“Guitar Hero probably didn’t receive the amount of nurturing and care that it needed to maintain that position,” chief financial officer Thomas Tippl said, speaking at Citi 2011 Conference, a reported by Gamasutra.

“And I think there were a number of good lessons to be learned.”

Tippl also commented that the series didn’t evolve fast enough to meet the changing state of gaming.

“There were a number of elements to the franchise, as well as our relationship with the providers of the music, that didn’t make it conducive to make the digital transition,” he said.

“If we come back, and when we come back, with a reinvented Guitar Hero experience, I think all of that will have to be taken into account. Clearly, consumers still have a lot of love for the brand.”

Guitar Hero was put on hiatus earlier this year after several recent entries failed to take off.

“Guitar Hero has had enormous success. After a few iterations of the game it became one of the most successful games of all time,” Kotick said in an extensive interview with Forbes.

“And then we didn’t really take the time that we usually take to understand audience behavior.

“It was one of those things where we were resting on the idea that one of the essential fantasies of video games is to unleash your inner rock star. So we went off on a passion project that had a point of differentiation – which is called DJ Hero.”

Kotick said Activision didn’t stop to consider the question, “How many people really want to unleash their inner DJ?”

“And then out of the people who do want to unleash their inner DJ, how many want to do it in the context of a game where you earn points, versus just taking a DJ deck or tools on their Macintosh and actually being a DJ? And it turns out it’s a very small market,” he said.

The CEO said critically acclaimed games like DJ Hero which fail to sell well are the “hardest failures”.

“When you put your heart and soul into it and you deliver an extraordinarily well received game, and nobody shows up to buy it,” he mourned.

“So that’s what happened with DJ Hero. At the same time we were so excited about going down this new direction with DJ Hero, I think we abandoned a bit of the innovation that was required in the Guitar Hero franchise.”

Describing the sales failure of both games as a “double whammy”, Kotick said it took both off the market in order to reinvent them. Kotick feels the mega-publisher’s ability to weather such failures is one of its strengths.

“The most important thing we do to encourage innovation is give people the freedom to fail,” he said.

“We have what we call the post mortem process, really evaluating what is it that caused an outcome not to be aligned to the original expectation. And sometimes it’s not even like an abject failure, if the game just doesn’t sell, sometimes it’s a game that doesn’t sell as well as you would have expected, or in some cases more importantly, if it doesn’t feel like it meets the expectations of the audience.”

The full interview is an extremely hefty read, but well worth it if you’re interested in how a publisher as large as Activision functions. Follow the link above to find out about failed negotiations with Led Zeppelin, and Kotick’s million-dollar innovation spot bonus fund, for example.

Thanks, 1UP.

Michael Pachter has slipped that a new Guitar Hero may be on the way for Wii U.

“I walked out with the guy who runs Guitar Hero,” the Wedbush Morgan analyst told GTTV in Los Angeles.

“And I said I can’t believe that that’s not on Wii U, and he goes ‘It’ll be on Wii U, but we’re not gonna announce that yet.’ So there you go.”

That’s despite Activision confirming earlier this year that it had closed the business units for both Guitar Hero and DJ Hero. The last main game was last year’s Guitar Hero 5.

Don’t ever change, Michael.

Dragonborn again: Bethesda shows Skyrim in Utah

What happened: Bethesda brought out its big guns, leaving Utah a smoking crater of sheer want with heavy hitters like Prey 2, Brink, RAGE, and – of course – The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. We’re going to bed now. Wake us when it’s November.

What it means: Argh, it’s too early. Oh, right. We still have to do this whole “writing” thing. Anyway, this may sound like a PSA from Captain Obvious, but Skyrim’s looking pretty darn incredible. While not exactly an earth-shattering observation at first glance, it’s worth noting because the game’s hardly playing it safe. New additions like dyanmic questing and a leveling system that essentially lacks a cap could easily turn the game into a dragon-sized dud, but Bethesda’s RPG savvy has been on full display so far. Granted, that’s no reason to give your inner skeptic the rest of the year off. Need we remind you of Oblivion’s enemy leveling system? Or horse armor? Bethesda’s far from perfect. Even so, those particularly ugly face-plants came as a result of attempts to push the genre forward, and so long as that’s Bethesda’s goal, we’ll respect the hell out of them.

Portal 2 fan backlash on Metacritic

What happened: Portal 2 launched to the sort of rave reviews typically reserved for, well, other Valve games, and everything was pretty much peachy. Then – oh horror of horrors – some poor soul was ambushed by a vile console prompt in the game’s PC version. You know what that means, right? Sensible acknowledgment of a tiny boo-boo followed by continued enjoyment of an excellent game? Haha, no. The answer we’re looking for is war.

