Joystiq http://www.joystiq.com Joystiq http://www.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif Joystiq http://www.joystiq.com en-us Copyright 2008 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/Guitar Hero: On Tour peripheral lends a hand to homebrew painting apphttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/29/guitar-hero-on-tour-peripheral-lends-a-hand-to-homebrew-paintin/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/29/guitar-hero-on-tour-peripheral-lends-a-hand-to-homebrew-paintin/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/29/guitar-hero-on-tour-peripheral-lends-a-hand-to-homebrew-paintin/#commentsFiled under: ,


We know there are probably one too many prerequisites for you to find this story truly interesting -- but if you're one of those rare DS Lite owners who recently purchased Guitar Hero: On Tour, and is also into homebrew applications for the handheld, and also fancies themselves a modern day Botticelli, then there's a new homebrew painting application with some surprising peripheral functionality that the four of you should really consider picking up.

The app in question is BassAceGold's UAPaint (v1.02), which allows the use of the On Tour guitar grip buttons for easily accessible short cuts to important tools, streamlining the digital painting process. It's a really sleek setup -- unfortunately, we're not entirely convinced that DS doodlers really need faster, more powerful methods of etching poorly-rendered genitalia into their luminescent screens.

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]]>applicationartdsguitar-hero-on-tourguitarherohomebrewnintendodspaintUAPaintGriffin McElroy2008-06-29T13:30:00+00:00McFarlane Toys casting Guitar Hero in plastichttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/27/mcfarlane-toys-casting-guitar-hero-in-plastic/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/27/mcfarlane-toys-casting-guitar-hero-in-plastic/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/27/mcfarlane-toys-casting-guitar-hero-in-plastic/#commentsFiled under:


You have room on your desk, right? Right there between the Varia Suit Samus statue and Battle Armor Skeletor sits a space just begging to be filled. Now, McFarlane Toys, whose figs have more in common with plastic sculptures than actual toys, has announced plans to fill that space on your already crowded desk with figures based on Guitar Hero this November.

Already known for creating figures based on other video game properties such as Metal Gear Solid and Halo, McFarlane Toys has announced a manly lineup of four Guitar Hero personalities, each featuring 15-18 moving parts and a price between $10-15. The first wave of plastic rockers will include Johnny Napalm, Lars Ümlaut, Axel Steel, and God of Rock, while Casey Lynch and Judy Nails cheer lead the first wave from the sidelines.

Gallery: Guitar Hero McFarlane Toys

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]]>guitar-heroguitarheromcfarlanemcfarlane-toysmcfarlanetoystoysJason Dobson2008-06-27T10:00:00+00:00Joystiq eyes and ears-on: Guitar Hero: World Tourhttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/20/joystiq-eyes-and-ears-on-guitar-hero-world-tour/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/20/joystiq-eyes-and-ears-on-guitar-hero-world-tour/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/20/joystiq-eyes-and-ears-on-guitar-hero-world-tour/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,


Activision invited us out to the House of Blues last week, which was a fitting place to give us a first look at Guitar Hero: World Tour in action. Though we didn't get to play it, we did watch the folks from RedOctane take a spin through all the new features. Suffice it to say, this isn't simply Guitar Hero: Rock Band ... which is what we thought it might turn out to be. Read on after the break to find out why you'll soon have a closet filled with enough peripherals to make your own one-man band.

Gallery: Guitar Hero: World Tour (06-20-08)



The first thing we noticed about the setup was the drum set ... well, obviously. You've probably seen the photos by now, but these drums have three pads, a bass pedal, and two elevated wedges that serve as a high-hat and a cymbal. Now you can supply the "badump CRASH" sound effects for your own jokes, just like you've always wanted to. RedOctane let us know that the drum kit will be wireless (no word on how many batteries it'll take yet) and feature velocity-sensitive drum pads, stick holders, and may (or may not, hello third party!) come with a circular insert for the bass-kicker, so you can display the name of your band. The one they had on it simply said "Guitar Hero", but we'll wager someone will jump on this.

"If that wasn't enough, they've also added a Music Studio, which allows you to record four tracks: Lead, Rhythm, Bass, and Drums."
It was also obvious that the guitars were different, especially since they were sitting in stands next to a plain Jane Guitar Hero wireless 360 guitar (which is what they demoed it on), complete with a snazzy, custom Neversoft faceplate that we were told was given out to employees. Where are the Joystiq faceplates already? The World Tour guitars they showed are a bit larger, have a slightly longer whammy, and yes ... a funky touch slider control. More on that in a minute. We also noticed that the "official image" of the guitar doesn't have chrome-colored tuner pegs on the neck, which is what we saw at the House of Blues. Maybe they had to scale back on the paint. Oh, and yes, your other Guitar Hero guitars will work with World Tour ... except the slidy bit.

