Guitar Hero 3 News

Get ready to for more all-night jam sessions kids, because the folks at primotechnology.com report that Guitar Hero 4 is on the horizon. Artists heard to be featured on the new title include Van Halen, The Eagles, Sublime, and Linkin Park. We can also expect some more master tracks to be laid down that was first done in Guitar Hero 3.

Gibson is no longer affiliated with the Guitar Hero developer, but they’ve made up for the loss with the ability for player-made instruments and musicians. Even though during the chord strumming mayhem it’s near impossible to look at your rockstar avatar, customizable characters in any game is always a plus. However I am going to be miffed if somewhere with all these changes we’re going to be required to purchase yet another guitar controller. Then again it may be worth it if they engineer a PS3 USB chargeable guitar instead of the current head-scratching double-A battery powered version that is currently available for the system. At any rate, let the hype ensue for the 4th installment of the original groundbreaking title.

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In a statement to the press, Take-Two Interactive Software, the distributor of Grand Theft Auto 4 (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3) and other titles, has announced of their plans to expand into Asia Pacific markets, namely Japan, China, and Korea.

Spearheading this project at his new position as Take-Two Interactive’s President for Asia is Hubert Larenaudie, an experienced senior executive who has worked in senior roles with Electronic Arts and Vivendi Universal Games.

Take-Two Interactive Software has set up quite a number of goals that they feel are imperative for them to accomplish in the region. Among these include expanding distribution in the Asia Pacific (APAC) for the Company’s interactive entertainment products, developing a strong presence in Japan, and establishing a meaningful online game operation, especially in China and Korea.

It might be interesting to wait and see if this move pays off for Take-Two Interactive since most of the games they’ve released seem to be targeted to western audiences.

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It seems that the reports of bugs and cheating didn’t deter gamers in the UK from falling in love with the latest Mario game, Mario Kart Wii. Only in its first week out in the region, the game has already taken the lead in top spot.

Perhaps the game’s arrival has broken the spell that Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games had over UK gamers? Mario Kart Wii even beat fellow racing game, Gran Turismo 5: Prologue, which had been enjoying top spot for two weeks prior.

According to Chart Track, Mario Kart Wii has the biggest launch of any Nintendo published title yet, beating the launch weeks of all 5 other Wii Mario games. Not only that. It also beat all of their numbers combined.

Combine all the sales of Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games, Super Mario Galaxy, Mario Strikers, Mario Party 8, and Super Paper Mario at their launch weeks. Mario Kart Wii beat that number. That’s saying something.

It would be interesting to see how long Mario Kart Wii can maintain its lead. Here are the rest of the entries in the UK video game sales charts for the week ending on April 12:

1. Mario Kart Wii
2. Gran Turismo 5: Prologue
3. Mario & Sonic at The Olympic games
4. Pro Evolution Soccer 2008
5. Rainbow Six: Vegas 2
6. Condemned 2
7. Wii Play
8. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
9. Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
10. Carnival: Funfair Games

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Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter has issued a research note which made a couple of predictions regarding the video game industry in March.

Noted in the list were some estimated sales of every console as well as sales figures showing that the video game retailers are making much more money than they did last year.

Pachter and the other analysts from Wedbush Morgan have estimated sales of US 705 million for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, PlayStation Portable, and DS combined.

Their research also detailed how many units of each console (but not handhelds) were sold during the time frame:

• Wii: 700,000 units
• PlayStation 3: 365,000 units
• Xbox 360: 310,000 units

The analysts also spoke about retail video game console software sales which they expect to be at around US 850 million as compared to last year’s March sales which were at US 579 million. If the estimate proves accurate, that’s a rise of 47 compared to last year’s sales.

While it may seem that the growth of the video game industry has reached phenomenal levels, Wedbush Morgan is confident that the numbers will rise even higher in the next few months. Reflecting this assessment is the company’s recommendations that investors start picking up Activision, Electronic Arts, Nintendo, THQ, and Ubisoft shares.

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