, and we will soon turn on our Tap Zombie Army.

But before that happens, we’re going to run this week’s give-away, THE AIRBORNE TOXIC CONTEST:

The Loot: Grand Prize: AN AUTOGRAPHED ELECTRIC GUITAR!! Runner up prizes: Five copies of the Airborne Toxic Event’s latest album, signed by the band.

How to win: It’s a battle contest! Send and play battles on Wishing Well by Airborne Toxic Event. Every battle you WIN counts as one contest entry. It doesn’t matter if you sent it or played it off the public battle board — any won battle on the featured track counts in this contest. At the end of the contest, we’ll take the top 50 players with the most entries and draw the winners.

The contest runs from Friday, January 1st at 12:01 AM PST through Tuesday, January 5th at 11:59 PM PST. You must complete all battles while online, during the contest period. Any battles played or sent outside the contest period will not be counted.