Bobby Kotick, Activision Blizzard CEO and one of the more quotable executives in the gaming industry, is always coming up with new ways to sell consumers a plastic guitar. Plastic guitars have been very good to Activision in the past five years.
So good, in fact, that the “Guitar Hero” franchise almost single handedly made Activision the most successful game publisher on the planet. With sales on the decline, it’s high time they spice up the line to keep it profitable. Branching out with “DJ Hero”’s a start. The next step is cutting out those pesky console holders and their licensing fees.
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Courtney Love's accusations over of the use of Kurt Cobain's likeness in "Guitar 5" have prompted responses now from both Activision and former Nirvana band members Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl. Novoselic and Grohl have taken a hard line against Cobain's appearance, while an Activision maintains that Love approved his use and worked closely with them, in line with the company's official statement yesterday.
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UPDATE: Activision reached out with their official comment: “Guitar Hero secured the necessary licensing rights from the Cobain estate in a written agreement signed by Courtney Love to use Kurt Cobain’s likeness as a fully playable character in Guitar Hero® 5.”
Original Story: Courtney Love has no love in her heart for the latest "Guitar Hero" sequel, and she wants to take her displeasure straight to the courts. "Guitar Hero 5" has been a popular topic on her Twitter account for the last 24 hours. As Kurt Cobain's widow, she claims that his likeness was used without proper consent and that she's planning legal action as a result.
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The other day I asked for a response from Activision regarding all the "Rock Band Network" news that has been coming out lately. The response I got back from Brian Bright, Project Director for "Guitar Hero 5," seemed more like a laundry list of features for "GH Studio" than an actual response to Harmonix's product.
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ORIGINAL STORY: The other day I got a look at "Rock Band Network," the new initiative which will allow folks to upload their own songs into "Rock Band." I was curious what Harmonix thought of the song creation tools in "Guitar Hero," but apparently they're of the mind that the two products offer widely different features. Harmonix views GH Studio as more of a composition tool, since it doesn't allow you to upload music directly, instead forcing you to use in-game assets.
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For someone with little-to-no musical talent (like me, for example), it's easy to equate the concept of "GH Tunes" (the "Guitar Hero" franchise's in-game music creator) and "Rock Band Network." Both offer ways for fans to get their own musical creations in the game. But Harmonix sees a big difference with what they're doing versus what "GH Tunes" offers.
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The Rhythm Game Wars continue their bloody march to the holiday season. The latest volley of "Guitar Hero" vs. "Rock Band"? The above deal, which you can check out here.
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Activision, unwilling to skate by the holiday season with just "Guitar Hero 5" and "DJ Hero," is bringing one more rhythm game into your already rock-laden household before the year is out. "Guitar Hero: Van Halen" will be releasing on December 22nd, and features the musical stylings of Eddie, Alex and Wolfgang Van Halen along with the vocal insanity that is David Lee Roth. Sammy Hagar is, predictably, a no-show.
The game will follow the trend of "GH: Metallica" and "GH: Aerosmith" by including songs from not only Van Halen, but also other groups with similar musical style, including Weezer, The Foo Fighters and Queen.
Here's the full song list for your viewing pleasure:
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After being hinted at several times over the past few months, the full song list of "Guitar Hero 5" has been revealed, and features 85 tracks ranging from pop to rock to indie. So it probably makes sense to stick all that rock-laden bulk in one place, which is right here, in this blog post. Here you go, the 85 tracks that'll appear in the final version of "Guitar Hero 5."
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So you're a big-shot marketing man (or woman). You've decided that product placement is a good way to sell "Guitar Hero: Mobile." You get on the horn with Marvel Comics and you arrange a deal that not-so-subtly plants a promotion for the game on page four of issue 18 of "Punisher: War Journal."
Question for Multiplayer readers: Does it likely help or hurt sales that your product is featured in a scene that depicts torture, eye-gouging, and -- oh yeah -- takes place in a guitar store?
(Click the image to see the full page four from "Punisher War Journal" #18)
