Activision announced today that Sting and Tool will be added to the lineup for Guitar Hero World Tour. In addition to their music, Sting will be contributing his voice and likeness to an in-game character, and Tool will be adding their creative input on the design of a new venue.

This is a nice step forward by Activision. The announcements of new tracks can get a bit old, but the addition of twists like this definitely help in my opinion.

Afterthought: What say you? Do in-game characters and band inspired venues matter to you, or would you just rather a more in-depth track selection?

Full press release and in-game screens available after the jump. Read more…

These instruments getting all “compatible” with each other borders on pornographic.

Harmonix, Neversoft, Konami, and Activision have all signed an agreement with Microsoft and Sony that guaranteed that all of the new peripherals coming out for the newest batch of music games would all be compatible with each other. Read more…

When Activision and Blizzard merged not too long ago, certain games were in danger of being canned. One of these games was Terminal Reality’s upcoming Ghostbusters game, which Sierra - who is owned by Activision - was set to publish prior to the merger. With its fate now uncertain, Gamestop has started informing customers that they’re canceling all Ghostbusters pre-orders. Read more…

A few days ago, a long time friend of mine called to let me know that he had some positive video game related news for me, and I said “ok shoot.”

He told me that his brother had gotten his COD4 disk stuck in his recently purchased PS3, and that the system would not eject it. So he decided to give a ring to Sony’s customer service line. He explained the situation to a supervisor and was told that it would all be taken care of immediately. What Sony did next was pretty amazing. Read more…

In an interview with MTV News, director Brett Ratner, expressed his interest in making a film based on Activision’s extremely successful Guitar Hero franchise.

“I love Guitar Hero and I think it’s a part of pop culture … I would love to do a Guitar Hero movie, if Activision would ever let me. I’m trying to convince them, but why would you have a movie screw up such a huge franchise? Not that I would make a bad movie. So that would be cool, to do a Guitar Hero movie.”

“It could be about a kid from a small town who dreams of being a rock star and he wins the Guitar Hero competition … One of those dreams-[come-true] kind of concepts.”

Shall I barf now or later? Do we really need another “dream come true” film, and how on earth is wanting to become a rock star and ending up holding a fucking plastic guitar a dream come true? That’s like a girl heading to Hollywood to become an actress and ending up a fluff girl on a porno set.

Afterthought: What do you think? Should Activision give him the green light on this? Maybe they should allow him to film two movies back to back — one for the full version, and then another based on a different kid from a small town who has a dream to play the harmonica. That kid can end up winning a Guitar Hero DS competition. Feel good story of the year material right there. I am holding back the tears.

Source: multiplayerblog.mtv.com (via: escapistmagazine.com)

While you can’t have Michael Phelps’ eight gold medals, you can get the same VIP treatment extended to him by Activision during his visit on CBS’ Early Show yesterday.

The host of the show handed Phelps what was thought to be a copy of Call of Duty: World At War on air and stated that she was doing so on behalf of Activision. However, MTV’s Multiplayer Blog contacted their PR department and learned that the box did not contain a game. Instead, it housed an I.O.U note.

Have at the video of Phelps on the Early Show after the jump. Read more…

It was only a matter of time.

As the popularity of rhythm games continues to gain purchase in the pocketbooks of gamers worldwide, Warner Music is of the opinion that the publishers are getting away with robbery.

Executive Edgar Bronfman explained that Activision and MTV, developers of Guitar Hero and Rock Band, respectively, will eventually have to pay more for the licenses for the songs from their catalogue.

“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.” Bronfman said to Yinka Adegoke of Reuters.

Bronfman’s opinion comes as little surprise considering the losses posted by the music industry as file sharing continues to eat into their profits despite vigorous prosecution of offenders by the RIAA.

Link: www.reuters.com

When high profile corporations merge, the innocent are often caught in the crossfire. Unsuspecting developers and PR ninjas can sometimes feel like they have no place to turn. There is one man however, who specializes in the impossible — that man is none other than Kotaku’s Editor-in-Chief, Brian Crecente.

