Activision Publishing CEO Mike Griffith has revealed that they have now set their sights on breaking into the action genre with a brand new IP. Details about the IP are still scarce, but Griffith did share with Develop why Activision, which has become decidedly restrictive when it comes to new IP, made the decision. I bet you guys can guess why.

Finally, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Xbox 360, Wii, PC, PlayStation 3) broke past the US$ 1Billion sales mark, and in the process became the first single game ever to sell that much, since its launch in 200. This was confirmed by Activision's CEO, Mike Griffith, at the CES keynote in Las Vegas on Friday.

The rivalry continues. Nintendo's Wii may be top of the charts, but Activision CEO Mike Griffith expects the PS3 to see more growth than the Xbox 360 in the Western Hemisphere during 2008. More in the full article.

The bubble still hasn't burst for Activision's Guitar Hero franchise, and so the company's still doing what it can to satisfy what Activision president Mike Griffith calls the consumer's "insatiable appetite" for more by trademarking what looks to be another Guitar Hero title: Guitar Hero Modern Hits.

According to Activision Publishing CEO Mike Griffith, here will be an increased focus on downloadable content in Call of Duty: World at War (PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Wii, DS). To further "increase online monetization", Activision is also planning premium content like the "Day One Advantage" promo. More in the full article.

In the video game industry, it's important not to rest on one's laurels. Activision probably knows this. In spite of the fact that its Q4 and fiscal year 2008 financial reports have shown encouraging results, the company is already planning its next ventures in the near future. This was evident in the company's recent conference call. More lucrative news follows after the jump.

In order to extend its success to 2008, Activision has several plans and a healthy line-up of games. Among its steps to make more money is innovating with Tony Hawk's Pro Skater to compete against Electronic Arts' successful Skate. Learn more about this at the full article.

 

We pretty much had confirmation that Guitar Hero would be coming to the Wii back in February this year when Activision CEO Mike Griffith let slip this little bit of information:

The key difference in our strategy versus the prior cycle, is that in addition to full support on Sony and Microsoft platforms, we will aggressively target the Nintendo platforms consistent with our multi-platform strategy and Nintendo’s expected growth. In fiscal 2008, we will double our offerings on the DS and the Wii, including Spider-Man, Shrek, Transformers, and Guitar Hero.

The naughty CEO wasn't actually supposed to mention that the interactive guitar-playing game would be coming to the Wii, causing a little bit of controversy as to whether Griffith actually knew what he was talking about. However, a small nugget of information has come in from the May issue of Ngamer which states:

Cult rhythm game Guitar Hero is on its way to Wii. It comes with a guitar-shaped controller and plays convincingly enough to make you think you're making real music. Hopefully we'll get the actual guitar, and not a pretend remote/nunchuk version.

For those of you that are thinking the last sentence contradicts the first, remember that it says a guitar-shaped controller is included, so it could be a Wiimote/Nunchuck ripoff that just looks like a remote. I guess we'll just have to wait for more details to come in before we make an assumption.

Just a short while ago, Activision's CEO Mike Griffith made a statement in a conference call which states that, "In fiscal 2008, we will double our offerings on the DS and the Wii, including Spider-Man, Shrek, Transformers, and Guitar Hero." Considering that those words came from the head honcho himself, it would have been difficult to doubt them at the time, so off we went, dreaming of wireless guitar controllers for Guitar Hero Wii.

But then again, just when you thought that companies were actually starting to speak in English instead of corporate-ese, it turns out that this isn't the case. In fact, a spokesperson from Activision has recently issued another statement... which neither denies nor confirms the existence of the highly-desired port of Guitar Hero to Nintendo's console.

The spokesperson has been quoted to say that, in reference to Griffith's statement, "From my specific knowledge, and I'm not talking about Guitar Hero here, there are some surprises hidden within that phrase and things that people will probably interpret incorrectly".

Great. Hidden surprises and phrases that need to be interpreted correctly. Oooh. Cryptic, coy, enigmatic, or just downright confusing? We'd make another stab at a Da Vinci Code pun, but no. In the meantime, we're also considering the possibility of having misinterpreted Griffith's quoted statement, but the only other thing that we can derive from his words would be Guitar Hero for the DS... the very concept of which, just seems wrong, by the way.

We're not quite sure just how many people may have seen this coming, but here it is. In Activision's recent preliminary financial report, CEO Mike Griffith mentioned that Guitar Hero will be finding its way to the Wii. He didn't specify when, and only hinted that it may or may not be around by 2008. To quote:

The key difference in our strategy versus the prior cycle, is that in addition to full support on Sony and Microsoft platforms, we will aggressively target the Nintendo platforms consistent with our multi-platform strategy and Nintendo’s expected growth. In fiscal 2008, we will double our offerings on the DS and the Wii, including Spider-Man, Shrek, Transformers, and Guitar Hero.

Since those words came from Activision's head honcho, that makes it pretty difficult to dismiss this piece of news. Now, the only thing that's left to do would be to wait for that long-awaited press release to drop in our mailbox.