Harmonix, the Massachusetts based developers behind the once incredibly successful Guitar Hero and Rock Band games is hinting that it’s got something new to show, and they’ll be doing it at this year’s Penny Arcade East Expo (PAX East), held April 6-8 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.

The rumor stems from a tweet by the official RockBand Twitter account in reply to a user tweeting that “the plastic rock community needs a new game to look forward to.”  To which the Rock Band team replied that an announcement of some kind was coming at the annual show.

No word yet on what the title will be, but the studio is coming off the highly successful Dance Central 2, and another title would seem a bit rushed. Could we see another band exclusive title or perhaps Rock Band 4?

Blast will be at PAX East bringing you all the news, info and wackiness.

When Activision announced that they were effectively killing off the Guitar Hero franchise, the next obvious question was, what would happen to Rock Band. Rest assured, Harmonix, the game’s Massachusetts based developer has no intentions of killing off the series, instead, they’d rather re-imagine it.

“The marketplace is clearly demanding something very new,” Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopulos said in an interview with Edge Magazine. “It’s clearly demanding a dramatic evolution of the Rock Band franchise, I think that’s actually exciting for us.”

Things haven’t been so great for Harmonix lately,as the development studio was recently sold by Viacom and has since gone back to it’s humble beginnings as an independent developer. Still though, Rigopulos is very optimistic for the future of the franchise and the music genre in general.

Rigopulos noted that Rock Band 3 will still receive DLC and updates throughout the year, and that the company is working on a sequel to it’s wildly popular Kinect title Dance Central, but also added that the company is looking past the titles, to something new in the motion control field. ”It’s safe to say you’ll see a lot more in that domain from Harmonix beyond Dance Central,” Rigopulos teased. “We’d be absolutely open-minded about that.”

In an industry seemingly in love with zombies, it’s not hard to believe a game could rise from the dead. Hell, just look at Duke Nukem Forever. But could we be seeing a Guitar Hero resurrection down the road?

Maybe.

Speaking with CNBC about the decision to discontinue the Guitar Hero franchise, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick left the door open to the series returning in some way. “”We can never say never, but over the past two years we have seen rapid declines in the music genre, and unfortunately, based on current demand, we simply cannot continue to profitably make these games given the considerable licensing and manufacturing costs.”

Kotick also talked about the company’s decision to scrap a long running, but albeit thinning fan favorite. “We had three fantastic products in the marketplace in the [music] genre this year, our two games, DJ Hero 2 and Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, and then Rock Band did a terrific game, but it’s just not a category that’s getting consumers enthusiastic right now, and so I think you need to focus your resources on the things that really gets consumers excited.”

“”If something’s not working, we’ll take it off the table, maybe reinvent it in the future, but our focus is really on figuring out what are the things that are going to excite audiences the most.”

Ladies and gentelmen, Guitar Hero is no more.

The announcement came via the release of Activision’s fourth quarter earnings late last night. “Due to continued declines in the music genre, the company will disband Activision Publishing’s Guitar Hero business unit and discontinue development on its Guitar Hero game for 2011,” Activision said in its report.

The move shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, following a less than stellar release rapidly dropping sales in the rhythm genre and Viacom selling Boston based Harmonix, developers of rival franchise Band Hero.

Also facing the axe is the relatively new DJ Hero franchise. Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg, elaborated on the  cancellation of both series.

“Despite a remarkable 92 rating on DJ Hero 2, a widely well-regarded Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, as well as a 90-plus rated release from our most direct competitor [Rock Band 3], demand for peripheral-based music games declined at a dramatic pace. Given the considerable licensing and manufacturing costs associated with this genre, we simply cannot make these games profitably based on current economics and demand. Instead, what we’ll do is focus our time and energies on marketing and supporting our strong catalog of titles and downloadable content, especially to new consumers as the installed base for hardware continues to grow.”

In a surprise move (heck the game just got a cover on the latest issue of EGMI), Activision also canceled True Crime: Hong Kong, saying that the long running franchise “just wouldn’t have been good enough.”

In 1997, 50s and 60s pop singer Pat Boone released In a Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy, an album of Heavy Metal covers. A far cry from the crooner’s normal work, the album, complete with Boone in choke collar looking menacing was an obvious final cry for popularity, so Boone could enjoy one last shot at popularity with a younger crowd.

Warrior’s of Rock, the latest iteration of the long running Guitar Hero franchise is much like Boone’s metal album; an obvious attempt to stay relevant amidst a changing cultural landscape. Yes, the franchise was once the biggest franchise in gaming, but it’s clear that over five years since its debut, the franchise is in dire need of a reboot.

