There are some companies that seem eternally poised on opposite sides of the market. As far back as the days when Nintendo and Sega were battling for control of the video game world fanboys were discussing and debating the pros and cons of each system/company. If we could take some of those youths into the world of today and show them a video game with Mario and Sonic together, their heads would probably explode.

It seems that once again savvy business people are putting aside hot blood and rivalries to capitalize on what seems like an excellent opportunity. Video games got their start as bar/arcade amusements, friends putting a few quarters down on a novel experience. Although arcades themselves are generally suffering people can still be seen putting quarters into various arcade titles across the country.

Former business rivals Activision and Konami have decided that the time is ripe to team up and put out what seems like a guaranteed success: an arcade version of their incredibly popular Guitar Hero games. somewhat unsurprisingly it was Konami who approached Activision about this partnership. While it seems that Activision has much more clout, Konami has years of experience with successfully developing and marketing coin-operated titles. It’s based on Guitar Hero III and will feature is similar to the design of the World Tour guitar only without the slide feature. It will incorporate many of the popular features of the series, including some streamlined character customization and DLC for songs to be added to the arcade titles. The machines are scheduled to hit North America in January.