Activision's planned iTunes alternative

[MalaCloudy Black]

Most of you should know that two days ago Activision merged with Vivendi's games division Blizzard to form the new publisher Activision Blizzard. The chief executive of the new company, Bobby Kotick, told the Financial Times today the company plans to create an iTunes alternative based off the Guitar Hero franchise. Kotick feels this is "the natural evolution" and Guitar hero has the "potential" to be a "credible alternative to iTunes."

These plans, of course, emerged at least partly due to Activision now having access to Universal Music, which is owned by Vivendi. Vivendi is also known to have payment processing capabilities in "virtually every country." The newly formed company ain't kidding around -- with $3.5 billion dollars lying around that was originally going to be used for a tender offer, there are rumors of them after everything from the Beatles catalogue (which iTunes failed to gain access to), to entering the bidding for Take-Two. Will Activision finally get its act together with the new sources it has at hand? Rock Band has obviously become a major threat by taking market share for rhythm games away from the profitable Guitar Hero franchise. Thoughts?

SOURCE: PS3Fanboy, who, uh.. I have no idea why they reported it. Because Blizzard Blizzard, ya'll? I don't know. Anyway, it seems like it's a neat idea - now it's just up to the folks at Activision Blizzard to get it right.