Activision has a lot to be grateful for, as the company had a banner year in 2009. Still, the company is acknowledging that there is room for improvement and some of that improvement will come in changes to both the Hero franchise as well as the suspected news that company isn’t ready to give up on the Tony Hawk franchise and skateboard controller just yet.

According to the whispers that we are hearing, Activision will only be releasing two titles in the Hero line in 2010. DJ Hero will be back with a sequel, as we told you about previously. In addition, only Guitar Hero will be back with Guitar Hero 5, we presume, although no one was ready to confirm that would be the next title in the franchise.

Changes will come to both the new Guitar Hero and DJ Hero that will focus on making both the new releases more accessible and innovative in an effort to capture a broader audience with the 2010 releases. While no release dates for either title have been announced, it is a safe bet that they will both arrive before the holidays. In addition, there will be no more Guitar Hero releases for the PlayStation 2, according to sources who claim that the older system is no longer generating enough sales to continue with releases on that platform.

As we suspected, Activision will not be giving up on the Tony Hawk franchise. While the performance of Tony Hawk Ride was not what the company expected at all, it seems that for the first time the company is admitting that the game needs additional refinement on the software side; and that seems to have been the problem with the amount of time that developer Robomodo had to refine and finish the title.

Expect to see another Tony Hawk game later this year in time for the holidays that will return with a more polished hardware skateboard and vastly overhauled software to deliver a much better experience. While sources are not confirming it, it does seem that this could be make it or break it for the board controller; and unless they hit it out of the park this time around, it could be unlikely that the rumored new Kelly Slater Surfing title will ever see the light of day.