Skylanders has come a long way from its origins as a bizarre Spyro spin-off. The game that integrated real-world collectibles and busted many a parent's wallet has spun its way into a full-blown money-making powerhouse for Activision. Even as Disney approaches a similar concept built around much more recognizable characters, a look at Skylanders Swap Force shows why the House of Mouse has a real fight on its white-gloved hands.

Read more: Combinations and upgrades »

Skylanders Swap Force will launch on October 13, Activision announced today. In addition to the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, Wii U, and 3DS versions, Activision also confirmed it will be releasing PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions. Obviously those release dates aren't set, since we don't know when the consoles are releasing.

Read more: Figure pre-orders start today »

It's a new year so you know what we need: a new game in each major franchise! Actually, Skylanders Swap Force does sound like an interesting upgrade to Activision's $500 million-grossing collectible toy-video game-thing, introducing characters whose parts can be switched and swapped to customise their powers.

Read more: 256 character combinations »

Extending its Rock Band rivalry to the iPhone and iPod touch, Activision today released Guitar Hero to the iTunes App Store. Developed by Guitar Hero Nintendo DS maker Vicarious Visions, the game is also compatible with, but not optimized for, iPad.

Read more »

Publisher Acitivision has revealed how Band Hero will be able to provide Nintendo DS Lite owners with a portable multi-instrument music game: through multiple accessories.

Developed by Vicarious Visions, the same studio that handled the three Guitar Hero: On Tour entries for Nintendo DS, Band Hero DS will support the "Guitar Grip" plug-in for guitar and bass play, with a new specialized "Drum Grip" placing drum pads on the DS Lite. Players will also be able to sing along thanks to the DS Lite's built-in microphone. Read more »

Nintendo today revealed Vicarious Vision's Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades at its conference at today's E3 2008 press conference.

A follow-up to this year's release of Guitar Hero: On Tour, On Tour: Decades incorporates a feature called song sharing, which allows users to share songs from both versions of the title via local wireless.

The game is slated to debut this fall.

Following up on yesterday's announcement, publisher Activision has issued two teeny-tiny screenshots of the first Guitar Hero entry on the Nintendo DS, along with a piece of character art and clearer images of the guitar grip controller.

Read more »

Activision has revealed the long-rumored DS rendition of its Guitar Hero franchise and its accompanying peripheral, IGN reports.

Entitled Guitar Hero: On Tour, the game utilizes a peripheral called the Guitar Grip to recreate the Guitar Hero experience. The peripheral plugs into the Nintendo DS's Game Boy Advance slot on the bottom of the system and features four buttons versus the traditional guitar controller's five. Read more »

Activision today announced that it will continue the Guitar Hero craze with Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, due out in June for PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii.

The game will put you in the shoes of the five member band, following their career from the first performance up till Aerosmith's current status of "rock royalty". As with Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions will be developed by Neversoft, with Vicarious Visions behind the Wii edition and Budcat handling the PlayStation 2 iteration. Read more »

NPD just released its game industry data for November, and the month containing the infamous Black Friday brought with it an insane level of video game sales across the board. The $2.63 billion brought in by the gaming industry marked a 52% year-over-year increase compared to last November.

Software sales eclipsed hardware sales in both dollar amounts and year-over-year change. The 62% year-over-year increase in software sales brought in $1.31 billion for the month, led by 1.57 million units of Infinity Ward's shooter Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (PC, PS3, X360) for Xbox 360. Read more »

NPD has kept its word and released gaming sales numbers for October, revealing game-related revenues of $1.1 billion for the month, a 73 percent year-over-year increase. Hardware sales brought the biggest increase with growth of 127 percent over last year to $469.7 million. The console sales were led by Nintendo's Wii, which reclaimed its spot atop the hardware sales charts after the Xbox 360's Halo 3-related sales spike last month. Nintendo actually took the top two hardware spots, with the Wii selling 519,000 units and the portable DS moving 458,000. Microsoft's Xbox 360 came in at a respectable third with 366,000 units sold, followed by Sony's PlayStation family with 286,000 PSP sales, 184,000 PS2 sales, and 121,000 PS3 sales. On the software side, Bungie's Halo 3 (X360) still topped the charts when considering all editions of the game, but the various versions of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (PC, PS2, PS3, Wii, X360) showed up in four places in the top 10 best-selling games of the month, with all versions of the game selling 1.4 million copies total. Look below for the full list of top-10 software sales.

