Ben Heck's Guitar Hero Pedal

Activision Announces Record Billion-Dollar Growth In "Breakthrough" Fiscal 08

Activision saw a record $2.90 billion in revenue for the fiscal year ending March 2008, the publisher announced today - $602.5 million was in the fourth quarter alone, as compared to $312.5 million during the same period last year.

Strong worldwide sales for Call of Duty 4, Guitar Hero III and Spider-Man 3 drove the considerable growth, supported by Transformers: The Game and Shrek The Third. NPD data also shows that GHIII was the year's best-selling game in the U.S. and Europe in dollars during the year, while CoD4 was the number two worldwide best-seller in Europe, and the number one highest-earning PC title worldwide. Both franchises have surpassed a billion dollars in sales since launch.

It was the most profitable fourth quarter ever for Activision, even though the publisher did not release any new titles during that period. With its overall growth outpacing the rest of the market by more than four times, the company is now the number one console and handheld software publisher in dollars, according to NPD Group data.

Harmonix Dudes Make Proper Time 100 List

Guitar Hero Ported To...Widgets

Aerosmith Exclusive to Guitar Hero

Newsweek this morning is reporting that Aerosmith and their music will be a Guitar Hero exclusive for an "unspecified period of time." Activision CEO Bobby Kotick first hinted that the band would be "proprietary to our format" at last month's Morgan Stanley Technology Conference.

"It's an exclusive deal for this game," Aerosmith publicist Marcee Rondon told Harris. We confirmed this with Tim Riley, Activision's vice president of music affairs, who told us through Activision PR that "I can say that we do have the band exclusively, and their catalogue should be exclusive to us beyond the one or two tracks they had licensed out to Rock Band before we made our deal." (According to MTV's Rhythm Game Track Finder, it's one song: "Train Kept a Rollin'.")

Hit the link for N'gai's take on the info he uncovered and why it was both inevitable and, likely, will not be the last time this happens in the increasingly broad genre of rhythm games.

The Guitar Heroes at Red Octane Lock Up Aerosmith With An Exclusive Arrangement, Leaving Harmonix and Rock Band to Dream On [Newsweek]

PS2 to PS3 Guitar Hero Adapter Rescues Otherwise Non-Functional Guitars

Here's some great news...that possibly comes a few months too late. TAC has released an adapter that will make your PS2 Guitar Hero controllers compatible with PS3 versions of Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Running $19.99, the company promises the adapter makes guitars "100% compatible" for use, supporting: regular PS2 controllers, Red Octane's and Activision's SG Controller, the Kramer Wireless, Nyko's PS2 Frontman guitar, the DreamGear Shredster, all React PS2 guitar controllers and all Psyclone PS2 guitar controllers. While the $20 sticker price is a bit steep to make this purchase a no-brainer, many of us have been sitting on otherwise useless PS2 guitars. So we'll just label this a good thing and call it a day. You can buy one here, hit the jump for the full details.

Lars Ulrich Ponders Guitar Hero Signing Coolness

Rolling Stone magazine caught up with Metallica last week at their Record Store Day signing event in California, where they interviewed drummer Lars Ulrich, demonstrating the sort of hard-hitting interview questions that have made Rolling Stone a shining example of everything good about pop culture journalism.

You signed a lot of Guitar Hero controllers. Is that cool?

It's fucking way cool.

Our kids love playing Guitar Hero and Rock Band. It's awesome. There's something really positive coming out of video games. It's so cool to sit there and have your kids talk to you about Deep Purple and Black Sabbath and Soundgarden.

Auto Guitar Hero Confirms Humanity's Worthlessness

Guitar Hero IV To Feature A Slew Of Instruments

Conde Nast Portfolio magazine isn't generally our number one source for gaming news, but Activision CEO Bobby Kotick has told the publication that Guitar Hero IV will...well...we'll just let him say it.

It's not just about guitars. We'll include a lot of other instruments, vocals. It will help us expand internationally. It's the first game we've had in which we can use local content and local bands.

Guitar Hero IV Branching Out [IGN via Maxconsole][image]

Alright ... there's "Bark at the Moon" on expert, and then there's "The Swan" by the Berliner Philharmoniker's number one asskicking cellist, whomever that is. Considering that success in this genre involves at least knowing the major riffs before you play it, I'm thinking that this flash game is more difficult by half than anything Guitar Hero or Rock Band has ever cooked up.

