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Activision is taking a cue from Rock Band and will be including vocal, bass and drums in Guitar Hero IV. Joystiq has pics of the drum kit prototype for the game from the latest issue of Game Informer. The kit comes close to a midi compatible professional drum kit. It features a bass pedal and three snares and two dedicated symbol pads.

At this time, there’s no word on whether the kits for the two games will be compatible. However I doubt they will be considering the near open warfare between Activision and  Harmonix over guitar compatibility; and the guitar peripherals were almost identical in design.

via Joystiq

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Okay, so if GameStop is any indication of how the rest of the retailers in the U.S. sold Grand Theft Auto IV, Microsoft saw its system cash in on 64% of sales for Rockstar’s game, while Sony only got 36% of the love in the game’s first week. But, as the numbers show, the PlayStation 3 actually had the better performance when you compare the number of systems that have been sold. (Thanks to Level Up for doing all the math so I didn’t have to.)

After reaching out to both Microsoft and Sony, Level Up got two very different takes, as you’d expect.

Microft’s Aaron Greenberg (the same one that ripped the PS3 recently) had this to say:

I think many people have been surprised to see how well GTA IV is selling on Xbox 360 given the history of the franchise. These sales results add GTA IV to a long list of franchises that have switched over from Playstation to find a new home on Xbox 360 similar to what happened last year with titles like Madden and Guitar Hero. As you have covered on Level Up in the past, the majority of third party franchises are being developed first on our platform so they end up playing best on Xbox 360 and when you combine that with Xbox Live, we expect this trend to continue as more multiplatform releases hit the market. With that said, it is fantastic to hear that we beat PS3 two to one on Grand Theft Auto sales from a major retailer like GameStop.

Sony marketing VP Peter Dille offered this take:

GameStop probably does a little bit better with the early adopter crowd. There’s a larger installed base right now on Xbox 360 than on PS3. So it’s not surprising that there’s going to be more selling on Xbox 360 than PS3. Having said that, we’re really excited about the ratio. If I had an installed base advantage of 3-1, I wouldn’t be crowing too much about a 60-40 sales advantage. We think it’s not as high as what GameStop’s telling you, if you look at [the full picture on] the national level. They’re outselling us, but not by that same margin, and it’s because of their installed base lead. With an installed base lead that’s close to 3-1, if you’re bragging about a 60-40 software split, it’s clear evidence that the Playstation 3 consumer is overindexing on GTA IV, and the Playstation brand loyalty that we’ve been talking about is bearing itself out in the marketplace as we speak.

Dille’s right, as the numbers proved, but does anyone else find it funny that for once Sony is actually using its smaller install base as an argument in their favor?

via Level Up

A New patch for Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock has been released for the PC and Mac versions of the game. Fixes include a new “Front Row Cam” option which allows better performance on low end configurations, with smoother gameplay, laptop specific optimizations for better performance, Intel X3100 graphics chips are now supported, a battery meter icon will display remaining battery charge on supported laptops, and a Wifi meter will display signal strength during multiplayer games on supported laptops.

For the patch, hit the badges below for the windows and mac versions, respectively.

You just gotta love the NeoGAF forums for their timely information updates, and spoilers too.

Today, they have posted some information that is supposedly in the June issue of “Game Informer” regarding Guitar Hero IV - and since I have not received mine in the mail yet I cannot back them up; plus we have zero info from Activision or Neversoft regarding this information, so please take this with a grain of salt until it can be considered reliable. Of course, NeoGAF is usually spot on, so just continue reading and let the speculation begin.

Here are the goods:

Guitar Hero 4 (PS3, 360, Wii, PS2)

• Create a song. Although these exclude vocals due to storage and possible copyright issues.
• You’ll be able to name your song as well as creating album art. After you’ve done all that you can upload it to GH Tunes where anyone can download it.
• You’ll be limited to 5 songs at first. But depending on the ratings you get you’ll possibly be able to upload 10 or more.
• The song sharing mode will be in the Wii and PS2 versions also, but GI says it’s unlikely that it’ll be as robust as the PS3 and 360 versions.
• Drums, bass, vocals guitar
• Create a rocker
• Create a guitar and drums
• All songs will be master tracks
• They don’t want to discuss specifics on track listing out of fear of being scooped by the competition. However they confirmed 4 bands: Van Halen, The Eagles, Linkin Park and Sublime.
• A new guitar designed by Red Octane that includes a new input mechanic that’ll “impact the way you play GH in the future”.
• GI saw see through notes while playing that Neversoft said was the new input mechanic and that they were trying to patent.

To be honest with you, all of this sounds good to me, especially Van Halen and the Eagles - as long as it is rocking Eagles and NO DESPERADO!!!!