1. Halo 3 [all editions] (X360, Bungie, Microsoft) 434,000 units
2. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (X360, Neversoft, Activision) 383,000 units
3. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Wii, Vicarious Visions, Activision) 286,000 units
4. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (PS2, Budcat, Activision) 271,000 units
5. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (NDS, Nintendo) 263,000 units
6. Wii Play with Wii Remote (Wii, Nintendo) 240,000 units
7. The Orange Box (X360, Valve, EA) 238,000 units
8. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (PS2, Budcat, Activision) 232,000 units
9. FIFA 08 (PS2, EA Canada, EA) 130,000 units
10. Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day! (NDS, Nintendo) 117,000 units

Expanding on the sound quality issues some reported with the Wii edition of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, members of the official Guitar Hero forums now claim the game's songs output in mono sound. Owners of the Vicarious Visions-developed Wii version complain that the game's promised Dolby Pro Logic II mode does not function properly, and only outputs through the center channel. Meanwhile, stereo mode appears to provide the same music to both speakers, essentially making it "dual mono." A detailed analysis by member kurty shows that, in the single-player renditions of Santana's "Black Magic Woman" and the beginning of Foghat's "Slow Ride", the left and right channels of the songs are exactly the same. According to kurty, only the Vicarious Visions logo and game's crowd noises are in true stereo, with each speaker receiving a different signal. E-mails posted within the thread indicate that Activision Customer Support is aware of the issue and is currently looking into it, though no potential fixes have been suggested.

Santa Monica-headquartered game publisher Activision reported its second quarter fiscal year 2008 results today, posting all-time high Q2 revenues of $317.7 million. A 69% year-over-year increase, the record-high revenues led to profits of $700,000 during the three months ending September 30, compared to a $24.3 million net loss during the same period last year. Though they launched after the end of the second quarter, Neversoft, Vicarious Visions, and Budcat's versions of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (PC, PS2, PS3, Wii, X360) brought in $100 million during their first seven days at retail for the biggest product launch in Activision history. The strong second quarter sales, combined with Guitar Hero III's launch and tomorrow's release of Infinity Ward's Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (PC, PS3, X360) led Activision to increase its fiscal year 2008 sales estimates to $2.07 billion. Activision had already raised its fiscal year 2008 estimate to $1.87 billion following last quarter's record-breaking revenues as well. Though he wouldn't go into specifics on where the Guitar Hero franchise would go functionality-wise, Activision president Michael Griffith reaffirmed the publisher's plans to push out yearly Guitar Hero installments in a conference call on the quarterly results. "We're looking at a number of exciting new vectors and directions to take the franchise for next fiscal," he said. Addressing a question on the possibility of a Guitar Hero MMO introduced in Asian markets like Korea, Activision CEO Robert Kotick said this would seem like a logical move for the franchise. "When we look at all the prioritization of opportunity we need to do, clearly, those are things that fall into the realm of opportunity for us for the future," he said.

