Guns 'N Roses frontman Axl Rose filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard today claiming the Publisher allegedly broke agreement not to include Slash while also including "Welcome to the Jungle" in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.
Guns 'N Roses frontman Axl Rose filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard today claiming the company violated a deal by using imagery of guitarist Saul Hudson (aka Slash) while also including the band's hit song "Welcome to the Jungle" in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.
According to Reuters, Activision "fraudulently induced" Rose by authorizing use of the song and told him they would not make reference "to the former GNR member or his subsequent band Velvet Revolver" in Guitar Hero III. Rose would later discover "an animated depiction of Slash, with his signature black top hat, long dark curly hair, dark sunglasses and nose-piercing" was featured on the box.
He also said the song "Sweet Child 'O Mine" was used in an online promotion for Guitar Hero III while only being licensed for Guitar Hero II.
"This lawsuit is about protecting Guns N' Roses and 'Welcome to the Jungle,' and is about holding Activision accountable for its misuse of these incredibly valuable assets," Rose's lawyer Skip Miller told Reuters. "The relief we are seeking is disgorgement of profits and compensatory and punitive damages."
Rose is seeking $20 million in damages from sales of the Guitar Hero III. Activision has not responded to requests for comment.
Sorry for lateness, but for those of you out there looking for the entire set-list for the upcoming "Guitar Hero: Smash Hits" on Xbox 360 here it is. Coming Soon to a Xbox 360 near you! :)
Activision is creating a compilation of pre-Guitar Hero World Tour songs reworked to support play with vocals, drums, bass, and guitar.
Guitar Hero 5 features the strongest, most varied set list to-date comprised of master tracks from 85 of the hottest bands of today and the biggest classic acts including; Kings of Leon, The Rolling Stones, The White Stripes, Santana, Vampire Weekend, Tom Petty, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, plus more than 30 artists from a variety of music genres that will be making their music-rhythm video game debut.
Here is the full set list for Guitar Hero Smash Hits, which comes out 16th June.
Guitar Hero
Blue Öyster Cult - Godzilla
Boston - More Than A Feeling
Deep Purple - Smoke On The Water
Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out
Helmet - Unsung (Live)
Incubus - Stellar
Joan Jett & The Blackhearts - I Love Rock N’ Roll
Ozzy Osbourne - Bark At The Moon
Pantera - Cowboys From Hell (Live)
Queen - Killer Queen
Queens Of The Stone Age - No One Knows
The Donnas - Take It Off
The Exies - Hey You
White Zombie - Thunder Kiss '65
If you are on the HQ homepage be sure to click the link to read the entire story and full list of songs for the game.
For those who have been on some deserted island in the middle of the pacific, Guitar Hero: Metallica is Neversoft's upcoming rhythm game based on the latest Guitar Hero: World Tour series and has just had a brand new debut trailer released for all to see.
METALLICA'S
FIERECIST SONGS AND OVER 20 GUEST ACTS
"Guitar Hero: Metallica" will be the second game of the Guitar Hero series to focus on the career and songs of one band, similar to the previous Guitar Hero: Aerosmith but this time the new Guitar Hero: Metallica game will support for lead and bass guitar, drums, and vocals.
Guitar Hero: Metallica Soundtrack will include:
"Armed and Ready" Michael Schenker Group
"Black River" The Sword
"Blood and Thunder" Mastodon
"Demon Cleaner" Kyuss
"Enter Sandman" Metallica
"For Whom the Bell Tolls" Metallica
"Fuel" Metallica
"Hell Bent for Leather" Judas Priest
"Hit the Lights" Metallica
"King Nothing" Metallica
"Master of Puppets" Metallica
"Mother of Mercy" Samhain
"No Excuses" Alice in Chains
"No Leaf Clover" Metallica
"Nothing Else Matters" Metallica
"Sad but True" Metallica
"Tuesday's Gone" Lynyrd Skynyrd
"Turn the Page" Bob Seger
"Unforgiven The Unforgiven" Metallica
"Wherever I May Roam" Metallica
Machine Head, Queen and The Foo Fighters have also been said to have a track included in the game.
While other downloadable content from Guitar Hero III or Guitar Hero World Tour will not be usable in Guitar Hero: Metallica, the game will detect and incorporate the songs from the Death Magnetic downloadable content into the game's setlist.
As always for all the latest information on all the latest Xbox 360 info be sure to check back to 360-hq.com and get involved in our online gaming clans and interactive website.
Axl Rose explains that former GnR guitarist Slash's appearance in Activision's Guitar Hero series doesn't bother him unless it’s being done at his expense...
Shame on Activision for poaching Guns N' Roses songs in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. That's band frontman Axl Rose's testy take in a sprawling missive delivered at band fan site Mygnr.com. According to Rose, Activision used GnR songs inappropriately and without proper authorization. While he's doesn't lay out any legal particulars, his "it'll take some sorting" comment has bloggers in a tizzy.
