So far, the “Guitar Hero” franchise has made only 66 songs available for download, compared with the 280 from “Rock Band.

MTV and Activision face off in battle of the brands | Reuters MTV and Activision face off in battle of the brands | Reuters

You’re going to see us be much more aggressive about releasing more songs that we did with ‘Guitar Hero III. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. That’s good news for labels and music publishers, which have seen “Rock Band” quickly become a valuable music distribution platform. Immerse yourself in a truly eclectic mix of rock from the 60s-90s – smashes from The Kinks, Fleetwood Mac, Europe, Lenny Kravitz, Slade and the incredible collaboration between Run-D.

At the same time, MTV aims to sell more games, including a title based on an AC/DC live DVD that’s available exclusively at Wal-Mart. Until now, Activision’s “Guitar Hero” strategy was more about selling games, either with rapidly developed sequels or such artist-specific expansion packs as “Guitar Hero: Aerosmith.

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But the Beatles catalog is the biggest “get” in the game world, and both MTV and Activision spent the better part of a year courting Apple Corps, Sony/ATV Music Publishing and EMI Music Group, the trifecta holding the various rights to the Beatles catalog. And now that MTV has set the stage for round three in this fight next year, the music business will be watching closely. It’s true you can choose other types of music, and somewhere along the line someone’s going to do it for free for the exposure . For “World Tour,” the more popular “Guitar Hero” franchise added several “Rock Band”-like innovations: drums, vocals and new songs for sale via download every week.Looking ahead, Wedbush Securities gaming analyst Michael Pachter expects the full bundle of “Rock Band 2” and “Guitar Hero World Tour” -- including the guitar, drums and microphone controllers -- to sell about 3 million units each by spring 2009.