Rhythm games have certainly been keeping the tempo up for financial growth in the industry. GameDaily notes UBS analyst Ben Schachter's report, showing "music-themed games" have made up 15% of software sales year-to-date and 32% year-over-year growth so far.
The Guitar Hero franchise is already up 82% this year, with Guitar Hero: On Tour taking in $15 million in July alone. Meanwhile, Rock Band, across all platforms, took in $47 million in July ... and that doesn't even count any DLC sales. Unless the rhythm game bubble bursts in the next few months, GH: World Tour and Rock Band 2 sales -- along with their respective DLC sales -- could make up a significant portion of another record-breaking year for the industry.
Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick finds comments made by Warner Music -- saying it should be paid more for the use of its music in games like Guitar Hero -- a little "one-sided." The Financial Times reports that the Blizzavision chief thinks comments made by Warner Music's Edgar Bronfman don't take into account the "capital and resources" required to turn the song into something "fun to play."
With the music industry taking a backseat to the games industry, it's not surprising to find record execs trying to figure out a way to squeeze more money out of a billion-dollar franchise. The thing is, though, that Activision's merger with Vivendi Games, connects it to Vivendi Universal, which owns Universal Music, the "world's largest music publisher." At the end of the day, Kotick can snap his fingers and never talk to Warner Music again, all the while squeezing every last dollar out of the Guitar Hero franchise until it stops being the soup du jour.
During E3 we spoke with third-party peripheral manufacturer Nyko about its line of FrontMan guitars and which games the different versions were compatible with. We did a quick and dirty post on what we were told during the E3 madness, but Nyko just sent over the chart above, which, admittedly, is much easier to understand.
Activision announced this morning that Guitar Hero: On Tour is booking gigs all over and has sold 300,000 units in its first week. The publisher states that GH:OT is the company's best launch on the DS by a factor of eight; not only that, but it's also one of the top five best-selling launches "in the company's history."
Activision's Mike Griffith -- who's probably still high from his $1.5 million bonus -- is excited about GH:OT's "breakthrough peripheral" bringing the Guitar Hero experience to the potential 41 million DS owners in NA and Europe. All we know is we'll have entered a strange new world if we start seeing people playing this game on public transportation.
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.
Ahead of Guitar Hero: On Tour's release later this month, Nintendo has confirmed plans to release a new DS bundled with the portable rhythm game. First revealed in May by Activision publishing boss Mike Griffith last month, and later spotted where a kid can be a kid, the bundle is set for release on June 22 alongside the game, rather than a week later as previously reported.
An official price for the package, which will include a new black and silver DS Lite branded with the Guitar Hero logo, has not yet been announced. However, Toys 'R' Us earlier listed the bundle for $179.99 (a listing that has since been removed), giving rockers on the go an idea of how much to scrape together before going on tour.
Some of us here at Joystiq still remember the first time we played Super Mario 64, at a Toys "R" Us kiosk set up a month before the game and the Nintendo 64 system were officially released. Compared to that, a four-hour long in-store sneak peak for Guitar Hero: On Tour might not seem as revolutionary, but hey, we'll take what we can get.
Players eager for some portable shredding can head to their local TRU between noon and 4 p.m. on June 14 -- one week before the game's June 22 release. Besides getting the opportunity to "prove their shredding skills on the most diverse set list of master tracks ever offered in a Guitar Hero game," as the release puts it, attendees will also receive a "complimentary Guitar Hero sticker, dog tag, and temporary tattoo." Caution: Wearing all three at once may actually transform you into a rock god, accidentally raining rock-infused destruction on the surrounding area. You've been warned.
Toys 'R' Us has given us the first look at a definite must-have for any on-the-go wannabe rock god. Priced at $179.99, the limited edition Nintendo DS Guitar Hero Bundle includes the game, Guitar Grip, and a swanky two-toned silver & black DS Lite with silkscreened Guitar Hero logo. (You know, in case the stylus strumming and shouts of "Star Power!" don't give away what game you're playing.)
