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Just hours after it transpired that developer Harmonix had filed and then withdrawn a lawsuit against Activision over alleged unpaid royalties, Reuters reports that guitar firm Gibson has made a move to sue the Guitar Hero publsher for patent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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Gameplayer are reporting that Activision has released a new version of the Wii release of Guitar Hero III
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Despite being as rare as hen's teeth to buy back in the 2007/08 holiday system, Guitar Hero III for the Nintendo Wii was hampered by one small problem - its advertised multi-channel sound was actually in mono.

Fuchal from NextGEN Gamers confirms with Activision Australia how to get your disc replaced for free, delivered to your door...
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Activision finally released replacement disks for fixing the sound issues many were complaining about. They are also offering full refunds for discs without Dolby Pro Logic II.
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Activision is offering Guitar Hero III refunds to Wii gamers unhappy with sound quality issues. According to a statement on the publisher's website, consumers experiencing audio issues with Guitar Hero III for Wii can either fill out a refund form in order to get their $132 back, or participate in a disc replacement program. "We are committed to providing our customers with quality game experiences and apologize for any audio output issues you ... » Read More

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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Guitar Hero: Fan Appreciation Giveaway

Here is your chance to win a trip to the Rock'n Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in New York City! Must be 21 to enter.

The Prize Package

The prize package includes all of the following for 2:

- Tickets to the 2008 Rock 'N Roll Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony

- Round-trip airfar to New York City

- Hotel accommodations

- Transportation

- $500 Spending Cash
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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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01.22.08 - While it's a taken a little while, Activision has announced their plans to replace copies of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock for the Wii in Australian and New Zealand. In case you do not already know: any Guitar Hero III Wii game bought since launch has been pressed incorrectly and all tracks have been made mono-only in sound no matter what the consoles settings are set to. To find out how you can have your Australian or New Zealand copy replaced, head inside Vooks for more information.
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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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Gamasutra writes:

Gamasutra's weekly column, "Saling The World", covers the top five sellers for every available platform in the United States, Japan, and Europe, providing an important update of sales patterns worldwide.

This week's charts, with data taken from January 17th, 2008, feature Rock Band leading PS2 sales in North America, while Wii owners turn their attention to budget-priced titles like Luxor and Winter Sports. Data for "Saling The World" comes courtesy of the public sales information on Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, and Amazon.co.jp, with sales split out for each platform and territory, and pre-orders disregarded.

Nintendo Wii

North America:
1. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision)
2. Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo)
3. Winter Sports: The Ultimate Challenge (Conspiracy),
4. Luxor: Pharaoh's Challenge (MumboJumbo)
5. Carnival Games (2K Games)

Japan:
1. Wii Fit (Nintendo)
2. Wii Sports (Nintendo)
3. Caduceus: New Blood (Atlus)
4. Nodame Cantabile: Dream * Orchestra (Bandai Namco)
5. Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo).

Europe:
1. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Sega)
2. Big Brain Academy for Wii (Nintendo)
3. LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga (LucasArts)
4. Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure (Capcom)
5. Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo).

Xbox 360

North America:
1. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision)
2. Rock Band Special Edition (EA Games)
3. Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft)
4. Halo 3 (Microsoft)
5. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision).

Japan:
1. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision)
2. Armored Core 4 - Xbox 360 Platinum Collection (From Software)
3. Dead Rising/Gears of War-360 Platinum Double Pack (Capcom/Microsoft)4. The IdolM@ster - Xbox...
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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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- When last we left our heroes in the gripping case of the missing monaural sound in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, Activision had set up its Web site to offer registration for replacements. Now we have an update on the progress of the replacement discs:
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Videogames are often put at odds with certain forms of productivity, such as learning a musical instrument. But performance simulators such as Guitar Hero have proven to be an entryway into real-world musicianship.

To help support a growing interest in guitar study, RedOctane and NAMM announced a partnership at the annual NAMM Show in Anaheim, Calif. that will link Guitar Hero III to NAMM's "Wanna Play" campaign. This new facet of the public awareness campaign focuses on bridging the gap between virtual and real-life musicianship.
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Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey picks what he believes will be the biggest sellers of 2008.
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