Activision CEO Bobby Kotick has said that Guitar Hero IV will be receiving extra peripherals, including a microphone. Kotick commented on the future of the franchise in an interview with Conde Nast Portfolio magazine (according to IGN). He also mentioned that the next instalment will let players strum along with bands local to their area. ... » Read More

As games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero continue to gobble up market and mind share, it's a safe bet gamers are going to continue to see more manufacturers trying to one-up the originals with their own take on the fake instruments. To that end, longtime guitar crafter The Ant Commandos is back with a new line-up of gear coming this spring.

First are two new wireless products, The Widow Maker Wireless Bass Guitar and The Double Range Guitar, compatible with Rock Band and Guitar Hero 1, 2 and 3 for the PS2 and PS3.
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Charlie Daniels, the writer and musician responsible for 'The Devil Went Down to Georgia,' has hit out against Guitar Hero 3 for perverting the meaning of his music. "[The song] is supposed to be a lighthearted novelty about a fiddling contest between a country boy and the devil and the devil always loses," Daniels posted on his personal website. ... » Read More

Gibson Guitar are suing both Wal-Mart and other major consumer retailers in relation to them selling Activision's Guitar Hero series of games. It should getting very interesting, but in the meantime the parties have each issued press releases.
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Activision has released a statement in response to Gibson Guitar's claims that the publisher's popular Guitar Hero series of games infringe upon one of its patents.

Activision said in a statement released on Thursday, "Gibson's lawsuit is a transparent end run around an impartial court that Activision asked on March 11 to rule on patent assertions that Gibson knows have no merit."

"Our Guitar Hero retailing partners have done nothing wrong. We will confront this and any other efforts by Gibson to wrongfully interfere with Activision's relationship with its customers and its consumers."
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Martin Bandier, a top executive at the music publishing company that owns the Lennon-McCartney song writing copyrights, has said he'd be interested in a dedicated edition of Guitar Hero for the Beatles."It's something we have talked about and something I'd like to pursue," said Bandier to the Los Angeles Times.Traditionally, the rights to cover Beatles tracks have been notoriously hard to obtain, but copyright owner Sony/ATV Music ... » Read More

On Thursday, March 20th, the Dallas Mavericks will launch the Guitar Hero Challenge where aficionados will have the chance to show off their skills on the AT&T Plaza outside the South Entrance of American Airlines Center. The grand prize, the chance to play Guitar Hero during a quarter break at a First Round Playoff game, two-tickets to the game, an autographed Mavs Authentic jersey.
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Reuters reports:
Guitar manufacturer Gibson says Activision property violates copyright over music simulation software

Just hours after it transpired that developer Harmonix had filed and then withdrawn a lawsuit against Activision over alleged unpaid royalties, Reuters reports that guitar firm Gibson has made a move to sue the Guitar Hero publsher for patent enfringement.

The manufacturer said that Guitar Hero, which was published by Red Octane and developed by Harmonix until Activision acquired the former in 2006, violated a patent over 'technology for simulating a musical performance'.

Gibson made the complaint in a letter sent to the publisher in January - Activision has already fired back, said Reuters, asking the U.S. District Court for Central California to declare Gibson's patent invalid and bar it from seeking any damages.

However, Gibson and Activision have worked together before, with officially licenced Guitar Hero controllers modelled on the guitar firm's products.
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First Day Sales : The numbers in () shows the shipments info.

Yakuza 3 (PS3) : about 113k

Metroid Prime 3 (Wii) : about 20k

Everybody's Common Sense TV (Wii) : about 5.0k (about 60~70k?)

Guitar Hero 3 (PS3, PS2) : about 3k

Family Jockey (Wii) : about 2.5k
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Activision has announced the batteries for the Guitars for Guitar Hero III. The Batteries are for the Playstation 3, Playstation 2 and Xbox 360 guitars they will cost about 14.99 each and they will be charge by USB. They will hit stores on February 29.
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Saying they're going to the library may no longer be the standby excuse teens offer their parents for secretly heading out to a party or to hang out with friends.

These days, more and more young people are flocking to metro Detroit libraries: not necessarily for homework, but to participate in one of their favorite pastimes -- video games.

Hage has stocked the shelves with 1,823 games for PlayStations 2 and 3, Nintendo Wii, Xbox, Xbox 360 and other systems. And the free sources of entertainment are hot items among adolescents -- on any given day, 1,300 are checked out. The addition of the games largely contributed to the library's 12% spike in circulation last year, she said.

The Rochester Hills library (in Michigan) increasingly draws kids in with gaming events, like the one held Feb. 9.