Via: NeoGaf

Activision has announced a new milestone Guitar Hero has achieved. Not to be upstaged by the former guitar heroes at Harmonix, who recently announced that Rock Band had passed the 10 million songs downloaded mark, Activision announced at a recent conference call that Guitar Hero has surpassed the 15 million downloaded songs mark.

That’s certainly an impressive figure that’s larger than Harmonix’s, but these numbers do, after all, include Guitar Hero II on Xbox 360. A commenter on Xbox 360 Fanboy made the keen observation that these don’t necessarily reflect the number of songs purchased, and Guitar Hero has seen several free tracks released.

But it seems clear that both companies are finding DLC to be a profitable form of business. Not profitable enough, though, as the cash-in known as Guitar Hero: Aerosmith proves.

via Joystiq

Jonathan mentioned last week that a Muse Track Pack for GH III would be available this week, and Chris mentioned that it was now available through PSN yesterday.Today, The Major posted that it became available last night for the Xbox 360 and here are the details:

Content: Muse Track Pack
Price: 500 Points
Availability: Not available in India
Dash Text: [ESRB: T (Teen) MILD LYRICS,MILD SUGGESTIVE THEMES] “Exo-Politics”, “Stockholm Syndrome” & “Supermassive Black Hole” as performed by Muse. For all song credits please visit www.redoctane.com There are no refunds for this item. For more information, see www.xbox.com/live/accounts.

Via: Major Nelson

The PlayStation Store has gotten a great update this week with three solid demos, new music for both Guitar Hero III and Rock Band, the expansion pack to PixelJunk, PixelJunk Monsters Encore ($5.99), and Rocketmen: Axis of Evil ($9.99). In addition to all that, there’s a number of trailers for games and movies, including an Iron Man trailer and one for WipEout HD and Mercenaries 2.

Check it all out after the break.

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The fourth annual Games for Health Conference will be showcasing the expanding role of video games in the Health profession. Video game technology is being applied in the field for rehabilitation, training and to encourage exercise.

Some highlights of the conference will be familiar to most gamers. A new version of Activision’s Guitar Hero is being introduced, which will be used in the rehabilitation of arm amputees. The results of studies based on the “Corrupted Blood Syndrome” form Blizzard’s World of Warcraft are also being presented.

Attendees will have the chance to play training games like 3DiTeams and the K.I.C.K. (Kid’s Interactive Creation Kiosk). 3DiTeams offers emergency health care training to medical professionals in virtual worlds. The full press release follows the break.

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We have known for quite some time that Activision has planned to release Guitar Hero IV sometime close to the holiday shopping extravaganza, but during their conference call yesterday they confirmed that it will be made available for all three major consoles plus the PS2 and DS. Still, that is no surprise.

What is surprising though, slightly at least, is that this yet unnamed title will provide what Activison calls a “significant leap forward in innovation” for not only the franchise but for music simulation gaming as a whole. Could this be the extra instruments they have been talking about recently? Who knows at this point, but during the call it was stated that information would be forthcoming soon.

As far as new concerning Guitar Hero: On Tour for the DS, Activision announced that the company and Nintendo are planning to release a bundle which will include a Nintendo DS, Guitar Hero: On Tour and the DS peripheral. Also, an add-on pack of new music will be released for Guitar Hero: On Tour sometime this year but contents, release date, and price was not given.

Stay tuned for more information on the ever growing assortment of Guitar Hero titles. I am sure Guitar Hero: Fergie is next somewhere down the line. God I hope not.

Thanks: Videogaming247 (here and here)

Activision has published results for the company’s 2008 financial year and the numbers are pretty impressive. Raking in over $2.9 billion in net earnings gave them a 92% increase in monetary gains over last year’s figures. Activision’s net income stands at $344.9 million, up from $85.8 million last year and kudos goes out to Guitar Hero III and CoD4 helping them out by bringing in one billion dollars each in sales.

Head honcho Robert Kotick stated during a conference call following the published figures:

“During the fiscal year, we were the number one US console and handheld publisher in dollars for the first time ever, according to The NPD Group, and we grew our worldwide share of the console, handheld and PC markets year over year.”

Also mentioned during the conference call was the confirmation of a fifth Call of Duty game, the reinvention of the Tony Hawk series, the announcement of a new Marvel: Ultimate Alliance title and discussions relating to Guitar Hero 4 and its holiday release date.

This means that Activison will be another contender for number one publisher next year, especially considering that they have merged with Blizzard. Just think of the money they will earn when Wrath of the Lich King is unleashed upon the world.

Via: Eurogamer

MTV and Harmonix have landed themselves a sponsor to temporarily drop the price of various songs in Rock Band from now through June 1. The songs will cost just 80 Microsoft Points, rather than the usual 160. Just who is sponsoring, you ask? Why, McDonald’s, of course. Because when you think rock music, you think McDonald’s.

