Harmonix, the original Guitar Hero developers, were trade by Activision in 2006. However, since then, Harmonix have developed the Rock Band series, a series that has produced heavy competition for Activision in the music game genre. Now, almost four years later, Bobby Kotick, Activision CEO, says that letting go of Harmonix was a mistake.

“We had always known them as sort of somewhat a failed developer of music games. They always had really great ideas but nothing that was really commercially viable until Guitar Hero. And [we thought], it’s a good piece of software, and if we gave it to [Activision-owned Tony Hawk development studio] Neversoft, they’d knock the ball out of the park with this,” he said — according to Kotaku.

“We really didn’t even think, ‘Hey we should go to Boston, and meet these Harmonix guys and see what they’re up to.’ And, of course, if we had gone up, I think the world of Guitar Hero would have been rewritten. It would be a lot different today. And it would probably be a profitable opportunity for both of us and an opportunity where you’d have even more innovation in the category.”

“A lot of times when you get caught up in the financial details of the business, it makes you overlook what’s really important, which is who’s passionate, who’s committed, who’s inspired and where’s the next idea going to come from,” he continued.

While we’re waiting the for release of Modern Warfare 2, Activision has confirmed that yet another Call of Duty title will be headed our way in 2010.

In a conference call, Activision president, Mike Griffith stated that, “In [calendar year] 2010, Activision Publishing is expected to release strong, innovative new titles,” and that “The diversified lineup will include titles based on the best selling franchises including Call of Duty, Guitar Hero, Shrek, [and] Spider-Man.”

With that said, it comes as no surprise that Activision would milk its most popular franchise, but, as for another World at War Call of Duty title, Activision hasn’t revealed any details about the next Call of Duty title, or if it’s a sequel to World at War.

Looks like Joe Wilson isn’t the only one shouting “you lie!” In a response to Courtney Love’s allegations of suing the “S” out of Activision because of Kurt Cobain’s likeliness being used in Guitar Hero 5, Activision pushed out a statement, stating that Courtney Love is lying.

“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(r) 5,” states Activision to Joystiq. However, in the original report, it said that Activision played a “Bully['s] part”, and that she never gave her approval for Kurt Cobain to be used in Guitar Hero 5. Anyway, it looks like someone has some explaining to do.

Let’s face it, the guitar used in Guitar Hero doesn’t really support the “mainstream and expanded audience” because not everyone lesions to the music presented with it – Rock, Heavy Metal, or whatever. But, with DJ Hero, Activision hopes that it will be the key to unlocking the “mainstream and expanded audience” with mixes of music genres.

“If you look at what our Guitar Hero franchise has achieved, we now have 15 million households that are active Guitar Hero users and we continue to satisfy them with more experiences and the chance to indulge in more music and gameplay,” said Activision’s CEO and president Mike Griffith via GI.biz.

“But outside of those 15 million household’s, there’s another 300 million that haven’t for one reason or another bought Guitar Hero yet. One of those reasons is we’re not reaching new genres and new music audiences in a way that DJ Hero allows us to accomplish. DJ Hero is going to be expansive to the franchise and be particularly exciting for Europe where that genre of music is arguably more important than it is elsewhere.”

FreeStyleGames studio, the developers behind the upcoming DJ Hero title, have been hinting at the possibility all of E3, but the developers over at Neversoft, known for the Guitar Hero series, haven’t put their two cents into the equation, until now.

“We’ve worked with [DJ Hero creator FreeStyleGames], talked to them about the game for a couple of years now, looked at different builds and played it,” GH director Brian Bright told Eurogamer TV. “We would love to integrate in the future.”

However, Bright went on to say that the games release dates did not allow the team to include the option in the latest major Guitar Hero installment.

“Unfortunately for Guitar Hero 5, we ship a few months before they do. [But] we’d love to explore instrument compatibility in the future; we’ll see where it goes.”

Update: It has been brought to my attention that there was a little error within the title. However, it has now been edited.

