Neil Young, Orianthi Rocking Guitar Hero

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Activision recently announced the new artists that will be featured for the first time in franchise history in Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock. They include Anberlin, Arch Enemy, The Dillinger Escape Plan, John 5, Neil Young, Orianthi, Queensrÿche, Red Rider, RX Bandits, Snot and Tesla.

“It’s seriously a huge honor to be included in Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock,” said Anberlin lead guitarist, Joey Milligan.  “It is surreal to have our name next to so many great bands and amazing songs!  I can’t wait to play this!”

“One of the great things about Guitar Hero is that it s in a unique position to expose millions of people to great music by bands they may otherwise never listen to,” said Tim Riley, Vice President of Music Affairs for Guitar Hero. “Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock delivers an impressive 90+ set-list and we are happy to be introducing our fans to 11 bands that have never before been featured in a Guitar Hero game.”

Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock will release September 28 on PS3, Wii and Xbox 360.

NBA 2K11 Offering Virtual Jordan Jersey

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2K Sports has announced a pre-order deal with NBA 2K11. Those who pre-order the game will receive a free exclusive Michael Jordan Chicago Bulls jersey for Xbox Live avatars or PlayStation Home.

PlayStation Home avatars will receive the official white Chicago Bulls home jersey while Xbox Live avatars will receive the official red Chicago Bulls road jersey. More information is available at gamestop.com {link no longer active}.

NBA 2K11 will release on October 5, 2010.

Zynga Hires Facebook, MySpace Veteran

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Zynga has confirmed that it has hired Owen Van Natta as executive vice president of business operations. He will also be joining Zynga s board of directors.

Van Natta is perhaps best known as the ambitious chief operating officer of Facebook, though he was more recently heading up Project Playlist and MySpace. He will oversee Zynga’s “revenue strategy, corporate development, internal expansion, and brand, and probably help set them up for an IPO down the line.

Source: VentureBeat {link no longer active}

Nemesis Optioned For Hollywood

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Tony Scott has been attached to direct the comic movie project Nemesis. Scott is a veteran director, having worked on Top Gun, Crimson Tide, True Romance and Enemy of the State.

Nemesis is a project by writer Mark Millar and artist Steve McNiven, about a Batman-like figure who uses his power and genius for criminal activities. Millar’s other projects that have been adapted for live action include Wanted and Kick-Ass, with a third project, War Heroes, in development at Columbia.

Source: Bleeding Cool

Fable III Controller Crowned

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Today Microsoft unveiled the official Fable III Limited Edition Wireless Controller. The stylized controller, featuring swirling gold and black colors, was designed to resemble the Crown of Albion.

The controller will be available on October 5 and will retail for $59.99 (Fable III ships October 26). The game will also come with an Xbox Live token for an exclusive in-game downloadable tattoo.

Toeing the line of gaudiness.

Battlestar Gets Stars

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Bigpoint has announced that the Battlestar Galactica Online MMOG will feature the likenesses of several key characers from the BSG TV series. Human characters making appearances will include Admiral Adama, Starbuck, Apollo and Chief Tyrol, while Cylons appearing will include Caprica Six, Boomer, Cavil and Leoben.

“These characters brought to life the story and captured the imaginations of a whole new generation of Battlestar Galactica fans and we felt strongly that they needed to appear in the game,” explains Heiko Hubertz, CEO and founder of Bigpoint. “Our goal is to create a deep connection to the mythology of Syfy series and by working with the producers, writers and actors, Bigpoint hopes to meet the expectations of the fans and allow them to write their own adventures through gameplay.”

Battlestar Galactica Online is largely based on the second season of the Syfy series with open conflict between cylons and humans. These key characters will create a deeper connection to the storyline, provide quests and accentuate the dramatic tension that the series is known for delivering expertly.

Analyst Blames Software Sales Woes On Wii

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The NPD report recently said that July hardware sales were up, but software sales were down year over year. While software and hardware sales were both up for the PS3 and Xbox 360, hardware sales were flat for the Wii and software was down over $40 million. Wedbush Morgan Securities’ Michael Pachter noted that slowing Wii sales are having a long-term drag on the gaming industry in 2010.

“Xbox 360 software sales benefited from the dramatic hardware sales increases from discounted models and the new slim Xbox 360, while the Wii appears to be suffering from console saturation and fatigue despite the recent launch of the Wii SportsResort/Wii Motion Plus bundle,” said Pachter. “PS3 sales continued to show solid year-over-year growth in both hardware and software.”

“Higher hardware sales should result in growth in software sales, and that has certainly been the case for the PS3 and the Xbox 360,” he continued. “Unfortunately, Wii software sales were down significantly in July, driving overall software sales into negative territory… It is easy to say that the decline in Wii software is due to a lackluster lineup of games; we think that is largely true, but note that the PS3 and Xbox 360 lineups were also relatively light. Year-to-date, Wii hardware sales total 2.7 million, compared to 1.8 million PS3s and 2.4 million Xbox 360s, so it is difficult to blame the year-over-year Wii software sales decline on poor hardware sales. Instead, we think it is becoming apparent that the average Wii owner is just buying less software than his PS3 and Xbox 360 counterparts.”

“The launches of Sony’s Move (in October) and Microsoft’s Kinect (in November) are likely to spur console sales, particularly as bundles are rolled out. Nintendo appears to us to be the odd man out, chugging along with the same hardware model it introduced in 2006 (albeit a different color), while Microsoft and Sony have substantially upgraded their core console models,” he concluded.

Source: IndustryGamers.com {link no longer active}