Look out Rock Band - you’ve got some competition coming at you this fall in the form of the newly announced Activision Guitar Hero World Tour. The new game will marry Guitar Hero’s guitar gameplay with a cooperative band experience which includes a genuine electronic drum kit, a microphone, a new Music Studio music creator system that allows players to compose, record, edit, and share music, and new online capabilities including Band Career and 8 player “Battle of the Bands” contests.  The game will feature the largest on-disc set list for any game to date including master recordings from classic to modern rock bands. You’ll also be able to download localized music on all of the next generation consoles.

Here are some of the more interesting details about the new game:

• The electronic drum kit will feature three drum pads, two raised cymbals, and a bass kick pedal
• The drum controller combines larger and quieter velocity sensitive drum heads with soft rubber construction to deliver authentic bounce back
• Instruments will be wireless
• Music Studio gives players a full compliment of tools to create digital music from scratch using all of the instruments in the game. You can then share your content with friends online through GHTunes
• The game introduces Battle of the Bands concept which allows eight players to join online and challenge each other band-to-band.  There’s also a Band mode which allows up to four players to jam together online or offline

Guitar Hero World Tour will be available for the Xbox 360, PS2, PS3, and the Nintendo Wii.

One thought.. I’m going to run out of room storing all of this equipment if I have both Rock Band and Guitar Hero World Tour! Sheesh!

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Technorati Tags: Activision, Guitar Hero World Tour

Electronic Arts is bringing family board game favorites to the Nintendo Wii and the PlayStation 2 this fall in the form of the Hasbro Family Game Night video game. The video game will feature six favorite board games - Battleship, Yahtzee, Boggle, Connect Four, Sorry! and Sorry! Sliders. Gamers will be able to play the classic versions of the above games or play new versions such as Connect Four Power Chips, Boggle Portal Cubes, Reverse Yahtzee and Battleship Barrage. You can play with up to four people with Yahtzee, Boggle, Sorry!, and Sorry! Sliders. You can play with up to two players in Connect Four and Battleship.

Players can also customize their own digital game room within the Hasbro Family Game Night video game. This means you’ll be able to choose a setting, add earned trophies, add distinctive furniture and decorations all themed to your favorite games.

Hasbro Family Game Night is due to come out this fall for the Wii and the PS2

Technorati Tags: Electronic Arts, Hasbro Family Game Night, Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 2

Here’s an interesting device for fitness oriented folks out there. Qmotions, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Actiga, is launching a new game controller called the FunFitness which turns boring exercises into fun video racing games. The FunFitness controller measures running or biking body movements and then translates these movements into a video game. This means you can turn something like running in place or riding a stationary exercise bike into a full fledged gaming experience.

According to Qmotions, the FunFitness is easy to install and requires no tools at all. All you need is a stationary bike, a PS2 or Xbox, and a compatible game. Some of the games which will work with the FunFitness include:

• MTX Moto Trax
• Need for Speed Undergroud 1 & 2
• Need for Speed Most Wanted
• Gran Turismo 1,2,3, & 4
• NASCAR Sim Racing
• NASCAR Chase for the Cup
• ToCA Race Driver 1 & 2
• Midnight Club 1,2, &3

You can see a video of the controller in action here. Qmotions expects to launch the FunFitness during the second half of 2008.

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Technorati Tags: Qmotions FunFitness, Racing, Xbox, PS2

The final December video game sales numbers are in and Nintendo won the console sales race for the month of December. According to market research firm NDP, Nintendo sold 1.35 million Wii’s during the month of December while Microsoft sold a commendable 1.26 million Xbox 360 consoles. Sony held up the rear with 798,000 PlayStation 3 consoles for the month of December.

In terms of total installed base here in the US, Microsoft leads the way with 9.2 million units (it helps that Microsoft launched the Xbox 360 a year earlier than the rest). Nintendo has 7.4 million owners here in the US while Sony has 3.3 million.

While PS3 sales have certainly picked up over the last several months (heck I even bought one), the older PS2 is still outselling its newer more advanced sibling. The PS2 sold more than 1.1 million units in December compared to the aforementioned 798,000 PS3 units.

One other important note - it’s all about content. Nintendo’s Super Mario Galaxy was certainly helping to drive Wii sales (although a lot of consumers simply want a Wii since it’s 1) cheap and 2) fun) while Call of Duty 4, Halo 3, and Assassin’s Creed was helping the Xbox 360.

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Technorati Tags: Video Game Sales, Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360, PS3, PlayStation 3

Get ready for yet another incarnation of the Sony PlayStation 2 game console. Sony plans on launching a lighter version of the 7 year old PS2 game console this month - just in time for the upcoming holiday shopping season. The new model will feature a built-in AC adapter and will weigh only 1.6 lbs vs. the current 1.9 lb model. The new PS2 will go on sale in Japan starting on November 22nd for around $140 dollars which is roughly the same price as the current model. No word on when the new model will make its way to the rest of the world. Sony plans on selling 12 million PS2 units in the year ending March while hoping to sell 11 million PS3 units.

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Technorati Tags: Sony, PS2