Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades

Buried in today's Elecrtonic Arts earnings call was this amazing revelation from COO John Pleasants: Revenue for music/rhythm games was down 36% during the first quarter of the year and 42% in March, per NPD. As a result, EA has cut the gross sales revenue it expects from its EA Partner division, which distributes Rock Band for Viacom. That's a huge decline. And keep in mind that there weren't any major music game releases during the first quarter of last year, while 2009 saw Guitar Hero: Metallica (albeit at the very end of March). As we started to see in late 2008, sales of Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero: World Tour must be down massively from the original Rock Band and Guitar Hero III. And while EA CEO John Riccitiello said he feels really bullish about Rock Band: Beatles Edition, the fact that the company is expecting $400 million less in sales indicates just how big an impact continued sales of Rock Band through last year mattered, and how far Rock Band 2 is lagging.

Slashgamer: Prince is considered to be one of the greatest musicians of our time. Honestly, even if for some reason you can't stand him, it's hard to argue his greatness, just look at his achievements. The artiest has won seven Grammy Awards, one Golden Globe and even an Academy Award for his work on Purple Rain. Even with his legendary work, comes controversy. Without me getting to much into it, just go to his Wikipedia page and look under 'controversy.' With that said, PBS asked Prince on his thoughts about Guitar Hero. Although he didn't necessarily criticizes the rhythm game, he just doesn't think it should be a substitute for playing an actual guitar.

There are plenty of deals on video games this week, as much as 50% off some games and gear. Guitar Hero games and accessories, as well as PlayStation hardware too. Here's a round-up of various video game deals that are going on this week. You may want to check them out soon, because supplies are limited! Among the offers are: $20 off the PLAYSTATION 3 Uncharted Bundle $20 off LittleBigPlanet Guitar Hero Aerosmith for free when you buy Guitar Hero Metallica Resistance Retribution or MLB 09 for free with PSP Guitar Hero On Tour Guitar Bundles for 50% off Buy 1 Xbox 360 or PS3 game at Target, get 50% off another Get $20 off Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars when you purchase a DSi and more!

A California court has thrown out a lawsuit filed by legendary guitar maker Gibson against Activision for allegedly violating a patent with their Guitar Hero games.

MCV: 'Rock Star' combo blame rhythm action titles for lack of new US bands

Activision unleashes the full set list for Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades, the encore to the top-selling Guitar Hero: On Tour. Featuring more than 40 years of rock's most celebrated artists with 28 master recordings, the game allows players to host epic jam sessions anytime, anywhere. The complete set list for Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades, available on November 16, 2008, will include: • Alien Ant Farm - Smooth Criminal • The All-American Rejects - Dirty Little Secret • Blind Melon - No Rain • Blondie - One Way Or Another • Bon Jovi - You Give Love A Bad Name • Boston - Rock and Roll Band • The Darkness - I Believe In A Thing Called Love • Edgar Winter Group - Free Ride • Fall Out Boy - The Take Over, The Breaks Over • Foo Fighters - The Pretender • Free - All Right Now • Jimmy Eat World - The Middle • Joe Satriani - Satch Boogie • Journey - Any Way You Want It • Lenny Kravitz - Are You Gonna Go My Way • Linkin Park - One Step Closer • Los Lobos - La Bamba • Lynyrd Skynyrd - Sweet Home Alabama (live) • Paramore - Crushcrushcrush • Queen - We Are The Champions • R.E.M. - The One I Love • Red Hot Chili Peppers - Can't Stop • Sammy Hagar - I Can't Drive 55 • Seether - Remedy • Smashing Pumpkins - Tarantula • Stone Temple Pilots - Down • Veruca Salt - Volcano Girls • Weezer - Buddy Holly

With the complete 28-track song list for Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades now revealed, VGB ordered the list by band that links to a music video of each song.

UGO writes: Guitar Hero: On Tour for the DS sold crazy numbers. Despite requiring an extra attachment and a slightly higher cost than a standard DS game, On Tour managed to rake in a lot of on-the-go GH fans. So this year they're doing it all over again with Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades. From a gameplay perspective, it's pretty much the same experience with brand new songs, each focused on rockin' decades throughout history. And Activision has gone ahead and shared with us the 90s line-up of songs that'll be appearing in the game:

SnagWire: Activision has announced that it's second DS effort Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades will hit shelves November 16th. Taking advantage of the Nintendo DS Guitar Grip, Decades includes more than 26? new songs across the musical time continuum. Additionally, the title is multiplayer-compatible with the the original On Tour enabling face-offs and multiplayer-only song sharing between the two games.