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Guitar Hero: Aerosmith - 9 new hero shots
Guitar Hero isn't without its share of strange-looking character models and Activision has just dropped nine new screens of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith proving it yet again.These new shots showcase the world famous title band Aerosmith along with popular in game guitar rocker Judy Nails. Guitar Hero: Aerosmith hits the Xbox 360 on this June.%Gallery-21959%
Activision Blizzard ditches E3 and the ESA
Just in case you missed it when the news came out a few days ago, Activision Blizzard has apparently announced that they're not showing up at E3 this year. And hot on the heels of that information came the news that both Activision and Vivendi have pulled out of the ESA, an organization that acts as the main trade association for the videogame industry.What does this mean for us as Blizzard fans? Not much -- not only is Blizzard already running their own E3-like conventions (Blizzcon and WWI), but Activision Blizzard is apparently planning to hold a press conference on the first night of the show anyway. Blizzard's properties have enough gusto on their own to get press with or without inclusion in a big event like E3, and it's Activision's other properties that might have to worry about exposure.As for the ESA news, who knows -- Activision Blizzard's pullout might mean a big shakeup in the way the videogame industry as a whole is represented, or (if no other companies choose to leave the ESA) it may not mean much at all. Time will tell.
Counting Rupees: Guitar Hero, Rock Band, and the Prisoner's Dilemma
Each week Jeff Engel and Geoff Brooks contribute Counting Rupees, a column on the business behind gaming: Much as many people expected, Activision public relations recently confirmed that (one song aside) Aerosmith's catalogue will remain a Guitar Hero-exclusive for the foreseeable future. There's a considerable amount of public speculation as to whether or not this will spark future fights over exclusive content, and I'm inclined to assume that it will. The incentives are just too strong to avoid future conflict – the battle between Guitar Hero and Rock Band is a great example of the prisoner's dilemma.The prisoner's dilemma is a common building block of game theory, which is often used in business strategy to describe potential competitive responses or explain company actions. It's so named because of the story that was used to illustrate its problem. Imagine two fugitives that have robbed a bank and were just picked up by the police. Each man is taken into a separate room, and the police make the following offer to each: if they confess to the crime and help to implicate their partner, they'll receive an extremely lenient sentence. However, if they stay quiet and their partner implicates them, they'll receive the maximum penalty - while their partner gets off scot-free. Of course, if both confess, the evidence they provide isn't particularly useful, and they'll each go to trial, ending up with a sentence somewhere in the middle. What should each man do?
GHIII to get a three pack of Muse DLC
Activision just sent word that a three song pack of new Guitar Hero III downloadable content is making its way to the XBLM featuring British rockers Muse. The Muse Track Pack will be available for purchase on Thursday, May 8th and feature their three hits "Exo-Politics", "Supermassive Black Hole" and "Stockholm Syndrome" all for (what we expect) to cost 500 Microsoft points. You can check out the complete press release after the break.
Breaking: Activision and Vivendi discontinue ESA membership
Following up on a rumor posted on Kotaku, we've just learned that Activision and Vivendi Games has discontinued its membership with the Entertainment Software Association. This information comes in the wake of yesterday's announcement that Activision and Vivendi would not attend E3 this year. The ESA's Rich Taylor, senior VP of communications and research (full quote after the break) says, "We can confirm that Activision and Vivendi Games opted to discontinue their membership. The ESA remains dedicated to advancing our industry??s objectives such as protecting intellectual property, preserving First Amendment rights, and fostering a beneficial environment for the entire industry."
Activision not attending E3 2008
Activision told GamingNexus, and we've since confirmed, that the company will not be attending E3 this year. A representative for the company tells us that, after careful consideration, it will not participate in any official E3 activities this year.The key word there is "official," which sounds to us like Activision will have a presence around the show, akin to Gamecock's EIEIO event last year. Though it's not ready to share exactly what the plans are, we'll certainly have more on this at a later date. Other notable companies missing from the current E3 list are: Blizzard/Sierra (which goes hand in hand with Activision now), Atlus, Majesco and NCsoft. ... oh, and if you're wondering what the picture above of Jamie Kennedy is all about, you missed one of the great disasters of E3 '07.
Video: This is how Aerosmith rocks the guitar
There's a brand new Guitar Hero Aerosmith "Rock Out Trailer" that recently released which aims at pulling you back into the Guitar Hero world. Which it does, because GHAero's look really hasn't changed all that much from GHIII, except for the addition of real-time ribbon physics that have been added for Steven Tyler's microphone stand. And we don't know if it's just us or not, but don't you think the cartoon version of Steven Tyler is a bit on the manorexic side? We can count his ribs ... just saying.
