Davos, Switzerland - Activision Blizzard (NASD: ATVI) CEO Bobby Kotick confirmed on Friday that a new music-centered video game called "DJ Hero" is in development and due out in 2009:
"We have this product called DJ Hero coming out later this year, which is a turntable that you actually can play competitively and spin discs and mix songs," he said during a CNBC interview.

Santa Monica, Calif. - Video game publisher Activision (NASD: ATVI) said on Tuesday that Bruce Springsteen will make two songs available for purchase and download for play with its "Guitar Hero: World Tour" game. "My Lucky Day," a track of Springsteen's forthcoming record, along with "Born to Run," will be released alongside the new album on Jan. 27; the tracks will be free to download during the first week of the album's release.

Los Angeles - Activision's (NASD: ATVI) "Guitar Hero III" is the first video game to surpass $1 billion in sales, but the current iterations of both that franchise and MTV's (NYSE: VIA) "Rock Band" sold fewer copies last year in the U.S. than their predecessors, according to market research firm NPD Group.

Las Vegas - Last week, Disney (NYSE: DIS) and Washburn Guitars announced plans to introduce a music video game similar to the popular "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band," except the Disney game will see users playing actual guitars instead of plastic controller versions, Wired.com reported. "Disney Star Guitarist" will initially be targeted at a younger audience, focusing on artists like Hannah Montana. Versions featuring keyboards and vocals are also in the works. The PC game is slated for release in the summer.

Santa Monica, Calif. - Video game publisher Activision (NASD: ATVI) announced on Monday that it has acquired Iowa City, Iowa-based developer Budcat Creations.

London - Microsoft (NASD: MSFT) is selling 3.8 million downloadable songs a month for the Xbox 360 versions of music video games "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band," GamesIndustry.biz reports. In a statement, the company said that Xbox Live has "delivered more than 80% of the downloadable songs for music games."

New York - IGA Worldwide, the operator of an in-game advertising network, announced on Tuesday that it has signed a multi-year agreement with Activision (NASD: ATVI). The company will place ads within multiple Activision PlayStation 3 titles, the first of which being the upcoming "Guitar Hero World Tour."

Los Angeles - Video game publisher Activision (NASD: ATVI) plans to triple the amount of "Guitar Hero" content it produces over the next two years, including both new versions of the game and downloadable content for the titles, CEO Mike Griffith told analysts, GameDaily reported. Further, Universal Music president and COO Zach Horowitz stated that, on average, sales of songs featured in "Guitar Hero" jump between 200% and 300%. One song, Weezer's "My Name is Jonas," saw a 1,000 sales increase in the weeks following the release of "Guitar Hero III."

Santa Monica, Calif. - Video game publisher Activision (NASD: ATVI) announced on Friday that it has acquired U.K.-based music game developer FreeStyleGames.

Santa Monica, Calif. - Video game publisher Activision Blizzard (NASD: ATVI) saw its revenue increase by 34% and profits more than double in the last quarter.