Word hit the street several days ago that Activision’s once proudly touted Ghostbusters title was being dropped by the publisher. Looking to set the record straight, one PR rep (codename: Evil PR Ninja Monkey) decided to take matters into his own hands and send a preview copy (with no embargo date) to Crecente.

We believe that there was also a cassette recording featuring the faint voices of several developers being tortured in the distance, however that cassette likely self-destructed within seconds of Brian listening to it.

Ghostbusters preview code with no embargo date? Clearly Brian’s mission, should he choose to accept it, is to preview the game. Do the right thing BC — the gaming world is counting on you.

Source: Kotaku

We sat down with Graham Fuchs, Senior Executive Producer on Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, to talk about some of the key elements in the latest addition to Activision’s Spider-Man videogame library.

What exactly does the game have to offer fans who grew tired of the movie based adaptations, and will it be the title that helps old webhead regain his grip, as he climbs to videogame greatness? Find out after the jump. Read more…

Activision has announced that the iconic rocker will be gracing Guitar Hero: World tour not only with some music, but also with his afro.

Hendrix will be a playable character on GH:WT and two of his songs will be featured on the game, a live version of Purple Haze recorded in 1969 at the San Diego Sports Arena and “The Wind Cries Mary.” Additional songs from legendary star will be made available later as downloadable content.

Drug addiction not included. No word on whether or not players can choke to death on their own vomit in the game either.

What other iconic rockers would you like to see in World Tour?

Art: Marcin Klicki

The latest issue of Xbox World 360 claims that one of their employees somehow gained access to information they believe confirms the existence of an Infinity Ward Sci-Fi game while attending a recent Call of Duty 4 event. However, the magazine does not go as far as to claim the game will have anything to do with the popular Call of Duty franchise. Read more…

Activision Blizzard CEO, Bobby Kotick, discusses the companys split with the ESA in an upcoming interview with Variety. The full interview has yet to be published, however a few short quotes pertaining to Activision’s involvement with the ESA were transformed into a write up.

When asked specifically about their break up, Kotick attempted to clarify stating:

“… don’t view it as anything but time off …”

The logic, explained by Kotick below, revolves around the merger, controlling expendatures, and interum decision making.

“With the combined companies, the dues went up enough that I said for it to make sense [to spend that money], we have to make a strategic plan … We don’t have that because nobody owns it for us right now.”

I will attempt to predict the collective reaction by ESA upon hearing this news. “So you’re telling me there’s a chance.” - Lloyd, Dumb & Dumber. If no one owns strategic planning and company expendature, why is Activision going to be present at Comic-Con? Maybe the “time off” would better be described as “time off to see other people”.

Source: Variety

Jumping on the Nintendo bandwagon and likely hoping to cash in on some of the consumer craze that is the Wii, Activision has announced they’re developing a brand of games designed just for Nintendo’s platform.

And for some reason they’ve dubbed them Wee 1st.

The first games announced follow the Wii tradition of giving people really simple sounding games that take advantage of the motion sensitive controls, with such revolutionary titles as Little League World Series 2008, Rapala Fishing Frenzy, and Dancing With the Stars: Get Your Dance On.

Surely, we have entered a new age in Wii games.

Wait. We haven’t? It’s just more of the same? Well, the games themselves are irrelevant anyway. What’s important here is the brand: Wee 1st. (Notice its not Wii 1st.)

But what does Wee 1st mean? Come along for a journey into the realm of speculation. Read more…

Like it or not, with a reported shareholders vote of 92%, the merger first announced back in December 2007, is finally complete. All last minute hopes of a creative name for the new company are officially squashed, as the new name, “Activsion Blizzard”, proves that compromise is often boring as hell.

In exchange for 295.3 new shares of Activision stock, Vivendi, and all associated properties, become subsidiaries of Activision. However, an additional purchase of 62.9 shares at the tune of $1.7 billion put Vivendi in the drivers seat with nearly 52% ownership in the new entity.

Full details after the jump. Take a deep breath, you’re going to need it. Read more…

During its first week on the market in North America, Vicarious Vision’s Guitar Hero: On Tour sold more than 300,000 copies, making it Activision’s largest game launch on the Nintendo DS in company history.

