Earlier this month, Activision finally put Guitar Hero out of its misery, whether or not it was a misery caused by Activision themselves. The guys over at The Warp Zone decided to send the franchise off with a song parody farewell, seemingly tongue-in-cheek, and reminds us all that Rock Band was the better way to go. If you’re so inclined, The Warp Zone was generous enough to provide a free download of the song.

(The Warp Zone via Joystiq)

The developer that milks franchies more than Fat Tony milks rats, Activision, has decided the time has come to pull the plug on the Guitar Hero franchise. Considering the decline in rhythm game sales over the past couple years, this would come as no surprise, if one were to disregard the fact that Activision is notorious for milking franchises, at least.

Declared in Activision’s recent financial statement:

“Due to continued declines in the music genre, the company will disband Activision Publishing’s Guitar Hero business unit and discontinue development on its Guitar Hero game for 2011.”

Yes, the above quote does seem to state that Activision did have plans for yet another entry in the Guitar Hero franchise slated for this year. Who would’ve thought?

So, for now, Guitar Hero will go gentle into that digital night. We’ll always remember it for when it mattered, and though it was unavoidable, where it went wrong. Goodbye, Guitar Hero. May you score multipliers in Gaming Heaven.

(via Joystiq)

Viacom sold Guitar Hero and Rock Band creator Harmonix to investment group Columbus Nova for $49.99–a fraction of the price of one of their bundled Rock Band releases–All Things Digital reports. The $49.99 also includes music rights, as well as responsibility for unsold inventory.

The price may seem oddly low, but it’s more of a formality than anything, considering Columbus Nova took on all of Harmonix’s liabilities in the sale, and the deal was structured in such a way that Viacom makes about $150 million in tax benefits off the deal.

Even though Viacom was trying to rid itself of the renowned game developers (which is an odd thing to say) and ends up making back most of the money it spent when it bought Harmonix for $175 million in 2006, still, $49.99? Makes you wonder why some other big game developer didn’t snatch up Harmonix on a slight gamble, as Harmonix is most assuredly going to turn their poor Rock Band 3 sales right around with whatever their next innovative project ends up being.

(All Things Digital via Eurogamer)

Viacom wants to sell Harmonix, creator of the wildly popular Guitar Hero and Rock Band gaming franchises, and basically the team who popularized the rhythm game genre. Specific reasons haven’t been revealed yet, but one can only assume it has to do with the oddly sluggish sales of the stellar Rock Band 3. If any company out there has any sense of greatness and accomplishment, they should really hop on the Harmonix bandwagon and buy them up pronto.

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(title image via Geekologie.)

You know that old South Park gag about how people who are really good at Guitar Hero tend not to be any good at playing actual guitars, and vice versa? Well, the latest confirmed changes in Rock Band 3 indicate that the game is moving closer and closer to a test of the sort of competence that we associate with real-world musicians. While you’ll still be able to noodle away on your five-button guitar and hear Megadeth or Rush songs blasting from your screen in all their glory, the two new instrument additions are a good deal more complicated: A 22-button MIDI keyboard, and a 102-button fully functional guitar for “Rock Band Pro” mode.

There’s a sense of accomplishment to be had when you beat a level in a game, or when you beat a game entirely. You’ve conquered the obstacles placed in front of you by the game’s creators and lived to tell about it. But sometimes, overcoming those challenges isn’t enough. Sometimes, you need to take things to the next level yourself, by devising the most inane, awkward, and just plain silly challenges conceivable. Here are seven of our favorites:

Now that’s more like it.

The Guitar Hero franchise has always excelled at making its players feel like rock gods. With its personas, in-game axes, song selection, and general fact that it allows you to play some of the greatest rock classics of all time, it had almost everything going for it. But there has been one fly in this rocktacular ointment for some time: The old controllers, for the most part, would not have been out of place being weilded by a group with “fun-time band” in its name:

In an interview with Edge Magazine yesterday, Shigeru Miyamoto made something of an alarming pronouncement.

Probably the other thing that we are desperate to realise is the core [online] business structure… Do we need to demand customers pay monthly fees to enjoy online activities? Or give an online subscription that is free of charge, but then offer something extra for people that pay, so that they get some extra value? With these core business strategies I think we are less active than we should be.

Does this mean that the free online gaming of the Wii and DS will go the way of the dodo?

The British show Game On has a clip of an interview with KISS front man Gene Simmons, taken completely out of its original context, in which he says:

I am the voice of Guitar Hero 6.

And, due to editing, very little else. This is all well and good, except for the fact that Activision hasn’t yet officially announced that they are making a Guitar Hero 6. According to Game On, the project is still in the “financial stages.”

Video after the jump.