In the post, Rose explains that former GnR guitarist Slash's appearance in Activision's Guitar Hero series doesn't bother him
...unless it’s being done at my expense...or to keep him associated [with GnR] as in Guitar Hero. Him being Guitar Hero's fine but not when Activis[i]on i[s] using Jungle , having Yahoo use Sweet Child unauthorized, claims no involvement with Slash, his or anyone's image or VR or anyone or anyone's music in either camp in promotion or commercials etc. I wasn't broadsided. I read about it as it moved along but Activision continually denied it right up to the release. That's some low life chicanery on all their parts.
Yes Slash was in Guns and on Jungle (and the whole I came to him for his riff is as much crap as him saying he brought Locomotive and Coma in as complete songs) and he has rights to perform it but not to be represented in this context in association with Guns. And since they weren't granted the license it'll take some sorting.
Universal has Guns under contract but I own the name.
Rose and Slash don't get along. Haven't for years. Rose wants Slash to keep his mitts off GnR's namesake, and Activision to get its song-usage certification papers sorted, apparently.
As if that wasn't enough, Rose no longer wants to be a Pepper too. The singer and his band are hacked off over a botched deal with Dr. Pepper, wherein the soft drink manufacturer was to offer a free soda to every American if Chinese Democracy, the band's new album, were released in 2008. The album made it out the door on November 23, but Dr. Pepper's website reportedly malfunctioned during the 24 hour giveaway period.
Should i get Guitar Hero World Tour or Rock Band 2 is a common question here at the HQ and who knows if this will help shed some light on the subject or not but i guess it cant hurt, a recent report by GameSpot has said that in the U.S. the fans seem to go more for Guitar Hero World Tour and here is the report to explain why.
GameSpot U.K. reports: UBS reports Activision beat Rock Band 2-to-1 in November rhythm-game revenues--but 30.8% year-on-year earnings slide despite product doubling rings alarm bells.
This week brought some good news for Activision: Guitar Hero World Tour was November's top music game. Though NPD hasn't released any specific sales figures other than the Wii version's 475,000-unit tally, UBS analyst Ben Schachter provided a run-down of the Guitar Hero franchise's sales for the month. He also tabulated the combined sales of Electronic Arts, MTV Games, and Harmonix's rival series, Rock Band.
According to Schachter, just over 1.7 million Guitar Hero games were sold in the US during November 2008, a 25.3 percent decrease from the nearly 2.3 million the year prior. All Rock Band games, by contrast, sold fewer units by comparison--just 628,452--but saw a massive 64.7 percent increase in sales from the year before.
However, when only revenue is considered, the disparity between the two franchises narrows. Guitar Hero games generated $145.9 million in the US last month, down 19.5 percent from November 2007's $181.1 million. However, thanks to an installed base of instruments, Rock Band games didn't see that much of an uptick, rising just 9.7 percent to $68.7 million during the month.
While impressive, Rock Band and Guitar Hero's combined $214.6 million haul was actually a 12 percent slide from November 2007. More disturbing for Activision is the steep decline in both revenues and units for the Guitar Hero franchise. In November 2007 Guitar Hero III's six SKUs--or individual retail product configurations--generated 1.9 million units in sales, amounting to combined $158.8 million. In October 2008, Guitar Hero World Tour sold just 978,000 units, minting just $109.8 million.
Though Schachter blames the lower number in part on constrained supply, he echoed a colleague's concerns that this downward trend is a sign that the rhythm game market may be saturated. "This will fuel concerns that the genre is past its peak," he said in a note to investors. "With Activision and others sure to bring new innovation to the genre next year we can't count it out, but it almost certainly won't be the growth driver it has been over the past two years."
So if the report holds water you might want to get them both just incase the glory days are over.
Looks like this years biggest and badest games have been announced and the first place game is no big surprise since it has been one of the hottest titles since RockStar started putting it out there, what i did find a bit shocking is that three of the top five games are not cross platform games but Wii exclusive games. (Who would have guessed that?)
Chart-Track Limited and Enterbrain, Inc. reported the following: “The leading games information sources in the U.S, U.K. and Japan – the largest games markets in the world – have joined forces to provide the gaming industry with a single source for sales data providing detailed insight into what’s happening in these important markets.”
“The video games business has become increasingly global, with the majority of the publishers releasing games in multiple markets,” said Anita Frazier, industry analyst, The NPD Group. “The U.S, as the world’s largest market will be able to view and compare sales for the first time outside of their own market.”
Top 5 listed below.
* GRAND THEFT AUTO IV 6,293,000
* SUPER SMASH BROS: BRAWL 5,433,000
* MARIO KART WII 4,697,000
* WII FIT 3,604,000
* GUITAR HERO III: LEGENDS OF ROCK 3,475,000
News Source: Top Global Markets Report / Retail Tracking Service
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