Looks like Activision wasn't going to sit around and let Rock Band take in all the glory of selling a ton of music. Activision just sent over a Press Release announcing that the entire Guitar Hero franchise has made over one billion dollars in North America within 26 months. They also wanted to remind everyone that Guitar Hero III was one of the best selling titles of 2007. Further more, five million songs have been downloaded within ten weeks of the games release too.
Mighty impressive numbers for sure. So Dtoiders, which one do you prefer? Rock Band, or Guitar Hero? Hit the jump for the Press Release and to commence your flame wars.
[Editor's note: This fire horns image will be pretty much used for all my rock music related posts. You know it's awesome.]
Guitar Hero(R) Franchise Surpasses $1 Billion in North America in
Record 26 Months, According to the NPD Group
Calendar Year North American Retail Sales for Guitar Hero(R) III:
Legends of Rock(TM) Set New Industry Record
SANTA MONICA, Calif., Jan 21, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Activision,
Inc. (Nasdaq:ATVI) today announced that the Guitar Hero(R) franchise
has set an industry record, surpassing $1 billion in North American
retail sales in just 26 months, according to The NPD Group.
Additionally, Guitar Hero(R) III: Legends of Rock(TM) was the #1 title
in units and dollars for calendar year 2007, making it the #1
best-selling video game of all time in a single calendar year.
Since its initial release in fall 2005, the Guitar Hero franchise has
sold in excess of 14 million units in North America alone, according
to The NPD Group. In 10 weeks since the game's launch, consumers have
already downloaded more than five million songs.
"Guitar Hero is one of the biggest brands and one of the most powerful
distribution platforms in all of entertainment today," said Michael
Griffith, President and Chief Executive Officer, Activision
Publishing, Inc. "Guitar Hero's popularity with broad audiences is a
confirmation that video games have become a true mass medium."
Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, Activision, Inc. is a
leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive
entertainment and leisure products. Founded in 1979, Activision posted
net revenues of $1.5 billion for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007.
Activision maintains operations in the U.S., Canada, the United
Kingdom, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Spain, the
Netherlands, Australia, Japan and South Korea. More information about
Activision and its products can be found on the company's World Wide
Web site, which is located at www.activision.com.
Hamza Aziz, Destructoid's Community Director, has been here since day one. He was born when a tiger coughed up a hairball into a pool of ooze. He was one of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles before budget cuts. Hamza works as a previews editor and manages a team in San Francisco. To date he has given away tens of thousands of dollars in prizes to readers. What a dick. Actually, Hamza is as kind as he is hairy.
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Contest:
2:46 PM on 01.21.2008
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It's affordable.
If someone made a nuke/bomb that exploded like that I think I would crap myself.
Everything else: Rock Band
oh, and I absolutaly detest the gems and the timing for the hammer ons and pull offs for rock band. and the guitar? absolutaly unplayable. Use the Guitar Hero guitars.
Fix'd
Look at Reptilia on GH3, they even messed up a simple part where you have play the chords before the guitar exposure (Guitar hero has Chord-Chord-Single-Chord-Chord just to be XCORE)
Guitar Hero just takes it a bit too over the top for me, I say this being a guitar player.
GH3 FTW!
Rock Band has The Police, David Bowie, Oasis (tomorrow), Radiohead (best band in the world), Garbage, Bon Jovi, The Monkees and a sleigh of other great bands.
So I definitely think Rock band is better even though I really love the Guitar Hero franchise too.
"Metallica, Rob Zombie, Slipknot, and Godsmack/whatever the hell crap it is."
Honestly , how can you NOT like Metallica? Like really, that's impossible.
Rock Band has a better guitar controller that looks and feels more like the real deal (effects switch + solo buttons = fun). This point is moot however, if you decide you need a big clicky strum paddle and giant Fisher-Price buttons that your inept sausage fingers can manage.
Rock Band has drums. And singing.
