This won't be entirely surprising if ever this does come to pass. RedOctane believes that the new Natal technology from Microsoft will most likely be used for the Guitar Hero franchise.

Red Octane and Activision have finally announced that the Guitar Hero: World Tour (Xbox 360, PS2, PS3, Wii) Drum Tuning Kit is now available for download. Click on through for more details.

Guitar Hero: World Tour (Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Wii) Burger Deluxe Edition is dropping very soon. But what's all the commotion about the pricing? Confused? We've got the answers after the jump. And we'll even hold the mayo for you.

Guitar Hero World Tour finally gets tagged with a price, as listed on GameStop, with various bundles across the platform versions. The complete band kit includes the game, the guitar peripheral, drums, and microphone.

And since it's a weekend, we've included something special for the American Idol fans: as seen in the finale, David Cook and David Archuleta are advertising for Guitar Hero... in their undies. Wait. What?!

Clamoring for more guitar legends in Guitar Hero? Well, Ted "Motor City Madman" Nugent has just confirmed during a podcast interview that he will be involved in a future installment of the Guitar Hero franchise.

When bands leave their managers, there's usually a bitter aftertaste involved. In the case of old partners Harmonix and Activision, a similar predicament has risen. A royalty dispute concerning Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Xbox 360, Wii, PS3, PC) was taken to court but was quickly withdrawn. Details follow right after the jump.

Though Activision thinks that Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Microsoft Xbox 360, Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii) may not be able to meet demand come holiday season, they're not shying away from improving the gameplay experience even more. Increasing the game's fan appeal, the publisher has just announced that two new downloadable packs will hit the PS3 and Xbox 360 soon.

Check out the Velvet Revolver Track Pack and the Foo Fighters Track Pack in the full article.

Here's a bit of bad news for those of us who want to get our groove on at home with Konami Digital's upcoming dance-a-thon title for the Microsoft Xbox 360, Dance Dance Revolution Universe 2: RedOctane has no plans of making new dance pads for the game. Note that we said pads, not mats, as dance pads are usually made of stronger stuff and won't have you kissing the floor while you're in the middle of a smokin' 1000-hit combo.

This bit of bad news comes directly from Red Octane itself, the company a former supporter of Dance Dance Revolution peripherals. Here's the complete statement, verbatim: "There are no immediate plans to create new dance pads outside of the current products available."

Direct to the point, but when we look closer, it's not an outright denial. After all, while they may have no plans to make new dance pads now, what are the possibilities of them having plans tomorrow? Or the next day? Next week, month? Until then, though, we'll have to just wait. Here's hoping a dance-able dance pad struts its way into store shelves, and soon.

Despite Activision's optimistic US$ 250 million sales estimate for the end of Q3 for fiscal year 2007, Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter seems to think that the Santa Monica-based publisher's projections were a bit modest. In fact, Pachter believes that with last quarter's spillover success of Transformers: The Game and RedOctane's Guitar Hero II, Activision should expect to net a whole lot more.

A note entitled Encore: Activision Rocks the Quarter, Again authored by Pachter ran numbers for Guitar Hero II's sales estimates, and the guitar rhythm title has already gained a consolidated 3.5 million unit sales on both the Sony PlayStation 2 and Microsoft's Xbox 360, leading to at least US$ 270 million in gross sales.

Pachter does admit that the publisher's lineup has but a few big titles that could have warranted the throttled projection, but he does acknowledge that id Software's Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars and RedOctane's Guitar Hero Encore: Rock the 80s would have uplifted the performance by some degree. Infinity Ward's Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Microsoft Xbox 360, Sony PS3, Microsoft Windows PC) has yet to make landfall in North America, so it would contribute to Activision's Q4 sales.

Overall, the analyst pegs a more optimistic target of US$ 300 million (59% increase from last year's quarter performance) to be nabbed in sales for this quarter, due to a predicted 122% increase in sales for the publisher's current products. In a short note, Pachter added, "We think guidance is extremely conservative and recommend that investors opportunistically add to positions."

Looks like his confidence is placed, but investors may still have to ponder this one out.

Think those snazzy Gibson and special Kramer wireless guitars are the only heavy-hitting names making their way into Guitar Hero III for the Microsoft Xbox 360, Sony PlayStation 3, and Nintendo Wii? Activision is sending out word that even GHIII's in-game characters are going to be packing branded gear, courtesy of several partnerships they're establishing with companies within the musical instrument industry. Here's a shortlist of the product names you'll be seeing in-game:

• Gibson
• Guitar Center
• Audio-Technica
• Crate
• Ernie Ball
• Krank
• Line 6
• Mackie
• Zildjian
• Alternative Press
• Decibel
• Guitar Player
• Kerrang
• Paste magazines
• Pontiac
• Axe

In line with this announcement, Activision's senior director of business development Dave Anderson had this to say:

By forging exclusive relationships with key companies in the music and consumer packaged goods industries we are able to bring an even greater depth of realism to Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. From venues like Pontiac Garage, to customized guitars from Axe, the game delivers the ultimate rock and roll experience.

RedOctane and Neversoft's Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock will be launching this October 28. Aside from the launch, the guys may want to take part in the upcoming Play and Win Sweepstakes Microsoft has lined up for GHIII's 360 port for this November 2 to 4. 

Buy: [Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Xbox 360)]
Buy: [Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (PS3)]
Buy: [Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Wii)]