They've also tweaked the d-pad to look more like a knob on a guitar, and they've added the ability to use the Back button for Star Power. You can still use the accelerometer to rock out, but it's nice to have a button option to silence those players who whine, "I did the thing and it didn't do the thing!"

The microphone is fairly plain, with a Guitar Hero logo on it, although the team added weights to it and it apparently (we couldn't touch it, no matter how grabby we got) feels like a fairly solid mic, not cheap and flimsy like other USB mics. They wanted to make it wireless as well, but according to Neversoft Project Lead Brian Bright, they didn't have time to incorporate that. So, you just have to hire a roadie to make sure you don't get cable-strung while you jam out in your living room.

Now, that's what's different about the outside, but what's inside the game? Graphically, this game looks better than Guitar Hero 3 and Rock Band. Mostly because they've given you the ability to customize your rocker to an extreme extent. Not only can you design their entire body shape, but you can also make custom face paint and tattoos, add signature moves and so on. And, of course, you're free to customize their instruments. The guitars get the most options (even down to the artwork on the neck and different headstocks), with the bass up for customization as well. Not to be left out, you can play around with the look of your drums and your lead singer's microphone, just not to the nth degree as with the guitars.

As far as gameplay goes, things aren't that different from Rock Band, naturally. You've got five careers to choose from: vocals, guitar, bass, drums, and online band. The handy thing about the online band mode is that you can round up three buddies to form The Originals and play online band mode. Later when they have to split, you can go online to recruit more band mates, and continue playing through the online band mode with your New Originals. The career modes also aren't linear like they were in the previous games. You unlock gigs quickly, and might have several new ones open at any time, so you don't have to power through four songs in a gig to progress to the next one.

Okay, now about that slider thing on the guitar. It works in several different ways. You can use it to tweak your notes while you play, with much greater control than the whammy bar offers. The whammy simply lowers the pitch, but the slider lets you distort and go nuts on a note. There are sections with clear notes that mean you need to tap the slider, without hitting the fret, and there are sections where you can use the slider to distort your note, and then you have to "catch" the note using the slider. It's a bit like the retro Activision game Kaboom! where you'd catch falling bombs in buckets of water.

"The whammy simply lowers the pitch, but the slider lets you distort and go nuts on a note."
If that wasn't enough, they've also added a Music Studio, which allows you to record four tracks: Lead, Rhythm, Bass, and Drums. No vocals, however, for "legal reasons" according to Activision. They probably don't want people recording their own version of "Sweet Child of Mine" and then uploading it to GH Tunes, which is the repository for online created songs. You can record these songs with a group, or track by track, and you can vote and download songs created by other players to play back on your own. It's a lot like Apple's GarageBand on a console: you can pick different guitar sounds, drum loop and synthesizer sections that you play/tweak with the slider, and more.

However, there's even a step above this with the Music Editor, which takes the song you've created into a miniature studio, so you can position notes, cut and paste entire sections, tweak sounds, do a little remixing, and perfect what you've recorded. They also partnered with Line 6 to create in-game amp and cabinet modeling in the game, so you can dial up anything from acoustic to distorted metal sounding guitars. It's just an insane amount of music editing that the casual player will probably never dip into. If you want to spend hours making your masterpiece, you can go for that, but we say bring on the gameplay.

Naturally, there's a bunch of new songs coming out with this release, although we're only allowed to mention Linkin Park, The Eagles, Van Halen as some of the bands that'll be in the game, with some of the new songs including: Sublime - "Santeria", Billy Idol - "Rebel Yell", and Foo Fighters - "Everlong." All of them will be master tracks. They've also added a new "Beginner" level where you only have to strum, so you can play with Grandma, your five-year old kid, or your pal who just can't get it right.

If you haven't hopped on the Rock Band bandwagon just yet, you might want to give this a serious look when it comes out later this year. It'll fill the same gap, multiple levels of customization and a recording mode that'll keep you coming back once you've ripped through all the songs and gigs on Expert.

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]]>ActivisionGuitar HeroGuitarHeroRedOctaneWorld TourWorldTourKevin Kelly2008-06-20T13:00:00+00:00Gamestop prices Guitar Hero: World Tour bundle at $189http://www.joystiq.com/2008/05/25/gamestop-prices-guitar-hero-world-tour-bundle-at-189/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/05/25/gamestop-prices-guitar-hero-world-tour-bundle-at-189/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/05/25/gamestop-prices-guitar-hero-world-tour-bundle-at-189/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,


In order to remain competitive with Harmonix's pre-existing multi-instrument rockstar simulator, Activision's upcoming entry in their insanely lucrative franchise, Guitar Hero: World Tour, needs to match the price of the game it so closely resembles, Rock Band. According to a recent listing on Gamestop, it'll do just that -- the game alone will cost $59.99 on PS3 and 360 ($49.99 on Wii and PS2), a "guitar kit" bundle will run you $99.99, and the full band kit (which we assume will contain a guitar, a mic, and a drum kit) will run you $189.99 on 360, Wii and PS3, and $179.99 on PS2.

