When asked about the viability of sequels for their “Hero” brands next year, the response was rather awe-inducing.  Dan Rosensweig stated:

“We’re working on our 2010 slate now. You will probably see fewer SKUs from us, but the focus on making the best-selling, most fun to play, best-reviewed games will continue. Those are the things that are constant. [There will be] more DJ Hero, and the next iterations of Guitar and Band are on the way. But we will see how the market plays out. What you will see is the games will live longer and be more vibrant through DLC.”

Okay, so apparently, next year is the year when DLC for music games finally becomes an important battleground.  Did I miss something here?  Isn’t that what Harmonix has been preaching about for some time now?  The idea that you do not need to have a new release for your game every year.  Instead, just load up on DLC content for the game, buying what you want to be included in the game.  I am just amazed by the idiocity of the people that run the brands at Activision.  No, I do no think Dan Rosensweig would ever want to admit that his chief competitor is better, but sometimes, you need to acknowledge those that have created something in your field that works.  Borrow from it and innovate, but it is really stupid to completely ignore the fact that someone has outplayed your brand in the downloadable marketplace.

What do you think about the current “Hero” brand games.  Do you need more disc based releases, or should Activision take a page from Harmonix and work on ramping up their DLC offerings?  Make your comments known below.

Enjoy the remnants of your Labor Day feast with this cutting parody video about the upcoming critical fave: Guitar Hero: The Beatles. It ships on all major platforms 10-10-010.

Seen on Joystiq

Music gamers will of course be ready for Beatles: Rock Band coming to the PS3 on the 9th, and those who have held tight to the Guitar Hero franchise will want Guitar Hero 5 on the 1st. I’ve been flirting with the idea of having plastic instruments in my home for a while now. In truth, if my wife wanted it I’d already own it (she enjoys the Buzz Quiz TV game), but I still look at the music announcements — Talking Heads on Rock Band this week! — and wonder what it would be like to sing or strum along.

You’d think that the Wii would be the haven for all family-friendly fare but a few games hit PS3 this month that you will probably be able to play with your significant other and/or kids. If you haven’t picked up LittleBigPlanet yet first, shame on you! Seriously! Go buy the Game of the Year Edition that comes out on the 8th. Next, Katamari Forever rolls into view on the 22nd and is another huge family-favorite in my house. My kids have heard and like the soundtrack to We Love Katamari and my oldest has played it as well, but this version will bring in Trophies as well as nice quirky visual modes that I’ll be happy to buy it for. The possible Pokemon Snap clone Afrika finally lands in the US and given its age probably will not have Trophies built in, but it will offer some nice visuals while you stalk wild animals and collect great pictures of them.

Our last stop on this tour is what you’d think a hardcore console like the PlayStation 3 should have: some meaty Rated T and Rated M fare. Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 sounds in previews like it’s cured some of the problems I saw with the first Marvel Ultimate Alliance game — it sounds more like a dungeon crawler with superpowers than the first game. And last, but not least, you have the blood-and-gore-and-jiggle-fest of Ninja Gaiden 2 Sigma that promises to give people who enjoy being frustrated all the time by horrifyingly hard games a lot to love. Hint: I’m not one of them.

I love Guitar Hero. I have no shame in that. I can’t quite rock Mr. Crowley whilst simultaneously completing two Rubik’s cubes like this guy, but I’m happy enough with the mad skillz of my inner rock goddess.

I still get all fangirly when a new title hits the shelves. But the downside to this phenomenally successful franchise? There are just too many songs, dude. I have two or three favourite tracks on each GH version, and it’s annoying as hell to have to lift my ass out of it’s sofa groove just because I wanna switch from Mr. Brightside to Sweet Child O’Mine to Reptillia. I had hoped that Greatest/Smash Hits would’ve fixed this dilemma, but alas not … according to Activsion, Sweet Child is not awesome enough (W.T.F.!?! FAIL, ACTIVISION – FAIL.)

Anyway.

Enter Guitar Hero 5 – the first title in the franchise to feature forward compatibility for songs from previous titles. A selection of tracks from Guitar Hero Smash Hits and World Tour will be importable onto GH 5 and Band Hero, and 152 of the 158 GH World Tour downloadable tracks will also work on the new title (no – I don’t know why they don’t enable the whole 158, either. Weird). Of course, all this comes at a cost and will be restricted to those of us rocking out on the PS3, Wii or 360, but my ass groove tells me I probably won’t mind.

