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Joyswag: Guitar Hero On Tour: Modern Hits [update]

by David Hinkle { Jun 30th 2009 at 12:00PM }

Update: This contest has come to a close. Keep an eye on your email to see if you won!

If you haven't upgraded to a Nintendo DSi yet, or did, but managed to hold on to that DS Lite or Phat, then we've got a Joyswag for you. Up for grabs is one copy of Guitar Hero On Tour: Modern Hits, complete with the guitar grip peripheral. Want to rock out on your DS? Hit up our rules below to see how you can enter. Good luck!

Leave a comment telling us who your favorite band/artist/musical group is
You must be 18 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec)
Limit 1 entry per person per calendar day
This entry period ends at 11:59 am ET on Monday, July 6

At that time, we'll randomly select one grand-prize winner to receive Guitar Hero On Tour: Modern Hits (with the guitar grip peripheral) for the DS ($50 ARV)
For a list of complete rules, click here

Gallery: Guitar Hero: Modern Hits (DS)

See Guitar Hero On Tour: Modern Hits ... and not some guy playing it

by JC Fletcher { Jun 9th 2009 at 4:35PM }

dfdIn the trailer for the first Guitar Hero On Tour demonstrated how the game's portability made it easy for people to "perform" anywhere, in essence adding portability to the social Guitar Hero experience, something that is helped by the song sharing. However, there's one major problem with advertising the game in this way: it shows customers what they look like playing Guitar Hero on the DS.

This trailer for Guitar Hero On Tour: Modern Hits doesn't feature any of that. In fact, the camera's so tightly focused on the screen that you can barely see the player embarrassing himself.

Gallery: Guitar Hero: Modern Hits (DS)

Guitar Hero On Tour: Modern Hits' full hit list

by JC Fletcher { May 14th 2009 at 6:00PM }

How do you know when you're old? When you see a list of supposedly "modern hits" and you've never heard of half of them. That's, uh, not the case for us with the final Guitar Hero: Modern Hits track list, released today -- we were just saying. We're definitely hip to all these music groups. We were totally into Endeverafter before they got popular.

Check out the full 25-song list after the break, and see if this year's DS Guitar Hero is more in line with your musical sensibilities than the last two. And then get off our lawn, whippersnappers. Guitar Hero On Tour: Modern Hits comes out June 9th.

Gallery: Guitar Hero On Tour: Modern Hits (5.14.09)

Continued →

DS Daily: No More Guitar Heroes?

by JC Fletcher { Dec 27th 2008 at 10:30AM }

The ESRB spilled the beans on yet another version of Guitar Hero: On Tour for DS, this time including "modern hits" like "Paralyzer." We could debate the worth of the annual updates of the main Guitar Hero series, but we thought we would focus on the DS version for this topic.

There are a few differences between the main GH and the portable series that could affect the worthiness of the (even more frequently than) annual releases: on the one hand, there's no DLC to extend the DS games, and on the other hand, there are (probably) no new instrument controllers to add to the experience. Putting aside for a moment the question of whether Guitar Hero should ever be on the DS, should there be multiples? So often?

Gallery: Guitar Hero: On Tour Decades

Schooled: 'Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades' track list

by James Ransom-Wiley { Oct 29th 2008 at 1:15PM }

Let's get one thing straight: Guitar Hero on Tour: Decades is not the equivalent of "playing through the history of rock 'n' roll," as Activision puts it. And even if you could embody this history (which didn't begin in the 1970s, by the way) in just 28 master recordings, the unsubstantial collection wouldn't feature many, if any of the tracks Activision has licensed for its portable sequel. But we digress. You just wanna see the list, right? Head on down!

Continued →

Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades shreds retail November 16

by Jason Dobson { Oct 6th 2008 at 9:15PM }

Fuelled by the uncomfortable stares of those sitting close by, Activision has heard your cries for more on-the-go rocking, confirming that Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades will return to the portable stage on November 16.