If these prices are accurate, you'll be paying $20 more for Activision's bundle than Harmonix's -- perhaps their five-piece drum kit costs more to produce than Rock Band's four-head. We don't mind shelling out the extra Jackson to get our hands on Activision's new skins -- the thousands of dollars we'll spend expanding our living room to contain two fake drum kits and four fake guitars, however, may have a noticeable impact on our finances.

[Thanks, Hashbrown Hunter.]

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]]>activisionbundledrumsgamestopguitarguitar-heroguitar-hero-world-tourguitarheropriceGriffin McElroy2008-05-25T13:30:00+00:00Ted Nugent confirms his appearance in Guitar Hero IV on talk radio showhttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/05/18/ted-nugent-confirms-his-appearance-in-guitar-hero-iv-on-talk-rad/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/05/18/ted-nugent-confirms-his-appearance-in-guitar-hero-iv-on-talk-rad/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/05/18/ted-nugent-confirms-his-appearance-in-guitar-hero-iv-on-talk-rad/#commentsFiled under: ,


For a game subtitled "Legends of Rock", Guitar Hero III didn't feature that many real-life six-string virtuosos. Sure, you had Rage's Tom Morello, GnR's Slash and a brief cameo by VH1's latest lothario, Poison frontman Bret Michaels -- but many classic rock aficionados who tried their hand at Activision's shredding simulator were left unsatisfied in terms of quantity (and in the minds of those belonging to the churches of Hendrix and Clapton, quality).

Until now, we've yet to hear anything about the roster for the next legit entry in Activision's golden goose franchise (no, we're not nor will we ever count Guitar Hero: Aerosmith), however, that silence was recently broken by the whistle of a flaming arrow through the night air, fired from the heavenly compound bow of the Motor City Madman himself, Ted Nugent. Listen to his radio interview on Detroit's WRIF (about 12:30 in), where he uses all manner of colorful language to describe the mocap process. Now, if they could only get the rest of the Damn Yankees involved, it would definitely ensure a purchase on our end. How 'bout it, Blades?

[Thanks, Tyler.]

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]]>activisionguitar heroguitar-hero-ivGuitarHeroguitarheroivnugetedtednugentGriffin McElroy2008-05-18T12:00:00+00:00Guitar Hero III getting triple-pack of Muse on May 8http://www.joystiq.com/2008/05/03/guitar-hero-iii-getting-triple-pack-of-muse-on-may-8/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/05/03/guitar-hero-iii-getting-triple-pack-of-muse-on-may-8/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/05/03/guitar-hero-iii-getting-triple-pack-of-muse-on-may-8/#commentsFiled under: , ,

It seems that Activision has stumbled across the correct formula for getting us to drop our drumsticks and don our trusty, dusty Les Paul peripherals -- a three-song DLC pack for Guitar Hero III featuring the music of the epic British prog-rock trio, Muse. As of May 8, "Supermassive Black Hole" and "Exo-Politics" from their 2006 album Black Holes and Revelations as well as the fan-favorite "Stockholm Syndrome" from 2003's Absolution will be available to download for a heretofore unannounced price (we're assuming it will match the $6.25 price of former GHIII packs). We've got videos for all three tunes after the jump -- go decide which ones are purchase-worthy! (Hint: All of them.)





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]]>activisiondlcexo-politicsguitar-hero-iiiguitarheroguitarheroiiimusemusicred-octanestockholmsyndromesupermassiveblackholeGriffin McElroy2008-05-03T16:30:00+00:00Joystiq impressions: Guitar Hero: On Tour (DS)http://www.joystiq.com/2008/04/15/joystiq-impressions-guitar-hero-on-tour-ds/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/04/15/joystiq-impressions-guitar-hero-on-tour-ds/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/04/15/joystiq-impressions-guitar-hero-on-tour-ds/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , ,


Activision and Nintendo briefly demonstrated Guitar Hero: On Tour at last week's Nintendo Media Summit. As previously announced, the portable rhythm game includes a four-fret controller that slips into the DS GBA slot. A stylus shaped like a guitar pick can be stored inside and pulled out for portable rocking.

Guitar Hero: On Tour includes the same kind of career mode and single-song play as Guitar Hero III; many of the portable songs also overlap with other versions of the game. But 20 new tracks, a few control twists, and a new versus mode should make it more than Guitar Hero Lite.

Gallery: Guitar Hero: On Tour (DS)

Players work the four frets in either left- or right-hand mode, and strum on the DS screen to play notes. An on-screen whammy bar activates sustain effects, or gamers can just hold the stylus down after picking for the same results. Like a real rock-star, players activate Star Power by yelling at the DS. We recommend phrases like "I only eat green M&Ms," or "Hello, Cleveland!" If you're already geeking out enough playing this game in public, we don't know why you'd be too self-conscious to yell, but an on-screen icon also activates that bonus if you want to be discreet.