Head of Music Licensing at Activision, Tim Riley, said to IGN: “It’s something we’ve wanted to do for a while now. They are separate licenses, so we need to go back and re-license previous content. So, songs from World Tour, songs from the download space, songs from Smash Hits that will technically work in Guitar Hero 5 and Band Hero had to be renegotiated…We didn’t want to do it for a couple songs. We wanted to do it for a couple hundred songs. So we have a lot cleared and we’re in the process of clearing a lot more.”

All this and you can now play as the Man in Black himself, Johnny Cash. Awesome.

Source: IGN UK

It seems that Bobby seems to feel that the high price of the console has stagnated the growth of the PS3, and that Activision may have to cut development for the platform, as it sees lackluster sales in comparison to other platforms.

Now I am not a super smart businessman, but something tells me that while the PS3 may sell less copies of multiplatform titles than the Xbox 360 or the Nintendo Wii, but recent sales of Call of Duty 4 and all the Guitar Hero releases on the PS3 would make me think there is still value to publishing on the platform.

via Talking About Games

“They have to cut the price, because if they don’t, the attach rates are likely to slow. If we are being realistic, we might have to stop supporting Sony. When we look at 2010 and 2011, we might want to consider if we support the console – and the PSP too.”, was one of the quotes that came out of this discussion with Bobby Kotick, and it made me laugh a bit.  I mean, I look at these comments as totally idle threats.  Does anyone really think that Activision will not publish a Modern Warfare 3 or a Guitar Hero: Bryan Adams on the PS3 if they are looking at those titles in 2011?  Better still, does he honestly think that the price will still be $399 in 2010 or 2011?

In the end, I think this is more of a subtle push to get the inevitable price cut to come to the Playstation 3, and it is coming from the biggest publisher on the block right now, which does carry weight.  I just wonder if this will inspire Sony to releace the Bobby Kotick PS3 Bundle, with wallpaper of Kotick that cannot be changed, with a price tag of $299.99.

If somehow, Activision goes through with this, at least the PS3 will have more in common with PC gamers, as they seem to get cut from production platforms all the time.

Let me ask you this: Did Tony Hawk Proving Grounds suck because it needed a new controller, or did it suck because it was basically, the same Tony Hawk game I have been playing since I owned Tony Hawk 2 almost 10 years ago to this day?  The controller has no bearing on Tony Hawk being a good game.  Tony Hawk was out-gamed by its competitor, skate!, which offered a new perspective and new control format, without resorting to bundling in plastic crap.

Look, when Guitar Hero first came out, the guitar controller was a cool accessory, that made me want to get a guitar controller, because it was fresh and new, while being relevant to the gaming experience I was about to enjoy.  When Rock Band came about, I opted for just the game, because I had two guitar controllers already.  I opted for the drums and a mic on my own time, because I did not have a desire to get another guitar.  The whole point is that at the time, these new controllers added to the experience.  The problem with them is that each release offered a new guitar controller.  GH: Aerosmith offered what appeared to be the same Gibson that was in Guitar Hero III, but with an Aerosmith finish.  Activision finally figured it out with Guitar Hero Metallica, that a game does not need to come with a plastic controller every time around.  Of course then they slipped in the bathtub and hit their head, forgetting the lesson when they added a hunk of plastic into Tony Hawk: Ride.

My rant was finalized this morning when I saw a final version of the Scratch: The Ultimate DJ controller and the DJ Hero controller side by side, and realized that the two were probably not going to be compatible with one another, and in turn, requiring me to own both if I wanted to enjoy both games.  At that point I realized that the plastic controller idea had run its course and that I am more resigned than ever to not buy a game with a plastic toy in the box anymore.  Sorry DJ Hero and Scratch: The Ultimate DJ, but I am no longer going to buy your games.  I cannot convince myself to buy anymore plastic junk.  I don’t have the room for it, and it no longer commands the price point in my life that you are asking.  I have two Singstar mics, two Lips mics, two Rock Band mics, two Xplorer guitars, one Rock Band Drum kit and that is enough.  I am done with the bundled accessories.

