Activision buys our special friends at Red Octane

I felt a little sad today when I read that Activision bought Red Octane today. It makes me a little scared that a big corperate company is taking over the little guys who produce yours and my favorite video game. RedOctane is one of the most dynamic, innovative and energetic companies in the games business. They were the world’s first online video game rental service when they started in 1999. Two years later they developed the first non-slip dance pad (for DDR). Two more years later, they launched the Get Up & Move! Campaign to highlight inspirational stories of kids losing weight playing dance video games. In 2005, they were granted PS2 publisher license, and released their first video game, In The Groove. And then, of course, GH. Going on to win awards aplenty.

And then there's the big coorperate Activision. The strategic director of Activision says of Red Octane:
"The success we are seeing today is a strong indicator that Guitar Hero and the many potential extensions, new platform exploitations and international versions appear to be somewhat transition proof, as consumers are responding to this product on current-generation platforms in a manner that defies traditional late-cycle behavior... We think the online capabilities of the next-generation platforms offer new and well differentiated opportunities to create additional revenues from downloadable music, which today represents one of the most popular downloadable content categories." (from kotaku.com)

Oh, Red Octane, why did you have to sell out?
To my ears, this does not bode well. They better not fuck up GH for me.