Activision CEO says US economy could cause console price drop
Speaking to Reuters, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick said the slowing US economy will pressure console makers to lower prices. He believes with the rising costs of "fuel and food and housing," it's difficult to go out and buy a $399 console. Kotick also mentioned that he's concerned about EA's hostile takeover attempts of Take-Two because it'll essentially mean one company controls the video game sports category.Considering Activision is in the software business, it isn't surprising Kotick would want consoles to be cheaper and be in as many homes as possible. This isn't the first time he's made statements like this, and as long as Activision doesn't get into hardware, it probably won't be the last. As much as we're happy to share Kotick's dream of cheaper consoles, we know that Nintendo isn't dropping prices anytime soon.Image update: You're welcome, Copa.
Kung Fu Panda demo crane kicks the XBLM
Animation, karate and panda lovers listen up. We have special news for you. DreamWorks' upcoming animated film Kung Fu Panda will be making its way to theatres in the near future and at the same time has spawned a Kung Fu Panda video game. And wouldn't you know you can try this animated, panda, karate Kung Fu Panda The Game right now, because there's a new (U.S. and Canada exclusive) demo on the XBLM. Happy panda kicking downloading.
Guitar Hero track listing revealed, ranges from great to Maroon 5
Like Bigfoot, fairies, and (sob) unicorns, the perfect Guitar Hero soundtrack simply doesn't exist. There'll always be stuff we love and stuff we hate on the damn things, and so it is with Guitar Hero: On Tour. Activision just revealed fifteen of the tracks that will appear in On Tour (there'll be 25, eventually), and it's the usual mixed bag. "Breed" by Nirvana? Great choice! "Helicopter" by Bloc Party? We like! "Rock and Roll All Nite" by Kiss? Fair enough. "All Star" by Smash Mouth? Umm ... "This Love" by Maroon 5? What?Head past the break to see the full list (complete with handy YouTube links) and feel varying degrees of satisfaction/rage.%Gallery-19362%
OK Go, Jet, Daughtry in Guitar Hero: On Tour
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.
Aerosmith exclusive to Guitar Hero, Rock Band DLC denied
Rock Band fanboys who never plan on ever going back to the Guitar Hero days yet fully support Steven Tyler and his band will be shedding a tear today. Shedding a tear because it was just revealed that Aerosmith struck a deal with the Guitar Hero franchise allowing them exclusive use of their music, meaning no Aero love for Harmonix or Rock Band. Which isn't all that surprising seeing that Activision has been treating Aerosmith like royalty lately, with plans of releasing a special Guitar Hero: Aerosmith edition later this June and licensing their likeness, names and music. All said, Rock Band owners can still experience a bit of Aerosmith with the game's "Train Kept A Rollin" track which was licensed prior to the band's agreement with Activision. It'll be the only Aerosmith Rock Band sees for a long, long while.[Via Joystiq]
Bobby Kotick: Activision is "considerate of the culture" at Blizzard
Portfolio has an interview with Bobby Kotick himself, warchief of the Activision Blizzard clan, and in there, they talk about the merger itself (obviously), as well as Kotick's past and what he's trying to do with Activision Blizzard.If you believe everything he's saying, then our favorite game company sounds like it may have landed on pretty good ground. Apparently Activision was originally trying to buy out Vivendi (Kotick says he'd realized that World of Warcraft wasn't so much a game as a full-fledged social network), but Vivendi made the counter-offer of a partnership instead. And while Kotick only chats briefly about Activizzard's other properties (he thinks facial and mouth movement will help videogames tell great stories -- sigh), he does say that Activision is a place where Blizzard can grow as a studio of its own, as compared to a faceless corporation like, ahem, EA.All in all, Kotick doesn't sound like too bad a guy, although I can't imagine that any CEOs being profiled in something called "Portfolio" would. It does at least sound like he'll let Blizzard do their thing, although just as we've said before, while things are great now when the money is rolling in, there's no knowing what will happen in the future.[Via WorldofWar.net]
Here come Amazon's Gold Box deals [update 2]
Just a reminder to all you friendly folks in the U.S. -- Amazon is having crazy DS deals today. The retailer kicked off its Gold Box sales awesomely, offering Advance Wars: Days of Ruin for $16.99. If we don't say so ourselves, that is damn sweet. You have until 12am Pacific time to bite on this, but we recommend getting it sooner rather than later because we doubt supplies will last.As for the lightning deals, we've listed them here (with our guesses for ones that haven't been confirmed yet). Keep in mind, these are in Pacific time, and each deal lasts for four hours (assuming they don't go out of stock): 6am-10am: "Will you answer the call?" - Confirmed: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare for $18.99 10am-2pm: "Dazzle your unsuspecting friends with your magical prowess." - Confirmed: Master of Illusion for $14.99. 2pm-6pm: "Protect the Earth, destroy the invaders." - Confirmed: Tranformers: Autobots 6pm-10pm: "Your destiny awaits. Experience the power." - (Our guess: Naruto: Ninja Destiny) We suppose that with such an awesome "Deal of the Day," we can forgive Amazon for everything else being subpar. Keep in mind, though, that these are just our guesses. We'll update the post as other sales are confirmed.[Update 1: Master of Illusion was confirmed as the second lightning deal and was added to the post.][Update 2: Transformers: Autobots is the third lightning deal. And, would you look at that -- Master of Illusion sold out. Who would have thought?][Via CAG]
