DJ Hero, Modern Warfare 2, Guitar Hero Greatest Hits and a lot more in Activision's 2009 release schedule @ Gaming Target

Written by John Scalzo on February 12, 2009

News: But no Diablo III or StarCraft II. Uh oh...

Yesterday, Activision held their quarterly financial conference call and revealed a huge slate of games for 2009. The company will release at least seventeen titles this year with several more in the planning stages for next year. And then there's the discussion of the fates of StarCraft II and Diablo III.

So with, here's what Activision has on track for 2009...

In March, the company will release a game based on DreamWorks' Monsters Vs. Aliens movie on multiple platforms. March will also see the release of Guitar Hero: Metallica on the PlayStation 3, Wii and Xbox 360. A PlayStation 2 version is in development as well, but it will not be released until the Summer. Whether or not there will be PS2 versions of future Guitar Hero games will be decided on a case by case basis.

Activision will follow these two games up with a whole slate of movie-based titles in the Summer including X-Men Origins: Wolverine (May), Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (June) and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (also June).

This Summer will also include several new Guitar Hero games. First up is Guitar Hero: Modern Hits on the DS. That will be followed by Guitar Hero: Greatest Hits (working title) on the PS3, Wii and Xbox 360. Greatest Hits will be a collection of the most popular songs from previous Guitar Hero games redone as full band versions. Activision did not say whether these full band versions would be created by reusing the cover versions of the songs as they were in GH1 and GH2 or if the tracks would be completely redone using the original song's master tracks.

The company also plans to put out two non-movie, non-Guitar Hero games this Summer as well: Radical Entertainment's open world action game Prototype (PC, PS3, Xbox 360) and id Software's Wolfenstein (PC, PS3, Xbox 360).

Finally, Activision revealed that the majority of their 2009 release slate would come in the Fall and closer to the end of the year. These include Infinity Ward's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, DJ Hero (which was confirmed for release on the Wii), Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, a new first person shooter from Raven titled Singularity), Tony Hawk 10 (rumored to be titled Tony Hawk's Adrenaline and confirmed for the Wii), a new racing game from Bizarre Creations and an Unreal Engine 3-powered shooter on the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 from High Moon Studios (creators of the amazing Darkwatch).

More Guitar Hero games will also be released in the Fall, with Activision Publishing president Mike Griffith saying "We will launch a major restage of the business with all new differentiated Guitar Hero products." Translation: there will be several Guitar Hero games released this Fall.

Two games Activision would not comment on for 2009 came from the Blizzard half of the company. Yes, that's right, the company would not commit to a 2009 release for StarCraft II or Diablo III. One of the games might squeak into 2009, but a 2010 release is more likely.

2010 will also be the year that the Next James Bond game is released. It will be a driving game developed by Bizarre and it is being delayed from a Fall 2009 release so as not to go head-to-head with Modern Warfare 2.

Did you get all that? We'll have more on all of Activision's future games soon.