Gamers: We’re All Guitar Heros

For those of us who want to play like Rock stars, Guitar Hero and Rock band video games never leave the Wii , Playstation or Xbox.

Still, the companies that make the games are worried since sales are down. They only made 1.6 billion last year. Someone call Obamba for a stimulus package!

Even if we feel we don’t need to hold a benefit for Activision or Viacom, we have to applaud their plan to add more music genres to help boost “stagnant sales.”

DJ Hero is the planned end of year release by Activision, which taps into electronica, rap and hip-hop fans and the company plans to release twice as many Guitar Hero games this year as in 2008 starting with a version due out March 29 that features music from heavy metal band Metallica.

Viacom Inc., whose MTV division owns the rights to the Rock Band franchise, said last month that sales of Rock Band 2 were lower than it had hoped. Again, they were spoiled by a sales surge of surging 68% in 2008, but with new titles and new musical niches, we’ll think they’ll do just fine, thanks very much.

Rock Out!