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Major Nelson has revealed that two new demos are available on Xbox Live Marketplace. The first is Guitar Hero: Van Halen. It's like Guitar Hero, but with Van Halen in it. At this point, if you need more description than that we can't really help you. The demo is available in all regions.

The other demo is for Crash Time 3. Honestly, how that game ever made it past Crash Time 1 is a mystery we will never solve. The demo is available in European regions only. You can add either demo to your 360 download queue by clicking the links below.

Shortcut: Download the Guitar Hero: Van Helen demo [Via Xbox.com]
Shortcut: Download the Crash Time 3 demo (Europe only) [Via Xbox.com]

Activision is pulling out a majority of the stops for the last month of 2009, adding a highly varied assortment of tracks to Guitar Hero 5 and Band Hero throughout the next 31 days. Included are track packs from OneRepublic and The Fall of Troy, an "Indie Rock" pack which includes songs from Spoon, Pavement and Nada Surf, a "New Years Rock" pack which features music from Taylor Swift, Maroon 5 and No Doubt, and finally, a totally free song which will arrive shortly before the holidays: Steve Ouimette's version of "Hark The Herald Angels Sing."

These songs follow the franchise's usual DLC pricing structure: Each single track will cost 160 ($2, 200 Wii Points), while each track pack will cost 440 ($5.50, 550 Wii Points). For a full list of song titles and release dates, just click past the break.

Activision has applied to trademark Drum Hero. Yes, your initial reaction is likely the same as ours: "Wait, how did Activision not do that already?" Good question, but apparently the Guitar Hero, DJ Hero, and Band Hero publisher only applied for the trademark in late October. This does not guarantee a percussion-based Hero title is in the works, but, once again, aren't we all a little surprised one doesn't already exist?

If the inside of your cranium is tickling with the distinct feeling like you have memory of a Drum Hero trademark, the confusion may have to do with the Guitar Villain and Drum Villain trademarks, that were apparently filed back in 2007 -- which is when one would think the Drum Hero trademark would have been filed as well.

[Via MTV Multiplayer]

Look, just feign surprise, it makes these financial posts so much more exciting: Activision today reported net revenues of $755 million (on a non-GAAP basis) in the quarter ending September 30, 2009 -- that's $55 million more than the suits hoped to stack, according to previous projections. While the blockbuster adaptation of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen might have played a part in this outpouring of our money, we're gonna go with Kotick's explanation: "Our performance was driven by positive audience response to Activision Publishing's Guitar Hero 5, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, and the Guitar Hero and Call of Duty franchises, as well as Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft."

In fact, the CEO called Guitar Hero the year's "#1 best-selling third-party franchise in North America and Europe" through September, claiming that U.S. sales of music games increased 72 percent year over year in September. Last year's big-band-box edition, World Tour, and Call of Duty: World at War combined for total, world domination, becoming this year's "#1 and #2 best-selling third-party titles" in North America and Europe through September, according to Activision. Additionally, World at War DLC map pack sales continued to climb last quarter and have now surpassed 7.5 million purchases.

Needless to say, the publisher is not backing off of its prior financial outlook. Activision anticipates annual net revenues of $4.5 billion (on a non-GAAP basis) at the close of the year. Did you remember to feign surprise?

Sure, November may lack the phonetic building blocks which allow the word "Rock" to be tucked in there somehow, but that doesn't mean it won't bring any hard-rockin' jams to Guitar Hero 5. We've got the full list of DLC that's coming to the game next month posted after the jump, including selections from Lenny Kravitz, Metallica, KISS and others. One bundle, the "Neversoft Thanks the Fans Track Pack," will be absolutely free. The other packs, will follow the 160 ($2, 200 Wii Points) per song, 440 ($5.50, 550 Wii Points) per three-song pack pricing structure of last month's releases.

In addition, on Nov. 5, players will be able to import 61 of Band Hero's tracks into Guitar Hero 5 for 400 ($5, 500 Wii Points), or 69 of Guitar Hero 5's tracks into Band Hero for 480 ($6, 600 Wii Points). Hooray for sharing!