What it means: For Portal 2 itself? Almost nothing. The PC version’s definitely not a port – merely the victim of a last-minute update snafu. Those complaining about length, meanwhile, are fleet-footed speed runners at best and bold-faced liars at worst. The store and ARG, however, do merit some real discussion, but not as points in someone’s entitlement-ridden “why Valve wronged me personally and deserves death, or – worse – my incessant whining” speech. In both cases, players are/were required to do nothing. Our question: since when did options become a bad thing? If they somehow made Portal 2 a lesser product, that’d be one thing. But the game released on-time and complete. Yes, there’s a fine line between options and potential exploitation, but Valve hasn’t crossed it yet. So get off your high-horse-mounted soapboxes, people. Preferably by falling face- first.

Internal Activision memo asks: “Isn’t Call of Duty today just like Guitar Hero was a few years back?”

What happened: Believe it or not, a day in the Activision offices doesn’t merely involve pressing the giant red “MAKE CALL OF DUTY” button and gathering around the money printing machine until you’ve pocketed enough to fuel up your private jet and head home. As such, the mega-publisher asked itself a very big question: Is Call of Duty on a collision course with the same iceberg that sank Guitar Hero?

What it means: Activision’s analysis of the situation was fairly thorough, but we’re not so sure about its conclusion. Yes, Call of Duty’s shown tremendous staying power in a time-tested genre – accomplishments of which Guitar Hero could never boast – but that doesn’t mean “build our entire strategy around pumping out a million of ‘em” is the right option. Annual sequels are one thing, but numerous spin-offs and services reek of over-reliance. Also, the gaming industry’s in a tremendous transition period right now. Certainly, “put your best foot forward” is a good policy when dealing with new business models and whatnot – but only up to a point. If that interferes with your ability to experiment and think outside the box, it might be time to approach things from a different angle. Activision, however, seems to be building its walls ever higher while the rest of the industry rapidly expands its borders.

More Project Cafe rumors surface, “Stream” being considered as a name

What happened: Please hurry up and make that official announcement (which is itself only a rumor) soon, Nintendo. We’re really tired of trying to make sense of a veritable flood of “leaks.” This week’s batch: It’s called Project Cafe, or maybe Stream. It’ll cost between $350 and $400 to manufacture. And look, grainy pictures! You love those, right?

What it means: Someone, please give us some concrete information! Until then, we’re going on a hunger strik– God, we’re hungry. This isn’t working. Well, it’s sounding like the Streaming Cafe Project (which sounds like a bad indie pop group) is shooting for a late 2011 or early 2012 launch. Coupled with multiple reports that Sony and Microsoft plan to tread technological water until 2014, Nintendo could have its own mini-generation all to itself. Who knows, though? Plans can change. We want concrete details, damn it, and we won’t eat until– hey, a brownie!

US and EU PSN outage could last “a day or two”, says Sony

What happened: The universe conspired against PS3 owners to knock out their trusty online service just as Portal 2 and Mortal Kombat dropped – amidst a holiday weekend, no less. Sony admitted today that the outage is a result of hacking.

What it means: Even if some Anonymous off-shoot is responsible, some transparency is better than letting everyone’s imaginations run wild, and Sony stayed quiet on this for far too long. Frankly, the whole situation is a mess, and we’ll be quite interested in seeing how Sony apologizes for it. PSN is still down, and has been since Wednesday. More than 75 million PSN accounts are registered worldwide, and the service holds millions of addresses and credit card details. That it can be brought to its knees by hackers will raise serious questions in the coming week, and silence won’t be one of Sony’s options.

• Tons of RIFT: Phase 2 of the World Event kicked off today; open world PvP events and class changes have bee detailed; the mobile authenticator for iOS and Android is now available.
• PAX organizers have announced PAX Dev will be held before PAX Prime 2011 between August 24-25.
• A trailer for Green Lantern has been released.
• Patch notes for the latest Marvel vs Capcom 3 update can be found here.
• The Settlers 7 will be getting a fourth DLC pack on Monday as well as a free patch which will add co-op.
• The April downloadable Track Packs for Guitar Hero will be the last released while the series goes on “vacation,” until further notice.
• EA is to begin construction on $30 million, three-story, 94,000-square-foot facility at LSU which contains a classroom and more on the ground level. LSU gets the second floor, while EA gets the top floor.
• Guerrilla Bob has been released for PC and Mac and it contains cross-platform play with iOS and Android ports.
• Patch notes for the spring update of CrimeCraft have been released.
• D2D is having a massive sale, and Strategy First is donating 30 percent of proceeds to Japan until Monday.
• Zombies and werewolves are invading Champions Online with the return of the Blood Moon event this weekend.
• Star Trek Online: new engineering report details new features and Season 4 content; there’s also a sale going on at the Cryptic Store for the game.
• Check out these shots of Red Faction: Armageddon.