Original: That’s right. According to The Hollwood Reporter, it seems that Activision have set up deals for “Call of Duty: The Movie”, the movie for the very popular video game.

“[The Call of Duty movie is] being talked about for the big screen,” said one person with knowledge of the deal.

However, in an interview prior to Thursday’s quarterly earnings conference call, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick wouldn’t comment on the status of Call of Duty becoming a film.

Kotick added that video games, especially family-friendly titles – like Guitar Hero, which will be getting its own show - are “capturing leisure time away from TV and film.”

Evidence that Kotick might be correct was in the company’s financial report on Thursday. Revealing that Activision Blizzard’s first-quarter revenue had more than tripled to $981 million as net income swelled to $189 million from $43 million in the year-ago quarter.

“Let’s get ready to rock!!!” Don’t you ever undermine this statement because in this Guitar Hero you’ll be rocking all night long – that’s only if you can keep you fingers from melting off.

According to Joystiq, Activision has confirmed to them that Guitar Hero: Van Halen is indeed in development and will release sometime during the second half of this year.

Activision could not confirm any songs, and only said the game will contain Van Halen’s “greatest hits,” as well as guest acts such as Queen, Weezer, Blink-182, The Offspring, Queens of the Stone Age, and more.

However, they were told by Activision’s Senior Vice President of Global Brand Management that, “… this is definitely Van Halen, not Van Hagar,” which is a plus since David Lee Roth is back with the band and they just finished a successful tour.

In addition, they revealed that there’s a very slim chance that the rockers might show up at E3 2009.

When an artist produces enough hit songs they combined them into a ‘Greatest Hits’ collection, or collaboration. Now, it seems that Activision, along with the guys at Beenox, have plans to produce a ‘Greatest Hits’ collaboration of Guitar Hero.

In an interview with IGN, Paul Gadbois, a producer at Beenox, revealed their plans for Guitar Hero: Greatest Hits. According to Gadbois, the game is scheduled to launch on all major consoles this June; it will also be for the ’super’ official price of $60 on all nex-gen consoles – expect for the Wii – and for the PS2 and Wii it will go for the price of $40.

And the game will also feature a 48 master tracks featuring songs like;

• “Barracuda” by Heart
• “I Love Rock N Roll” by Joan Jett and The Blackhearts
• “I Wanna Rock” by Twisted Sister
• “Killer Queen” by Queen
• “Killing in the Name” by Rage Against The Machine
• “Nothin’ But A Good Time” by Poison
• “Them Bones” by Alice in Chains
• “Through the Fire and Flames” by Dragonforce

In order to counter the Guitar Hero DS titles, MTV Games and Harmonix have once again teamed up to conquer the video game music scene. But, this time it isn’t on PS3, or even the 360, it seems that they have planned there next Rock Band title for the ‘forgotten handheld’.

Today, MTV Games and Harmonix announced Rock Band Unplugged on the PSP, the first handheld version of the hit band game.

Rock Band Unplugged will allow gamers to take their band on the road and will utilise the PSP’s Wi-Fi capabilities becoming the first PSP game to include a in-game store for downloadable content in North America and Europe.

According to Primotech, who reported the games first details, Unplugged will use the left, up, triangle, and circle buttons to control instruments, switching from instrument to instrument with the shoulder buttons, and playing “phrases” of each instrument to maintain a score multiplier.

Update: If you downloaded the “Death Magnetic” album for Xbox and PS3, those ten songs will play in their entirety in the full game mode. PS2 and Wii versions (coming in the Spring, most likely in early May) will include “Broken Beat & Scarred,” “Cyanide” and “My Apocalypse” since they are not compatible with the Death Magnetic downloadable content.

Original: What can one say, when there’s something you need just call upon a god and they’ll have  what you have been waiting for, and, lucky, that’s exactly what we did, but we went to a band of gods, rock gods.

