EA’s lengthy reign as the world’s biggest third-party publisher is over, at least temporarily, after Activision surpassed it by approximately $20 million in sales in the first half of 2007.

Thanks to a publishing portfolio that sports the likes of Call of Duty, Tony Hawk and several movie/game tie-ins, Activision stacked up a cool $387 million in sales up until June, compared to EA's paltry $365 million.

Yet it was Guitar Hero that was, appropriately enough, the real hero for Activision - analysts reckon that the axe-wielding series generated a fifth of Activision’s total income in 2007; with those pricey Xbox Live downloads, we’re not overly surprised.

But to loosely paraphrase, erm, J.Lo, don’t be fooled by the rocks that Activision’s got. See, the real question is: can the new leaders grimly cling on to top spot until the end of the calendar year, particularly with EA big-hitters such as Madden, Tiger, FIFA, The Simpsons, Army of Two and Rock Band to come? And if they do pull it off, will Activision-hating become as popular (and as clichéd) as EA-hating?