Winters believes that the perception of the “warm and cuddly Activision; the scrappy, loveable number two,” changed after the merger with Blizzard combined with the phenomenal success of the Call of Duty franchise catapulted the publisher to the number one spot.

“We went from being a very successful company, number two before the merger – in fact in terms of the market share perspective we were teetering on the number one – and then we went to delivering 25 million copies of Call of Duty to consumers at a time when we had Blizzard expanding on the World of Warcraft front. There’s a greater responsibility for a broader audience now,” he said.

“That doesn’t mean that we’ve changed our perspective at all. We have the same sensibility and we’re still the same small town folks that we were before, just with a lot more work to do.”

Asked how the cultures of both Activision and Blizzard have come together, Winters said he believes that Blizzard has taught Activision a lot about maintaining a community of dedicated fans.

“With Blizzcon, things like that, it’s all about community and being part of that special club. We learned a lot from those guys. I’d like to think that there’s a good collaboration on both sides of the coin, but I’ve gotta tell you, those guys are really wicked smart. Any time we get a chance to go over and pick their brain on anything, we certainly take advantage of that.”

As previously reported, Winters also said that the Guitar Hero franchise is not dead, just resting.

The full interview can be found here.

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Activision’s Dan Winters said:

“Actually, just to clarify, we’re just putting Guitar Hero on hiatus, we’re not ending it. We’re releasing products out of the vault – we’ll continue to sustain the channel, the brand won’t go away. We’re just not making a new one for next year, that’s all.”

The brand had previously been axed during a round of cuts, with Activision stating it was to concentrate on a number of ‘tentpole’ titles. Jobs were shed around the same time, and Activision released the following concerning the Guitar Hero franchise:

“Due to continued declines in the music genre, the company will disband Activision Publishing’s Guitar Hero business unit and discontinue development on its Guitar Hero game for 2011.”

Owners of plastic peripherals everywhere may wish to hold off selling their stash, for the time being at least.

Apparently, the fat lady has yet to sing on the DLC for the game. At least, we think. It was thought last month’s offering would be the last bit released, yet here we are today with more tracks for the game. Maybe this is the final aria. We’ll see, we suppose.

At any rate, the Modern Rock Mega Pack includes Muse, Queens Of The Stone Age, Snow Patrol, Bad Religion, Puddle of Mudd and more. Get the list below.

• “Sorrow” by Bad Religion
• “Sic Transit Gloria… Glory Fades” by Brand New
• “She’s A Genius” by Jet
• “Supermassive Black Hole” by Muse
• “Psycho” by Puddle Of Mudd
• “Little Sister” by Queens Of The Stone Age
• “Always” by Saliva
• “Hands Open” by Snow Patrol
• “Headstrong” by Trapt

The Modern Rock Mega Pack is available today on Xbox Live for 1320 MSP, and on the US end of PSN for $16.49 and on Wii for 1650 Wii Points.

All songs can be purchased as singles for 160 MSP/$1.99/200 Wii Points.

UK PSN users will get the content tomorrow.

Keza speaks to ex-GamesIndustry.biz editor and Times columnist Rob Fahey about the issues surrounding the cuts, and how Activision’s ostensibly short-sighted approach to the games business may ultimately prove its undoing.

Shack noticed posts on both the Guitar Hero and DJ Hero Twitter feeds promising more content.

Both posts put the new DLC down to “continuing support”, with the Guitar Hero feed acknowledging three million likes on its Facebook page.

Details are promised soon. Stay tuned.

Thanks, Go Nintendo.

• Someone’s captured a segment of Bulletstorm which seems to take a jab at Microsoft and 360′s infamous Red Ring of Death. Full video is on Joystiq.
• PSOne Classics in Japan have now hit 600 titles, SCE’s announced. That’s your lot. Thanks, Siliconera.
• Konami’s releasing a nine-part boxed collection of the Silent Hill soundtrack from games in the series’ past from Silent Hill 1 to Silent Hill Arcade. Release seems to be a Japanese-only thing, though. More on Joystiq.
• Someone’s turned Heavy Rain into a movie. All the major clips from the Quantic Dream thriller are all in the near three-hour film. Watch it on Ve3d.
• Upcoming indie title Spy Party is going to be at PAX East as well as GDC. More on that and a whole scoop of details on the game through here.
• Siliconera has screens of Samurai Warriors: Chronicles’ customisation features. Game’s out at launch for 3DS on March 25 in Europe and March 27 in the US.
• As Hudson prepares to be fully absorbed by parent company Konami, someone’s posted on The Kartel his experience at working with the company.
• Joystiq has a pretty comprehensive round-up of where the developers of Activision’s Hero line-up are all up to now.
• Mortal Online is having a free 14-day trial. Get more information here.
• Developer RedLynx have released a video for its new iOS game which will apparently last 1000 days and will contain a new map and a new hero each day. Get more from TSA.
• Funcom is gearing up for new Age of Conan PvP servers with corpse looting.
• World of Tanks has broken the Guinness World Record for most simultaneously players online on an MMO server. The record is now 91,311 which beats Second Life’s 88,000 back in 2009.
• Recent XBLM outages in the UK were due to an upgrade of the system. As a “sorry about this” MS, is handing out 80 MSP to some lucky users. Via CVG.
• You can watch the space shuttle Discovery launch via LOOT’s Sunset Yacht in PlayStation Home today at 4:50pm EST.
• Survey Says: The mobile gaming market is dominated by folks who are younger, wealthier, better educated and likely to be female. Via Gama.

