Gizmodo: red octane

Have Fake Guitar Games Finally Peaked?

Mark Wilson — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 08:48:00 EST

Good news for those of us with injuries from tripping over plastic guitars only to land on a plastic drumset. According to Electronic Entertainment Design and Research, the Guitar Hero franchise is "reaching its peak."

Currently, we expect unit sales to decline by more than 50 percent series-over-series for November," said EEDAR's Jesse Divnich, "This is coming off the October month where series-over-series units declined by more than 60 percent.

So going into Christmas, sales are down. It's also notable that eBay pricing on the recent Guitar Hero: World Tour has dropped below retail pricing.

Even without citing sales numbers, EEDAR is grouping Rock Band right alongside Guitar Hero as a waning fad.

Divnich does go on to explain that both Guitar Hero and Rock Band titles should retain a loyal fanbase for the next decade or so, even if they aren't the wild cultural phenomenons they once were—just as Dance Dance Revolution keeps a following despite most of us sticking our metal pads in the basement by now. [Edge via Kotaku and most righteous image]

Guitar Hero Gets Its Own DS

Mark Wilson — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 09:00:00 EDT

You know Guitar Hero has gotten ridiculously big when the franchise gets its own Nintendo DS. Coordinated with the Guitar Hero: On Tour launch June 22, a silver and black Nintendo DS adorned with the Guitar Hero logo will be available in a limited edition bundle. The price is yet to be announced, but specially branded DS systems rarely cost any sort of premium. The real price you'll pay is the irreversible damage all that heroin does to your body. [Kotaku]

Here's What The Guitar Hero IV Drums Look Like

Mark Wilson — Wed, 14 May 2008 11:50:00 EDT

Here's the first shot of the Rock Bandesque drum kit coming to Guitar Hero IV. Scanned from the latest GameInformer magazine, it looks like there will be three main drums, two cymbals and a bass drum. All in all, it's actually just one more drum/button than in Rock Band's kit (which will be incompatible with Guitar Hero IV, incidentally). So what do you think of it? I for one will not be investing in another set of faux instruments to fill up my living room. [Destructoid via CrunchGear]

Pocket-Sized Guitar Hero from Basic Fun Lets You Rawk Out on the Subway

AddyDugdale — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 10:39:21 EST

Basic Fun had a little bit of help from their friends at Activision and Red Octane for their miniature version of Guitar Hero. Measuring just 3 x 7.5 inches, the guitar neck folds down so you really can whip it out of your shirt pocket and thrill commuters with your ax licks. Of course, it's got a pared-down version of the whammy bar, as well as an LCD screen so you know what you should be playing. It's out at the beginning of March, but I'm still waiting for Keytar Hero to hit in the hope that Basic Fun will develop a mini version of that. [Technabob]

Looks like the only rhythm game Red Octane...

Matt Buchanan — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 16:19:19 EDT

Looks like the only rhythm game Red Octane cares about anymore is Guitar Hero, as they've categorically denied making new dance pads for the 360—or any other system: "There are no immediate plans to create new dance pads outside of the current products available." [Kotaku]