The bundle goes on sale June 29, one week after the, er ... "light rock" version of Guitar Hero: On Tour. Given all the evidence, we're pretty much convinced Nintendo is going for some kind of record for "most bundles and color variations of a handheld gaming system ever."
You've heard about the game. You've seen the crazy "Guitar Grip" peripheral. You've wondered: "Can the DS really pull off a proper Guitar Hero?" Last night we sat down, strapped a DS to one hand, and held a special pick-shaped stylus in the other to answer that question for you ... and ourselves.
Surrounded by a gaggle of other gamers having their first go on the game, we heard shouts of "Rock on!" and "Star Power!," cementing in our minds that this was going to be an even more atypical Guitar Hero experience than we had imagined. Fortunately, it was a lot like the Guitar Hero experience we've grown to love over various console incarnations, too.
Good news: There's a video that demonstrates what the gameplay for Guitar Hero: On Tour is going to be like on the Nintendo DS. Bad news: The video is painful to watch. Like, cringe inducing to the point that you may break your neck as your head tries to bury itself into your body.
We don't know if this video was even officially released; as of this writing, the versions on both GameVideos and GameTrailers were user submitted. We checked with contacts at both sites but, to the best of our knowledge, Activision didn't send this out in any official capacity (after watching, it's pretty easy to guess why).
For the launch of Guitar Hero: On Tour, Nintendo and Activision are planning to sell bundles of the handheld system and game. Said Activision Publishing CEO Mike Griffith in a conference call (34:50 mark), "Nintendo has been impressed with this innovation and part of our launch will include selling the game bundled with Nintendo DS hardware." On Tour has 15 confirmed songs so far and is due out this June.
If you've ever been enjoying the music of No Doubt or Twisted Sister and thought "Yes, this is good, but it's just not compressed enough for my tastes," you'll be happy to hear that they and 13 other bands were recently announced for the upcoming DS release Guitar Hero: On Tour.
Perhaps considering the popularity of the system outside of the hardcore, the song selections do seem a bit more ... mainstream than we've become accustomed to. But overall, they don't seem like bad picks. Check out the full list after the break and let us know what you think.
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.
We have to admit that the first time we saw the elegant, though not particularly guitar-like peripheral Activision had created for the DS' Guitar Hero: On Tour, we were concerned. It wasn't the missing orange button (we're fans of anything getting easier, whether it's fake guitar playing or cutting things), no, we were more worried that owners of the original DS (the DS Phat, on the streets) would be excluded from the fun by their system's girth.
But now, Activision has dispelled our fears with the announcement that the Guitar Grip will work with both of the models. Now, Phatties, as for actually being able to see the notes in anything but perfect lighting, we're afraid you're on your own on that one.
Finally, after months of speculation and funny Photoshop mockups of little guitars, Activision has spilled some details on the portable DS release of Guitar Hero dubbed, as expected, Guitar Hero: On Tour. Most notable is the hardware peripheral that looks decidedly unlike a mini-guitar. Instead, the "Guitar Grip" gives you not only a place to grip your DS while playing, but four "fret" buttons and a storage slot for the game's sure-to-be-lost-quickly "guitar pick" that you "strum" on the touch-screen. Since the luckier amongst us have a full set of five fingers – with our poor thumbs reduced to simply gripping things – we're anticipating a significantly easier gameplay experience than On Tour's five-buttoned siblings.
But what about the music, man? Karthik Bala, CEO of developer Vicarious Visions, says "There are more than 20 songs in the game, with the majority being exclusive to Guitar Hero: On Tour." he continues, "We've done custom note tracking for all the songs and over 80 percent of the songs are original, master recordings." We're not sure what 20 master recordings are going to sound like once they've been squished into a DS cart, but we're hopeful they've addressed that concern. Close-up shot of the Guitar Grip and cheesy marketing vid embedded after the break.
Read – Exclusive Reveal: Guitar Hero DS [IGN] Read – Guitar Hero: On Tour Interview [Yahoo]
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