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Activision pulling all DLC for Guitar Hero, DJ Hero and Band Hero games
The downloadable music for Activision's rhythm games in the Guitar Hero, DJ Hero and Band Hero series will no longer be available after the end of this month on March 31. The production of DLC for the brands ended in February 2011. The announcement comes from an update on the publisher's Facebook page, which clarifies that the Guitar Hero servers will remain online and that previously-purchased content will be unaffected. As an encore, selected songs and track packs will be discounted by as much as 50 percent on Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii until the end of the month. Additionally, the Guitar Hero game on iOS will be discounted through the end of the month on the App Store. [Image: Activision]
Axl Rose's Guitar Hero 3 lawsuit dismissed
The last vestige of Guns N Roses lead singer Axl Rose's lawsuit against Activision has been dismissed, reports the San Marino Tribune. Originally filed in 2010, Rose's suit alleged that Guitar Hero 3 associated the song "Welcome to the Jungle" with former GNR guitarist Slash. According to Rose, the association constituted both fraud and breach of contract.The judge tossed the fraud claim out of court last year, as the statute of limitations had expired. According to today's report, Judge Charles Palmer has dismissed the breach of contract claim as well.Thus ends another case in the litany of lawsuits filed against Activision over its music games. Let's recount, shall we? Gibson: Lost, countersued, settled No Doubt: Settled Courtney Love: Nevermind Adam Levine: Marooned?Oh, and as for the Guitar Hero franchise itself: Dead.
Axl Rose's Guitar Hero 3 lawsuit gets its day in court on Feb. 1
Axl Rose and lawyers defending Activision Blizzard had a preliminary hearing over the Guitar Hero 3 lawsuit, laying the groundwork for a potential court date in February 2013. For those playing catch-up, Axl Rose insinuates the game, which launched in late 2007, unlawfully associated Guns 'N Roses music with ex-GNR guitarist, Slash, whom Rose has been feuding with for years. Rose filed suit in November 2010.The judge during the preliminary hearing wanted to toss out Axl Rose's claim of fraud because the statute of limitations has expired, says The Hollywood Reporter. The other half of Rose's suit claims breach-of-contract. During the hearing, Rose also shed some light on why he took three years to file a grievance: he was supposed to get his own video game."The reason I did not file a lawsuit is because Activision – through my managers and representatives – offered me a separate video game and other business proposals worth millions of dollars to resolve and settle my claims relating to GHIII," Roses said in his deposition. "From December 2007 through November 2010, Activision was offering me a Guns N' Roses dedicated video game, a game dedicated to music from the 'Chinese Democracy' album, and other proposals."Activision argues that it licensed "Welcome to the Jungle" through GNR Music, the song's license holder, and that Rose "had no authority to enter into a license for 'Welcome to the Jungle' in his individual capacity because he does not own the song or the sound recording." While the judge has seemingly dismissed the claim of fraud, the breach-of-contract dispute is currently set for a February 1, 2013 court date.
Slash looks back at working with Activision on Guitar Hero
Real-life guitar hero Slash was in Los Angeles last week promoting a new music game called BandFuse: Rock Legends. Speaking to Joystiq, he shared some insight on what it was like to work with Activision for the immensely popular Guitar Hero series. "A lot of kids tripped out," says the former Guns and Roses guitarist, "because they were under the impression that the character in Guitar Hero was just that character. So a lot of kids trip out that I was actually a real person."Once they found out that he was an actual person who was in an actual band, however, Slash says Guitar Hero was surprisingly effective at winning new fans. "It opened up the doors of a demographic that was way younger than me," he says. "I had no idea that would happen." He couldn't speak to the lawsuit that claims the game took advantage of his GnR connection, but he does say the game has inspired a much younger generation to check out classic rock.As for interest going the other way, Slash says he hasn't found the time for video games -- not even his own. "I couldn't play it," he says, "because I was actually in the game and it was too surreal."