Today, on the official Metallica, it revealed the full tracklist for their upcoming video game, Guitar Hero: Metallica. The list was, reportedly, suppose to be revealed next week, but sometimes, I quest, even gods get impatient.

Metallica Songs

All Nightmare Long
Battery
Creeping Death
Disposable Heroes
Dyers Eve
Enter Sandman
Fade To Black
Fight Fire With Fire
For Whom The Bell Tolls
Frantic
Fuel
Hit The Lights
King Nothing
Master of Puppets
Mercyful Fate (Medley)
No Leaf Clover
Nothing Else Matters
One
Orion
Sad But True
Seek And Destroy
The Memory Remains
The Shortest Straw
The Thing That Should Not Be
The Unforgiven
Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
Wherever I May Roam
Whiplash

Other Artists

Alice In Chains – No Excuses
Bob Seger – Turn The Page
Corrosion of Conformity – Albatross
Diamond Head – Am I Evil?
Foo Fighters – Stacked Actors
Judas Priest – Hell Bent For Leather
Kyuss – Demon Cleaner
Lynyrd Skynyrd – Tuesdays Gone
Machine Head – Beautiful Mourning
Mastodon – Blood And Thunder
Mercyful Fate – Evil
Michael Schenker Group – Armed and Ready
Motorhead – Ace of Spades
Queen – Stone Cold Crazy
Samhain – Mother of Mercy
Slayer – War Ensemble
Social Distortion – Mommy’s Little Monster
Suicidal Tendencies – War Inside My Head
System of a Down – Toxicity
The Sword – Black River
Thin Lizzy – The Boys Are Back in Town

Update: Metallica has revealed the games full track list.

Original: Once again, new Guitar Hero: Metallica tracks are leaked, but not by a member of the press, or even a ’source close to Activision’, the ESRB. Anyway, we know that the full track is, reportedly, coming next week, but this is to juicy to pass up on.

According to the ESRB’s description, Guitar Hero: Metallica features some potentially objectionable lyrics. Specifically in Social Distortion’s “Mommy’s Little Monster,” Metallica’s “Whiplash” and Diamond Head’s “Am I Evil?” which Metallica covered on 1984’s Garage Days Revisited.

In the description was also nice enough to point out ‘bad words’ in Michael Shenker Group’s “Armed and Ready,” a track already revealed by Game Informer magazine.

[More Guitar Hero: Metallica Tracks Revealed By ESRB via Kotaku]

I can say it many times over, “when will we be getting a chance to play this game?” But, none the less, it looks like it’s going to be happening a bit soon then many of us have problemly though. And, lucky, we be able to rock harder then ever, because it’s Metallica baby!

According to the band’s website, Guitar Hero: Metallica will be heading to North America on March 29, both on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, but other then that, the rest of the world with have to wait until sometime in May. And for the PS2 and Wii versions they’ll “also most likely in early May.”

The game is set to improve the ‘plastic guitarists with a challenging experience that will push even veterans of the Guitar Hero franchise.’

But, one can only wait and see what they have to show from this very impressive, but yet to be shown, title.

What comes to mind when you think Music based video games? Is it Rock Band or is it Guitar Hero? Or is it Singstar? Well, probably one of the most over looked downfalls in this gaming generation has to be the fixation on the casual gaming market, and sadly this game doesn’t divert from that manner. But, none the less, Lips is a party game that has one of the greatest bonding powers of getting friends and family to play with on another. However, one can only wonder if Lips is going to be just another video game face plant or an instant sensation?

After previous failed attempts by Microsoft at trying to recreate the fun derived from group gaming, with such examples as Scene It! and You’re In the Movies, Lips is another offspring of the guys over at iNiS in Japan, which is known for games like Elite Beat Agents – another party-driven game – and many others. Opinion-wise, I really do not think that it was a great idea to name the game Lips, which brings up the games first downfall. We really don’t think we need to go into detail about that.

