It's a chicken-or-egg question: should music games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band pay royalties to music labels, or should it be the other way around? Well, music games wouldn't be as fun if they don't have songs from popular artists. But then, music labels wouldn't sell as many albums as they are now if it weren't for music games.

So who owes who? That's what execs of Activision Blizzard and Warner Music are debating over. What's your take on it?

The Guitar Hero franchise is definitely one of the biggest empires in the games industry today. The series has been around for quite some time now and has been released across so many platforms in its various installments. To now hear that Guitar Hero has outsold Rock Band by a 6-to-1 ratio doesn't sound all that surprising.

It's now official AND finalized: Activision and Vivendi have finally completed all the transactions needed to seal the deal and merge into Activision Blizzard, and the union between the two major gaming outfits would open a whole lot of possibilities for the gaming industry. More details in the full article.

Numbers are in, and Activision has more than a few reasons to be proud about its third quarter of fiscal 2008 financial report. Thanks to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock,  Activision experienced substantial growth in revenue and it took top honors in software sales. More details at the full article.

The NPD group has named Activision as the number one U.S. console and handheld video game publisher for 2007, thanks to an increase in its sales as well as the success of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, PC).

Want to find out more? Head on over to the full article for more information on this.

Activision may have a big year ahead of them once the agreement the publisher and Vivendi signed comes to fruition, but at least they've got something to smile about. The company just recently made known via press wire that their financial performance is likely to exceed previous expectations, and so they've made the proper readjustments. More on that when you get to the full story.

Activision's top two executives Robert Kotick (CEO) and Brian Kelley (co-chairman) will be sharing a US$ 40 million payout in change-of-control payments for the Vivendi-Activision merger.

The duo will each be receiving US$ 10 million plus shares that's valued at about the same amount for change-of-control payments. More in the full article.

Demonstrating the power of their combined strength, Activision has announced that Blizzard will be taking part in Guitar Hero 3's entrance into the Asian market. The call was sent out to allay fears from investors about Activision Blizzard. Read more in the full article.

Here's a little update for video gamers going gaga over Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. Activision is now reporting that just after seven days of being in North American shelves, the total sales of the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii versions has already surpassed the US$ 115 million mark.

The full Guitar Hero III success story right after the jump!

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock was released the other week for the PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii. Already, Activision's saying they raked in about US$ 100-million in sales for the first week alone in North America. While Activision CEO Robert Kotick says that they "have an unprecedented amount of global supply," he believes that they might not meet the "exceptionally high demand" for their rhythm genre title during the holidays. Huh? That sounds a lot like what John Riccitiello said of Rock Band the other day...