When celebrities get on board for a game, the inevitable pitfall is the dreaded interview where said celebrity awkwardly tries relating to the "gamer" crowd (trust us, we know all about it.) With DJ Hero dropping this week, celebrity sponsor Jay-Z sat down with MTV News to talk about how much of a gamer he is (hint: not so much) and his support for the cultural awareness opportunities inherent in the recently released turntable title.

"Immediately, of course, with the success of Guitar Hero, you know, [DJ Hero] piqued my interest, and then on top of that it was something from the hip-hop culture. So, anytime you can, you know, I can expand the genre and introduce it to new audiences and widen it -- you know, the reach of what hip-hop can do -- you know, I'm interested in that," Jay-Z explains in the video interview (embedded after the break).

As far as Jay-Z's gaming roots, that's another story altogether. "I was really a gamer," Jay-Z urges. "Like, ask any of the guys. Like, I used to -- Madden and all these type of games," Jay-Z awkwardly cobbles together, "I was, like, really a problem. Like, those were my things -- for awhile." Presumably, until, you know, he got all that other stuff that impresses us, right? It's okay, Mr. Z -- you don't have to impress us with your gaming prowess, too. It's not like we have the numbers of "the guys" to fact check your claims anyway.

Activision is making people believe in the weird DS "drum skin" attachment for Band Hero the best way it knows how: by finding the most excitable shills it can in shopping centers, and putting the game in their hands. Predictably, they love it. We've never seen a mall so full of people willing to dance awkwardly to a DS game.

The buttons that go on top of the DS's buttons are only one of the selling points espoused in this trailer. Band Hero's extensive track list and flexible multiplayer (just like in the console version, you can combine instruments in any configuration) get lip service too. But they aren't as noticeable as that thing you put on the DS to play drums.

University of Washington Ph.D. student Scott Saponas demonstrated his muscle-movement interface for computer systems, by using it to control a familiar application: Guitar Hero. The system appears to guess finger movements by reading the signals from muscles in the forearm. The result: a true air guitar experience. In the custom Guitar Hero setup, the player can hold frets simply by touching a finger with his thumb, and strum by, well, strumming the air. See it in action after the break!

This is just a demonstration of some experimental technology. It's not specifically a game controller, and Activision won't be shipping electrodes to stores any time soon. This is a presentation for the Association for Computer Machinery's Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology -- the Guitar Hero thing just makes for an impressive show.

[Via Kotaku]

Normally when people mod real instruments for use in music-rhythm games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero, they don't intentionally include the ability for someone else to play along by punching them. For Norway's Morten Skogly, that choice seemed only natural. On his website, you can see a shot-by-shot breakdown of the process necessary to transform something that creates music into something that plays along with music.

In fairness, the entire (ridiculously intricate) process leads to the hilarious video you'll find after the break. You see, rather than strum on the strings of his guitar, the punching gloves (punching him, mind you) approximate a strum for him. That means that every time he pushes a note, he gets punched. It's like penance!

The next time your friends complain about soccer being boring, you can do something slightly more productive than silently mocking their boorish lack of sophistication. You can show them this video of "Football Hero" (after the break), which consists of soccer players kicking balls into a gigantic, vibration-sensitive screen to play Frets on Fire, a freeware adaptation of Guitar Hero's core gameplay.

Then, just for us, make sure you convince them that every soccer match is exactly like this.

[Via Engadget]

Ever have a musician friend over to your house, only to find yourself ever-so-slightly embarrassed by the pile of fake instruments filling your den? Well, you should probably never let them catch you with the Altec Lansing Stage-Gig, a replica monitor meant to give guitar heroes the sense of a real rock show by blaring their audio straight up at them from the floor.

It's kind of a cute idea, but we're not sure we're willing to pay $99 to have our 5.1 audio replaced by a single Altec Lansing speaker. Sure, you could buy two and have a really inconvenient stereo setup, but we think it's safe to chalk up another victory for imagination.