Now back to work.

Speaking with MCV, Summer said if the franchise had not been “abused,” the cancellation would never have happened.

“It was brilliant,” said Kelly. “Everybody wants to be a rock star and there was nothing on the market like this at the time. Best of all, it involved everybody in the room. It was a great party experience.

“[Activision] tried to get too much out of the franchise too quickly. They abused it. There’s no reason why Guitar Hero cannot continue. It’s a great product. My gut tells me there is still a significant market for Guitar Hero. Not every game can be a billion dollar franchise, but maybe that’s what Activision wants. “I’d be surprised if they sold the brand as it’d prove to the world there is still a market for this product and show them up.

“Look at how Take-Two has handled GTA. They haven’t thrown products out there. They’ve nurtured it for over ten years and it is still a strong franchise.”

Activision announced earlier in the month during a financial call to investors that it had disbanded its Guitar Hero business unit and canceled development on its Guitar Hero game for 2011.

The last DLC pack for the franchise, the February Mega Pack, was released on February 8.

• Dr. Carole Lieberman said her comments in Fox News’ Bulletstorm article were “taken out of context and made to sound more inflammatory than they were meant.”
• At the DICE summit, NPD’s Anita Frazier said new technology is driving growth in the game market, but it’s not enough to excite customers.
• Episode 3 for The Silver Lining has been delayed to February 17.
• Nokia and Microsoft have entered into a strategic alliance on Windows Phone, Bing, Xbox Live and Office.
• A World of Tanks tutorial video has been released. Watch it here.
• Dungeon and Dragons Online turns five at the end of the month. Expect some celebrations.
• There’s a new book out which is a guide to helping developers get into the game industry.
• A CG trailer for Shogun: Total War has been released. Have a watch.
• Croteam announced that Serious Sam 3: BFE will be coming this summer.
• New shots of Double Bear’s zombie survival RPG Dead State are over on Gamespot.
• There’s a Star Trek Online Cloaked Intentions video you can watch here.
• Slash has voiced his opinion on the death of Guitar Hero: “It was inevitable. Sales declined after the success of GH3. It was too costly to produce the game as a result.” He should get a job as an analyst.
• You may have seen these shot of NGP games before but take a look again: Little Deviants, Resistance, Killzone, LittleBigPlanet.
• A couple of the Capcom Unity folks have posted a video of them playing MvC3 with a Guitar Hero controller.
• Gearbox has said Duke Nukem Forever will contain about 16-17 hours worth of gameplay.
• The SWTOR website has been updated with a timeline video which hints around at the Sith Emperor’s identity.
• DC Comics has released the first issue of the comic book series based on the DC Universe Online MMO.
• Atari has said it is aware of online connection issues with Test Drive Unlimited 2 and the team is working on a fix.
• Check out She-Hulk and the Ace Attorney team in this MvC3 video. Warning. There’s a spoiler.

Activision financials: Revenue at $4.8 billion, major franchise cuts include Guitar Hero and True Crime

What happened: Activision’s regrettably broken-in chopping block had quite the line formed behind it, with former juggernauts like Guitar Hero bracing themselves in horror as the guillotine dropped. With that dirty deed out of the way, Activision now plans to realign its business behind its central “core” franchises: Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, and StarCraft.

What it means: For one, if you thought we weren’t already getting enough Call of Duty, prepare to have your expectations met and then knocked out of the park, straight into the sun. On the other side of that coin, however, is a disturbing indicator that Activision’s not learning from its mistakes. Whether it’ll admit it or not, Activision ran Guitar Hero so far into the ground that it ended up six feet under. And now, the publisher seems poised to do the same thing with Call of Duty. Yearly sequels, spin-offs, a whole potentially subscription-based infrastructure – the works. But instead of drawing up a plan B in case its star cash cow drops dead, the company’s trimming potential hits (see: True Crime) like so much excess fat and devoting all its development muscle to the same old breadwinners. Here’s hoping Bungie‘s got an Ace up its sleeve, because Activision’s unwillingness to change does not a sustainable business make.

Reggie: “One of the biggest risks today in our industry are these inexpensive games” on mobiles

What happened: Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime opened fire on new forms of game distribution like Apple’s App Store, saying that minuscule price tags create a perception that games are “candidly disposable from a consumer standpoint.”