However, with the game having a somewhat bad name, it does differ from its predecessors. The game has a start up track of about 40 songs, all of which are master tracks including music videos and select previews. They also have different videos other than the original video made for the song that the gamer can pick from. The game has a multiplayer feature that pits you against another player, or against the computer. As for mics, Lips has two beautifully designed wireless microphones that light up as you sing.

When singing, the upcoming lyrics will be highlighted in gray, and the current lyrics will be highlighted in white. However, in two player mode, where player one is on the top and player two is on the bottom, you sometimes fix your eyes on the gray lyrics if you are player two and end up singing the wrong words, which becomes a problem. Also, when singing in the right pitch and balance, the word bars will be colored in the the color of your mic (ex. player one red, player two blue).

Luckyly, the guys over at iNiS knew that you may not be able to hit all the notes so, unlike other music games, you are unable to fail any songs, which is both its strength and weakness. It’s just like the problem that many people had with Elika from Prince of Persia in his newest adventure. It really takes away from the challenge, I mean would you really want to play a game that does nothing to challenge the gamer? I think not.

If you add all those things together it really does make for a weak single-player experience, but this game is really strong when you play it was a buddy. Which brings me to the co-op and mutliplayer part of the game. When in this mode, you can take on a song with a friend (ex. Umbrella by Rihanna). This song has a better co-op standard then other songs in the game, for example Another One Bits The Dust by Queen. But, lucky the mutliplayer works great for this game.

Closing Statements:

I really had alot of fun playing this game. It is really strong in most aspects of it and will surely keep you playing for hours on hand. The interface is remarkably easy to use, the initial track list is solid, and the microphones are outstanding. But, there is one problem, it does not push itself as being a game that a hardcore gamer would want to pick up and play. The game also has the ability for you to transfer music from your iPod, but what really makes me mad is that you can’t upload music from an iPhone or iTouch. That is one reason we couldn’t put that in our review. Also the quality of the videos are mostly in SD, which doesn’t fit this game at all.

Score: B-

What really is this? Was one of the first question that came to my mind when I first heard of this game back when it was leaked sometime ago. Now, we all know that so many games have been “confirmed” by the many ESRB leaks, but what we didn’t know was that this game was going to be apart of Activision’s Guitar Hero DS era, along with recent games like Guitar Hero On Tour and Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades.

Depending on how you feel, you may think that these games basically are the same, but apparently they aren’t. Guitar Hero Modern Hits is set to have new tracks, and that’s it, that how it plans to differ from the other games in the series! (which was stated from  the ESRB description).

But, anyway there was details given about  tracks in the game, Sum 41’s “Still Waiting”, Franz Ferdinand’s “The Fallen” and Finger Eleven’s “Paralyzer”. These were given thanks to , somewhat, objectionable lyrics for the game which is a reliable indicator that these songs will be in the game.

It came as no shock when this game was revealed, after Activision’s earlier trys with the sweet love band Aerosmith, it was just left when they were planning to release it. Now, however today we finally get a good look at Guitar Hero: Metallica in the form of a trailer,  not a teaser trailer.

“Us being a pretty guitar-oriented band, I think we were pretty much destined to do something with Guitar Hero,” says guitarist Kirk Hammett of Metallica. “It’s a natural sort of relationship. We jumped at the chance.”

Altogether the music video game genre was down six percent in dollar sale for November, but the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises still remain on the genres top. But, unfortunately for EA, which has been suffering of lately, Activision’s property has simply proven itself to be the most popular.

“We should note that while the Rock Band franchise managed to grow in November, Guitar Hero overall still outsold Rock Band by more than 2-to-1 in terms of dollars in November and almost 3-to-1 in terms of units,” which was pointed out by UBS analyst Ben Schachter.

Anyway, the company behind Guitar Hero, Activision, can’t exactly be “jumping for joy.” Activision should be concerned since the franchise did see some significant declines last month.