Peripheral price-drop madness: Guitar Hero, DJ Hero, and Tony Hawk bundles for 10 bucks
Toys R Us has decided that all peripherals must go, and in order to clear the shelves as quickly as possible, a ridiculous number of DJ Hero, Tony Hawk, and Guitar Hero bundles for all systems have been marked down to $9.99. If you've just got too darn much free space in your living room, make the jump for the full list of store-only mega-deals. We recommend getting a swift move on, however; even with these franchises functionally dead, we don't expect this stuff to hang around for long. [Thanks, Teeftwo!]
NPD: Guitar Hero 3 is this generation's highest-grossing game
Call of Duty: Black Ops might be the best-selling game by unit sales, but it isn't the US bestseller in terms of gross revenue. According to NPD data going back to 1995, and compiled by CNBC, the honor of the highest-grossing game of "this generation" goes to another Activision game, the Axl Rose-angering Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock. Black Ops is #2. The list of the NPD's top ten best-selling games by revenue (after the break) includes a second Guitar Hero game, too -- R.I.P. -- along with Rock Band and both Wii Fits, which suggests that the best way to make a lot of revenue is simply to make your game cost more. Although Wii Play and Mario Kart Wii are also on the list, so maybe people just really like finding peripherals inside their game boxes, like cereal box prizes.
Axl Rose suing Activision over inclusion of Slash in Guitar Hero 3
Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose has unleashed a November rain of litigation against Activision, filing a $20 million lawsuit against the publisher for allegedly associating Guns N' Roses' music (specifically, "Welcome to the Jungle") with former GnR guitarist Slash and his new band Velvet Revolver in 2007's Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock. Activision had permission to use "Welcome to the Jungle," but according to court documents obtained by Radar Online, broke its contract with Rose by including imagery of Slash in the game and offering music by Velvet Revolver as downloadable content. The juxtaposition "exploits the prior association between Slash and Guns N' Roses, promotes Slash's and VR's (Velvet Revolver) separate interests and includes VR tracks as available downloads, all of which was and is directly contrary to the contractual obligations of Defendants," according to the filing. Indeed, Rose's filing asserts that Activision explicitly promised not to use images of any former members of GnR in the game. Even more surprising, Activision EVP of Music Affairs Tim Riley is quoted as saying "Come on Beta, you can't believe everything you read on the Internet" in response to rumors of Slash's inclusion heard by Rose's rep Beta Lebeis." Whether Rose's claims of treachery on Activision's part turn out to be true or not remains to be determined, but one fact is incontrovertible: he is really, really late in noticing.
NPD: Wii Play is best selling 'game' of all time in the US
If there's a statistic measuring how well a game sold, you're likely to find Wii Play lingering in it somewhere. It's not only been the best-selling game of 2009, but also just recently made itself known as the top seller for the last decade. Now, according to NPD data (via GameSpot), the software-hardware hybrid has claimed another throne: top-selling non-PC US game ever. It's a pretty prestigious list and while no exact figures are listed (save for the bundle's October performance, selling a whopping 11.1 million units in that month alone), the other games listed should give you an indication of just how many homes Wii Play has invaded. Taking second place is Guitar Hero III, the first game to earn $1 billion in revenue, followed by Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The others in the top ten are generally expected, including Activision's other $1 billion earner, Modern Warfare 2 (notable because, damn, that was fast!), along with a pair of other Call of Duty games. Head over to GameSpot for the full list.
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Activision Blizzard loses $72m in Q4 '08; outlook misses '09 expectations
Bobby Kotick and co. got together for the Activision Blizzard earnings report this afternoon and dropped a few numbers on their investors, aside from confirming a mess of games that still haven't officially been announced yet. After reconfirming what we told you a few weeks ago regarding the $1 billion in sales of Guitar Hero III, Kotick went on to note, "In North America, Activision Blizzard was the #1 third-party console and handheld software publisher in dollars for the calendar year, according to The NPD Group."And how did the company fare during the holiday season? As you might expect, due to releases like Call of Duty: World at War, Guitar Hero: World Tour (which outsold Rock Band 2 at 2:1 in 2008) and a little expansion you may have heard of called Wrath of the Lich King, "Activision Blizzard was the #1 console, handheld and PC publisher in the U.S. and Europe, according to The NPD Group, Charttrack and Gfk." Unfortunately, during a recession like this, even being "the #1 console, handheld and PC publisher in the U.S. and Europe" wasn't enough, with the company losing $72 million in Q4, or 5 cents a share, and announcing a 2009 outlook that falls shy of Wall Street's expectations. Sometimes it's tough being the king.