What it means: We’re not sure if “disposable” is the right word, but we have to imagine that consistently low prices will affect some people’s perceptions of games. At the same time, though, mobile games are – by and large – shorter, more compact (notice, however, that we didn’t say “worse”) experiences, so they set a different standard. Someone’s not going to play Angry Birds and then decide Mass Effect 3′s worth whatever they can dig out from between their sofa cushions. Fact is, videogame prices are no longer standardized. There’s a broad, fluctuating range that mostly justifies itself in the type of experience you’re getting. It’s the difference between, say, paying for HBO versus tuning in to free public broadcast television. Or it’s the filet mignon versus cheeseburger argument, if you want an old classic. At the end of the day, more people than ever are playing games, new business models are emerging, and developers are still making money. Look up, Reggie. See that blue thing? That’s the sky. It isn’t falling.

The Darkness 2 to focus more on story, action, have a cel-shaded look

What happened: 2K finally shined some light on The Darkness 2, the sequel to Starbreeze Studios’ criminally underrated mob thriller/supernatural tale. The biggest change? Starbreeze isn’t pulling the strings (or terrifying shoulder-mounted Death Snakes, as it were) this time around. Instead, that honor goes to Digital Extremes, developer of titles like Dark Sector and Pariah.

What it means: If you were a Jedi, you’d be sensing much fear in us right now. More specifically, fear that The Darkness 2 will sully its predecessor’s good name by being profoundly serviceable. Digital Extremes isn’t a bad developer at all; its games simply haven’t had much life to them. It’s co-developed some classics, but its own handiwork has tended to lack the special something that separates “yeah, I’d rent it” from “hell yeah, I’d buy four of it.” Also, it’s all at once heartening and disheartening to hear lead designer Tom Galt mention [SPOILER] Jenny’s death with such reverence. Yes, that was a huge moment, but a smattering of smaller ones – chief among them, the simple act of kicking back and watching a movie with her – built up to it. Here’s hoping Digital Extremes realizes The Darkness worked so well precisely because it wasn’t always going full-speed ahead.

Carmack: 3DS and NGP may be the last “specialized handheld game consoles ever built”

What happened: The 3DS and NGP aren’t even out yet, but that didn’t stop id Software’s titan of tech from predicting their cold, lonely demises. And the one holding the smoking gun? Your good ol’ never-leave-home-without-it pal, the iPhone.

What it means: NGP and 3DS are far from DOA, but Carmack makes a good point: if smartphones are “80 percent as good at gaming,” then the average consumer probably won’t be able to tell the difference. Beyond that, it comes down to practicality; why lug a dedicated gaming device around when your smartphone can do all that and more? Granted, we doubt dedicated portable gaming or its star players will suddenly cease to exist. Initiatives like Sony’s PlayStation Suite will continue to emerge, providing “core” experiences for all who want them. Plus, we’re already seeing plenty of analog stick and button peripherals for touch screen interfaces, so your needs will almost certainly be provided for. Only difference is, it’ll all be tied up in one neat package. So yeah, like we told Reggie: Sky. Not falling. Etc.

EA responds to accusations from Fox News over Bulletstorm content

What happened: Oh boy, where to start? Fox News published a piece of utter rubbish wherein – among other things – a TV psychologist claimed that games are “largely” responsible for a fictional increase in rape crimes. Then the world cracked in two, and a colossal Anger Volcano emerged, signaling the end of human civilization as we know it.

What it means: A lot of things. Fox News is still a bastion of shameless sensationalism? Check. Gamers’ command of Amazon book reviews is indeed formidable? Check. Games cause rape? Bzzzzt. Wrong. Into the conveniently placed shark pit with you. Mostly, though, it’s a stern reminder that there are still some heavily misguided views about games out there, and that misinformation is a dangerous tool. As much poetic justice as there is in seeing Carole Lieberman’s book get blasted on Amazon, it’s incredibly counter-productive. Instead, as gamers – players of vile, M-rated games, no less – we ought to carry ourselves such that there’s no doubt about who’s right and who’s wrong. Attacking someone by comparing them to Hitler, unfortunately, isn’t the best way to do that. But also, there’s a kernel of truth to every lie. Games like Bulletstorm certainly don’t cause rape, but really, a game that so gleefully revels in ultra-violence for the sake of ultra-violence deserves reproach. Don’t get us wrong: Bulletstorm looks like a hell of a lot of fun. But maybe it’d be a worthwhile endeavor for us to take a step back and figure out where exactly the line is. How far is too far? And are we skirting dangerously close?

Speaking in an interview with CNBC’s Julia Boorstin, Kotick said: “We don’t really spend a lot of time thinking about how to convert the Call of Duty experience to a subscription model.