The game helpfully advises us that there are "one million possibilities to get tones from a cello." I am definitely expert on the first: a sphincter-clenching, fingernails-against-the-chalkboard grind.

Post your high scores in the comments. I can get to about 455 points before I start writing apologies to everyone who has ever handled this graceful instrument.

Cello Challenge [Berliner Philharmoniker, via Reddit]

Pro Wrestling Has Discovered Guitar Hero

Yes, this TNA Wrestling clip is from way back in January, but after MTV spotted it and we hit the play button, it was truly one of those magical gaming sights that one simply can't unsee. Two 250+ pound men running around a ring while pretending to play fake, plastic guitars in front of thousands of fans is such a sight.

Pro Wrestlers Torn Between Love Of 'Rock Band,' Love Of 'Guitar Hero' [MTV Multiplayer]

Activision is looking for a Guitar Hero uber fan to pop into the next version of the game.

If you think you stand a chance you just need to make a video of yourself rocking out, then register on the Release Your Rockstar site and upload the video. Every week the site will host a montage of the best. The videos will also get their own links on the site. The one that gets the most attention, through blog posts, views, diggs, whathaveyou wins.

The winner gets a character created in his or her likeness in the next version of Guitar Hero, a new video camera, a laptop and a trip to Neversoft in California. Runner's up prizes include "VIP rock experiences", GH controllers, games, consoles faceplates and HD screens.

Hit the jump for the full release.

Release Your Rockstar

Jodie Foster Loves Guitar Hero

Jodie Foster is much more than an Academy-Award winning actress and deranged madman inspiration. She's also a gamer, and a rocking gamer at that. The 45-year-old star of Nim's Island apparently plays the game with her children on a regular basis, using it to overcome her lack of natural musical ability.

"I have no musical ability. I tried in my life. I tried to learn the trumpet, that wasn't so good. The good thing about Guitar Hero is you can just (press the buttons and) go 'blue, green, green, green, blue, green, green...'"

JODIE FOSTER - FOSTER IS A SECRET ROCKER [Contact Music]

Here's the first trailer for Aerosmith's upcoming Guitar Hero spinoff. Good news is they went with Sweet Emotion to sell us all on its merits, instead of, oh, I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing. Bad news is that even in flattering, cartoony form they still look far too old for this kind of business.

The Onion Settles Gibson Vs. Guitar Hero

It's difficult to see Gibson and Harmonix/MTV fight over patents—like watching your once ice-cream-loving parents argue about the financial merits of eating in—the fun has been sucked from dessert and nothing that Bryers can say will fix it.

So does Gibson's 1990's filing entitle them to a a piece of the Guitar Hero pie? No clue. Luckily we have the Onion who ran some "man on the street" responses to the difficult situation. Our favorite was from Bruce LaSaard, Elevator Installer. "Excuse me, but after last week's championship game at Ray's Creekside Tavern, I believe it is I who owns Guitar Hero."

Well said, fictitious man-on-the-street. Well said, indeed.

Gibson Sues Over Guitar Hero [The Onion] Thanks MrPants!

Guitar Hero Aerosmith To Be Thankfully Not Just Aerosmith

Oh, we knew from the get-go that Guitar Hero: Aerosmith wouldn't just feature the middling, aging bad boys from Boston, saving us from gagging on a disc full of the band's signature schlock. The original press release even says that "celebrated artists that the band has either performed with or has been inspired by in some way" will appear. Who? Well, Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry has been pretty mouthy about that lately, with the latest issue of Game Informer revealing that Cheap Trick, Mott the Hoople, Joan Jett and The Kinks will have their own tunes on the next Guitar Hero release.

We've also heard that the guitarist dropped additional names earlier this month, spilling that tracks from Lenny Kravitz, The White Stripes and Deep Purple would appear in the game. If you want to read the Q&A with Perry and bassist Tom Hamilton at Game Informer, you'll have to be a subscriber. Just kidding, obviously! No one cares what a band's bassist has to say.

Guitar Hero Aerosmith - Joe Perry [Game Informer]