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Gaming has hit a bit of a slump in terms of design and innovation. Endless sequels plague the release calendar, and will kill the industry. This isn't the first time that something like this has happened, but I welcome the fallout and eventual recovery that will come.
"Well, dear friends and plastic peripheral obsessed gamers, it seems that the franchise that kick started the huge market of music games has finally decided to hang up its axe for good, as Activision today announced that their planned Guitar Hero for 2011 has ceased production, citing that the decline in sales in recent years has finally prompted them to call it a day. It's a sad day for the gaming franchise which kick started a musical game revolution, cluttering up our homes with plastic ins..."
"Nickelback represents the new face of modern rock, always pushing the envelope with their generally badass sound and gravelly vocals. They’re probably the only band around today that you’d never accuse of being unoriginal or formulaic, so their inclusion in Guitar Hero is practically destined. It’s also clear from looking at them that these dudes bag a lot of pelt."
For all of you Guitar Hero fans out there, today is a sad day. It seems like you may have to start investing in Rock Band, if you haven't already. Check out the story for the full scoop. Cheers!
"With more sequels to both the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchise that we can shake a rusty spoon at, its time to take a long, hard look at these games and see where they are lacking. Both franchises are prone to releasing sequels which don’t introduce enough new features in them, but Guitar Hero in particular seems to churn out new games more often than most. Music games are becoming more and more like the FIFA music game, with a new iteration having to be released every year for seemingly l..."
"As my author bio at the top of the page lists, I mentioned that not only am I a gamer, but I’m also a musician as well. I’m a vocalist by nature, but I also dabble in other instruments, such as the piano, guitar and bass guitar. But, in no way, shape or form do I consider myself great, hence the wording “dabble.”
Games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero allow players to take part in a performance of popular songs by playing controllers that are modeled after musical instruments. Over the years..."
"According to sources at both Activision and Neversoft, after the developer completes work on technically-unannounced-but-we-all-know-its-coming Guitar Hero 6, the publisher will hand the groundbreaking franchise over to Vicarious Visions. Vicarious Visions has some history with the Guitar Hero franchise, having worked on the Wii ports of every GH console game since Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. The studio works on the Nintendo DS Guitar Hero: On Tour series as well."
Bobby Kotick's logic has spread to Daniel Rosensweig, CEO of Guitar Hero.
20% of households with consoles own the game. And the GH CEO wants to go after the remaining 80%? Truly it doesn't mean that 80% do not quite like rhythm games or don't have the coordination/rhythm needed.
Until we see a better game (singular here, not plural; as in ONE game, just like Rock band), Guitar Hero will always be seen as saturated.
Open the pool up for others while you're at it. Rhythm Heaven over...
"Looking at music games as part of our NPD analysis, Gamasutra has discovered that U.S. Guitar Hero/Rock Band revenues are down 49% year on year, as discounted hardware and over 20 SKUs flood the market.
June 2009 was the second consecutive month without a Rock Band or Guitar Hero title in the top 20 software titles. The last time the software charts went two months without one of these franchises was in September and October 2007, right before the launch of Guitar Hero II on the PlayStatio..."
James Walker has had it. This goes past Bobby Kotick's recent dropping Sony support threats. This has been a long time coming. Someone needs to call Bobby out on the things he is doing with what was a company we all could at the very least say used to be "better than EA"
The NPD Group has released their hardware and software numbers for the month of April, representing sales for the United States for the four week period of April 5th to May 2nd.
Notables this month:
Hardware numbers:
NDS: 1040.k (260.0k per week)
WII: 340.0k (85.0k per week)
360: 175.0k (43.75k per week)
PS2: 172.0k (43.0k per week)
PS3: 127.0k (31.75k per week)
PSP: 116.0k (29.0k per we...
"Following the introduction of the Logitech Wireless Guitar Controller, Premiere Edition (previously available only in select markets), the new black guitar controller is expected to be available worldwide later this month."
The NPD Group before the weekend released the top twenty software and top ten software by platform lists for the January 2009 sales numbers, showing the top rankings in software sales for the month. The top ten rankings for accessory sales are also available.
Numbers are inserted where known.
Top 20 Games of December 2008:
01. [WII] Wii Fit (Nintendo) - 777k
02. [WII] Wii Play (Nintendo) - 415k
03. [WII] Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo) - 292k
04. [360] Left 4 Dead (Electronic Arts) - 243k...