Sixteen more Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock of the tracks were revealed by publisher Activision today, adding songs from bands such as Aerosmith, Bloc Party, Disturbed, Sonic Youth, The Killers, Dead Kennedys, and White Zombie. Today's announcement brings the total number of known tracks to nearly 60. Other standout songs in the game include Metallica's "One", Guns N' Roses' "Welcome to the Jungle", Smashing Pumpkins' "Cherub Rock", and exclusive re-recordings of Sex Pistols' "Anarchy in the U.K." and Living Colour's "Cult of Personality" performed by the original bands. New Master Tracks: - Same Old Song and Dance (by Aerosmith) - Helicopter (by Bloc Party) - Stricken (by Disturbed) - Monsters (by Matchbook Romance) - Before I Forget (by Slipknot) - Kool Thing (by Sonic Youth) - When You Were Young (by The Killers) New Covers: - Devil Went Down to Georgia (as made famous by Charlie Daniels Band) - Sunshine of Your Love (as made famous by Cream) - Holiday in Cambodia (as made famous by Dead Kennedys) - Cliffs of Dover (as made famous by Eric Johnson) - Black Magic Woman (as made famous by Santana) - Story of My Life (as made famous by Social Distortion) - Pride and Joy (as made famous by Stevie Ray Vaughn) - The Seeker (as made famous by The Who) - Black Sunshine (as made famous by White Zombie) The inclusion of Sonic Youth's "Kool Thing" matches up with earlier reports, which claimed that Interscope would be releasing a Guitar Hero III soundtrack in late October. The CD is also said to contain a voucher that allows Xbox 360 owners to obtain exclusive tracks from AFI, Flyleaf, and Marilyn Manson. Guitar Hero III arrives on PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii on October 28. Neversoft is handling the PS3 and X360 versions, with Budcat on the PS2 build and Vicarious Visions on the Wii iteration. PC and Mac editions of the game, ported by Aspyr Media and based on the Xbox 360 version, are also in development and will hit this year, though an exact release date has yet to be pinned down.

Publisher Activision has doled out a few morsels of information on its plans for the James Bond property. Referred to as "the company's newest blockbuster franchise," entries in the series are planned for unspecified "next-generation" and handheld platforms along with PC. The titles are being handled by developers Treyarch, Beenox and Vicarious Visions. Earlier this year, Treyarch handled the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 editions of Spider-Man 3, while Vicarious Visions tackled the Wii and DS iterations along with the two DS versions of Transformers. Beenox is responsible for the PC releases of licensed Activision titles, including Spider-Man 3 and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. It is expected the studios will function in a similar capacity for James Bond.

Activision yesterday ordered the closing of the Mountain View, CA office of developer Vicarious Visions, according to Gamasutra. The studio most recently worked on the Spider-Man 3 tie-in property, along with developer Treyarch. Vicarious was tasked with developing the Wii, PS2, DS, and GBA versions of the game, which were generally met with poor reviews from critics and fans. The office had employed around 20-30 people. While most employees have been laid off, some staff may reportedly be offered jobs at the studio's East coast office. Vicarious maintains its center of operations in Albany, New York. Founded in 1990 by two brothers still in high school--Karthik and Guha Bala--the company gained notoriety with its space-based RPG Terminus, which won two Independent Games Festival awards in 1999. Vicarious has since been responsible for many well-received projects, including the Xbox version of Doom 3, as well as many handheld games based on established console franchises such as Tony Hawk and Crash Bandicoot. The studio was acquired by publisher Activision in 2005.