The sales schedule is as follows:

5/6/08-5/12/08 :
Crushcrushcrush - Paramore
Rock ‘n Roll Band - Boston

5/13/08-5/19/08 :
Shockwave - Black Tide
Sugar Magnolia - Grateful Dead

5/20/08-5/26/08:
We Care A Lot - Faith No More
All the Small Things - Blink 182

5/27/08-6/2/08:
Gimme Three Steps - Lynyrd Skynyrd
Dirty Little Secret - All-American Rejects

Hopefully this sale works out well and we see future advertisers do something similar (and with a broader selection of music). Another point goes to Rock Band in the ongoing battle with Guitar Hero.

via Major Nelson

You gotta hand it to Harmonix: they realy know how to crank out that DLC for Rock Band. Aside from their weekly releases, some exclusive new songs, and a standalone track pack, it looks like they’ve even managed to get some DLC crammed into the next South Park DVD. Apparently, several retailers were sent a notice about the upcoming South Park: Season 11 DVD release that mentioned a “3-song download pack” for Rock Band would be included as a bonus. Unfortunately, there’s no indication what sort of songs will be included, or if they’ll even be related to the show (me and Chris have been trying to figure out what South Park songs could actually make it onto the game without being bleeped out completely). Plus it’s anyone’s guess which version of the game the DLC will work for. I guess we’ll have to wait until the DVD’s August 12th release to find out for sure. At any rate, the pure irony of a Rock Band bonus being included in a season that had an episode parodying Guitar Hero seems to have been ost on all parties involved here.

Via TV Shows on DVD

It looks like a new track pack will be available for Guitar Hero III next week. Gamers will be able to download three new songs from Muse through the Playstation Network and Xbox Live. The songs will include “Exo-Politics” and “Supermassive Black Hole” from their Black Holes and Revelations album, as well as “Stockholm Syndrome” from their Absolution album. These are of course in addition to the Muse track “Knights of Cydonia” that’s already on the disc. Look for these songs to be up for download on May 8th. And if you haven’t seen it yet, be sure to check out their awesome music video for “Knights of Cydonia” below. It’s got sci-fi karate cowboys, and, no, I’m not kidding.

Via Press Release

Activision invites gamers to rise to the Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock charity challenge benefiting the Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation.

Now open for registration at www.GuitarHero.com, fans will compete to get the highest score possible playing Monster’s “Matchbook Romance” during the Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock challenge. Activision will donate up to $55,000 to the Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation by donating up to $1 for each participant who registers to play in the event, and $100 for every 1,000 points scored by the challenge’s highest individual score. The funds will go directly to Starlight’s programs, helping seriously ill children and their families cope with their pain, fear and isolation through entertainment, education and family activities.

Activision is also sponsoring a second Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock charity challenge, to help chronically ill teenagers and their siblings that are members of Starlight’s Starbright World online community. The top players from the Guitar Hero community and from the Starbright World community will both receive an all-expense paid trip for two to Southern California and a tour of Neversoft Entertainment, the developers of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.

If you’re up to the challenge, or just want to help out the charity, you have until 7:59 PM (EDT) on May 2nd , 2008 to register for the events on www.guitarhero.com. Both challenges start at 8:00 PM (EDT) on May 2nd , 2008. Players have until 7:59 PM (EDT) on May 5th, 2008 to max out their scores.

More information on the Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation follows the break.

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Activision has unveiled the rack list for the upcoming DS installment of the Guitar Hero franchise. Strangely though, it only includes 15 songs, which is down from the 25 count that the publisher was claiming before. The rest will probably need to unlocked throughout the course of the game or possible downloaded later. Either way, it’s kind of an odd mix of tracks:

• Do What You Want - OK Go
• All The Small Things - Blink 182
• Spiderwebs - No Doubt
• Are You Gona Be My Girl - Jet
• We’re Not Gonna Take It - Twisted Sister
• All Star - Smash Mouth
• Breed - Nirvana
• Jessie’s Girl - Rick Springfield
• Hit Me With Your Best Shot - Pat Benatar
• This Love - Maroon 5
• Heaven - Los Lonely Boys
• Helicopter - Bloc Party
• China Grove - The Doobie Brothers
• Rock and Roll All Nite - KISS (cover by Line 6)
• What I Want - Daughtry

Wait, is that Smash Mouth on the list? Seriously? I think I associate them more with those “Kids Bop” CDs they advertise on TV than with any actual music. As if the goofy non-guitar controls weren’t enough to deter people.

