Roughly one year ago, Activision proudly announced that the Guitar Hero franchise had surpassed $1 billion in North American revenues (a feat accomplished in just 26 months). Now Guitar Hero has reached another important milestone, as Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock has become the first ever game to generate $1 billion in sales.
The news came from Activision Publishing CEO Mike Griffith during his keynote address at CES. Griffith also noted how the video game industry has had a profound effect on other entertainment sectors, and that Guitar Hero in particular has been hugely important to the music industry. For example, in its first week, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith sold over three times as many units as Aerosmith's last studio album. Furthermore, he cited Nielsen SoundScan data, which showed that artists whose music was playable in Guitar Hero had seen download sales increase 15-843%.
"Music has a history of evolving through technology and we are at the beginning of the latest chapter in that story," he said, as quoted by the BBC.
As for the newest Guitar Hero, Griffith said he's quite pleased with World Tour's user-generated aspect. 25,000 songs were created in the first 10 days and 141,000 songs have been posted so far. The Guitar Hero community site now has more than 600,000 members. To date, there have been 21 million user-song downloads.
Looking at the video game business overall, Griffith sees gaming dominating. "Movies, recorded music and TV - these are all stagnating or contracting entertainment sectors. Video games are poised to eclipse all other forms of entertainment in the decade ahead."
Research project on the physiology of drumming to work with Guitar Hero World Tour drum kit controllers to promote benefit of actual instrument to all; World Tour drum kit controller gets scientific seal of approval
Leading drum research initiative The Clem Burke Drumming Project has today announced a year-long collaborative research project which will examine the benefits of using Activision Publishing, Inc’s Guitar Hero World Tour’s drum kit controller.
The Clem Burke Drumming Project – a unique collaboration between Blondie drummer Clem Burke, Dr. Marcus Smith from the University of Chichester and Dr. Steve Draper from the University of Gloucestershire – is based on the pursuit of knowledge through the application of scientific principles to the various art forms of drumming. With 10 years of research behind it already, The Clem Burke Drumming Project is committed to the dissemination of information leading to increased enjoyment, health and well-being of all participants involved in drumming.
With two raised pads that represent the hi-hat and either the crash or ride cymbals, three pads which correspond to the snare and two toms and a bass-drum kick pedal, the Guitar Hero World Tour drum controller simulates an authentic drum kit.
When playing on the drum kit controller in the game on higher difficultly levels, the Clem Burke Drumming Project believes Guitar Hero World Tour will provide an opportunity to acquire the specific motor skills needed for drumming. The Clem Burke Drumming Project will investigate the transfer of skills and the physiological demands of game play compared to live drumming.
The Clem Burke Drumming Project recently launched its first wave of findings, revealing that gigging professional drummers had a heart rate profile similar to professional football players and expended a significant amount of energy (400-600 kcal per performance). Physiological tests included the measurement of heart rate, oxygen uptake and blood lactate in rehearsal tests and monitoring heart rate and blood lactate during live stage performances.
The Clem Burke Drumming Project team will conduct a series of physiological and neurological tests using the Guitar Hero World Tour drum kit controller, which will be permanently housed in the University of Gloucestershire’s newly-built dedicated drumming laboratory and at the University of Chichester.
One area of research will be to examine the neurological changes in Guitar Hero World Tour drummers, to examine how the brain’s grey and white matters evolve when playing. The Clem Burke Drumming Project will also investigate the health benefits of playing Guitar Hero World Tour, and through collaboration with Prof. Steve Williams and colleagues at the Centre for Neuroimaging Sciences (Kings College, London), also examine how using drums and the drum controller may help individuals with existing medical conditions (e.g. dyspraxia, stroke patients etc.).
“We’ve been extremely impressed by the Guitar Hero World Tour drum controller,” says Dr. Marcus Smith, Principal Lecturer in Exercise Physiology, University of Chichester. “The Clem Burke Drumming Project is all about promoting the benefits of drumming, and we’re convinced those that learn the basics of the instrument with Guitar Hero World Tour can use those skills when progressing to an actual full drum kit. No other gaming controller comes close to simulating the experience of drumming, and we’re confident the game will breed a new generation of real-life drummers. Anecdotally, we believe Guitar Hero World Tour is a perfect introduction to the instrument – and we can’t wait to examine this scientifically and unveil our findings throughout 2009.”
Dr. Steve Draper said: "This is the first facility of its kind in the world and we are extremely excited about the potential here. It is a unique collaboration between science and arts.”
Guitar Hero World Tour is now available for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system, the Nintendo Wii home video game system from Nintendo and the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system. The game is rated “T” for Teen by the ESRB.
Roughly one year ago, Activision proudly announced that the Guitar Hero franchise had surpassed $1 billion in North American revenues (a feat accomplished in just 26 months). Now Guitar Hero has reached another important milestone, as Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock has become the first ever game to generate $1 billion in sales. ![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_uCEqatedavo9AZRRnRTzN3bbXVoXB0zIbiZEXnqBs5vbEto-sasPRz3NhLkYoHcQisMAaRsOWhKu7rnxtj8nUtk3uC9dOpgpqZsmENErVnYFxwBLLe3v9T6Lo1F9yPLi2-pq65IE3poLHnRgPvqzK3=s0-d)
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