Sorry for the rant but it had to be said.  There may be some stream of consciousness here that does not fit well, and I apologize, but I was so pissed this morning at the controller scenarios coming the fall that I had to say something spur of the moment.

Alice Cooper “Under My Wheels” (Live)
Alice Cooper “I’m Eighteen” (Live)
Alice Cooper “Billion Dollar Babies” (Live)
Alice Cooper “School’s Out” (Live)
Alice Cooper “Poison”
Alice Cooper “Vengeance is Mine”
Taking Back Sunday “What’s It Feel Like to Be a Ghost?”
Taking Back Sunday “Liar”
Taking Back Sunday “MakeDamnSure”

The Alice Cooper track back will be 800 Microsoft Loonies ($9.99 USD).  The Taking Back Sunday pack will set you back 440 Microsoft Loonies.  As with other track packs, you can buy songs from the packs individually for 160 Microsoft Loonies (1.99 USD).

While I am happy about getting some Alice Cooper in Rock Band, it kills me that the songs are live.  I bought the Def Leppard tracks for GH3, which were live, and they were terrible.  I am sure it has to do with the rights to the songs and so forth, but I have a fear that there will be freakish pitch changes or out of place guitar solos that you are unprepared for, because they were never in the original recordings.  That said, I am a sucker, and I will probably end up getting them.  Check the jump for the full presser.

THE FATHER OF SHOCK ROCK ALICE COOPER MAKES HIS ROCK BAND® DEBUT; TAKING BACK SUNDAY ADDS THREE PACK TO THE ROCK BAND MUSIC STORE

Cambridge, Mass. – May 15, 2009 – Harmonix and MTV Games today announced that iconic metal genius Alice Cooper will make his Rock Band® debut next week adding a six pack of songs to the Rock Band® Music Store of downloadable content for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system. Next week’s lineup also features a three pack of songs from hard rockers Taking Back Sunday.

Alice Cooper’s impressive résumé spans over 40 years of rock ‘n roll history with multiple platinum albums and chart topping hits as well as unforgettable theatrical stage performances. Blending heavy metal, vaudeville, horror movies and garage rock, Cooper is credited with inventing and popularizing “shock rock.” The father of shock rock brings six of his biggest hits to the Rock Band Music Store in the “Alice Cooper Pack 01″. Four tracks are from Cooper’s live album, Classicks from 1995: “Under My Wheels (live),” “I’m Eighteen (live),” “Billion Dollar Babies (live)” and “School’s Out (live).” The other two tracks are “Poison,” the lead single from 1989’s Trash and one of Cooper’s biggest hits, “Vengeance is Mine,” from his latest offering, Along Came a Spider (2008).

Long Island based hard rock outfit Taking Back Sunday will also make its Rock Band debut next week offering up three of the band’s most popular hits. Deemed a consistent power player in the alternative/emo rock scene, the “Taking Back Sunday Pack 01″ includes “What’s It Feel Like to Be a Ghost?,” “Liar” and “MakeDamnSure” from the group’s major label debut, Louder Now (2006). Taking Back Sunday makes its Rock Band debut ahead of the highly anticipated release of its newest album, New Again, due out June 2, 2009.

Tracks: Alice Cooper “Under My Wheels” (Live)
Alice Cooper “I’m Eighteen” (Live)
Alice Cooper “Billion Dollar Babies” (Live)
Alice Cooper “School’s Out” (Live)
Alice Cooper “Poison”
Alice Cooper “Vengeance is Mine”
Taking Back Sunday “What’s It Feel Like to Be a Ghost?”
Taking Back Sunday “Liar”
Taking Back Sunday “MakeDamnSure”
(All tracks are original master recordings)

Release Date: Tuesday, May 19, 2009 (Xbox LIVE Marketplace for Xbox 360®)
Thursday, May 21, 2009 (PlayStation®Store)

** Dates for Rock Band game tracks are tentative and subject to change **

Price: $1.99 (160 Microsoft Points for Xbox 360) per track
$9.99 (800 Microsoft Points for Xbox 360) for “Alice Cooper Pack 01″
$5.49 (440 Microsoft Points for Xbox 360) for “Taking Back Sunday Pack 01″

Locations: Xbox LIVE Marketplace for Xbox 360
PlayStation®Network

Music Videos: Click on the track below to view the song’s corresponding music video. Videos can be embedded on your site.
Taking Back Sunday “MakeDamnSure”

Website Links: For more information, please visit:
Rock Band Website
Alice Cooper Official Website
Taking Back Sunday Official Website

Rock Band 2 is available for Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION 3 system, PlayStation 2 system and Wii system.