Activision announces Little League World Series 2008
Pay attention, baseball fans: Activision has licensed the Little League World series into a new game, complete with way deformed representations of the athletes that participate in the sport. Sure, we may not dig on the look too much, but we do dig on the prospect of more baseball on our Wii. MLB Power Pros can't last us forever, you know!The game is exclusive to Nintendo platforms and will feature 8 U.S. and 8 international teams. The title will also feature character customization options, although we're not sure if it's just cosmetic or something akin to actually building the stats of your players. We're hoping for the latter. Little League World Series 2008 will be releasing on August 5th in North America. In the meanwhile, be sure to hit up our gallery below for some screens.%Gallery-21447%[Via press release]
Video: Quake Wars goes cinematic
There are quite a few different types of video game trailers. You have teaser trailers which usually try to tease viewers without actually showing anything of importance. Then you have gameplay trailers where (you guessed it) actual gameplay is shown, giving gamers a nice sampling of what the game has to offer. Finally, you have cinematic trailers. A trailer that presents the game as if it were an epic six week television mini-series or Summer blockbuster movie. Cinematic video game trailers try to balance mood, visuals and story just enough to get gamers excited and captivated. So, now that you've been informed, here you go. A new Quake Wars cinematic trailer for you to love and enjoy.
Guitar Hero III Def Leppard tracks now available
For your downloadable content information, Guitar Hero III's previously announced Def Leppard Track Pack is now available for purchase off the XBLM. The track pack includes three Def Leppard songs including the two live tracks "Nine Lives" and "Photograph" as well as the master recording of "Rock of Ages" all for 500 Microsoft points. Which, for analytical minds, breaks down to around 166 MS points per song. GHIII DLC, it's rare, so grab it before it magically disappears.
Activision sniper kills Call of Duty rumor
A few days ago a rumor was swirling about a claim an ex-Activison employee made to Next Gen about developer Infinity Ward. According to the insider, Infinity Ward had renegotiated their contract with Activision to be the sole developer of all things Call of Duty.As it stand now, Infinity Ward has only developed Call of Duty, Call of Duty 2 and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare while developer Treyarch was behind Call of Duty: Big Red One, Call of Duty 3 and are rumored to be developing Call of Duty 5.For a moment the world was at peace. Birds were chirping, sun was shining and food tasted better; then Activision shot it down. Describing the rumor as "erroneous information regarding the CoD franchise," Activision has essentially promised for CoD in quantity and not quality. Next stop, Call of Duty: Aerosmith!Update: During editing the names of the titles were moved and I somehow placed COD4:MW with Treyarch. We all know IW made it. Mistake fixed.[via Joystiq]
Little League on the little handheld
Ah, the Little League World Series -- a league that guarantees a U.S. spot in the championship every year. That's what we like to see! (Although, if we're going to nitpick, it's certainly more aptly named than the MLB's "World Series.")Activision announced today that they're coming out with a LLWS game on August 5th, which will utilize the DS's stylus controls. According to the company, the game is aimed at a pretty specific niche, and that's gamers who love Little League baseball. The game also boasts of having an incredibly deep character customization system, which probably means that no real children were harmed in the making of this software. We like the cutesy style seen on the boxart, as it reminds us a bit of Power Pro Kun Pocket 10. If Little League World Series 2008 can live up to that game, then we won't have anything to worry about.[Via press release]
Quake Wars: Four new screens, screens, SCREENS!
Upcoming multiplayer focused shooter, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars is closing in on release and we have a few fresh screens of the Xbox 360 version. In development from Nerve Software, the team behind the Return to Wolfenstein Xbox port, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars is a class based first person shooter in the Quake universe. While the original PC release from Fall '07 was marketed as a serious shooter, the console version's marketing has taken a slightly different approach, hence our silly headline. The Xbox 360 and PS3 version of Enemy Territory: Quake Wars lands at retail on May 27. %Gallery-21370%
