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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."
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.
Deals: Guitar Hero III Bundle $40, DualShock 3 $41
Red Octane is having a sale on the Guitar Hero III Wireless Les Paul Bundle for only $39.99. Shipping will vary but it shouldn't be more than $10. The sale is today only and will end at 6PM PT / 9 PM ET. As Gamestooge noted, even if you just want an extra guitar, you can always just sell the game. You can find this limited-time offer here.In other bargain hunting related news, Amazon has put up their stock of official DualShock 3 controllers on sale. Originally retailing for $54.99, these are now on sale for $40.96 with free shipping. Take advantage of the deal here.Source -- Red Octane via GamestoogeSource -- Amazon[Thanks, Jonah F. and burandon!]
Guitar Hero III getting free 'Top Gun Anthem' DLC
In celebration of this week's Fourth of July holiday, Activision plans to serenade Guitar Hero III players with in-your-face patriotism and ambiguous homo-eroticism -- that's right, the "Top Gun Anthem" will be available as a free download on July 3rd. The film's instrumental theme, obtainable from both Xbox Live and PlayStation Network, is sure send your fingers up and down your instrument as you dream of being Val Kilmer's wingman. No, Tom Cruise's wingman!
Guitar Hero National Championships next year, world records on the line
By now, all you virtuoso Guitar Heroes (and from what we hear, there are quite a few of you) will have had a couple of weeks in the company of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. So, if you possess digits like these, and have a certain knack for the plastic axe, you may be interested to know that the first ever Guitar Hero National Championships are "just" six months away, giving you oodles of time to perfect those high kicks.The event is being staged at the sixth TooManyGames conference on May 4th, 2008 in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, and will be presided over by video game world record keepers Twin Galaxies, meaning you'll have a chance to be immortalised in Twin Galaxies' Official Video Game & Pinball Book of World Records.It's best to weigh up the competition first though, so hit the break to watch the most irritating child of all time casually slaughter "Dead!" by Chemical Romance on Expert (occasionally turning his back to the screen), and then have the audacity to show us the Devil's Horns. The scamp.
iTunes gets 'Guitar Hero Essentials'
While armchair rockers eagerly await this fall's showdown between Rock Band and Guitar Hero, Activision has released a series of song compilations now available from the iTunes Store featuring music from all four Guitar Hero games, including Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. The so -called "Guitar Hero Essentials" collection is made up of more than 1300 different tracks, including "nearly every song" from the rhythm game franchise, making us curious as to just what songs didn't make the cut. In addition, unlike the lion's share of the covers featured in earlier released Guitar Hero titles, these songs are the original artist master recordings from bands such as Pearl Jam, Aerosmith, Rage Against the Machine, and Metallica. Also included in the set are also guitar-themed playlists from Steve Jones and Slash, no doubt ideal for those who cannot get enough of living life vicariously through their favorite guitar virtuosos.However, before you jump off the deep end and begin offering money to the iTunes gods for downloading rights, Activision notes that while some songs from the Guitar Hero series represent newly re-recorded master recordings, these appear to not be included in this collection, making this less an "essential" compilation of Guitar Hero tracks, and more just an assembly of rocking tunes. Not that there is anything wrong with that.