Guitar Hero: On Tour’s performance ranks it as “one of Activision’s top 5 best-selling launches of any title on any platform in the company’s history.”

“Guitar Hero is one of the most successful entertainment properties and continues to push the boundaries of innovation with Guitar Hero: On Tour,” said Mike Griffith, President and Chief Executive Officer, Activision Publishing, Inc. “The game’s breakthrough peripheral brings the Guitar Hero experience to the 41 million DS users in North America and Europe, where they can play anywhere, anytime.”

I’m not surprised to see another Guitar Hero game conquer yet another platform. But it’s just funny how people would by any game with the Guitar Hero name on it. It doesn’t even matter how good or bad the game actually is. Read more…

Not content with the current level of Guitar Hero milking, what if Activision decided to take it to the next level with yet another game? We suggest — Vagina Hero!

We all know what the girls are thinking anyways when they get all googily-faced over guitarists, even fake guitarists. Might as well stop faking the funk and try to teach them boys something useful. So sit back and indulge, as we transport you to an alternate reality where a publisher by the name of “Arctivision” gives birth to “Vagina Hero”.

At first glance, Vagina Hero may seem overly complicated. Welcome to real life. The in-game screen above actually shows finger cues for the easy difficulty setting. Arctivision reps claim that expert difficulty is pretty much impossible unless you invest in the Pro Bundle, which they explain as so:

“The Pro Bundle is essentially no different than the normal bundle, it just costs about $600 extra. We wanted to prepare our players for the inevitable truth that dudes with money are more successful with women, even if they aren’t any more skilled. We also offer a Girl Power Pack, but we aren’t ready to discuss the details of that quite yet.”

Isn’t this offensive? Doesn’t Arctivision worry that female gamers will be outraged by Vagina Hero?

“Absolutely not. If anything, we are doing women a great service. We are making foreplay interesting and exciting for guys while simultaneously giving them the practice they need so they know what they’re doing when they get there. I think women should be excited by the idea of no longer walking away from a sexual encounter with blue balls, or whatever the equivalent of that would be for women.”

Sounds like he hasn’t played enough of his own game. Speaking of which, we had a few hours to spend with a preview build of the game last night. So how does it play? Read more…

Marvel and Activision are asking gamers to vote on the cover for the upcoming “Spider-Man: Web of Shadows”. As a big fan of Spider-Man, and someone who has very high hopes for this game, I want things to get off to a good start. So if that means offering my two cents when asked, I am ready to do so.

As of the time of this post, the race is close with 51% support behind cover # 1 (Spidey holding the city in his hands) and 49% behind cover #2 (funky illustrated forearms crossed). My money is on cover #1. It reminds me of an old John Romita cover, and that is never a bad thing. Cover #2 however lacks the depth needed to draw your eye in and just doesn’t work in my opinion.

The full press release as well as the two covers are available in a larger format after the jump. Have a look at them and add your vote to the mix. Read more…

Activision CEO: “We need a Guitar Hero game on the DS.”

Activision Dev: “I don’t know how that is going to work…”

Activision CEO: “Make it happen.”

And thus sprung forth the abomination that is Guitar Hero: On Tour for the Nintendo DS. Read more…

It has been some time now since I have been really excited to play a Spider-Man licensed game. As a big fan of the web slinger, I have been disappointed in the past few attempts at bringing Spidey to life in an interactive videogame environment.

The best part of being Spider-Man in a videogame should be the feeling of fighting and moving in a way you would imagine him to move. The successful Sam Rami Spider-Man movies (we forgive the third one) have only added to the expectations of wanna be webheads.

After checking out the combat and controls highlighted in the roughly 90 second behind the scenes trailer below I would be lying to you if I said I wasn’t excited to take the game for a spin and see some more. Developer Shaba Games seems to be very hard at work. Read more…

Romancing the teenage girl in your life is as easy as strumming your DS screen while a bunch of your friends dance around you at your local neighborhood park. Man I wish they had this amazing invention for my Gameboy when I was a teenager.

Enjoy the new Guitar Hero: On Tour trailer, and remember that everything in life is “more funner” when you are an imaginary DS rock star!