RedOctane released the "No Doubt Track Pack" today for (500 MS points), it comes with "Don't Speak", "Excuse Me Mr", and "Sunday Morning" performed by No Doubt. You can also download a video preview of the pack.
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These lists are based on global unique users connected to Xbox Live or in the case of Arcade, full versions purchased this week. Here are the top 3 for each charts, see the source for the complete top 10 list.

Xbox 360 Top Live Titles:
1. Call of Duty 4
2. Halo 3
3. Guitar Hero III

Top Arcade Titles:
1. N+
2. UNO
3. Rez HD

Original Xbox Top Live Titles:
1. Halo 2
2. Star Wars: Battlefront 2
3. Counter-Strike
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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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Nintendo platform titles head the latest Spanish and German software charts, while Guitar Hero III occupies the top spot in Sweden.

Spain

01. Wii Play (Wii)
02. More Brain Training from Dr. Kawashima (DS)
03. Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training (DS)
04. Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 (Wii)
05. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (DS)
06. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (PS3)
07. Devil May Cry 4 Collector's Edition (PS3)
08. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Wii)
09. Devil May Cry 4 (PS3)
10. Burnout Paradise (PS3)

Germany

01. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (DS)
02. More Brain Training from Dr. Kawashima (DS)
03. Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training (DS)
04. Professor Kageyamas Math Training (DS)
05. Wii Play (Wii)
06. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (PC)
07. Devil May Cry 4 (PS3)
08. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (PC)
09. World of Warcraft (PC)
10. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)
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These lists are based on global unique users connected to Xbox Live or in the case of Arcade, full versions purchased this week. Here are the top 3 for each charts, see the source for the complete top 10 list.

Xbox 360 Top Live Titles
1. Call of Duty 4
2. Halo 3
3. Guitar Hero III

Top Arcade Titles
1. Poker Smash
2. Commanders: Attack
3. Rez HD

Original Xbox Top Live Titles
1. Halo 2
2. Ninja Gaiden Black
3. Star Wars: Battlefront 2
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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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VGChartz is reporting that Sony will be releasing a special update to the PlayStation Store later tonight. A new song for Guitar Hero III has been released and the content is free, but only available for a limited time.

The song is Aerosmith's "Dream On".

This update has been made available due to the announcment of the new Guitar Hero game, Guitar Hero III: AeroSmith which is a game similar to Rock the 80's on the PS2.

For all PlayStation 3 owners with Guitar Hero III this download will added to the store at 11:59p.m. PST and will only be available for till February 18th, 2008.
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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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Here are some more highlights from Activision's conference call with financial analysts earlier today:

- As expected a new Call of Duty game is due for release in the 2009 fiscal year (again most likely this fall). No other details were revealed except that PS2 and Wii platforms will join the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC platforms for the next game in the shooter series.

- As usual for Activision, the company will not release any new games for the current fiscal quarter that ends on March 31. The next quarter will see the release of the game based on Dreamworks's CGI movie Kung Fu Panda along with more downloadable content for Guitar Hero III and Call of Duty 4. The company will also release games later in the year based on another Dreamworks CGI movie Madagascar II.

- The James Bond game is still due for release this fall, around the time of the new movie's release. No other details on the game were announced.
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These lists are based on global unique users connected to Xbox Live or in the case of Arcade, full versions purchased this week. Here are the top 3 for each charts, see the source for the complete top 10 list.

Xbox 360 Top Live Titles
1. Call of Duty 4
2. Halo 3
3. Guitar Hero III

Top Arcade Titles
1. Rez HD
2. Chessmaster Live
3. Metal Slug 3

Original Xbox Top Live Titles
1. Halo 2
2. Star Wars: Battlefront 2
3. Counter-Strike
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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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Activision and Microsoft have just released a brand new Track Pack for Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. This new pack is entitled: 'Classic Rock' and features three tracks. As always, you will have to pay the standard 500 Microsoft Points for this track pack. Songs include "Peace of Mind" as performed by Boston, "Juke Box Hero" as performed by Foreigner, and "Any Way you Want it" as performed by Journey.
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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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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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