A new duel system tops the multiplayer modes. With a local, direct wireless connection, two players compete to turn in the best performance, although they also earn power-ups to harass each other. Try to screw up your friend with a camera flash, brightly popping the screen to white; or send groupies over who demand autographs, covering up the strum area until you sign a T-shirt. Other distractions force an opponent to restring a guitar, ramp up their difficulty, or overload their amp momentarily so the audio cuts out. Your guitar might even catch on fire, forcing you to blow on the mic to put it out.

The duel mode and complete port of other major points of the game make this version of Guitar Hero worth watching. Look for it in June.

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]]>activisionguitar-heroguitar-hero-on-tourguitarheronintendo-media-summit-08vicarious-visionsZack Stern2008-04-15T06:07:00+00:00Guitar Hero III squeezes out version for BlackBerryhttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/04/01/guitar-hero-iii-squeezes-out-version-for-blackberry/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/04/01/guitar-hero-iii-squeezes-out-version-for-blackberry/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/04/01/guitar-hero-iii-squeezes-out-version-for-blackberry/#commentsFiled under: , ,


Poor Bessy, the Guitar Hero cow is getting her teats squeezed raw by Activision. Hands-On Mobile announced another addition to the GH III oeuvre as the "number one selling" mobile version of Guitar Hero III became available for BlackBerry smartphones. Come on Bessy, just keep squirting.

According to Hands-On the mobile version of Guitar Hero III has achieved 7.5 million song downloads in less than six months and will be available on the nation's top four mobile carriers by April. Oh well, more power to 'em. Observing someone play GH III on a phone can't possibly be more awkward than it'll be watching someone play the DS version of GH III on the subway in the morning.

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]]>activisionguitar-heroguitar-hero-3guitar-hero-iiiguitarherohands-onAlexander Sliwinski2008-04-01T22:20:00+00:00First Guitar Hero: Aerosmith tracks include 'Draw the Line,' 'Sweet Emotion'http://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/28/first-guitar-hero-aerosmith-tracks-include-draw-the-line-sw/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/28/first-guitar-hero-aerosmith-tracks-include-draw-the-line-sw/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/28/first-guitar-hero-aerosmith-tracks-include-draw-the-line-sw/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,


Though we were briefly distracted by mention of some other bands set to feature in Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, Activision has reminded us that the rhythmography will, in fact, include Aerosmith tunes. Gamespot reports that of the 40-plus songs in the game, 60 percent will be devoted to the increasingly decrepit crooners.

Ah, but age is just a number and fans aren't likely to care when they start pressing plastic in rhythm to these confirmed numbers:
Expect further songs to be revealed at an excruciatingly slow pace as the game's June release walks this way.

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]]>ActivisionaerosmithGuitar-Heroguitar-hero-aerosmithGuitarHeroNeversoftLudwig Kietzmann2008-03-28T19:30:00+00:00Counting Rupees: Battle of the brandshttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/27/counting-rupees-battle-of-the-brands/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/27/counting-rupees-battle-of-the-brands/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/27/counting-rupees-battle-of-the-brands/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , ,


Each week Jeff Engel and Geoff Brooks contribute Counting Rupees, a column on the business behind gaming:

When Guitar Hero 3 launched last year it was an immediate success, selling out at a fairly quick pace throughout the holiday season. Following just behind it was Rock Band, selling very well, but not nearly as quickly as Guitar Hero. So far, all versions of Guitar Hero III have sold about 9.1M copies, versus just roughly 1.5M for Rock Band. Of course, part of the discrepancy lies in the fact that Rock Band launched on two platforms while Guitar Hero 3 launched on four, but that is about to be remedied with Harmonix's recent announcement of Rock Band for Wii. While Rock Band was a more ambitious game and representative of an evolution of the music game, it did seem like Activision may have made the right choice in buying the Guitar Hero publisher (and thus the Guitar Hero brand), but not the developer. With so much brand awareness already built into Guitar Hero, was there any way that Harmonix could possibly top the original creation that it no longer owned the rights to?


Rock Band did have some advantages that would potentially help it close the sales gap. Its ambitious plan to release new tracks on a weekly basis would ensure a potential steady stream of revenue from Rock Band even from those who had already purchased it. In mid-January, Harmonix announced that it had sold over 2.5m songs, and just a few days ago it revealed downloads had surpassed the 6 million song mark. At roughly $2 a song, that's nearly $12,000,000 worth of purchases. If we assume that Microsoft takes 30% of this, that's basically $8.4M going directly to MTV/Harmonix. A $60 game would have to sell 140k copies to generate that much revenue -- altenatively, 52k copies of the Special Edition of Rock Band would have to sell at $160. That may not seem like much, but consider that the $8.4M from DLC does not get impacted by the far higher manufacturing and distribution costs associated with a retail product, nor the increased amount of royalties likely paid per retail product (since there are roughly 60 songs in the game), and it starts looking much better in terms of profitability. Now that Harmonix has unveiled its new in-game store, it seems likely that the developer could actually improve its ability to sell music.

