Gaming news roundup: Consoleless future ahead for Guitar Hero

Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo may not be thrilled by the news, but the CEO of Activision has hinted that there may come a time when many of the company’s games – including ‘Guitar Hero’ – will be playable without any hardware.

BobbyKotick was speaking at a conference in California when he made the announcement, telling the audience to “expect many of our products to be playable independent of a console”. Kotick will have reason to celebrate this week after the latest title in Activision’s music game franchise, ‘Guitar Hero 5’, entered the gaming charts in first place, while ‘The Beatles: Rock Band’ only reached number four.

Microsoft in no hurry for new Xbox

Bad news for those eagerly awaiting the Xbox 720, or whatever Microsoft’s sequel to the 360 will be, as it looks like they will be left waiting for quite a while. “Do we need to sell a newconsole at some point? I don’t think we need to right now,” said Phil Spencer, the head of Microsoft Game Studios. Speaking to Develop, Spencer talked instead about howProject Natal – the upcoming add-on that promises to remove the need for physical games controllers – would make the 360 feel like a new console. “I see [Natal] as like the launch of the Xbox 360 back in 2005 – there will be a launch portfolio of games to support it,” said Spencer.

WipEout HD finally set to hit shops

If you have been aching to play ‘WipEout HD’, the brilliant update of the classic game, but don’t have access to the internet, then your woes will soon be over as Sony has announced that the racing title – currently available only to be downloaded from the PlayStation store – is set to be released next month on Blu-Ray. Bundled together with the ‘WipEout Fury’ expansion pack, it can be yours for just £19.99 from 16 October.