Dec. 18, 2007 - A PriceGrabber.com survey of 3,309 online shoppers conducted in early December reports that:

¿ The number of consumers interested in video games and consoles continues to rise, with 64 percent of respondents planning to purchase a gaming equipment in the next year.

¿ 71 percent of online shoppers plan to spend more than $50 on gaming.

¿ 55 percent favor consoles in the $100 to $300 range.

¿ Game selection is the most important attribute when choosing a gaming system.

¿ 31 percent favor the Nintendo Wii, saying it offers the best games.

¿ Non-violent games have gained in appeal, with 29 percent rating animated/child-friendly games as their preferred genre.
» Read More 

Improve Online Quick Match results and reduce "Failed to Connect to Server" messages.

Introduce calibration screen improvements, helping users with high lag AV systems, and Playstation 3 users with Dolby Digital enabled.

Add the Co-Op Quickplay mode for Playstation 3 users.

Enable the Hyperspeed cheat to work in online games.

Include various stability improvements and fixes.
» Read More 

The Bitbag writes, "The Warner/Reprise Track Pack includes master recordings of "No More Sorrow," by Linkin Park, "Sleeping Giant," by Mastadon and "Pretty Handsome Awkward," by The Used. The single song downloads offer such popular singles as "So Payaso," from Extremoduro, "Antisocial" from Trust, and "Ernten Was Wir Säen" from Die Fantastischen Vier."
» Read More 

Here are some observations issued by NPD analyst Anita Frazier, on total industry sales and the performances of Call of Duty 4, Assassin's Creed, Guitar Hero III, Rock Band, the 360 HD-DVD add-on, and Wii accessories.
» Read More 

Officials from Activision has responded to MTV Games' accusation that they are holding up a PS3 patch that would allow PS3 Guitar Hero controllers to work with Rock Band. Activision says that it was actually Harmonix that declined Activision's offer to reach an agreement.

Here's the statement in full...
» Read More 

Gamers want cross compatibility in their guitar games. Even Red Octane says complete compatibility is inevitable, if the consumer demanded it. Consumers did demand it for Rock Band on PlayStation 3, prompting Harmonix to develop a patch that would enable support for Guitar Hero III's Les Paul controllers. The patch went through the submission process, but never made it out the door; Activision objected to its release and Sony Computer Entertainment America complied.

1UP's requests for comment from Red Octane and Activision have gone unanswered. But, where does Sony stand in all this? So far, the company isn't taking sides. "This is a matter that needs to be resolved between Harmonix/MTV and Activision regarding Intellectual Property," said a SCEA spokesperson to 1UP. "At SCEA, we of course want this resolved and to ensure the best possible gaming experience. We encourage MTV, Harmonix and Activision to discuss this among themselves so there can be an amicable resolution in the best interest of the consumer."
» Read More 

PlayStation 3 owners, TheFeed has some bad news for you. The hoped-for patch to make Guitar Hero 3 guitars compatible with Rock Band has been put on hold, maybe forever. The culprit appears to be Activision, publishers of Guitar Hero 3.

Check the article for more information.
» Read More 

Dec 12, 2007 In a perfect example of bullshit at its finest, Activision has blocked the release of a compatibility patch for Rock Band PS3. The promised patch would have allowed guitar compatibility and support for third party peripherals on Rock Band, including Activisions Guitar Hero III controller. Harmonix submitted this patch nearly two weeks ago and had it approved by Sony for a December 4 release. However, Activision gave PS3 players and Harmonix the proverbial finger by objecting to ... » Read More

Latest American sales from VGcharts.

1 Wii Sports - Nintendo 325,483
2 Forza Motorsport 2 - Microsoft 208,037
3 Marvel: Ultimate Alliance - Activision 201,476
4 Super Mario Galaxy - Nintendo 188,325
5 Mass Effect - Microsoft 113,856
6 Wii Play - Nintendo 112,724
7 Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - Activision 106,583
8 Assassins Creed - Ubisoft 102,501
9 Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock - Activision 92,441
10 Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock - Activision 81,408

DS 458,050
Wii 325,483
360 250,648
PS2 161,513
PSP 160,848
PS3 155,515
GBA 32,268
GC 2,545
» Read More 