There are now more than 670 tracks available to date via disc and download purchase (complete list of tracks at www.rockband.com/music). Rock Band continues to satisfy music fans’ and gamers’ voracious appetite for rock with more than 40 million paid downloads since its launch on November 20, 2007. The Rock Band Music Store allows players to preview and purchase downloadable individual music tracks and packs from the vast selection of offerings available to date without ever leaving the game as they build their own custom Rock Band library.

Rock Band and Rock Band 2are rated “T” for Teen (lyrics, suggestive themes) by the ESRB.

For more information on Rock Band2 and Harmonix Music Systems please visit www.rockband.com and www.harmonixmusic.com

We’ve all heard about wanting to exploit, monetize, capitalize, pillage, etc; and, we’ve heard about all of the releases scheduled for this year. But allow me to introduce to you the latest (illegitimate) child in the Guitar Hero franchise that does not come in a disk or ROM format for playback in your console: Guitar Hero Sleep Shorts. Yes, now you too can sleep like a rockstar with Guitar Hero branded pajamas. If not you, at least I will, since I received a pair for Easter. Jump for a couple of shots of the actual product unboxed. And, no, there aren’t any shots of this product in use, unless we receive 10 e-mails requesting it.

Guitar Hero Sleeper Shorts - Front

Guitar Hero Sleeper Shorts - Back

When you don these babies, the women (or men) will know that you have come to rock! So what’s next Activision, Bedroom Hero?

So now you can proudly wear your gamer cred on your web search engine, for all of your co-workers, friends, and family to view over your shoulder. I know I use iGoogle as my home page for my browser, since I can have all the nifty things I need prominently displayed Aeropause RSS feed, other RSS feeds, current weather, quotes, etc. If you do use Google drop a comment for the theme you use. If you don’t use Google, drop a comment about the theme you *would* use, and what search engine/customized homepage that you do use.

Now, I am not scholared in the ways of running a game business, or an empire like the Guitar Hero franchise, but I might have a word or two of advice for Mr. Rosensweig, that he might want to think on before making any decisions.  STOP FLEECING THE GUITAR HERO BRAND NAME!  We do not need six Guitar Hero games in a one year span.  Anecdotal evidence shows that the Guitar Hero World Tour box set has not sold up to expectations (and to be fair, neither has the Rock Band 2 box set), and flooding the market wth Guitar Hero product after Guitar Hero product is a surefire way to kill a brand.  One only has to look at what happens with movie sequels to understand.  Does anyone enjoy Friday the 13th Part VIII, or beyond for that matter.  How about Saw V, or Rocky VI?  Harmonix has kind of figured this out, opting to release one Rock Band franchise this year, which is a wholly separate entity, The Beatles Rock Band.  Yes the brand has been a goldmine for Activision, but all mines eventually lose all their precious metal veins, and you end up with a burnt out husk of a former great game.

Check the press release after the jump for more details.

Activision Publishing Names Media Veteran and Former Yahoo! COO Dan Rosensweig President and CEO of Guitar Hero(R) Business Unit
–Appointment Further Strengthens Company’s Senior Management Team

SANTA MONICA, Calif., March 23, 2009 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX News Network/ — Further strengthening its senior management team, Activision Publishing, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) announced today that Dan Rosensweig has been named President and Chief Executive Officer of RedOctane, the business unit which develops the blockbuster Guitar Hero(R) franchise and soon to be released DJ Hero(TM).

Mr. Rosensweig will oversee Guitar Hero’s global operations including game development, hardware manufacturing, supply chain, logistics and marketing. He will report directly to Mike Griffith, President and CEO of Activision Publishing. Kai Huang, former President and CEO of RedOctane, who along with his brother Charles Huang created Guitar Hero, will continue working at RedOctane reporting to Mr. Rosensweig.