“The biggest concern around Guitar Hero has to be the fact that Guitar Hero World Tour (12 SKUs) declined 48% in units and 31% in dollars from Guitar Hero III (6 SKUs) on a year-over-year basis. This will fuel concerns that the genre is past its peak,” Schachter added.

“With Activision and others sure to bring new innovation to the genre next year we can’t count it out, but it almost certainly won’t be the growth driver it has been over the past two years.”

[Guitar Hero easily beat Rock Band in November... via Game Daily]

South Park has always had a lot of fun with video game referencing, including games like World of Warcraft and Guitar Hero. Both have been used and parodied alot of times, even receiving some help from Blizzard in regards to a World of Warcraft parody. Now, South Park has seems to set its eye on a brand new game, Call of Duty: World of War. Which was revealed in an episode of South Park where the kids are suppose to be learning about computers and Butters has somehow found out that vampires are in the school. It’s really funny so check it out.

[South Park Plays Some World at War (NSFW) via Aeropause]

Well, Guitar Hero: World Tour has been out for over a week now and Activision has given us a little gift that’s sure to make fanboys happy. We all have seen the last Guitar Hero commercial with A-Rod, Kobe Bryant, Tony Hawk and Michael Phelps. Now, in the latest Guitar Hero: World Tour commercial Heidi Klum, go Heidi!, dances around in her underwear to “that old time rock n roll.” The video is called the slightly naughtier version of the commercial and is said to be Brett Ratner’s personal “director’s cut”, but if you ask me there both just as funny.

“It seems like Heidi Klum is going back to her risky roots with her “Risky Business” shirt-and-underwear style Guitar Hero commercial. This slightly naughtier version is Brett Ratner’s personal “director’s cut.” Were all waiting to see if there are more takes hes still holding on to.”

This movie has been rumored since last year and at E3 Sony reveal the third installment into the serie is well on it’s way. Well, we all knew that this was going to happen, it was just a matter of when. When confronted by UGO’s Movie Blog, Brett Ratner, who just happens to be a Movie Directer said that he was working on some new movie. No, it’s not the Mass Effect: The Movie. It’s God of War: The Movie, this game does have a kinda deep story and if i where to pick on game to be turned into a movie this will be it. Here also revealed some other movies that he will be working on and you can watch the video on the site.

God of War follows the story of Kratos a servant to the God of War, Ares, during a battle against an immense Barbarian horde from the east. Kratos and his men were greatly outnumbered and the merciless Barbarians couldn’t be stopped by the disciplined Spartans, resulting in a massacre. Realizing that he could not win, Kratos offered his life and servitude to Ares in exchange for salvation.

As the news is still buzzing around the internet today, Activision Blizzard has unmasked that it has brought out U.K. developer FreeStyleGames. Now, according to a leak, FreeStyleGames could be working on DJ Hero, which was trademarked back in February by Activision, and Kotaku has possible collected the first details for the game. In the details given to Kotaku it states that DJ Hero will be a a music rhythm game that will let gamers scratch to the beat of popular mash-ups with a laptop turntable peripheral. The information goes on to state that the game was in development for nearly two years and is expected to hit shelves next summer. Which will explain the recent buy out of the name by Activision.

They go onto talk about the controls system will likely include the ability to use Guitar Hero guitars for versus mode face-offs. Also it talks about the games control system which will feature nearly a half-dozen iterations. With the device looking a lot like a simplified DJ Deck. There is a platter for scratching which will act like the strum toggle on a Guitar Hero guitar. Above the platter are three buttons for sampling. The controller also includes a cross fader and a sound effects dial which will act like the whammy bar in Guitar Hero.

Instead of flowing the musical notes down a guitar neck, DJ Hero will flow the music down and around a virtual record in a half arc. Either left top to middle bottom if you are left handed, or right top to middle bottom if you are right handed.

Currently the wireless controller has grooves molded into the bottom so it will sit comfortably in a player’s lap, though the team is also looking into legs for the deck so gamers can play while standing up.