This new peripheral from ezGear looks pretty darn sweet - it is called the You Rock Guitar and is part Guitar Hero/Rock Band controller and part real guitar to use on your PC as a MIDI instrument. It features a touch-sensitive full fret board and strings to strum. It is a pretty pricey instrument at $149, but that is cheaper than most real guitars.
"Its Tuesday, 30th December 2008 the sixth day of Christmas. And that, of course, means its time for the sixth instalment in The Twelve Games of Christmas. A feature series running on each of the twelve days of Christmas here at Electronic Theatre, The Twelve Games of Christmas aims to highlight some of the industrys top achievers of 2008, running through one months worth of disc-based releases everyday. Today, we look at June 2008, and give you the top-picks for those January sale barga..."
"...Gene Simmons has a lot to say about it.
I never do anything half way. My AXE controller is the closest thing you can have to being onstage in KISS. I created and designed the Gene Simmons AXE bass guitar and I cant wait for the fans to experience it for themselves," said Gene Simmons. The Gene Simmons AXE guitar is such a recognizable symbol - people have been asking for a gaming replica ever since Guitar Hero was first introduced."
Do you fail at Guitar Hero? Can't beat TTFAF on expert? Perhaps you should get yourself a Cythbot and no, it doesn't use the force.
The Cythbot is comprised of a camera for vision pneumatic fingers for playing the popular video game series Guitar Hero.
So why make a perfect Guitar Hero player? To show off what the company is capable of doing.
So far the bot has managed to hit 98%, one percent higher than one of the best human players in the world. The problem is that the fingers are...
Chad Kroeger, guitarist and vocalist for Nickelback, wants to you stop playing Guitar Hero, because he feels not enough bands have "put a solid rock-and-roll package together", feeling they are one of the ones that have. As such, he advises you to stop playing the games and start playing instruments.
I could go on a very long rant here, but I'll just say this: yes, you certainly have put together such a package. It's all neat and tidy, that "rock-and-roll" band of yours. Sigh.
Everyone ...
The lighter side to politics! The latest in cartoons, filibustercartoons.com has posted up a picture in relation to the latest in American Politics. We see Obama and McCain playing Guitar Hero! Ok, Obama is playing and McCain is seemingly on a ghost hunt.
Well the fact is he really is chasing ghosts. He's losing in nearly every poll and the media is predicting a large defeat! McCain seems to ignore this though, insisting it's still a close call. Maybe he should retire and enter Guitar Hero...
"1 Through the Fire and the Flames (The Tribute to Dragonforce)
2 Knights of Cydonia (The Tribute to Muse)
3 Prayer of the Refugee (The Tribute to Rise Against)
4 Cherub Rock (The Tribute to Smashing Pumpkins)
5 Woman (The Tribute to Wolfmother)
6 Black Magic Woman (The Tribute to Santana)
7 When You Were Young (The Tribute to The Killers)
8 Sweet Child of Mine (The Tribute to Guns n Roses)
9 Heart Shaped Box (The Tribute to Nirvana)
10 One (The Tribute to Metallica)
11 Raining Blood..."
NintendoWorldReport have typed up a review for Guitar Hero: Aerosmith.
Straight off the bat after mentioning there was good and bad points, they brought attention to the stick out thumb that since it's based around just the one band it doesn't offer much to someone wanting a variety. Same goes for the fact that if you're not an Aerosmith fan, you obviously won't like it!
Good news is the great graphics the Nintendo Wii has to offer, for example the high detail on characters.
From the...
"Director Brett Ratner has been plenty vocal about wanting to develop a movie based on the game Guitar Hero. But Activision, the company that owns the franchise, isn't going for it. "I'd really like to do it, but they're not letting me," he tells EW.com. "I expressed my interest, but because it's such a success, it's like now there's no reason to make a movie about it." Ratner is a big fan of the game, incorporating it into videos he's directed for Miley Cyrus and Mariah Carey, and he envision..."
"With movies like Max Payne set for release this year and Street Fighter: Legend of Chun Li & Tekken next year along with talks of making a Gears of War movie and a Bioshock movie, it seems that Guitar Hero is the next game thats been thrown into the hat to be adapted to the big silver screen.
Producer/Director Brett Ratner has apparently asked Activision if he could make a movie based on the popular hit video game Guitar Hero. He did of course name the latest installment in the Guitar Her..."
