Los Angeles - Activision (NASD: ATVI) will include the music and likeness of rock legend Jimi Hendrix in the next iteration of its "Guitar Hero" franchise, via a deal with Experience Hendrix, the Associated Press reported. "Guitar Hero: World Tour," slated for release Oct. 27, will include the songs "The Wind Cries Mary" and a live version of "Purple Haze," as well as other tunes to be later added as downloadable tracks for the game. In related news, Activision partner Hands-On Mobile on Friday announced the release of "Guitar Hero III: Backstage Pass" for mobile phones.

Santa Monica, Calif. - Video game publisher Activision (NASD: ATVI) has announced that its shareholders have approved its proposed $1.7 billion merger with Vivendi Games, with 92% voting in favor of the transaction.

New York - Representatives of the Beatles are in talks with Activision (NASD: ATVI) and Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) MTV Games, makers of the "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" video games, respectively, on deals that would license Beatles songs for inclusion in future iterations of the games, the Financial Times reported on Monday. The deals are reported to be worth "several million dollars," sources told FT, and could be completed within weeks.

Los Angeles - Activision (NASD: ATVI) plans to release a Metallica-themed version of its popular "Guitar Hero" game, according to an SEC filing noted by Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Edward Woo, GameSpot reported. Activision has already announced a version of the game featuring Aerosmith, which is due for release later this month.

Santa Monica, Calif. - Video game publisher Activision (NASD: ATVI) on Thursday announced details for "Guitar Hero World Tour," the next installment of its blockbuster franchise, confirming reports that the game will add drum kit and microphone peripherals to the familiar guitar controllers present in earlier editions.

Los Angeles - Video game publishers Activision (NASD: ATVI) and Vivendi Games have discontinued their memberships in the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) industry trade group, and will also not be attending this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) trade show, GameDaily reports.

New York - Video game publisher Activision (NASD: ATVI) has affirmed plans to extend its wildly popular "Guitar Hero" franchise beyond the guitar and bass to other instruments, a la rival music-based game "Rock Band," Activision CEO Bobby Kotick said in an interview with Portfolio.com. "We'll include a lot of other instruments [and] vocals," said Kotick, while refraining from giving any clues as to when these new elements might appear in the game franchise.

Santa Monica, Calif. - Activision (NASD: ATVI) announced on Thursday that rock band Def Leppard will include their new single "Nine Lives" as part of a three-track downloadable song pack add-on for its "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock" game. The new single will be exclusively available through the downloadable song pack five days before the release of the band's new album, "Sons from the Sparkle Lounge."

San Francisco - A group of hardware and software creators, game developers and publishers on Thursday announced the formation of the PC Gaming Alliance, a non-profit whose stated purposed is to advance the PC as a worldwide gaming platform. Members include Acer/Gateway, Activision Publishing, AMD, Dell/Alienware, Epic Games, Intel, Microsoft, Nvidia and Razer. Market research firm DFC Intelligence projects the PC game business will grow more than 80% over the next five years, with major increases in the number of PC gamers, revenue from digital distribution, and PC hardware sales.

Santa Monica, Calif. - Activision (NASD: ATVI) has announced plans for the next iteration of its popular "Guitar Hero" franchise, which will be built around the music of platinum-selling rock band Aerosmith. In development for the PS3, Xbox 360, Wii and PS2 for release this summer, "Guitar Hero: Aerosmith" will feature around 30 songs from Aerosmith, as well as other from bands that have opened for them.

Port Washington, N.Y. - U.S. video game sales were $1.18 billion in January, a 6% drop from a year ago -- attributed primarily to an extra week of sales reporting last year -- with Sony's (NYSE: SNE) PlayStation 3 notably overtaking Microsoft's (NASD: MSFT) Xbox 360 for second place in hardware sales behind Nintendo's Wii. Overall hardware shortages after the holiday shopping rush pushed sales down 25% from a year ago, to $378 million; Nintendo moved 274,000 Wii consoles, while Sony sold 269,000 PS3's and Microsoft 230,000 Xbox 360's.

Basking Ridge, N.J. - Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ) on Thursday announced that it acquired exclusive rights to distribute the mobile version of Activision's (NASD: ATVI) "Guitar Hero III," developed by Hands-On Mobile, to its subscribers. The game will cost $4.99 per month or $11.99 for unlimited use.

Sunnyvale, Calif. - Tracks from Warner Music/Reprise Records artists Linkin Park, Mastodon and The Used will be included as a downloadable track pack for video game publisher Activision's (NASD: ATVI) "Guitar Hero III" game in December. Activision will also offer single song downloads from European bands including Extremoduro, Trust and Die Fantastischen Vier.

New York - U.S. video game sales shot up 52% in November over the same period a year ago, climbing to $2.63 billion on strong sales of the Nintendo Wii and Activision's (NASD: ATVI) "Call of Duty 4" and "Guitar Hero 3," according to industry sales data compiled by NPD Group.

Santa Monica, Calif. - French media conglomerate Vivendi announced on Monday a deal with video game publisher Activision (NASD: ATVI), to combine its Vivendi Games unit with Activision to form a new company called Activision Blizzard, in a deal valued at $18.9 billion. Following the completion of the deal, Vivendi will hold a 52% stake in the combined company.

Santa Monica, Calif. - Video game publisher Activision (NASD: ATVI) announced on Tuesday that it has raised its net revenue and earnings outlook for the third quarter and fiscal year 2008, crediting strong sales of its "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock" and "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare" titles.

Santa Monica, Calif. - Activision (NASD: ATVI) announced on Monday that it will release standalone wireless guitar controllers for its "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock" game in early 2008. The company will offer a wireless controller version of Gibson Guitar's Les Paul model for the Xbox 360, Wii and PlayStation 3, and a Gibson Kramer for the PlayStation 2.

San Francisco - U.S. video game sales topped $1 billion again in October, rising 73% from a year ago to $1.1 billion, according to data from market research firm NPD Group. Nintendo's Wii reclaimed the top console spot, after last month when the release of "Halo 3" pushed the Xbox 360 ahead for the first time this year.