Vicarious Visions CEO and CCO Karthik Bala and president Guha Bala (both pictured left) have written an open letter to New York legislators, published in today's edition of the Albany, New York newspaper Times Union. In it, the two executives protest issues related to both New York senator Andrew Lanza's proposed state legislation, which aims to mandate video game ratings and punish retailers who sell unrated games, as well as that of New York assemblyman Joseph Lentol, which would classify the sale of violent video games to minors as a class E felony. Based in Albany, New York, Vicarious Visions is best known for the recent Nintendo Wii and DS versions of Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, along with the Xbox edition of id Software's Doom 3 and the various Tony Hawk games on Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS. Karthik and Guha Bala detail that widely supported voluntary efforts--such as the Entertainment Software Rating Board's content ratings, enforcement of those ratings at retailers to keep M-rated games out of the hands of minors, and the ability for console users to prevent the play of a game based on its rating--render portions of the proposed legislation redundant. "The proposed statewide restriction on video games is not only unnecessary but also could undo all the good we have done for our area and state," the letter reads, describing Vicarious Vision's involvement with local schools and universities to motivate students in combining their studies with their passion for video games. "We absolutely share the goal of providing the information and tools needed to help ensure that the entertainment children enjoy is parent-approved. The video game industry and retailers in our state are taking steps to help parents and caregivers in their decision-making. "We know many in our state may not like the content of some video games, and, to be frank, we do not like some of it either," they wrote. "However, a better way to spend our much-needed state resources would be to support public-private statewide partnerships to encourage use of video game ratings and parental controls. Alternatively, let's look at enacting statewide media literacy education programs that empower our children and help them understand and evaluate information and entertainment for themselves and with their parents. "We urge our state legislators to reject any attempt at enacting unconstitutional laws," the letter concludes. "Passage of legislation would hurt our state's growing video game development community. It will also send a terrible message to the people in our industry and to those in other creative, retail and technology communities that may be considering locating operations in New York."

Wii's official release date in North America is tomorrow, but for those of you planning on picking one up at midnight, here's what should be available alongside the system, along with a few titles that aren't quite making launch but will be on shelves within three days. About two thirds of the calendar 2006 games are making it out this week; expect a dozen more or so by the end of the year. A few titles previously expected to ship at launch, such as Elebits, Metal Slug Anthology, Super Swing Golf, and some others are now going to be here late this month or early next. It's looking like this system should be fairly easy to come by as far as launch systems go, with Nintendo sending out enormous quantities. It should be a little more low key than the events surrounding PS3's launch yesterday. Based on what I've been playing, I would recommend considering Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz and Trauma Center: Second Opinion, both exclusives which haven't really been getting the attention they should be. I still haven't gotten my hands on Rayman, but I'm really looking forward to it. Wii Sports is a lot of fun, but if you pick up a system, you're getting that whether you want it or not. Zelda, of course, is a given. Edit: Though it was previously stated to be coming in the weeks following launch, EA just announced that EA Black Box/EA Canada's Need for Speed Carbon will also be available on launch day.

Here you go!

• Field Commander (SOE, PSP, 2006)
• Sam & Max Episode 1: Culture Shock (Telltale, PC, 2006)
• Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (Digital Eclipse, X360, 2006)

• This week, Masem has a review of iNiS' Gitaroo-Man (PS2).
• SixDemonBag checks out Clover Studio's (RIP) God Hand (SP2), while...
• ...grayscale takes a look at the same developer's Okami (PS2).
• Finally, SilverSnake gives us his impressions of Q? and Phantagram's Ninety-Nine Nights (X360).

So did you guys notice that Double Fine's Psychonauts (PS2, Xbox, PC) has been added to Steam? In case you haven't seen me mention the game eight thousand times, it's from designer Tim Schafer (Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle, Grim Fandango), and it's more than worth the $20 asking price.

The Wii news continues...

It's not really the Shack's coverage area, but German publisher dtp announced today that it will be publishing a new adventure game by acclaimed designer Jane Jensen, best known for creating the Gabriel Knight series and co-designing King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow alongside series creator Roberta Williams. The game is called Gray Matter; Jensen revealed the title a few years ago, but the product was shelved while she worked on a few casual games. This will be her first actual adventure game since 1999's Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned. It's no secret that I first got into games on the PC, and graphic adventure games were my favorite genre. I've always preferred the LucasArts games, which I see as more inventive and creative than their Sierra counterparts that perhaps veer a bit too far into generic hero narratives and endless sequels. That said, I've always had a huge amount of respect for Sierra's practices as a company in its pre-Vivendi days, and I've also always respected Jane Jensen as a writer and designer who sort of stood out among a lot of the Sierra stuff. Her Gabriel Knight games are really solid, and I'm looking forward to see what she's come up with this time.