It seems Viacom's striking fewer sour notes this year, with operating profits up $789 million -- good for 14 percent -- in its Media Networks division (the umbrella its video game business is under). According to the mega-corp, gains are due in part to lower losses from the Rock Band franchise.

You know, we dinged Green Day: Rock Band for being a less lavish production than its Beatles-based predecessor, but it seems that (from a big picture perspective at least) the scaled-back approach and getting out of the instrument biz is paying off.