@Zolbrod: Well, I think it sucks, too, though I begrudgingly use it to keep my music organized (not the store part, just the software) because I haven't found anything else for Macs yet and my current computer happens to be a Mac... Care to recommend anything?

What I mean is that it doesn't suck so much that the average user notices it and is compelled to switch to something else.

Dirk Dorkelson

I wouldn't underestimate Bobby Kotick, the Activsion business model, nor the innovative potential with the Blizzard brains.

That's why we're merely gamers & journalists,& they're business leaders. It's about top & bottom lines (revenue & profit).

RB & GH allows us all to appreciate new & old songs much deeper than just popping in a CD & listening. Music games allows us to listen in detail to each note. Naturally for myself at least, I wind up liking songs more. I wind up liking songs that I thought I wouldn't like. And as such, I want a ripped copy of the songs I played in a game.

It creates a demand that otherwise wouldn't be there if you just advertised it to me in Itunes. I would expect ATVI to offer a competitive download that's cheaper than Itunes, or in someway GH-related to encourage a download.

Just my 2 cents

DayTrade

@Fireblast: Someone really didn't like Spider-Man 3.

LordMaim

To be honest, if Amazon's superior-in-pretty-much-every-way MP3 store (that's DRM-free across the board!) can't topple iTunes-- though it's still early-- then I don't think Activision can do anything threatening. I admit, though, that if they created a system where you could pay a relatively minor fee for the master recording to use in your game-- and it was compatible across ALL Guitar Hero titles present and future-- and you also received a DRM-free high bitrate MP3 or lossless FLAC copy of the song for your media player, they might have something to consider. Of course, Activision would charge you like $4 per song if they did that, because they're a bunch of greedy whores when it comes to money, so whatever.

wild homes is being recast!

@ClarkGable: I don't like EA but I like them better than Activision.

Fireblast

@Sammo21: I don't know which franchise you believe they are running into the ground, honestly. Unless you were a huge "Pitfall" fan...

Did anyone else sit up and take notice when they read the following line in that article: "They declined to comment on whether the company would enter the bidding for Take-Two, the games publisher behind the successful Grand Theft Auto franchise."

...for one moment, I could imagine a MGS style "!" appearing over John Riccitiello's head.

LordMaim

I say Activision should run their name into the ground with making all the new Spider-Man, Guitar Hero, and whatever the "evil empire" also makes. Oh wait they are already doing that, my bad.

Fireblast

@Sammo21:

I don't know about that, man. Nobody likes EA.

Nobody.

And Blizzard is definitely large enough to hold it's own against Activision, with WoW, and Diablo III coming out and stuff. I doubt they'll be getting pushed around very much.

ClarkGable

@Dirk Dorkelson: Oh God, you just gave me images of the iGuitar, where you plug your iPod into it and it syncs to the TV.

MY EYES, THEY BURN.

Shockeh

@Dirk Dorkelson: But iTunes DOES suck. I refuse to use it, and I am amazed it does so well.
It's like putting a huge ball and chain on your iPod.

Zolbrod

@Shockeh: In theory, that's how it would work w/r/t iTunes, but the iPod is so popular that iTunes really only needs to just exist and not totally suck to maintain Apple's giant marketshare. I'd be willing to bet that the majority of iPod users go with iTunes because it's the default music store. But Apple's really got it made because they've got the market set up in such a noncompetitive way that it's very difficult for a competing service to break through the clutter, sort of like Microsoft used to have with Internet Explorer.

Dirk Dorkelson

You guys are such pessimists. Mario Strikers is already putting the FIFA World Cup under pressure. If Nintendo releases a sequel, we'll have lots of unemployed footballers.

everybest

@Sammo21: I think Blizzard ensured it came off enough as a merger, rather than an aquisition (they have a lot of cash in this little MMO thing they're doing...) that they don't need to heed any demands, unlike most of the EA buyouts.