“What we really spend time thinking about is how do you create new and compelling Call of Duty experiences that are going to delight the audiences, and usually people are willing to pay for the content if you deliver them something spectacular. Which is our intention.”

Kotcik also touched on the cancellation of the Guitar Hero series, stating that the company has invested millions in the series and since sales have dwindled, the built-in costs attributed to DLC were no longer worth the expense. According to Kotick, Activision was paying 100,000 to convert songs and share revenue with the rights-holders, essentially putting Activision in the music business.

The CEO also said he partially blames Activision for the Guitar Hero franchise not being more innovative with each release.

Watch the interview below or over on CNBC.

It was announced yesterday during Actvision’s Q4 and year-end financials that the series was being canceled.

In response to the ill new, Harmonix has said it was said to hear about the cancellation, and that it’s “discouraging news,” for fans of the band game genre.

“We were sad to hear yesterday that Activision was discontinuing development on Guitar Hero,” a Harmonix spokesperson told Industry Gamers. “Our thoughts are with those who are losing their jobs, and we wish them the best of luck. The discontinuation of Guitar Hero is discouraging news for fans of the band game genre. As retail sales of Guitar Hero and Rock Band titles have slowed with time, we’ve been focused on building a robust digital platform for music gaming and have recently crested 2,500 songs available for play within Rock Band 3 … Looking to the future, for fans that want to switch, we’d happily welcome you over into the world of Rock Band.

“It’s been a wild battle of the bands since 2007, but we respect and appreciate all of the hard work and innovation of our peers who have shared the music gaming space with us, and we look forward to rocking in the future.”

Meanwhile, a source close to Develop has said as many as a quarter of the studio staff at Guitar Hero studio Vicarious Visions, have been laid off. Estimates put the figure at 50 cuts within the company.

It said in the financial release for its full-year fiscal 2011 financial report that “due to continued declines in the music genre, the company will disband Activision Publishing’s Guitar Hero business unit and discontinue development on its Guitar Hero game for 2011.”

On True Crime, it added that it would “stop development on True Crime: Hong Kong. These decisions are based on the desire to focus on the greatest opportunities that the company currently has to create the world’s best interactive entertainment experiences.”

In a statement on its website, developer United Front Games said it was “sorry” it did not finish the project.

“We are sorry we did not get a chance to complete this project with Acitivision, but we understand why,” the statement reads.

“We are both committed to doing quality games and nothing less. Maybe we will have a chance to work together in the future, but in the meantime we are setting our creative sites on a different horizon.”

Furthermore, Activision COO Thomas Tippl has just confirmed in the company’s financial call that no Tony Hawk games will be released in 2011 as well as other music titles from the company, meaning no DJ Hero sequel this year.

It follows according reports from GI and Eurogamer that GH and TC would be canned outright with layoffs at DJ Hero developer Freestyle Games.

GI also claims that the publisher will now focus on three of its key brands: Call of Duty, StarCraft and World of Warcraft.

BioWare developer Manveer Heir, who used to work at Activision-owned Raven Software, also claims that Vicarious Visions has suffered layoffs.

The tracks from Children of Bodom are off the band’s upcoming Relentless Reckless Forever CD.

Here’s what you’ll get in pack:

• Black Label Society – “Black Sunday”, “Crazy Horse”, “Parade Of The Dead”
• Children of Bodom – “Was It Worth It”,”Living Dead Beat”, “Blooddrunk”
• Firewind – “World on Fire”
• Marilyn Manson -”Get Your Gunn”, “Tourniquet”, “Coma White”

The February Mega Pack will run you $17.99/1440 MSP/1800 Wii Points or $1.99/160 MSP/200 Wii Points per song.

It’s out now on Wii and XBL, and later today for US PSN users. Europe gets it on PSN tomorrow.

As two of the tracks included in Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock have been nominated for Grammy Awards, it’s been decided to celebrate by offering Soundgarden’s Black Rain as a free MP3 download this weekend.

The nominated songs are Megadeth’s “Sudden Death” and Soundgarden’s “Black Rain,” both of which are up for a Best Metal Performance and Best Hard Rock Performance, respectively.

Megadeth’s tune was inspired by, composed exclusively for, and debuted in Warriors of Rock, while Soundgarden’s previously recorded “Black Rain” was finished for inclusion in the game.

Because of this, Activision is making Black Rain available as a free MP3 download exclusively to all of Guitar Hero’s over 2 million fans on Facebook.

The free download will begin this Friday, January 14, at 12.01am EST and end Sunday, January 16 at 11.59pm EST.

To get your free MP3, click this link, and like the page. Don’t forget to log in after midnight and get your track.

Activision has announced Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock is getting ten new downloadable tracks via the January Mega Pack which includes: Nine Inch Nails, A Day To Remember, Hawthorne Heights, The Used and more.