Have you every wonder how it will be like if Guitar Hero featured sponsorships? Like real in-game sponsorships for really company’s in really life. Well, I’m sorry to say that we are not there yet, but Activision really wants you to feel like your really sponsored by a company. Today, Activision announced that gamers can score in-game sponsorships and gear in Guitar Hero: World Tour from Ampeg, Audio-Technica, EMG Pickups, Ernie Ball, Evans Drumheads, Guitar Center, Krank Amplification, Mackie, Marshall, Orange County Drum & Percussion, Pork Pie Percussion, Regal Tip, Sabian cymbals, Vox and Zildjian drumsticks.

In addition to featuring products, the game will also give your in-game band the chance to play on the same stage as many of their favorite musicians with digital re-creations of Amoeba Music, Live Nation’s House of Blues® Sunset Strip and San Francisco’s AT&T Park.

“Gamers have come to expect a certain level of realism in video games and by collaborating with key brands in the industry we’re able to deliver with Guitar Hero World Tour,” he continues “With the most advanced wireless instrument controllers, the in-game likeness of multiple multi-platinum recording artists and authentic on-stage gear, the game offers the ultimate rock and roll experience.” - Dave Anderson, Sr. Director of Business Development for Activision Publishing, Inc.

During Comic-Con, which took place yesterday in San Diego, Activision comfirmed the development of Marvel Ultimate Alliance II: Fusion. Which is scheduled for PS3, Wii and X360, the game is currently in production at Vicarious Visions studios . No other information was given to us, sadly, but if you pick up the latest issue of GameInformer there should be more details in their Marvel Ultimate Alliance II article.

According to a CBC news report, Experience Hendrix has provided Activision with some of the Hendrix’s music for their upcoming Guitar Hero game, Guitar Hero: World Tour.  This will be the first time that Hendrix will be featured in the title, the songs that will be featured in the game are “The Wind Cries Mary” and a live version of “Purple Haze,”. An avatar of Hendrix as well also be featured in the game, just like Slash or Tom Morello.

Aerosmith, possibly one of the biggest bands in the 1970’s, have teamed up with Activision to create the next installment of the Guitar Hero franchise. Unfortunately Guitar Hero is starting to suffer from the Tony Hawk syndrome and by that I mean that Activision might start running the franchise into the ground. They will just produce the games to get the money because people will buy them and not care what is in it, just look at the title and buy it. This title is the second in that series with Guitar Hero 80’s being the first. It’s just something to put out to get some units sold quick until the next installment comes out this fall.

The career spans 31 songs, with each set of five comprised of three songs by the Aerosmith and two by other bands. As well as unlockable songs spanning the list to about 40 tracks in total. I am a fan of Aerosmith and the set list is not quite what I would have expected for this title. It seems that hardcore fans and possibly your parents may be the only one’s that find this setlist appealing. The set list consists of a lot of classic titles from the 70’s such as "Train Kept A Rollin", "Mamma Kin" and "Toys In The Attic" with other hits that have made the radio up until the album Nine Lives. But some of the songs were remade for this game, changing some of the impact that the songs may have had. "Dream On" is a prime example of this. I would have much rather of had the original recording of the song than a remade version. While this does have smash hits from the guys, Some songs are missing that I think should have made the cut. Where is "Dude Looks Like A Lady","Cryin"."Same Old Song And Dance","Big Ten Inch Record","Falling In Love (is so hard on the knees)" ,"Janie’s Got A Gun", and finally "I Dont Want To Miss A Thing". All great songs I thought should of been included into this set list but for some reason couldnt make the cut.The character models of the band members are a nice addition to the game, but that is about it as far as new content. The game doesn’t offer up much else from the last release, the game plays the same and uses all the same features from before, the visuals are nice and the character models seem to have had a small update but thats about it.

