This is getting ridiculous. After announcing that they were suing Activision of a purported breach of patent, now they are taking aim at the major retail outlets that sell the game.

It looks like it’s all a case of poopy pants on Gibson’s part after Activision announced they would not be renewing the licensing deal with Gibson. As stated in an Activision statement:

As Activision noted in its filing, Gibson waited three years to make its patent allegations, and only did so after it became clear that Activision was not interested in renewing its marketing and support agreement with Gibson. Activision continues to believe that Gibson’s claims are disingenuous and lack any justification.

This leaves the next title in the series - GuitarHero:Aerosmith - in a strange predicament as Joe Perry is a Gibson endorsee and is known for his love of Gibson and it’s related companies guitars.

As seen all over the interweb lately, Gibson have announced the release of the “production model” Robot guitars that feature the automatic tuning system. Now these guitar have supposedly come down into the “affordable” bracket. There are two models to choose from the Gibson Robot Les Paul Studio Ltd. and the Gibson Robot SG Special Ltd. As for choice of colours, well there is bright metallic purple or …. nothing else.

One day, Gibson will realise that technical innovation can live hand in hand with classic appearance. I just couldn’t see myself playing one of these no matter how good that tuning system is. The finish just looks so wanky it’s not funny.

The “affordable” pricing is as follows:

• Gibson Robot Les Paul Studio LTD $3,999
• Bibson Robot SG Special LTD $3,599.

Rushing to your cheque book already. Nah, me neither.

Gibson USA, now that it has been a while since the PRS scandal, has decided to start up another lawsuit to justify the expenses incurred by their legal department. This time they plan to take on the company that has probably done the most to promote their product subversively for the past few years, Activision.

Gibson’s stance on the matter:

Based on our preliminary analysis, the ‘Guitar Hero’ software (including any expansion packs) and the guitar controller provided by Activision being used as a musical instrument (packaged with the software or sold standalone) are covered by the … patent….Gibson requests that Activision obtain a license under Gibson’s … patent or halt sales of any version of the ‘Guitar Hero’ game software.

Activision licenced the rights to the Gibson guitar catalogue for the Guitar Heror III release. Here is the list of Gibson guitars in that version of the game:

Gibson:
* ES-355
* Explorer
* Firebird
* SG
* Les Paul
* V-Factor
* Super CES400
* Marauder
* Corvus

Epiphone:
* Casino
* Coronet
* Sheraton

Kramer:
* 650
* Vanguard

Bass Guitars:
* Marauder
* Corvus
* Les Paul
* LP Double Cutaway
* EDS 1275
* ES335
* Firebird
* Flying V
* Moderne
* SG
* X-Plorer

They also licensed the rights to produce an official Les Paul controller. To me it sounds like Gibson wanting a bigger slice of the pie. And who was the “face of GH3? Slash, a Gibson endorser. And what is the next title in the series : GH:Aerosmith featuring one Joe Perry who funnily enough plays…. you guessed it, Gibson.

Seriously you guys at Gibson, once again you are making yourselves look bad. If a bunch of kids get inspired to play guitar from this game, what sort of guitars do you think they will gravitate to? Doesn;t it make sense they would pick their favourite guitar from the game? Stick to worrying about your product and not stupid lawsuits.

Is it just me or is Gibson suffer from severe stupidity a lot of the time?

….preferably not in the picture though.

You may have noticed the big flickr logo over there on the right. If you haven’t seen it you need your eyes checked. Anyway, I was thinking about that last night while I was checking out guitar pictures on flickr. The pictures that got the most interest out of me were the ones that had a little story to accompany the image. This gave me an idea.

Everyone has a story about their guitar, or an event or place or time that a guitar reminds you of. Let’s face it, every true guitar lover has a fond moment in their heart for their instrument, or has a fond moment wrapped around an instrument. Well, I want to hear them. And that is where the GuitarToyBox flickr group comes in to play.

I want you all to join the group and share a picture with the other GuitarToyBox readers and tell us a story about your guitar. Not only is it entertaining, you may find some inspiration amongst it all. Each week I’ll (try) to pick a story that I like the most and do a little profile highlight on that person. So if you are a musician, in a band or by yourself, or have anything else you want to promote, even if it is not guitar related or just want to get yourself in this website (and lets face it who doesn’t :-)), send in a picture with your tale and you may get lucky.

This is a little old but now that the mini-site is now running it is worth mentioning. These new Slash Les Pauls look bloody fantastic. Four models have been announced so far:

• Slash Les Paul Standard
• Slash Les Paul Custom
• Epiphone Slash Les Paul + Top
• Slash Inspired by Les Paul Original Spec

They also have a contest up where you can win one of these great guitars by submitting a video of how much you love Slash and want of these guitars. I’m afraid my video would be me in a mess salivating and mumbling incoherantly… in fact, that may work. Another feature of the site is a great collection of articles highlighting Slash and his importance in the long line of great Gibson players.

And how’s this gem:

Slash’s setting for his dirty tones are: presence, 7; bass, 7; midrange, 4.5; treble, 7; output master, 6; lead master, 10; input gain, 6.5.

His clean tone settings run: presence, 0; bass, 9; midrange, 3; treble, 5 ½; output master, 10; lead master, 0; input gain, 4.

What more can you want?