Not to be outdone, though, Guitar Hero has also touted its DLC success, claiming to have sold 5 million downloads back in January. However, it's unclear to me whether that includes all the freebies that Activision released for the game up until that point, including the "boss" battles, the Halo theme song, and the free Christmas download. I'm inclined to think that the numbers Activision released in January actually included the freebies, but even if they didn't, the ratio of DLC per copy sold was still better for Rock Band. Clearly, the constant stream of weekly downloads has proven to be a successful and steady revenue stream for MTV/Harmonix.

While Guitar Hero has offered the occasional piece downloadable content, and has even had some success with it, Activision's strategy for success with the Guitar Hero franchise still appears to be through the retail channel. Like Guitar Hero Encore Rocks the 80's, which released last Summer, Activision intends to provide another "standalone expansion" of sorts in the Guitar Hero series this June with Guitar Hero: Aerosmith. While it will probably sell decently, I was slightly skeptical about its appeal. Guitar Hero is unquestionably popular with gamers, and Aerosmith is an unquestionably popular band, but when it was announced I wondered exactly how many Guitar Hero gamers were actually also big enough fans of Aerosmith to buy a $60 game with a soundtrack mainly (but not entirely) focused on a single band.

Aerosmith has been around for a long time, but I wondered whether they had enough songs worthy of inclusion in a music game (Wikipedia lists 21 "Top 40" singles). Since its announcement, some new details have surfaced that indicate it won't be entirely composed of Aerosmith songs -- probably a good thing since I believe one aspect that people like about these games is the variety. Since the experience in the game will consist of a couple opening acts of music from non-Aerosmith bands, and then a set of Aerosmith music, it does seem like Activision may hit a good mix of both variety for the general Guitar Hero fan and depth for the Aerosmith fan.

Releasing two versions of the Guitar Hero franchise per year is certainly something that could negate the importance of selling Guitar Hero DLC for Activision. Using the current trends for Rock Band, by the time Guitar Hero: Aerosmith launches, Rock Band will have sold roughly 9 million songs, which would translate into about $12.6M for MTV/Harmonix. This would result in a needing to sell at least 210k copies of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, and then of course there's the additional development cost of creating a new game (rather than just new content), and the extra distribution costs associated with retail sales. Still, we can probably safely assume that if 500k copies of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith were to be sold, it would likely generate a profit for Activision. I have a feeling it will sell more than that, but for comparison purposes, Guitar Hero Encore Rocks the 80's sold 810k copies. Interestingly, Activision may not be stopping with the band-centric games after Aerosmith either, as there have already been rumors of a Guitar Hero: U2 and Guitar Hero: Beatles editions. Assuming these are being considered right now, the success of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith will probably determine their futures.

The difference in sales strategies (at least so far) doesn't answer the question of whether Rock Band can catch up to Guitar Hero at some point, though. With Guitar Hero's massive advantage in brand awareness, and the fact that it launched a few weeks before Rock Band, Guitar Hero III was able to sell amazingly well. It does not appear that Rock Band will be able to catch Guitar Hero with the current installments, considering the 6 to 1 sales advantage that Guitar Hero III currently holds. However, with their next installments, the Rock Band property could potentially win on the "next-gen" platforms. While Rock Band has not sold more than Guitar Hero III on any platform, part of the huge discrepancy between the sales is Guitar Hero's dominance on the PS2 versus Rock Band. While it came out later, Rock Band for PS2 has only sold a paltry 30k copies compared to 3.59M for Guitar Hero. This could be due to the fact that the PS2 version of the game came slightly "crippled" compared to the next-gen versions, with no "World Tour" mode and no support for DLC. But, more likely, this is simply attributed to the fact that Guitar Hero was already established as a brand on the PS2 where people already had the hardware they needed to play the game, and most people probably didn't want to shell out for an expensive new game with new hardware for their aging system.

