Red Octane

Red Octane headlines

• Mad Catz paid $300K to be let out of Guitar Hero peripheral contract

  Darren Richardson, president and CEO of Mad Katz, had told Kotaku that the reason the original Guitar Hero game only launched on PS2 was because the firm pulled out of doing a Xbox SKU due to a lawsuit between Harmonix and Konami.

• Activision contemplating subscription model for Guitar Hero games

  According to a Seattle Times interview with Red Octane co-founder Kai Huang, Activision may consider a subscription based service for future Guitar Hero DLC. “That’s definitely one of the things we would love to do,” Huang said. “There are a lot of issues around music licensing. Customers want it. I know I want it. We’re […]

• 30% of Guitar Hero players are women, says Rosensweig

  Here’s a shock for you – almost a third of all Guitar Hero players are female. “A very large group really wants great guitar music, and they don’t want us to confuse that,” Guitar Hero CEO Dan Rosensweig told Gamepro. “And there’s another group of people who love that, but also love to have more […]

• Natal-controlled Guitar Hero? "Likely," says Red Octane

  Guitar Hero may have a hardware-less future, if comments made by Red Octane president and co-founder Kai Huang to DigitalSpy are to be believed. “We’ve definitely been evaluating Microsoft’s Natal technology along with a lot of other different technologies that could enhance the Guitar Hero playing experience,” Huang said. “Natal is very interesting because there’s […]

• UK Guitar Hero World Tour/Rock Band ratio closer to 4:1, says Red Octane

  Off the back of the earlier news that Guitar Hero World Tour has outsold Rock Band by a ratio of 2:1, Red Octane’s UK senior brand manager, Ian McClellan, told VG247 today that this figure is more like 4:1 in the UK. “From a UK perspective, we think the growth in music gaming in 2008 […]

• Musicians making more profit from rhythm action games than their albums

  According to this AP piece, royalties musicians accrue from games such as Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero often exceed revenue from album sales. Apparently, Aerosmith made more moolah from Guitar Hero: Aerosmith than they did from their last two albums, while Nirvana and The Red Hot Chilli Peppers have seen a sharp increase in […]

• Guitar Hero may create "entire culture of future musicians," says Metallica

  Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett has told USA Today that games like the band’s upcoming branded version of Guitar Hero may be the key to getting young people into playing music. And he may well be right. “It is kind of weird to know that people are going to have an experience that is going to […]

• Activision announces Guitar Hero 5, new Hawk, Bizarre racer and more at in-game ads conference

  According to this MTV post, Activision yesterday confirmed what appears to be a big chunk of its 2009 line-up at a Massive in-game ads conference in New York. The publisher confirmed Guitar Hero 5 to attendees, showing a shot of gameplay with a Burger King ad included. The next Tony Hawk game was confirmed to […]

• Guitar Hero World Tour dated for Europe

  According to this Eurogamer report, Guitar Hero World Tour “super bundles” will arrive on 360, PS3 and Wii on November 14 in Europe, consisting of all the instrments and the game. The PS2 pack will be available on November 21. “We’re delighted to confirm the release dates for all formats and bundles. Guitar Hero World […]

• DJ Hero confirmed for Activision release

  In this interview with Joystiq, Red Octane’s Brian Bright has confirmed that Activision is planning to release a DJ Hero game. “Activision’s doing a DJ Hero game, and I can’t comment on what we’re doing,” he said. “We’re working on the future and next gen. If I wasn’t excited about it I wouldn’t be there.” […]

• Pork Pie Percussion and others signed for Guitar Hero World Tour

  Activision’s announced a ton of in-game music gear deals for Guitar Hero World Tour, allowing players to get sponsorship action with 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. We, of course, know […]

• Mii Freestyle announced for Guitar Hero World Tour Wii

  Red Octane has announced in the company’s Games Convention press conference at Leipzig that the Wii version of Gutar Hero World Tour will feature a Wii-specific game mode called Mii Freestyle. There isn’t much to say about it other that you will use the mote and nunchuck to either play ‘air drums’ or the guitar. […]

• Guitar Hero World Tour to feature country specific tracks

  Red Octane has just announced during the Activision Blizzard Games Convention press conference that Guitar Hero World Tour will songs available for download relating to what European country you live in. The countries listed so far are: Holland Germany France Sweden Italy UK Spain Of course, there will be tracks that all of us can […]