Here’s the list of what you’ll get starting today on PS3, Wii, and Xbox 360:

• Nine Inch Nails – Head Like A Hole, The Hand That Feeds and Closer
• A Day To Remember – All I Want, 2nd Sucks, and The Downfall Of Us All
• The Damned Things – We’ve Got A Situation Here
• Hawthorne Heights- Rescue Me
• HIM – Wings Of A Butterfly
• The Used – Buried Myself Alive

The January Mega Pack will run you  1440 MPS/$17.99/1800 Wii Points. Individual songs are also available 160 MSP/$1.99/200 Wii Points each.

Rock Band, Guitar Hero, how about tossing aside your grudges and getting the old band back together?

Wait, Power Gig, what are you doing here? No, you’re not invited. Stay away! Shoo!

During an interview with IndustryGamers, Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg was asked about his thoughts on potentially burying the hatchet with Harmonix and giving the recently forsaken developer back its old plastic axe.

“I can’t comment on that, for obvious reasons. I can tell you I’ve got a ton of respect for Harmonix, and I agree with everything you’ve said about them. They’re a hell of a developer, and very innovative, and I’ve got nothing but love for them. As a fan, I can certainly say they are a great developer and they’ve done a great job in this space,” he said.

Harmonix, of course, was the original brain behind Guitar Hero – before Activision acquired Red Octane and put Neversoft behind the wheel instead.

Speaking of Guitar Hero, Hirshberg didn’t try to hide the fact that the franchise seems to have entered its Fat Elvis stage as of late.

“It’s no secret that not just Guitar Hero, but also Rock Band, and the music category in general, do not have the same mass appeal today that they did a few years ago,” he confessed. “That said, I think that we would be foolish to not try and build on the strength of the Guitar Hero brand, because as you said, it’s a pretty strong brand with great recognition and great likability, and there’s a lot to work with there.”

“I think the road to rejuvenating that category goes through innovation.”

“I just think we need to escalate the experience for people and innovate. I think the genre is still fairly new, and so I think it’s probably time for us to really look at what the next level looks like for that genre,” he concluded.

To those about to publish games about those about to pretend to rock, we salute you.

Activision has added some hits from the 1990s to the Warriors of Rock library.

You know you rocked out to at least one of these songs at some point.

Here’s what you’ll get:

• The Goo Goo Dolls – Name
• Marcy Playground – Sex And Candy
• Matchbox Twenty – Real World
• R.E.M. – What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?
• Sponge – Plowed

Each track can be  purchased today onPS3, Wii, and Xbox 360 for  $1.99/160 MSP/ 200 Wii Points each.

You can also get the full set via the ’90s Rock Track Pack for $9.49/760 MSP/ 950 Wii Points.

Activision has teamed up with Coke to hand out some free Tiesto and My Chemical Romance DLC for DJ Hero 2 and GH: Warriors of Rock, respectively.

Starting today, and free until November 29 in the US via redemption code while supplies last, players get the following tracks on PSN, Wii, and XBL.

DJ Hero 2 – Tiesto

• Traffic Mixed With Louder Than Boom
• Feel It In My Bones ft. Tegan & Sara
• Knock You Out ft. Emily Haines Mixed With Young Lions

Warriors of Rock – My Chemical Romance

• Bulletproof Hear”
• Helena
• Teenagers
• Welcome To The Black Parade

To get your redemption code so you can get these for free, head on over to My Coke Rewards (Warriors of Rock, DJ Hero 2) and follow the instructions.

If you just want to buy the My Chemical Romance pack or singles, the tracks are available on each respective system’s marketplace starting November 30 for 600MSP/$7.49/750 Wii Points or 160 MSP/$1.99/ 200 Wii Points each.

On November 30, the Tiesto Mix Pack be available on each system for 640 MSP/7.99/300 Wii Points.

Analyst Doug Creutz from Cowen Group has good and bad news for Activision Blizzard.

The good news: Creutz thinks investors don’t need to worry about the music genre anymore.

The bad news: the analyst says the once high-flying music genre is now “immaterial to overall results”.

His comments were noted by Gamasutra as Cowen Group more than halved its original forecast for US DJ Hero sales in Q4.

The company now thinks DJ Hero and new review darling DJ Hero 2 will “struggle” to break the 1 million sales mark, combined – the original estimate was 2.5 million.

Creutz has a solution for Activision Blizzard: double down.

“Activision’s best option at this point would be to approach Viacom with [the] idea of (re)merging the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises through a sale or joint venture agreement,” he wrote.

According to figures divulged by Cowen & Company analyst Doug Creutz, Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock moved 86,000 copies during its first week at retail in the US.

Those figures are in stark contrast to Guitar Hero 5′s 499K units during month one in 2009.