If we remove the PS2 and the Wii (for now) from the equation, instead of a 6 to 1 advantage, Guitar Hero III has just over a 2 to 1 advantage over Rock Band. That gap is also shrinking little by little, as in the last two months NPD reports, the 360 version of Rock Band has been outselling the 360 version of Guitar Hero III. With its weekly downloadable content, favorable media reports, and more mainstream sightings, the positive buzz for Rock Band is certainly spreading. Much like the early days of Guitar Hero, the word-of-mouth for Rock Band will ensure that when the next versions of the two games go head-to-head, the "Rock Band" name will at least be far more well known than it was the first time around. While nothing has been officially announced yet for this holiday season in either of these franchises, I have a feeling that we'll be able to test this theory out come November.
As co-editors of A Link To The Future, Geoff and Jeff like to discuss, among many other topics, the business aspects of gaming. Game companies often make decisions that on their face appear baffling, or even infuriating, to many gamers. Yet when you think hard about them from the company's perspective, many other decisions are eminently sensible, or at least appeared to be so based on the conditions at the time those choices were made. Our goal with this column is to start a conversation about just those topics. While neither Geoff nor Jeff are employed in the game industry, they do have professional backgrounds that are relevant to the discussion. More to the point, they don't claim to have all the answers -- but this is a conversation worth having. You can reach them at

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]]>ActivisionAerosmithCounting-RupeesEAGuitar-HeroGuitarHeroHarmonixMTVNeversoftRed-OctaneRedOctaneRock-BandRockBandJeff Engel2008-03-27T20:00:00+00:00Activision believes Gibson's patent has 'no merit'http://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/20/activision-believes-gibsons-patent-has-no-merit/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/20/activision-believes-gibsons-patent-has-no-merit/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/20/activision-believes-gibsons-patent-has-no-merit/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,


Activision has made a formal statement about its lawsuit against Gibson Guitar Corporation's patent claim on Guitar Hero. Activision calls Gibson's squeeze-play a "transparent end run ... on patent assertions that Gibson knows have no merit." According to Activision, Gibson waited three years until this past January to make its patent allegations and only did so after Activision said it was no longer interested in renewing its "marketing and support agreement with Gibson."

Poor Gibson, looks like it's just a little bitter about (Warning: double cliché alert) not seeing the light on its patent many moons ago and missing the boat on a billion dollar franchise. Meanwhile, Harmonix is still making money off the franchise it lost and is currently working out a deal with Activision over the $14.5 million the company says it's due in royalty fees.

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]]>activisionghgibsonguitar-heroguitarheroharmonixlawsuitAlexander Sliwinski2008-03-20T16:43:00+00:00Guitar Hero III Guinness record holder wins tournament, beats previous recordhttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/20/gh-guinness-record-holder-wins-gh-iii-tournament-beats-previous/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/20/gh-guinness-record-holder-wins-gh-iii-tournament-beats-previous/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/20/gh-guinness-record-holder-wins-gh-iii-tournament-beats-previous/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

Chris Chike, currently the Guinness world record holder for points in Guitar Hero III, won the Play N Trade GHIII tournament last weekend and bested his record-setting score. Chike's Guinness score was 870,647 (seen in video above) before he won the tournament, along with $2000 of in-store credit, with 889,256 points.

The best part of this story is that Chike actually drove two hours to compete at the Play N Trade store in Bloomington, Minnesota. Guess when you're the world record holder the trip seems worth it, considering you've probably got the win in the bag. Chike says he still hasn't done as well at any tournament event than he's done at home. The good thing about tournaments and competition is you only have to be better than second place.

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]]>chikechris-chikeghgh3ghiiiguitar heroguitarheroguitarheroiiiplay-n-tradeAlexander Sliwinski2008-03-20T10:15:00+00:00The best thing you'll see today: Guitar Hero for the Commodore 64http://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/11/the-best-thing-youll-see-today-guitar-hero-for-the-commodore-6/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/11/the-best-thing-youll-see-today-guitar-hero-for-the-commodore-6/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/11/the-best-thing-youll-see-today-guitar-hero-for-the-commodore-6/#commentsFiled under: ,

After Guitar Hero made its way to mobile phones, this shouldn't come as much of a surprise: The game has (unofficially) made its way to the Commodore 64. Creator Toni Westbrook calls it Shredz64. We call it a ridiculously cool labor of love, and the best thing we've seen today.

Far from master tracks, the game only plays SID files, but for the decidedly (and necessarily) retro graphics of the game, it totally works. If you need proof, skip to about 4:30 in to see Toni wail through the Legend of Zelda Overworld theme. There's another equally impressive song after the break if you're interested. And if you're not, we're totally breaking up.

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]]>commodore64guitar-heroguitarheroJustin McElroy2008-03-11T13:00:00+00:00Huckabee decompresses after election defeat with lasagna and Rock Bandhttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/09/huckabee-decompresses-after-campaign-with-lasagna-and-rock-band/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/09/huckabee-decompresses-after-campaign-with-lasagna-and-rock-band/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/09/huckabee-decompresses-after-campaign-with-lasagna-and-rock-band/#commentsFiled under: ,


Following the primary elections of Vermont, Rhode Island, Texas and Ohio on March 4, a date affectionately known by many political junkies as "Super Tuesday 2: Electric Boogaloo", the Republican party found themselves with a candidate presumptive in John McCain following Mike Huckabee's resignation. How did the former Arkansas governor recover from watching his presidential aspirations crash and burn, you ask? He did what any of us would do -- he played some Rock Band, and he macked on some 'zanya.