First announced during E3, the encore performance will include a collection of master tracks pulled from the last 40 years, including Fall Out Boy, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Queen, as well as support wireless connectivity between both it and the original On Tour for competitive and co-op play. Not much else has been revealed, though something tells us that this November bus rides to work just got a little more awkward.

Gallery: Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades

Amazon places Guitar Hero: On Tour into the Gold Box

by David Hinkle { Sep 23rd 2008 at 11:24AM }

Amazon is running another Gold Box promotion, as it is want to do, and featured right now is Guitar Hero: On Tour. The entire bundle is being sold for the low price of $29.99, which is around $20 less than the MSRP. If you've been waiting to test out the portable Guitar Hero waters, this just might be your chance.

You can see the sale for yourself by clicking right here.

Gallery: Guitar Hero: On Tour

[Thanks, supa_s!]

Double the volume of Guitar Hero expected in 2009

by Randy Nelson { Sep 17th 2008 at 12:29AM }

If you thought that 2008's triple-billing of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, Guitar Hero: On Tour and the upcoming Guitar Hero World Tour was, well, a lot of Guitar Hero ... you ain't seen nuthin' yet. Activision-Blizzard revealed at an event for industry analysts that it intends to double the number of Guitar Hero SKUs (not necessarily unique games, just console-specific variations of "core" titles) in 2009. The goal is to triple them in 2010. Whammy bar!

Considering that we had two console Guitar Hero titles this year, that would potentially mean four in 2009 (one being Guitar Hero: Metallica) and six in 2010. That's not even counting handhelds. So ... are you ready to rock, a lot? Or is this all just way too much noise? Let us know in comments.

Guitar Hero: On Tour Decades launches November 17 alongside standalone On Tour

by JC Fletcher { Sep 15th 2008 at 3:00PM }

There hasn't been an announcement or anything, but GameStop now lists a November 17 release date for Guitar Hero: On Tour Decades, both in its Guitar Grip bundle and alone. In addition, Activision will ship a standalone version of the first On Tour for people picking up the Decades bundle. These standalone games will cost $34.99 each, which is almost as painful to say as it would be to spend.

At least the slightly reduced price of the standalone cards will make collecting both games a bit less damaging to household finances than forced bundles, for those among us in single-DS homes.

Rhythm games grow industry by 32% in '08

by Alexander Sliwinski { Aug 18th 2008 at 4:15PM }

Rhythm games have certainly been keeping the tempo up for financial growth in the industry. GameDaily notes UBS analyst Ben Schachter's report, showing "music-themed games" have made up 15% of software sales year-to-date and 32% year-over-year growth so far.

The Guitar Hero franchise is already up 82% this year, with Guitar Hero: On Tour taking in $15 million in July alone. Meanwhile, Rock Band, across all platforms, took in $47 million in July ... and that doesn't even count any DLC sales. Unless the rhythm game bubble bursts in the next few months, GH: World Tour and Rock Band 2 sales -- along with their respective DLC sales -- could make up a significant portion of another record-breaking year for the industry.

July NPD: Post-E3 mellow

by JC Fletcher { Aug 15th 2008 at 12:00PM }

Here's our theory for the overall drop in US sales in July versus June: just reading E3 coverage in the middle of the month was enough gaming excitement for a significant portion of the audience. Too crazy? Here's another one: people decided to reduce their spending now in anticipation of stuff coming later. And, for fun, one more: it was just too hot outside for video games. Who needs logic when you've got imagination?

It's easy enough to explain the DS's drop (which, we must point out, takes it from number one to number one): June saw the release of a huge new game and hardware bundle, sales of which were largest at launch. The rest: who knows? The top ten games are after the break.