Guitar Hero 3 has better guitar solos and mostly-instrumental tracks (ie. Cliffs of Dover and Black Magic Woman).
So basically RB takes it, unless all you care about is a more toy-like controller or masturbatory fretwork. Then I recommend GH3 for you.
Cowbell.
@holyetheline
Please tell me you didn't include The Monkees in your list of good music. Didn't they lipsync their songs and not play their instruments?
I think, in my opinion, (I can have that, right?) Guitar Hero is the better one for me. It's not extremely expensive, and we do have fun as group when someone brings a spare guitar.
What I meant to say was I understand how someone might find it to be better.
Recap RB for Dums GH for guitar.
As for the guitar, I'd have smashed it by now if not for the fact that it's just more pathetic to see it sitting there with rubber bands holding the neck contacts together.
I dislike the bands you dislike but are seriously justifying it with Bon Jovi and The Monkees? That's fucking absurd.
Anyways, GH for guitar, RB for everything else including bass (using the GH controller)
But if I ever get the inkling to hammer-on for 5mins straight: GH#
They can coexist... for now.
The problem with RB is that while yes, it is more fun, and yes, it has better songs, it still costs 200$ to get the whole enchilada package. So many people just buy one bundle and then lots of different people use that single game.
So while the same amount of people may be playing both games, GH3 is making more money because each person has to buy a seperate copy for themselves.
But beyond that, apparently Rock Band is only good if you're after the drums.
If it's not obvious, I prefer Rock Band.
Also, I feel like I'm wasting my time when I have actual instruments to play. It's just not my thing I guess.
Guitar hero is full of WIN... but ROCK BAND is SO MUCH f'in fun.
They ARE the same game really... except one has 4 players going. Therefore... the MORE THE MERRIER.
GH3 is good and I played it quite a bit... until Rock Band came out. Now the only thing I use GH3 for is its guitar, and I probably won't be revisiting the franchise any time soon (especially with Activision's ridiculous guitar compatibility BS).
I also have a feeling that in the next round of GH/Rock Band releases, Rock Band will close the gap significantly. Guitar Hero appeals to a big casual audience who don't necessarily keep up with all the upcoming releases, and so many of those who bought GH3 were already aware of the Guitar Hero franchise and were unaware of anything called "Rock Band" on the horizon. Now Rock Band has been steadily gaining momentum and pop culture relevance (shown on Conan O'Brian, eg), so by the time the next round comes out, Rock Band will be almost as much a known quantity as GH to the more "casual" crowd (and by this point will hopefully be smart enough to sell individual instrument packs to compete directly on price with the GH games).
As for the "hardcore" crowd, I think a lot of them probably bought GH3 so they'd have an extra guitar for Rock Band. They won't need to do that again, so my guess is that with this crowd, at least, RB and GH will be on even footing the next time around.
-Jeff
http://alinktothefuture.com
But you get the idea, Endurance Mode! think about it.
Now, I think you are from Canada, correct?
I remember hearing that certain stores were increasing the cost beyond the MSRP
Rock Band, GH3 just fails on many levels.
Stupid note charts which do not make sense musically, phantom notes, some of the worse in-game advertising since Fight Night R3, horrid character animations, hypocritical story mode, and no Clive Winston.
Kids, don't let the burned feed you lies... ROCK BAND's fender Stratocaster will not only feel good (it's a replica) it will also get you LAID.
Enough said. If you want a fisher price guitar... then stick to GH.
I guess since I got Rock Band, Guitar Hero feels shallow. That and the track listing for 3 is less than stellar. And those "boss" battles suck. They're just dumb.
But the character animation was pretty bad, although an improvement over GH1 and 2. However, assuming you're the player, you don't even watch the characters.
Lastly I'm noticing that all the complaints about track lists are just that they don't have enough songs, that doesn't make the song choices "bad" just "small".
P.S. The boss battles do suck, you can have that.