It was a fitting end for the bass-slapper-turned-presidential-candidate, as his staffers gathered around to enjoy the layered Italian treat, and to witness Huck's well-documented aptitude with peripheral-based rhythm games. Regardless of your political views and endorsements, we think we can all agree that the gaming community would be well-served by a president that shared Huckabee's fervor for video games of any kind. His reported Garfield-esque penchant for lasagna, however, we could take or leave.

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]]>candidatecapitoloffenseguitarherohuckabeelasagnamikehuckabeepoliticspresidentrhythmrockbandGriffin McElroy2008-03-09T20:30:00+00:00Activision offering refunds for Wii version of Guitar Hero IIIhttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/24/activision-offering-refunds-for-wii-version-of-guitar-hero-iii/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/24/activision-offering-refunds-for-wii-version-of-guitar-hero-iii/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/24/activision-offering-refunds-for-wii-version-of-guitar-hero-iii/#commentsFiled under: ,


As our bat-eared readers discovered when the game was first released, the Wii edition of Guitar Hero III, though advertised as possessing Dolby Surround Sound capabilities, could only duplicate one channel of audio through multiple speakers (a.k.a. mono sound). Incensed, Nintendo's virtual troubadours demanded action -- Activision responded with a somewhat less-than-timely disc replacement program. Now, four months after the game was released, Activision has announced another method of atonement for their single-channel sins.

Instead of replacing your half-mute disc with a standard one (though this option is still available), you can now replace said disc with cold, hard cash (or warm, soft cash, depending on your local climate and the weariness of the bills you receive). While we're sure this policy will be exploited by those who tire of faux rocking and simply want the cash, it's refreshing to see Actie-V face their shortcomings so directly -- if not a tad unpunctually.

[Via Evil Avatar]

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]]>activisionguitar-hero-iiiguitarheroguitarheroiiineversoftnintendorefundreplacementwiiGriffin McElroy2008-02-24T13:00:00+00:00Rumor: Guitar Hero: Aerosmith to use drum and mic peripheralshttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/17/rumor-guitar-hero-aerosmith-to-use-drum-and-mic-peripherals/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/17/rumor-guitar-hero-aerosmith-to-use-drum-and-mic-peripherals/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/17/rumor-guitar-hero-aerosmith-to-use-drum-and-mic-peripherals/#commentsFiled under: , , ,


While you might think a game titled Guitar Hero: Aerosmith would have you playing, you know, guitars, a Best Buy advertisement for the latest mistake chapter in the rhythm game franchise claims you'll be able to play as all of the "famous rock legends" in "America's greatest rock and roll band" -- including the drummer, Joey Kramer, and band's own lady-lookin'-dude, Steven Tyler, using a drum peripheral and microphone peripheral (complete with flamboyantly colored scarf, we assume).

If true, we wonder if Activision would release their own controllers for the game, or count on backwards compatibility with the Rock Band peripherals (fat chance, considering the near feud between Harmonix and Activision over Rock Band's guitar compatibility issues). Not that it matters to us -- the only devices we'd use to interact with a rhythm game featuring songs by Aerosmith are a clay pigeon launcher and our trusty pump-action shotgun.

[Thanks, Waffle Slayer.]

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]]>activisionaerosmithdrumsguitarherojoeykramermicmicrophoneneversoftsteventylerGriffin McElroy2008-02-17T20:30:00+00:00Activision files trademark for 'DJ Hero'http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/17/activision-files-trademark-for-dj-hero/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/17/activision-files-trademark-for-dj-hero/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/17/activision-files-trademark-for-dj-hero/#commentsFiled under:


Activision, publishers of Guitar Hero 2 and 3 (and the abomination known as Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s), recently filed for a trademark for the name "DJ Hero". No, it's not an adventure game featuring everyone's favorite character from Full House -- the trademark references software to be released with a special controller, leading us to assume we'll be living out our fondest Mix Master Mike fantasies with a rhythm game, complete with tiny plastic turntables when, and if, the game comes out.

Wait a minute -- doesn't that sound a lot like Beatmania, a popular Konami rhythm game using a turntable peripheral that's been around since 1997? Now that we think about it, Konami also came up with Guitar Freaks in 1998, long before the release of the similarly designed Guitar Hero. And that Rock Band drum peripheral looks a heck of a lot like the one used in Konami's 1999 arcade hit DrumMania. We wonder what Harmonix and Activision's next project will be -- Vampire Killer Hero or FOXHOUND Hero?