Dec 4, 2007 Activision has mentioned Call of Duty 5 and Guitar Hero IV as games in the "Pipeline" in a fact sheet on the new Activision Blizzard website. "Pipeline includes: Guitar Hero IV, Call of Duty 5, James Bond, new Tony Hawk, new DreamWorks titles, new Marvel titles and entry into racing with Bizarre", it says. Just in case the news has somehow passed you by, Activision and Vivendi recently merged to form Activision Blizzard. The shock announcement on the merger was made on ... » Read More

Kotaku's Brian Crecente has a leaked copy of the National Institute on Media and the Family's annual Media Wise Video Game Report Card, set to be officially released tomorrow. This year's report card is broken into five parts:

¿ The MediaWise Video Game Report Card
¿ The Buying Guide
¿ The ESRB Rating System and Ratings Education Efforts
¿ The Retailer Ratings Education and Enforcement Surveys
¿ Annual MediaWise-Harris Interactive Poll of Kids and Parents

Kotaku gives a quick summary for each part.
» Read More 

3rd Dec, 2007 The industry is still shaking from the earthquake announcement of Vivendi and Activision's merger today, but gamers themselves are going to have a lot of questions too. Both companies hold their fair share of much-loved franchises, several of which have extremely radid fanbases, so worry is going to be high as to what the deal is really going to mean. It seems accepted human 'wisdom' that any change is a change for the worse, and in gaming any alteration in the corporate status ... » Read More

Via CNet:

The immense popularity of the hit Guitar Hero franchise--the third iteration of the game, Guitar Hero III, brought in $115 million during its first week on the market--may be the best thing that has happened to the instrument, to rock 'n' roll, and to guitar instructors, in a long time.

"I have an overwhelming feeling that my business is safe for years to come when I see kids playing Guitar Hero," said Dan Emery, owner of New York City Guitar School. "These kids are really enjoying playing Guitar Hero, and they're really being turned on to old classic rock" via the game.
» Read More 

After injuring one of his fingers from playing too much Guitar Hero II, modder Egyokeo took it upon himself to rig up a MIDI drum kit to work with the game. If he wasn't going to be able to grip the fret his Xplorer until the aching digit fully healed, then he'd play guitar¿with the drums. Hit the jump for some videos of the final product.
» Read More 

USInfo reports on the growing popularity of games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero, particularly among musicians.
» Read More 

VG Chartz' hardware sales for Black Friday week in North America are as below (ranked by units sold):

1. DS: 684,202
2. Wii: 421,419
3. Xbox 360: 254,680
4. PSP: 194,723
5. PS3: 174,045

The full report also includes the top ten software titles for the week for Wii, Xbox 360, and PS3.
» Read More 

Xbox360 writes:

"Johnny Rotten's now infamous ranting at Guitar Hero III's launch party was captured on OXM's cameras and has now been uploaded on OXM.co.uk for all to see. After introducing himself by saying "[censored], it's rubbish, I hate the whole thing", the Sex Pistols singer then goes into the reason why he's there - to promote Guitar Hero III.

"I'll give it to you basic and honest," he says. "The offer came in and I took it home and I played it with a bunch of kids. What I like is it weren't teaching you how to be a rock star, it was teaching you how not to be a rock star..."

And that was the last thing said on the game, after explaining how the Sex Pistols re-recorded tracks (Anarchy In The UK and Pretty Vacant). For what followed was half-an-hour ranting about Tony Blair, screaming "I AM ENGLAND" and throwing microphone at journalists who he thought were "smug." Watch the whole video to see what we mean. And keep an eye on the swear counter too... ouch."
» Read More 

Wedbush Morgan Securities' Michael Pachter estimates that Activision's key music franchise will total around 7.5 million units sold this year, but will decline a bit next year because of Rock Band.
» Read More 

Activision Inc has announced that it is raising its financial outlook for its fiscal third quarter, ending December 31, and for the financial year as a whole.

This is the result of better than expected revenues to date on its titles, which include Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.

The statement released by the company revises the Q3 outlook up from USD 1.05 billion to USD 1.23 billion, with a diluted earnings per share moving from USD 0.51 to USD 0.66.
» Read More 

MTV Games has taken its first major step into the console game arena with the launch of "Rock Band," with company executives touting the title as the integration of music and gaming on a whole new level.

"Our belief is that 'Rock Band' is not just a game," said Jeff Yapp, executive vice president of program enterprises at MTV Networks Music Group. "It's a new platform for which to engage with music, and that's what we're most excited about."

"We're pretty optimistic about what this game is going to do," Jeff Yapp said. "But our next big announcement, which is coming up fairly quickly, is a move to a whole other realm."
» Read More