Mad Catz Interactive, Inc. announced today that it has entered into a multi-year licensing agreement with Nintendo of America Inc. whereby Mad Catz has secured the rights to produce and distribute peripherals for the critically acclaimed Rock Band video game for the Wii system.

The agreement provides Mad Catz these rights worldwide, outside of Asia. The products to be produced under the agreement are a bass guitar and a portable drum percussion set. Mad Catz expects these products to be available early in 2009.

The Rock Band series of video games, published by MTV Games and developed by MTV Network’s Harmonix Music Systems, allows music fans and gamers to interact with music, challenging users to master the lead/bass guitar, drums and vocals as solo artists or cooperatively as part of their own band. Built on deals with the world’s biggest record labels and music publishers, the music featured in the Rock Band games span all genres of rock and includes many master recordings from the greatest songs and artists of all time. Rock Band for Wii is currently available in North America and in Europe.