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]]>activisionbeatmaniadjdjherodrummaniaguitarfreaksguitarheromixmastermikemusicrhythmturntablesGriffin McElroy2008-02-17T19:00:00+00:00Guitar Hero: Aerosmith announced, GHIII getting 'Dream On' for freehttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/15/guitar-hero-aerosmith-announced-ghiii-getting-dream-on-for-f/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/15/guitar-hero-aerosmith-announced-ghiii-getting-dream-on-for-f/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/15/guitar-hero-aerosmith-announced-ghiii-getting-dream-on-for-f/#commentsFiled under: , , ,


In an announcement that may just usurp the throne from Electronic Arts as the king of milking franchises, Activision has announced plans for a new Guitar Hero title, casting aside the franchise's reputation for offering a wide breadth of rocking tracks in favor of highlighting a single band -- Aerosmith. The news echoes comments made by guitarist Joe Perry last year regarding the series' next installment, at which time he said that the next Guitar Hero game would be dedicated to the band's music.

The announcement comes following Activision's promise earlier this month to return to the well this year, with the newly announced Guitar Hero: Aerosmith currently expected to ship to retail in June with Neversoft handling the game for the Xbox 360 and PS3, and Vicarious Visions taking care of development on the Wii. Details remain nonexistent concerning what tracks we can expect to make the cut, with guitarist Joe Perry commenting only that the title is "based on the diversity of the Aerosmith catalog." With a game dedicated to one -- and only one -- band, we have to assume that whatever songs do find their way onto the disc, they'll be master tracks (they better be).

And if June seems to far off for those of you hugging your Steven Tyler doll while staring at the Pump tour poster on the wall, Activision has announced plans to release the band's 1973 power ballad 'Dream On' as a download for the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of GHIII (Sorry Wii owners, but you knew what you were getting into). The song will be free from February 16-18, so get it while it's hot!

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]]>activisionAerosmithbreakingnewsguitar-heroguitarheromilkingneversoftPSNVicarious-VisionsVicariousVisionsXbox-LiveXboxLiveJason Dobson2008-02-15T09:40:00+00:00Activision's 2008 promises more Guitar Hero, James Bond, Spider-Manhttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/08/activisions-2008-promises-more-guitar-hero-james-bond-spider/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/08/activisions-2008-promises-more-guitar-hero-james-bond-spider/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/08/activisions-2008-promises-more-guitar-hero-james-bond-spider/#commentsFiled under: , , ,


Activision's recent conference call didn't consist entirely of gloating about those record holiday-quarter sales, as the publisher also took the opportunity to outline some of its plans for 2008. It seems we're in for quite the party, albeit one where you'll actually remember everybody's name. Guitar Hero? James Bond? Tony Hawk? Spider-Man? Yeah, we've met.

According to a Variety report, the aforementioned party will see multiple performances by The Instrument Protagonists, due to promote two Guitar Hero "add-ons" in Spring and a full sequel in Fall. While party animals debate the game tie-ins to animated films Kung Fu Panda and Madagascar 2, suave gentleman will attempt to decrypt James Bond's film adaptation, Quantum of Solace. A roughly equal amount of solace will be found by the comic fans huddled around the punch bowl, as new Spider-Man and Marvel Ultimate Alliance games are expected to knock on the door at some point during the festivities.

Finally, don't expect Tony Hawk to be turned away (he's on the guest list), especially since he's bringing his friend ... uh ... Call of Duty? We honestly don't know where we're going with this analogy.

[Via The Cut Scene]

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]]>007ActivisionGuitar-HeroGuitar-Hero-IVGuitarHeroJames-BondKung-Fu-PandaMadagascar-2Marvel-Ultimate-AllianceMarvel-Ultimate-Alliance-2Quantum-of-SolaceSpider-ManTony-HawkTonyHawkLudwig Kietzmann2008-02-08T06:30:00+00:00Activision Q4 sales up 80% to $1.48 billionhttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/08/activision-q4-sales-up-80-to-1-48-billion/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/08/activision-q4-sales-up-80-to-1-48-billion/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/08/activision-q4-sales-up-80-to-1-48-billion/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , ,


One of the nice things about being the top US publisher in a booming game industry is that it affords you the privilege of announcing record holiday sales. Activision's third fiscal quarter, stretching from October to December 2007, saw the publisher's sales increase by 80% over the year prior to $1.48 billion, with profits amounting to $272.2 million. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare are the key titles to praise if you're Activision and blame if you're a consumer wondering where all your hard-earned money went.

Activision anticipates a further $350 million in sales to originate from its fourth fiscal quarter (ending in March), ultimately contributing to a projected $2.65 billion for the entire fiscal year 2008. As long as shootin' and shreddin' remain popular and the upcoming Vivendi merger stays on track, we don't expect to put "bankrupt" and "Activision" in the same sentence for a very long time. Well, not unless one those words is preceded by "creatively."


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]]>ActivisionBreakingNewsCall-of-Duty-4CallofDuty4COD4Financial-ResultsGuitar-HeroGuitarHeroGuitarHeroIIILudwig Kietzmann2008-02-08T05:00:00+00:00