DS: 608K175K (-22.35%)
Wii: 555K111K (-16.7%)
PS3: 224.9K 180.1K (-44.5%)
PSP: 221.7K 115.3K (-34.21%)
Xbox 360: 204.8K 15.2K (-6.91%)
PS2: 155.5K 33K (-17.6%)

Continued →

Actilizzard CEO finds Warner Music's logic on music licensing 'one-sided'

by Alexander Sliwinski { Aug 15th 2008 at 11:00AM }

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick finds comments made by Warner Music -- saying it should be paid more for the use of its music in games like Guitar Hero -- a little "one-sided." The Financial Times reports that the Blizzavision chief thinks comments made by Warner Music's Edgar Bronfman don't take into account the "capital and resources" required to turn the song into something "fun to play."

With the music industry taking a backseat to the games industry, it's not surprising to find record execs trying to figure out a way to squeeze more money out of a billion-dollar franchise. The thing is, though, that Activision's merger with Vivendi Games, connects it to Vivendi Universal, which owns Universal Music, the "world's largest music publisher." At the end of the day, Kotick can snap his fingers and never talk to Warner Music again, all the while squeezing every last dollar out of the Guitar Hero franchise until it stops being the soup du jour.

Nyko FrontMan guitar compatibility chart

by Alexander Sliwinski { Jul 22nd 2008 at 9:57PM }

Click to embiggen

During E3 we spoke with third-party peripheral manufacturer Nyko about its line of FrontMan guitars and which games the different versions were compatible with. We did a quick and dirty post on what we were told during the E3 madness, but Nyko just sent over the chart above, which, admittedly, is much easier to understand.

For first-party guitar compatibility, check out our Guitar Hero / Rock Band guitar compatibility matrix v2. We're sure to have v3 available as soon as we confirm Rock Band 2, Guitar Hero: World Tour and Rock Revolution guitar compatibility.

Guitar Hero promoted through humiliation of the public

by Chris Greenhough { Jul 18th 2008 at 12:30PM }

Remember the cringeworthy trailer that was used to introduce Guitar Hero: On Tour to a breathless world? Well, now some people -- innocent members of the public, we might add -- have relived that nightmare for real.

To promote its already wildly successful music game in the UK, Activision rented a busker's spot in the Covent Garden district of London (a location famous for its street performers) and proceeded to encourage passers-by to strum out a few notes on the title as onlookers watched, occasionally with expressions of amusement, but more often looking disinterested and distracted. Hit the gallery for more shots of brave performers being watched by bored people.

Gallery: Guitar Hero: On Tour

[Via press release]

Three DS news items you might have missed

by Eric Caoili { Jul 16th 2008 at 8:45AM }

With several major press conferences yesterday and a deluge of media assets, it's easy to miss all the smaller news items that popped up. We've rounded up three of them for you so that they won't be completely forgotten!

1. Retro Game Challenge logo! Yep, there it is, right above our post. It doesn't look too different from the Retro Game Master DVD logo, but we'll find any excuse to talk about this wonderful, nostalgic title. In fact, keep an eye out for our hands-on impressions from the E3! For now, you can check out five new screenshots in our gallery below or have a look at the Retro Game Challenge sell sheet past the post break.

2. Zoo Games is working on a Puzzle Quest clone? Any time we see the words "puzzle" juxtaposed with images of fantasy-type warriors, as was the case with Puzzle Kingdoms, our minds immediately go to last year's surprise hit, Puzzle Quest. Though developer Infinite Interactive already has two official Puzzle Quest clones in the works, the hybridization of RPGs and puzzle games are addictive enough that we don't mind seeing knock-offs. We hope to see more than just three pieces of character art for Puzzle Kingdoms soon!

3. Guitar Hero: On Tour Decades coming out less than six months after Guitar Hero: On Tour? Alright, so you might have heard that Vicarious Visions is preparing a Guitar Hero DS sequel for the holiday season, but if you stop for a minute and think about it, you'll realize that the original game came out only three weeks ago! That's a shorter gap than the time in between Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock and Guitar Hero: Aerosmith's releases (8 months) for consoles!