And it's not just happening in Rochester Hills.
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IGN reports: "Dust off the old axe and brush up on those hot licks! Guinness World Record's will be holding an international Guitar Hero Relay Marathon between the UK, France, US, Canada, South Africa and Australia to celebrate the release of the Guinness World Records: Gamer's Edition 2008. Any and all Guitar Heroes are welcome to participate, dress as their their favorite Guitar Hero, and shred in this historic record attempt! For more information, or if you'd like to submit a record to break, please visit guinnessworldrecords.com.

Although Guinness World Records: Gamer's Edition 2008 hit store shelves last week in Europe, it won't be released in North America until March 11th".
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Ben Fritz of Variety writes: "On the earnings call, Publishing President Mike Griffith said Activision has sold over five million song downloads for "Guitar Hero 3" on Xbox Live since the game launched. Recall that "Rock Band" has sold 2.5 million.

Of course, given that EA/MTV have sold 1.5 million copies of "Rock Band" in the U.S., compared to 6.5 million for "Guitar Hero 3," it appears that on a per capita basis, it's advantage: "Rock Band."

(One caveat: the vast majority of "Rock Band" units were for PS3 and 360, while many copies of "Guitar Hero III" were PS2 and Wii, which don't offer downloadable content. And Activision didn't include PS3 stats, for whatever reason. It's not clear how close the margin is just in terms of 360 owners.)"
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According to Nielsen SoundScan data, songs saw digital download sales spikes of 31 per cent, 39 per cent and 48 per cent, respectively, for the month after they were featured as a Rock Band download, over the previous month.
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VGChartz is reporting for Week Ending 19th January 2008, the American Chart was as follows:

Hardware Total:

DS: 161,736 (+36%)
360: 70,769 (-16%)
PSP: 67,102 (-6%)
PS2: 59,473 (-2%)
Wii: 55,141 (-4%)
PS3: 47,536 (-10%)

Total Software:

360: 805,220
Wii: 722,008
DSL: 596,161
PS2: 531,297
PS3: 347,921
PSP: 217,08

Top 10 Software:

1. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) 82,379 2,896,309
2. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare(360) 71,689 3,046,068
3. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (PS2) 68,551 2,766,635
4. Assassins Creed(360) 58,031 2,064,721
5. Wii Sports (Wii) 55,141 8,651,583
6. Halo 3 (360) 50,074 5,182,309
7. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (360) 47,488 1,779,871
8. Mario Party DS (DS) 43,143 673,196
9. Wii Play (Wii)40,862 4,485,905
10. More Brain Training (DS) 36,406 1,552,208
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While the Nintendo Wii continues to garner headlines for its many alternative uses, occupational therapists at the Select Specialty Hospital in Fort Wayne, Indiana are investigating the potential of Guitar Hero in physical rehabilitation.

Certified occupational therapy assistant Kelly Colwell first noted the healing potential of Guitar Hero while working with a patient who had injured his elbow and lost range of motion in his arm.
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Activision said Monday the Guitar Hero franchise has generated sales of $1 billion in North American retail - and that doesn't include song download revenue. The franchise has sold over 14 million units in North America, Activision said, citing NPD Group data. The latest franchise installment, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, grabbed the top spot in North American videogame software unit and dollar sales for 2007. Since Guitar Hero III's launch, gamers have downloaded 5 million songs, which ... » Read More

Mon Jan 21 2008, by Mark Wilson

Around 26 months ago, Guitar Hero was an instant cult classic. Today, it's officially a $1 billion franchise. Apparently this milestone comes in video game record time. In addition, since the launch of Guitar Hero III, users have downloaded five million songs. If so, that total is double the figure that Rock Band has released.

Kotaku posted Activision's official announcement.
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Activision has announced that according to data from the NPD Group, the company's market share in calendar year 2007 was 17.7% - a 7.2% increase over the same period last year - which in fact makes them 2007's number one publisher in the US.
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Kotaku reports that upset gamers who had their personal e-mails exposed to the hundreds, possibly thousands, of recipients of a customer service update from Activision on Guitar Hero III issues.

In just one of the e-mails that was forwarded to us, an impressive 860 recipient e-mail addresses were listed in the mail's 'To' field, ensuring that all who received updates on their replacement discs for the Wii version of Guitar Hero III had access to the e-mail addresses of the rest.

That's potentially bad news for consumers, who may have had their personal e-mail information sent to others, opening them up to heavy spamming. It may also be bad news for Activision, as the e-mail blasts may violate the company's online Privacy Policy.
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