Via Pocket Gamer

Ok, Activision, I know you’re locked in a mortal struggle with Rock Band over rhythm game supremacy, but these constant efforts to whore out the Guitar Hero franchise in any way possible have got to stop. Take this new browser-based widget, for example. Using the keyboard, you can “play” songs by Living Colour, Alice Cooper, and Lions…horrible, scratchy versions that sound like the lead singer is being choked to death during their performance. Seriously, where does it end? You’ve taken the once sweet, hot girl and broken her down into a trashy skank (insert Tila Tequila joke).

Via Game|Life

We’ve seen hints that Aerosmith was making their tracks exclusive to Guitar Hero (what with them getting their very own game and all), but some digging by Newsweek has now confirmed it as fact. According to Aerosmith’s publicist and Activision’s VP of music affairs, Aerosmith is signed exclusively to Guitar Hero for an unknown amount of time. Bottom line: don’t expect to see any more Aerosmith tracks for Rock Band or any other rhythm games for awhile. There’s still a lot of speculation though that Harmonix may have similar deals worked out with other bands, but has been hesitant to reveal which ones. All I know is that in either franchise, Aerosmith songs are usually the more difficult and therefore frustrating to play; so this deal makes very little difference to me.

Via Level Up

By the time this is posted, most of us will already have a copy of GTA IV in our hands. Ah, don’t ya just love that new game smell? I know I do, and nothing is more delicious to the senses than unwrapping a video game that you just KNOW is going to be worth the wait and the cost. All the hype aside, the GTA series has never disappointed us, because we always get what is advertised - the same heaping helping of vicarious, antisocial behavior that we would never be caught dead doing in public. Every time a new GTA game is released, we know what is inside the packaging only the storyline and graphics get better every year.Another thing we have come to expect with a new GTA game, is the controversy surrounding it – and this year, GTA IV was no exception. Between the back and forth from both the EA camp and the Take-Two camp, the irrelevant lawyers sending hateful letters to corporate Mothers, and the rating debacle in Australia – this year was basically just like any other year. Full of GTA drama.

This past Friday night, I had a few of my female friends over for a little pow-wow, and while we were enjoying our many pitchers of Sangria, our topic of conversation turned to gaming. You see, I have only a handful of female friends, the rest are all male, and each section of my peer world is drastically different. My male friends are all hardcore gamers; the majority of my female pals cannot really be considered gamers, save for one. Yeah, sure, they play video games – but not on a daily basis like I do, and they most definitely do not live and breathe this form of entertainment quite the way I do.

Anyway, back to the subject here, our slightly drunken conversation turned to gaming, which eventually led us to the topic of GTA IV coming out. In my half-lit stupor, I decided to record the conversation for posterity and transcribe it the best I could for you, dear readers. However, before I get to the strange tête-à-tête between drunken women, let me give you a bit of background on each one of them.

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Not one to be proven wrong all that often, Electronic Gaming Month’s Quartermann has some hot rumors he’s reporting on in the upcoming June issue of EGM, which should be arriving in subscribers’ mailboxes soon.

The biggest rumor is that one of the titles Bungie purportedly agreed to make for Microsoft as a way of securing its independence is a third-person action/adventure spinoff of Halo. The game would take place before the first Halo and would focus on ODST (Orbital Drop Shock Troopers; gosh, get with the times, will ya?) encounters with the Covenant. It’s unclear if this is the Peter Jackson project, but Jackson’ WETA studio will be involved either way. Details are expected to surface around the same time that Gears of War 2 makes its way to retail later this year.

Of course, that’s not the only juicy rumor — Rockstar is also working on both Max Payne 3 and Red Dead Revolver 2, both for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, in addition to the PS3 exclusive L.A. Noire. Oh, and one other little game from Rockstar is in early development: a massively multiplayer Grand Theft Auto is apparently in the works.

And while Guitar Hero might be working on adding instruments to its currently guitar-only experience, Rock Band 2 (slated for this fall) won’t be adding to its current load of instruments. Hopefully that means current Rock Band owners won’t need to buy anything more than a copy of the game to get the full experience.

As for the rest, you’ll have to check out the June issue of EGM to get all the details. It’s the one with Splatterhouse on the cover.

via 1UP

Def Leppard’s Guitar Hero III outing and the obligatory weekly dose of Rock Band tracks (now finally with a full album!), there’s a ton of great new content now available on the PlayStation Store. The biggest release is certainly the Variety Map Pack ($10) for Call of Duty 4 which naturally includes four new multiplayer maps.

A new PS one Classic was also released today with R-Types ($6), ending that particular drought. (Even though you and I both know we probably won’t see another Classic for weeks.) There’s also the Biolith Rebellion 2 expansion set for The Eye of Judgment, whichs adds more than 100 new creatures, spells and abilities, so that sounds like a must-buy for fans of The Eye.

There’s also plenty of videos, demos of both echochrome and Iron Man, a map pack for Army of Two, downloadable songs for Karaoke Revolution, and more. So hit the break and check out everything now available for download.

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