Activision: Guitar Hero III is first title to generate sales of $1 billion
Activision recently announced that Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock has become the first game ever to reach $1 billion in sales. This comes a little under a year from when the publisher announced that the Guitar Hero franchise had surpassed the billion dollar mark. Not bad for a series the company picked up for a pittance at $100 million in 2006.The success of the franchise isn't just good news for the game industry, as Activision Publishing CEO Mike Griffith has cited Nielson SoundScan data, which claims that artists featured in the Guitar Hero series have seen download sales increase between 15-843%. As for the publisher's financial standing, if GameStop's top selling holiday titles are any indication, Activision should enjoy a lucrative quarter headlined by Guitar Hero World Tour, Call of Duty: World at War and that Lich King guy from the World of Warcraft.
Guitar Hero III first game to make $1 billion
You may recall a similar headline from the past, where the Guitar Hero franchise earned over $1 billion. Well, another milestone for Activision comes thanks to the previous title to release in the franchise, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. That game alone has generated over $1 billion in sales, making it the first game in history to do so. The news was presented by Activision Publishing CEO Mike Griffith during a keynote speech at CES. We're not sure how much an impact the Wii version itself has had, but consider it to be significant. The Wii version of the game has been very popular for quite some time now. Well, up until World Tour released, anyway.
Sam's Club bundles full Guitar Hero 3 with Xbox 360 Pro
Microsoft looks to be attacking the casual-core this holiday with its bundle strategy and Sam's Club has found itself in the middle of the fight. Sam's Club is offering an exclusive bundle that includes a 60GB Pro console, LEGO Indiana Jones, Kung Fu Panda and the full version of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock for $349.99. That's right the entire game and guitar included with the standard Xbox 360 Pro bundle currently on store shelves. Sporting the largest packaging a console has ever seen this Xbox 360 bundle is a fantastic value -- sporting an additional $50 asking price on top of the regular $299 price-tag. On the streets we call this a deal. Now, to Sam's Club![via Kotaku]
Harmonix: Your Guitar Hero III guitar will work with Rock Band 2
With the release of Rock Band 2 for the Wii approaching, a flood of information about the game is finally making its way to the eyes and ears of would-be rockers. Yesterday, we heard about all of the awesome DLC we'll have access to and now we've got something for those of you who picked up Guitar Hero III for the Wii.Posting on the Harmonix boards, one of the developers confirmed that the guitar used in Guitar Hero III for the Wii will be fully compatible with Rock Band 2. So, for those of you who prefer rocking out with a wireless plastic axe, as opposed to the one that comes with the full Rock Band bundle, you're in luck.No word has been said about Guitar Hero World Tour's guitar and Rock Band 2, but seeing as how Harmonix wants to "encourage the interoperability of instruments between platforms," we're thinking it just might be.[Thanks, Chris!]
NPD dishes out the 5 top-selling Wii games of this year
When we think of what games could possibly be the top 5 for the Wii, it doesn't seem like there's much room for mystery. Those that follow the monthly NPD numbers will likely be able to recite the top 5, in order, off the top of their heads. So, let's get to it!The top 5 games of 2008 so far according to the NPD are: Super Smash Bros. Brawl Mario Kart Wii (with wheel) Wii Play Wii Fit (with Balance Board) Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (with guitar) We're amazed at how well GH3 still continues to do on the Wii. Obviously, Wii Play is no surprise, as it's a constant fixture in the top software titles month after month. And we have a feeling that Wii Fit would be higher on the list if only more people could actually find it.