"Ah, the Rhythm Action genre. Bashing away on a fake, plastic instrument or leaping around like a loon on a bunch of arrows while a banging track plays in the background. Do it well and youre a rock god on stage in front of thousands or the very ghost of Timberlake himself, throwing down some awesome shapes. For some people, this is escapism at its height. For others, well, they just dont get it."
Another week has passed, which means it's time for some Australian game sales!
Mario Kart Wii has snatched the lead from the Wii Fit game, the Wii Play bundle is still selling steadily in third, followed by the oh-so-popular Super Smash Bros. Brawl and SingStar Amped.
Most of the games in the overall sales list are either the from the Wii or the DS. With all the success Nintendo has been having lately, I'm not surprised. To check out some console-specific sales, hit the source.
All...
Seriously? Yes, unfortunately.
Blake Peebles, only 16 years old, convinced his parents to allow him to drop out of school and focus primarily on his professional gaming career, specifically geared towards Guitar Hero.
Blake's parents have hired in house tutors to help him keep up with his studies.
He has won only $1,000 in tournament prizes so far to date, and hopes on signing on with MLG in the future.
Chris Kluwe, the Minnesota Vikings punter, was at a restaurant in Mankato focusing in on the T.V. screen, playing Guitar Hero on the Xbox 360. Vikings executives Rob Brzezinski and Rick Spielman were amazed at how good Kluwe really was at the game.
Kluwe says that he is roughly one of the top 100 Guitar Hero players in the world, he has even beat the guy who holds the Guinness World Record! Kluwe was also able to play Activision's corporate sales meeting earlier this year. Kluwe really enj...
"Warner Music Chief Executive Edgar Bronfman says "The amount being paid to the music industry, even though their games are entirely dependent on the content we own and control, is far too small.""
The famous guitar amplification company Peavey is now selling custom-made Guitar Hero controllers. These controllers are essentially a real guitar. Made with wood, and complete with a pickup and all the circuitry required, it is possible to play this as a real guitar. Although, those 5 brightly-colored buttons and that strum bar may get in the way.
Not only is there a good amount of pre-made custom designs to choose from, you can even make your own.
Gaming Verdict's SlyEnemy Pulls few punches in his review of GH: Aerosmith. Perhaps being the very definition of 'one for the fans', hit the link for the full lowdown on Activision's latest.
Activision wants to make instruments from other music games compatible with future Guitar Hero games
Two developers who work for Activision talked about wanting third party instruments to be able to work with future Guitar Hero games yesterday at their E3 2008 Press Conference, the most notable being Rock Band's. Two reps also confirmed that the 360 version of Guitar Hero: World Tour will be able to use all instruments for the first Rock Band game, as well as other games. One of the reps said that an update to the 360 version of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith will allow gamers use to third party ins...
"
We've seen a lot of Guitar Hero bots in our time, but we're pretty certain that Mechanized Rock's take on shredding automatons is something special. The system -- dubbed DeepNote -- actually watches the on-screen action with "eyes" that it uses to analyze notes, which the bot then plays in real-time. Using photodiodes aimed at the screen, the components pick up changes in light within eight nanoseconds, then convert that information to brazen, parent-shocking, full-throttle rock n' roll. ..."
Unfortunately for us all who grew up in the 70s and the 80s, as well as the few kids who actually have a decent taste in music - Led Zeppelin isn't all that keen on lisencing their songs for use in games like Rock Band or Guitar Hero. (I was pulling for Guitar Hero: Led Zeppelin too, shucks...) I guess when they said "No Stairway!" in Guitar Hero 2's loading screens, they weren't kidding.
In other news, Van Halen, Steely Dan, The Eagles, and Guns N' Roses are perfectly fine with it, and ha...
Beatles representatives have had talks with Activision and MTV Games, who both make the Guitar Hero and Rock Band games, to possibly make a Beatles-themed video game. According to a person close to the talks, the deal could be worth millions of dollars.
"Tier 1: Getting the Band Together (Nipmuc High School)
1. All the Young Dudes by Mott the Hoople (cover)
2. Draw the Line by Aerosmith
3. Dream Police by Cheap Trick
4. Make It by Aerosmith (re-recorded)
5. Uncle Salty by Aerosmith
Tier 2: First Taste of Success (Maxs Kansas City)
6. All Day and All of the Night by The Kinks (cover)
7. I Hate Myself for Loving You by Joan Jett
8. Movin Out by Aerosmith (re-recorded)
9. No Surprize by Aerosmith
10. Sweet E..."
"The company recently decided to celebrate the fact that a couple of Guitar Hero performances would take place at this years Isle of Wight Festival, an event partly known for featuring one of Jimi Hendrixs last performances before his tragic death. So how does one celebrate a fake guitar performance? By vandalizing a tribute to a real guitar legend, it seems. Activision decided to deck out a bronze statue of Hendrix to make it look like he was holding a Guitar Hero controller instead of an a..."