On topic: Stranger things have happened. iTunes was primarily so successful because basically, all the competition sucked. Think of it was a win/win for us as consumers. Either they succeed, and we get cool things to play on GH, or they fail, as iTunes improves in response.

Necessity is the mother of invention, all that.

Shockeh

lol whut?

Blinklink11

This is why I think Activision will quickly take the title of "most hated" from EA. They are running so many franchises into the ground, but I hope Blizzard isn't pressured into anything from them.

Sammo21

This is why Activision is going to single-handedly kill Blizzard.

Jtn

Why.

You make games. Make better games with that money, you money grubbers.

Snake726

Hey just because tracks work with silly plastic instruments doesn't mean you can't get the license to play said tracks on your portable music player included in the price.

If either Activition or EA can work something out on that front they really could challenge the likes of iTunes.

Possibly a bit too ambitious for a games publisher though.

Asaron

Lol, the first move a new company makes is always a flop!

thefjk

@DayTrade: What innovative potential? Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3, while very polished, look to not really do anything with the established formula and Blizzard's entire goal for Wrath seems to be to simply repeat what they liked about pre-BC

ifalldownstairs

I hate Activision so much. They already ran Tony Hawk into the ground, they're currently running the Guitar Hero franchise into the ground, and they are beginning to run the Call of Duty series into the ground. There isn't a single Activision or Blizzard game that I am looking forward to. What do they have other than CoD: World at War, Guitar Hero, and Blizzard's franchises (Starcraft 2, Wrath)?

Both EA and Ubisoft seem to be willing to sponsor innovation. EA is behind Mirror's Edge and Ubisoft is making EndWar. Those two publishers also seem to have learned not to destroy their best series with countless iterations (I'm talking about EA games, not EA sports). In my opinion BiA: Hell's Highway would have been pushed out the door by now if it was being published by Activision and been much worse for it. In my eyes games like CoD: World at War are simple money grabs to take advantage of the goodwill brought on by CoD 4.

Also, iTunes is absolutely horrible and Zune Marketplace and the 80g Zune absolutely blow Apple out of the water in terms of intuitiveness and quality.

ifalldownstairs

@DayTrade: I'll second ifalldownstairs. Blizzard have done very little innovative since effectively the Blizzard of 2008 is not the same company of 1998.

Don't get me wrong, they're still the masters of polish. But I'd love to see something 'new' there.

Shockeh

It's not necessarily bad that all Blizzard ever does now is release sequels to their games, since they're sequels to good games. Although I would like to see something new.

One of the things that make mp3s so popular is because of how manageable they are. You can move mp3s from place to place (i.e. from a cd to a computer to a mp3 player). Unless they can somehow make their songs work for more than just Guitar Hero then I don't think they can rival iTunes.

kojirodensetsu

Well if anybody could do it it'd be them. They have the money for it of course. Seems to me they're thinking of ways to sweeten that GH pie of theirs. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

If I were Activision, I'd ask the Blizz guys to come up with a new IP for the home consoles. That way it won't just be COD and GH they're mostly known for.

excaliburps

support the artists not the label. p2p, see shows, buy shirts, show up for concerts. done.

Xtreme_Hindu_Cow

Guitar Hero has achieved the success it has because it hasn't been competing with iTunes. Guitar Hero is still a game, not an MP3 platform. Many people would never listen to many of the songs on Guitar Hero without the gameplay.

Elite Beat Agents is a fun game but most people don't choose to unwind by listening to YMCA. The gameplay immersive enough to override any music elitism people may have.

Velops

I think Blizzard is soon going to see that they should have remained independent.

Quicksilver4648

@Velops: The gameplay immersive enough to override any music elitism people may have.

Take a trip over to the official RB and GH forums and you'll find music elitism is still alive and kicking in both fandoms.

But I do agree on the basic principle of your statement. I loved EBA, even if "La La" is one of the worst songs ever written.

TRT-X

They easily could. Rock Band is already starting to sell some songs more than itunes.