If you’re looking for something new to play with your Fischer price guitars, then of course you can pick this title up. But if you are not a fan of Aerosmith than you can put those hard earned pennies in your piggy bank for the 4th installment of the series this fall. Especially since you wont be able to download any content at all for this title no further hope for extra songs should be had. This title should have just been a download pack instead of a $60 waste pack. Just picked all the big hits from this game and just made them available for download for like $10-$15 dollars. At least then I could have gone back to playing the songs I loved on Guitar Hero III.

Overall Score – C

All Thanks Too Upcoming Writer NOX

We got some new details on games that you may not have heard from in a while, the details include new Guitar Hero: World Tour details an details on the unannounced Rock Band game. Take a look at all the  great new details thanks to a member of NeoGAF.

• Guitar Hero: World Tour will cost $179.99 with all instruments and the game.

• Guitar Hero: World Tour’s guitar features a touch sensitive guitar neck slidethat opens up the entire guitar neck for unbound solos.

•Gutar Hero: World Tour artists include Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, Foo Fighters, Smashing Pumpkins, Korn, System of a Down, Ozzy Osbourne, Interpol, Muse "and dozens more".

• Tony Hawk’s Adrenaline is a game coming to the PLAYSTATION 3 and Xbox 360 that uses a sensing board controller.

• A game called Ultimate Band is coming to the PLAYSTATION 3, Xbox 360, and Wii.

• Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 features over 20 Marvel Legends such as the Hulk, Wolverine, Spider-Man, Venom, and the Human Torch.

• Spider-Man vs. Marvel Zombies is coming to the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii and well feature Spider-Man saving the worlds from a zombie menace threatening to destroy the world. The game takes place in 2149.

• Transformers 2: The Ultimate Battle is another game coming to every system imaginable. It brings you beyond the movie into pressure-packed missions where seconds can make a difference between survival and destruction. You can switch between robot, weapon, and vehicle modes at any time.

[NeoGAF]

Sources tell us that today, Activision has confirmed at a conference that after the release of another Guitar Hero game is set to be made, Guitar Hero: Metallica. Metallica is a legendary hard rock group led by James Hetfield and Kirk Hammet. The game was announced for the arrival by the end of the current fiscal year, before March 31, 2009.

[Guitar Hero : Metallica pour 2009 via Jeux-actu]

Ubisoft has just finished the opening day of the Ubidays conference and the has not been a single word about Splinter Cell Conviction. The evidence does suggests that Ubisoft planned to show the game during the event. The Ubidays event was the ideal time to slip in a few words on the upcoming Splinter Cell. Could this mean that the rumors going around happen to be real?

Heres a good question Ubisoft, Wheres Sam?

Activision reveals new screenshot for Guitar Hero IV under development of the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii. Of course of many new innovations will be part of Guitar Hero IV like a complete set of accessories including a guitar, Drumset, microphone and battery. This makes it possible to compose your own Battle Of The Bands where two groups of four players to clash on line. The game will be releasing this year on Microsoft Xbox 360, Sonys PlayStation 3 and the Nintendo Wii.

According to the people at Primotech, the June issue of Game Informer has an exclusive cover story but, this time it’s not Gears of War it’s Guitar Hero IV. Just like many other Game Informers this one come with details for the new game from Activision.

"Due to the recent falling-out between Gibson and Activision, Guitar Hero IV’s guitars will not be licensed and instead will be custom-designed by the developer. They will incorporate a currently unrevealed feature that will “directly impact the way you play Guitar Hero in the future.”

"Rock stars can step into the studio to create their own songs and share them with other players online courtesy of the newly minted Guitar Hero Tunes service, but these tracks will be devoid of vocals."

"Players will even be able to design their own musicians, album art, and instruments on-screen from scratch."

"While no song titles were yet confirmed, Van Halen, The Eagles, Sublime, and Linkin Park will all be making appearances on the tracklist. All songs in the game will be master tracks."

[First Guitar Hero IV Details Shed via Primotech]