With so many music games, Band Hero seems to be in the shadows of its bigger siblings Guitar Hero 5, DJ Hero, and Guitar Hero: Van Halen. Activision however is confident that this “family oriented” adaptation of the Guitar Hero franchise is going to be successful. With artists such as KT Tunstall, Taylor Swift, and The Jackson 5 among others, Band Hero has undeniable talent.

Need for Speed Shift was a success. But EA has another NFS title around the corner, Need for Speed NITRO. Can it achieve the same success as Shift or will it be cast aside as many Wii titles have been?

In the gaming world, Mac users often get the cold shoulder from publishers and miss out on many of the best games for PC. Well Mac users will be glad to know that EA has heard your cries and has answered with Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning.

Let the downloading begin! With every music game released you know to expect a huge mountain of downloadable content to follow behind. With Guitar Hero 5 released last month, I was interested to see what Activision was going to offer to help spice up the all ready massive set list.

With AAA titles like Batman Arkham Asylum and Halo 3: ODST coming out this fall it is to let Mini Ninjas ‘tip toe’ past your eyes. Being developed by Eidos and IO Interactive (Hitman Series, Kane and Lynch) this game is vastly different from their preceding efforts with a fresh art style set apart from the usual gray textures from games today. If you want to get a preview of this game you will get your chance this Wednesday for the Xbox 360 and PC with PlayStation 3 receiving it a day later.

Have you ever imagined Little Red Riding Hood cutting villains up with a chainsaw? Or did you ever envision fairytale figures in a pool of blood and body parts? Well if not, Playlogic has, and is set to entertain us with those thoughts on October 27 with Fairytale Fights.

Activision today released the launch trailer for id and Raven Software’s Wolfenstein, which will be available Tuesday, August 18th. The cinematic trailer features series protagonist BJ Blazkowicz battling Nazis.

Ironically, today is the release day for Madden NFL 2010, with Activision and Raven Software following up on their plea to ‘beat’ EA’s venerable football series.

Wolfenstein will be available retail outlets for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.

We think Activision is running out of celebrities to put in Guitar Hero, because this week’s DLC includes bands with musicians employed under the publisher. The ‘Activision Music Track Pack’ features three songs – Awaken with “The Silence is Deafening,” “Nothing All the Time” by H is Orange and “I’ll Never Know” from Hundred Reasons, with each band having atleast one Activision employee.

THQ’s early summer release of Red Faction: Guerrilla met with warm reviews and provoked RFG developer Volition to announce plans for multiple downloadable content for the game.

Today the first of these, Demons of the Badlands, released today on Xbox Live for 800 Microsoft points ($9.99) and PlayStation Network for $9.99. ‘Demons of the Badlands’ is set several years prior to the original game’s story and features new weapons, vehicles, missions, and a new area called Mariner Valley.

After so many pushbacks and delayed games originally planned for Fall, such as Mass Effect 2, Bioshock 2, and Mafia II, many hardcore gamers likely feel disappointed by publishers and developers.