The only people that seem to flame Activision are the rock band fanboys that think GH is the devil. Fools.

Dalren

This article would only be true if it was titled "Activision under the impression they ruined Guitar Hero"

Solertia

This is about as good an idea as... selling MP3's on Blu-Ray discs.

NeoStarr

I'm sure one can buy a few red swingline staplers from that cash.

furiku

"Isn't that called Rock Band?"

Skywarpgold

Uh, that will never happen. iTunes isn't just music--its movies, TV shows, applications, music, games, books...its the ultimate digital distribution platform.

Some classic guitar hero tracks will not do squat against iTunes.

fenderfuel08

Well, they're unlikely to put iTunes out of business, but there's no reason Guitar Hero and Rock Band shouldn't be considered significant music retailers. As we saw with the Motely Crue single, a song can sell way, way more on RB/GH than on iTunes, which makes sense---there's lots of songs I'd buy to play but not to listen to. If this trend continues, and there's plenty of reason to think it will, then we may someday see a world where the major music retailers are iTunes, Wal-Mart, Activision, Best Buy and Harmonix.

ThatFuzzyBastard

Man I can't wait to pay for overpriced DRM-laden tracks of my favorite songs sung by cover bands...

iskew

I'm sure this came about from a conversation between two drunks.

Bobby: I'm so drunk, man.

Intern: Yes you are, boss!

Bobby: You know what sucks?

Intern: iTunes?

Bobby: Yes! They make so much friggin' money. And what do they do? Sell music?

Intern: You sell music, too, boss. You're the bestest music seller ever. And you even include instruments with the music!

Bobby: Damn skippy, Timmy. This conversation has changed my life. It's time Activision focuses on what's really important!

Intern: Creating our own online digital music distribution network?

Bobby: YES! It's time someone gets right in the face of Apple and says, "I can do this too!"

Intern: Genius, boss.

Gomerboy

@NeoStarr: Actually, uncompressed audio on BR disks would be pretty sick...I'd take those over compressed CDs any day! :)

fenderfuel08

@Dalren: Or RockBand could just do it! Ha I kid I kid.

Two things stand in the way of them "easily" doing it. First they can't even live up to their promise of very very small doses of DLC so what on earth makes them think they can do an iTunes sized catalog?

Thus bringing us to the second difficulty...the iTunes sized catalog. Yes it's not too difficult to chart packs of songs for intermittent DLC releases, but if you're thinking of competing with iTunes you're talking about charting hundreds of thousands if not millions of songs.

Who the fuck is going to do THAT?! You'd have a turnover rate so high it would boggle the mind. That and the quality would suffer as it would be terribly inconsistent (from turnover).

Yes it's good some RockBand songs sold better than their iTunes counterpart. Yes the games can be used as a "slightly more than a videogame" platform for specific releases and the such. But I have a feeling someone isn't really seeing the scope of iTunes.

AmazonMP3 is where it's really at anyway.

BonoMan

@DayTrade: I'm sorry to say this, but your 2 cents would be better spent somewhere else.

Music games don't help you appreciate music better by concentrating on the music, you're concentrating on the game, the colors, the notes and maintaining eye-hand coordination. Music is that little background that gives some semblance of logic to those falling dots/squares/wiggly lines.

Is that bad? No, not really... you do get exposed to new music, even at a subconscious level, learn to appreciate it and expand your tastes. That's the good side of Music Games, at least to the music business.

Unfortunately you are ignoring all the other things that make a record desirable: Album art and sound quality, it's a shame that both Harmonix and Neversoft don't seem to give a shit about that (Grab say a The Ocean or ISIS record, they're worth having not only for the music, but the awesome album art)

I'm not going to go into the iTunes vs. The World debate... but you people seem to absolutely hate competition, you need all the stores you can get so they compete and we get the best prices.

zoesch

LOL @ Activision... with their abysmal track downloads... Rock Band is ahead of your game in that department.

EnigmaNemesis