Mr. Rosensweig brings significant experience to Activision having served as Chief Operating Officer of Yahoo! from 2002 through 2006, where he oversaw the company’s worldwide operations including its product development, marketing, and advertising sales and the development and introduction of inventive new Internet advertising formats.

Additionally, he spent 18 years at Ziff Davis, most recently serving as President where he was responsible for the global operations of the company and the successful merger of ZDNet and CNET. He held several senior positions during his tenure at Ziff-Davis, including President and Chief Executive Officer of ZDNet, which he built from a standalone Ziff-Davis company to a publicly traded, highly trafficked Internet network, President of Ziff-Davis Internet Publishing Group and Vice-President and Publisher of PC Magazine.

Prior to joining Activision, from 2007 – 2009, Mr. Rosensweig served as an operating principal at Quadrangle Group, a private investment firm, where he focused on the firm’s media and communications private equity business.

“Under the leadership of Kai and Charles, Guitar Hero established the music gaming genre and became a global phenomenon,” said Mike Griffith. “With the addition of Dan’s proven operational expertise and leadership, we will continue expanding the franchise’s global footprint in new and innovative ways. Dan’s deep understanding of how consumers can be entertained online will be invaluable as we continue to build Guitar Hero’s complementary growth channels, further establish the franchise as an innovative music platform and develop relationships with new business partners.”

Robert Kotick, Chief Executive Officer of Activision Blizzard noted, “I had the great pleasure of working with Dan during his tenure at Yahoo!. Dan has a rare combination of deep business expertise, entrepreneurial instincts and an incredible passion for music. We are looking forward to leveraging his proven online experience to build upon the billions of hours of entertainment we deliver each year in the Guitar Hero network.”

“I am extremely excited for this opportunity to work with the talented Guitar Hero team, which has transformed the interactive entertainment landscape,” said Mr. Rosensweig. “With a platform and content that universally engages a wide range of audiences, Guitar Hero has incredible growth potential. I look forward to continuing to develop Guitar Hero into an even more successful enterprise.”

Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, Activision Publishing, Inc. is a leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment and leisure products.

Activision Publishing maintains operations in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Spain, the Netherlands, Australia, Japan and South Korea. More information about Activision and its products can be found on the company’s website, www.activision.com.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements: Information in this press release that involves Activision Publishing’s expectations, plans, intentions or strategies regarding the future are forward-looking statements that are not facts and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Activision Publishing generally uses words such as “outlook,” “will,” “could,” “would,” “might,” “remains,” “to be,” “plans,” “believes,” “may,” “expects,” “intends,” “anticipates,” “estimate,” future,” “plan,” “positioned,” “potential,” “project,” “remain,” “scheduled,” “set to,” “subject to,” “upcoming” and similar expressions to help identify forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause Activision Publishing’s actual future results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements set forth in this release include, but are not limited to, sales levels of Activision Publishing’s titles, shifts in consumer spending trends, the impact of the current macroeconomic environment, the seasonal and cyclical nature of the interactive game market, Activision Publishing’s ability to predict consumer preferences among competing hardware platforms (including next-generation hardware), declines in software pricing, product returns and price protection, product delays, retail acceptance of Activision Publishing’s products, adoption rate and availability of new hardware and related software, industry competition, rapid changes in technology and industry standards, protection of proprietary rights, litigation against Activision Publishing, maintenance of relationships with key personnel, customers, vendors and third-party developers, domestic and international economic, financial and political conditions and policies, foreign exchange rates, integration of recent acquisitions and the identification of suitable future acquisition opportunities, Activision Blizzard’s success in integrating the operations of Activision Publishing and Vivendi Games in a timely manner, or at all, and the combined company’s ability to realize the anticipated benefits and synergies of the transaction to the extent, or in the timeframe, anticipated, and the other factors identified in Activision Blizzard’s most recent annual report on Form 10-K and any subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. The forward-looking statements in this release are based upon information available to Activision Publishing and Activision Blizzard as of the date of this release, and neither Activision Publishing nor Activision Blizzard assumes any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements believed to be true when made may ultimately prove to be incorrect. These statements are not guarantees of the future performance of Activision Publishing or Activision Blizzard and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond its control and may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations.

SOURCE Activision Publishing, Inc.
http://www.activision.com