When you compare it with World Tour, that game sold 500K during its first week in 2008, while in 2007 Guitar Hero III moved 1.4 million units in five days.

There’s been speculation from many areas of the industry that consumers are showing fatigue with music games, but others in the industry feel the decline in this genre’s sales can be attributed more to the installed base.

Whatever the case, 86K for week one of a high-profile game doesn’t seem all that hot. When you break it down though by price, it amounts to approximately $5.1 million when accounting for just the standalone software at $59.99 and not the bundles.

The game entered the UK top 6 during it’s launch week, so hopefully sales will pick up for it as we get closer to the holiday shopping extravaganza.

NPD released a bare-bones chart for the US this past Thursday. Get the minimal results through here.

Thanks, Eurogamer (via CVG).

Starting today, Gold Members on XBL will be able to download the track pack for free for one week and it includes:

• Disturbed – The Infection
• Muse – Resistance
• My Chemical Romance – Na Na Na

Beginning on October 19, the track pack will be available for purchase for all Xbox 360 users and it is an Xbox 360-exclusive – for now anyway. Hopefully this will change in the future. We’ll ask.

On October 26, get ready for some Rocky Horror Picture Show and Soundgarden with the following:

• Time Warp
• Sweet Transvestite
• Hot Patootie
• Soundgarden – Black Rain

Soundgarden tracks off of Telephantasm will also be made available individually, instead of as the entire album.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show track pack will be available for440 MSP/$5.49/550 Wii Points.

All songs from Soundgarden’s Telephantasm along with singles from the Rocky Horror Picture Show track packs will be available for 160 MSP/$1.99/200 Wii Points.

Additionally, the Rocktober track pack will be available exclusively on the Xbox 360 for 440 MSP or as singles for 160 MSP each.

In the video posted below the break, Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine talks about his contribution to Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock.

Speaking in the video with GameTrailers, Mustaine chats about the process of creating the song Sudden Death, which is the tune players must best in the final boss fight.

Just looking at all the buttons you’ll have to punch on time makes our finger ache. Likely, they’ll get tangled and we’ll end up crippled.

Warriors of Rock is out September 24 and 28 in the UK and US, respectively, and it’s the first Wii game to have social networking support.

A demo for the game is now available on XBL.

Thanks, GoNintendo.

Joe Fisher, producer at Vicarious Visions, has said Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock will be the first title on Wii offering Twitter and Facebook support.

Speaking during and event for the game in San Fransisco this week, Fisher said Warriors of Rock on Wii will also include special awards you can tweet about as well.

“We’ve done a lot in the online realm this year,” he told attendees (via Nintendojo). “We are the first Wii title to support social networking sites, with Facebook and Twitter.

“When your friends do accomplishments in the game, you can broadcast those to your friends as well as to social networking sites. We’ve also incorporated a Wii award system, so when you do specific challenges in the game, you get credited for an award. You can share those with your online friends as well.”

Good for the Nintendo crowd then.

Warriors of Rock is out September 24 and 28 in the UK and US, respectively.

A demo for the game is now available on XBL.

Thanks, GoNintendo.

Activision has released demos for both DJ Hero 2 and Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock on Xbox Live.

The DJ Hero 2 demo allows you to try out four exclusive mixes as you freestyle scratch, sample and crossfade through various gameplay tutorials, QuickPlay and all-new multiplayer modes including Accumulator and DJ Battle.

The included mixes are:

• Pussycat Dolls Featuring Busta Rhymes “Don’t Cha” Mixed With Pitbull “I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)”
• Lady Gaga Featuring Colby O’Donis “Just Dance” Mixed With Deadmau5 “Ghosts N Stuff”
• MSTRKRFT Featuring N.O.R.E. “Bounce” (Battle Mix)
• Estelle Featuring Kanye West “American Boy” Mixed With Chic “Good Times”

The Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock demo features the new, story-driven Quest Mode, narrated by Gene  “The Tongue” Simmons from KISS, along with the following four tracks:

• Black Sabbath “Children of the Grave”
• Foo Fighters “No Way Back”
• Slash featuring Ian Astbury “Ghosts”
• Dethklok “Bloodlines”

Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock lands at retail on September 24 and 28 in the UK and US, respectively.

DJ Hero hits stores on October 19 and 22 in the US and UK.

Both games are to be made available on PS3, Wii and Xbox 360.

Activision has announced more Megadeth for Guitar Hero 5.

The track pack, available now, includes: Peace Sells, Hangar 18, and Symphony of Destruction.

Hell yeah.

The pack will run you 440 MSP/$5.49/550 WP on 360, PS3, and Wii, respectively.

Individual tracks will cost you 160 MSP/$1.99/200 WP.

The Megadeth pack will also be compatible with Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock when the game is released this fall, and includes Megadeth tunes Sudden Death, Holy Wars… The Punishment Due, and This Day We Fight on the game disc.