Metallica's 'Death Magnetic' album rips up GHIII
Available today for 1440 Microsoft points (or a CD purchase) is new Metallica "Death Magnetic" DLC for Guitar Hero III which we're being told is both "deadly" and "magnetic". Who knew? For your 1440 points you'll get the entire album which is comprised of eleven tracks including two versions of the song"Suicide & Redemption".Make your way to the Xbox Live Marketplace to grab the musical DLC goods or wait for it to release as Rock Band DLC. Wait a sec ... that probably isn't going to happen. Metallica fans, you'll just have to settle with GHIII.
Metallica's Death Magnetic coming to Guitar Hero this Friday
The first full downloadable album for Guitar Hero III is finally here; Metallica's latest album, Death Magnetic, will debut on GH III on September 12th, the same day it goes on sale worldwide. Exclusive to Guitar Hero will be two versions of the song Suicide & Redemption featuring extended solos by James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett. The album will also be foward compatible -- all the songs will work in Guitar Hero: World Tour and presumably all the new instruments when it is released in October.Look for the album this Friday, September 12th on the PS Store for $17.99. Check out the complete tracklist after the jump:
Metallica's 'Death Magnetic' album for Guitar Hero 3 this Friday, forward compatible with World Tour
Beginning this Friday, September 12th, you can get a jump on building your Guitar Hero World Tour library by purchasing the new Metallica album, Death Magnetic, on Xbox Live (1440 / $18) or PSN ($17.99) -- you can even practice the guitar parts using Guitar Hero 3. In other words, the DLC album, which happens to be releasing day and date with the not-for-toy-instruments version, is compatible with both games, but you'll have to wait until World Tour is released in late October to channel your inner Lars or reach deep inside your chest cavity to unleash your best Hetfield impersonation. What you will get on Friday, assuming you do have a copy of Guitar Hero 3, is access to two exclusive cuts of "Suicide & Redemption" with extended solos by Hetfield and Kirk Hammett."We're proud to be setting a new precedent for our two industries, making an entire new album available in two different mediums simultaneously," Activision's Tim Riley boasted. How about you do us one better? An entire new album available in two different mediums in one download! We'd sure like to export those tunes to our Zune iPod as we wait for World Tour. (But maybe that's just a pipe dream.)
For a limited time, popular 360 DLC gets discounted
Through the end of October, Microsoft is running an "Extended Play Download Days" promotion on the Xbox Live Marketplace, where they've selected and discounted a few sets of popular DLC.The discount priced DLC includes content from Beautiful Katamari, Forza 2, Guitar Hero III, Mass Effect and Oblivion with savings ranging from 25-60% off the original prices. That means you can get Mass Effect's Bring Down The Sky DLC for 300 (originally 400), Oblivion's Shivering Isles for 1600 (originally 2400) and GHIII's Foo Fighters Pack for 360 (originally 500). View the complete list of discounted Extended Play Download Days DLC after the jump.
Select Xbox Live DLC discounted until end of October
Microsoft is running an "Extended Play Download Days" promotion between now and the end of October, with select downloadable content discounted for six Xbox 360 titles. Sure, half of the promotion consists of Beautiful Katamari accessories and stages, but we've also got Forza Motorsport 2, Mass Effect, Guitar Hero 3, Lost Odyssey and a deep discount for Oblivion Shivering Isles (from $30 to $20). Not coincidentally, today also marks the first day of the new Xbox 360 price drop.
Get 11 free GHIII Metallica tracks with CD pre-order
Best Buy has a rather enjoyable Guitar Hero III offer where, with a successful pre-order of Metallica's upcoming Death Magnet album, you'll receive eleven GHIII tracks. DLC tracks that we presume come from the album itself. There are three different flavors of the album to pre-order that range from $10 to $30 that'll get you the free songs (while supplies last). Metallica fans, it's time to go shopping.[Thanks, SidearmS]