[Via Engadget]

The patent suit brought by Gibson against Harmonix and other parties related to Guitar Hero and Rock Band was stayed due to the US Patent and Trademark Office deciding to reexamine the patent. According to Patent Arcade, Harmonix and a group of retailers have asked a Tennessee court to continue proceedings -- of the case against them.

Why is Harmonix engaging in this seemingly self-destructive (but not in the cool rock star way) behavior? When the USPTO looked into the patent again, it changed the definition of "musical instrument" to include the characteristics of being "adapted for making musical sounds" and "the instrument audio signal comprising an electrical signal output by the musical instrument that varies in response to operation of the instrument by the user of the system."

Harmonix apparently believes that because of this new definition, and because of the precedent set by Gibson's other case, against Activision, the case will go in its favor in the end. If the stay is lifted, Harmonix will then file a motion for summary judgment of non-infringement.

The Beatles: Rock Band's initial U.S. tour at retail has proven boast-worthy for its promoters. Following two promising platform appearances in NPD's top 10 software sales chart for September, MTV Games and Harmonix have declared B:RB "the top selling music video game in the U.S. for September." The Beatles–only game (released September 9) outsold Guitar Hero 5 (released September 1) with 595,000 units to 499,000 units in total U.S. sales for the month, according to a statement released by the NPD*. Additionally, charity-driven purchases of the "All You Need Is Love" DLC track exceeded 100,000 downloads on Xbox 360 in September.

The makers of B:RB have also rubbed in a few seemingly noteworthy facts; namely, (1) U.S. purchases of GH5 in September were eligible for a free mail-away copy of Guitar Hero: Van Halen, and (2) GH5 is available on one additional platform, PS2. Of course, Van Halen isn't exactly the American equivalent of The Beatles, and the PS2 is no longer the dominant platform to stage one's acts upon. Still, despite the staggering odds stacked against its success, B:RB managed to capture the mindshare of U.S. gamers. (And we all know that Americans like to speak their minds with their monies.)

The sales de-feat must feel good for MTV Games and Harmonix -- what with B:RB being burned in the sales competition with GH5 by the kingdom that birthed the band (see: Chart-Track UK September sales rankings posted after the break). What was it? Right: Guitar Hero 5 supposedly outsold The Beatles: Rock Band "2-to-1 in the UK."

So, score a victory for B:RB in the battle of the bands fought in U.S. retail last month. But let's not forget there's a bigger, "World War of Rock" being waged, as well. And our wallets are the oft-unreported collateral damage.

If you've been savoring the slow trickle of track list announcements for Activision's tween-oriented rhythm title, Band Hero, your prolonged pleasure is about to come to a satisfying, yet abrupt end. The publisher has revealed all of the songs that will be available on the generically monikered game, and we've posted them -- along with details about compatible DLC and song importing from other Guitar Hero games -- after the jump in the least confusing manner we could possibly conjure. To help in this endeavor, we've even added a table of contents!

Man, we're seriously too nice for our own good.

If you're anything like us, you went running out to see the latest Vince Vaughn / Jon Favreau vehicle Couples Retreat the second you heard about the exciting partnership between Activision's Guitar Hero franchise and Universal contained within. You see, Vaughn's character works as a Guitar Hero salesperson (does that exist?) -- a point that comes into play when the film features a plastic peripheral-powered GH duel between Vaughn's character and a resort staffer. According to Variety, Vaughn and Favreau wrote the music rhythm game into the film because they are fans of the series, leading Activision to sign on as one of the film's many marketing partners.

"When we heard that Vince's character is a salesperson of the video game we laughed hysterically," Will Kassoy, senior VP of publishing at Activision, told Variety. With the film opening to a $35.3 million weekend, it appears everyone involved was laughing all the way to the bank, proving that hackneyed premises can still sneak their way into just about any kind of mainstream media and work. With Favreau prepping the return of Iron Man, Kassoy said Activision "wouldn't mind" if the superhero decided to pick up a Guitar Hero controller. Now that's synergy!