"He tells Rolling Stone: "Guitar Hero was devised to bring the guitar-playing experience to the masses without them having to put anything into it.
And having done both, there's nothing like really playing guitar. I mean, what would you rather drive, a Ferrari or one of those amusement-park cars on a track?""
Well the article looks at music games from the start and how they have evolved over time. It all began when Otocky was released in 1987 but it was 4 years until the next one was released known as miracle Piano. Then things continued on and in 1999 we saw Guitar Freaks. Time continued and more were released and then we were given in 2005 Guitar Hero. Then time continues again with more games coming and the next one coming is Battle of the Bands this year.
Guitar Hero: Metallica was announced yesterday and Kotaku decided to try and get an answer out of Activision about the news today. When they spoke to Harmonix reps, they said that the game "doesn't change our plans" from the developer's announcement of last year. In July 2007, Harmonix made a deal with MTV and Metallica (announcement of last year) which is supposed to "showcase the incredible depth of the band's music."
"This weekend brings us not only the first Nintendo Wii-specific screenshots of the upcoming Guitar Hero: Aersosmith, but also more of the tracklisting details, including some of the songs by bands other than Aerosmith thar players will be able to rock along to this June.
Fancy jammin along to the likes of The Clash, Lenny Kravitz and The Clash? Guitar Hero: Aerosmith also gives you that chance:
* The Clash Complete Control
* New York Dolls Personality Crisis (Cover)
*..."
Well, this sounds interesting.
It appears the next 'true sequel' (read: not Guitar Hero: Aerosmith) of the Guitar Hero franchise will feature custom soundtracks. So, you and your band will be able to upload custom instrumental tracks that you created. Pretty rad, neh?
It isn't surprising that the vocal aspect would be excluded, since (as the article states) it would be hard to do voice (to text) recognition (even modern software is a bit iffy, especially considering different people h...
"Have your PS2 guitar controller and want to rock out on the new PS3 console? TAC has a perfect solution for you. The PS2 to PS3 Converter will enable your old PS2 controller (guitar or non-guitar) to be used on PS3 for both Guitar Hero and Rock Band games*.
The converter has a USB connector on one end and PS2 connector on the other. Simply plug the converter into PS3, connect the PS2 controller, and set the switch to either Guitar Hero, Rock Band or Gamepad and you are ready to go."
"The trademark refers to "computer game software and related instruction manual sold together as a unit; interactive video game programs; computer game discs; downloadable software for use in connection with computer games; video game controllers; interactive video game comprised of a CD or DVD sold as a unit with a video game controller." It looks like your guitar is going to get a friend."
"Its been known for a while now that more instruments would eventually be incorporated into the Guitar Hero brand. The question is whether that means bringing drums into the mix and totally ripping off Rock Band, or creating a whole new game in the Guitar Hero universe with different toys to rock out with. The developers are currently figuring out how to move the series beyond the standard guitar and bass repertoire, as the CEO of Activision Bobby Kotick recently said, Well include a lot of..."
The Guitar Hero series was a hit, it's that simple. Recently Guitar Hero III sold over nine million copies. But a new musical video game has entered the picture: Rock Band. Though it was no where near as successful as Guitar Hero III it still sold roughly 1.5 million for it's first debut. As more Guitar Hero games and Rock Band Wii are released, who knows which brand will really come out on top?
Thats right, Activision are giving you the chance to fly out to California and become a character within the next Guitar Hero game. In order for a chance to be that lucky gamer all you have to do is create a video of yourself rocking out to a song of your choice and submitting it here (once logged in) to be within a chance of winning.
Terms and conditions apply.
Such inspiration and ideas can be found in this Youtube video they have offered, Enjoy and good luck if you enter.
![Box shot of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith [North America]](http://i.neoseeker.com/boxshots/R2FtZXMvUGxheXN0YXRpb25fMi9SaHl0aG1fJl9NdXNpYw==/guitar_hero_aerosmith_frontcover_small_yAJ4oRuVYTIkOwQ.jpg)