Perhaps the worst part about Warriors of Rock is that it showed potential to advance the series, but only manages to show the franchise’s age even more.  The game’s main draw is in its new Quest mode, which puts you in control of one of eight characters (All but two of the characters return from previous installments) looking to unlock their true warrior potential. Just how do they do that you ask –apparently by recovering a mysterious powerful guitar that in turn revives the demi-God of Rock as voiced by Gene Simmons of Kiss fame. The mode is filled with campy metal themed visuals and you can’t help but think that Activision finally realized they should have published Brutal Legend in the first place.

Story aside, how you really progress through the game’s quest mode is by doing exactly what you’ve done in previous Guitar Hero games, playing your instrument of choice through enough songs to complete each chapter, move on…repeat. There are a few kinks thrown in to put a few blurbs on the back of the box, like the boss battles, special powers and a seemingly random rendition of Rush’s 2112, but they do little to add to, or detract from the Guitar Hero formula, it just is.

Warrior’s of Rock’s track list harkens back to the older days of the series with a more hard rock flavored repertoire. Look, it’s not that I’m dogging playing some of the mainstream and poppy acts of recent editions of the game, they just weren’t as fun to play. Still though, the set list isn’t without its fair share of problems though, chief among them that the game splits up the list by character this time, which in turn breaks up the track list by genre. Don’t like death metal? You’re going to hate an entire section of the game. The same goes for merely every genre of rock. At least when the songs were divided up by difficulty you could lay claim to at least liking one of the songs in a section.

While playing through Warrior’s of Rock’s set list, you can’t help but get the feeling that the developers seem to be scraping the bottom of the barrel when it comes to track selection. Terrible live versions of ZZ Top songs covered by Metallica? No thanks. Especially not when the original song was in one of the previous games and was so fun to play. It’s almost as if the developers were hoping that gamers would rekindle their love for these classic set list hits in order to look over how boring these versions are to play.

Much of Warrior’s of Rock feels like a stretch to appeal to someone…anyone. In the process though, the developers throw so many rock clich©s and standards in that the game loses any sense of identity. As mentioned above, the quest mode is narrated by Gene Simmons (along with a bit from RUSH) but there’s a segment where you play through such historic punk venues as CBGB and OMFUG. Yes, I get the cultural importance of the venues to the world of rock music, but it just doesn’t fit here in a game filled with heavy rock and big budget shows. It feels much like a loud cry from the developers to stay relevant. It’s the video game equivalent of your parents suddenly showing up in a Ramones t-shirt so you’d still think they were cool.

The new guitar for Warrior’s of Rock is just as reliable as you’d expect a plastic peripheral to be, but here — the sides split off to form…an actual axe. It’s a cool ascetic, but it’s just that, and serves literally no valuable in game purpose. Curiously enough, the guitar features no touch pad, as made famous in Guitar Hero: World Tour, though several of the songs feature sequences built specifically for it. It almost makes players use older guitars when playing the game if they’re available.

Guitar Hero made its debut in the Fall of 2005, and has since seen more than 13 different iterations and spin-offs — that’s more than two different games every year. Once the most important game to the video game industry, the series has become stagnant and needs an obvious reimagining. My advice to Activision? Take a step back, take a year or two off without releasing a Guitar Hero game because it’s games like this that remind us why Rock Band is so good.

Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock already boasted an impressive track list, and now there’s going to be even more songs added, as Activision has announced that Alice Cooper and The Runaways have gone back to the studio to re-record their legendary songs “No More Mr. Nice Guy” and “Cherry Bomb,” respectively.

“I AM a Warrior of Rock! Younger fans getting exposed to true classic rock songs is one of my personal crusades,” said Alice Cooper. “The new audience listening to the classic songs of today, like “No More Mr. Nice Guy,” will hopefully be inspired to write the classic songs of tomorrow.”

In addition to these re-recorded tracks, Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock has added another 20 tracks picked specifically for their killer guitar riffs and intense solos. The list is below.

· Alter Bridge – "Ties That Bind"

· Atreyu – "Ravenous"

· Bad Brains – "Re-Ignition (Live)"

· Blue –yster Cult – "Burning For You"

· Bush – "Machinehead"

· Deep Purple – "Burn"

· Edgar Winter – "Free Ride"

· Five Finger Death Punch – "Hard To See"

· George Thorogood and The Destroyers – "Move It On Over (Live)"

· Lynyrd Skynyrd – "Call Me The Breeze (Live)"

· Pantera – "I’m Broken"

· Poison – "Unskinny Bop"

· The Ramones – "Theme From Spiderman"

· Rise Against – "Savior"

· Steve Vai – "Speeding"

· Strung Out – "Calling"

· Styx – "Renegade"

· Sum 41 – "Motivation"

· Them Crooked Vultures – "Scumbag Blues"

· The White Stripes – "Seven Nation Army"

A host of new tracks will be available this month for the Guitar Hero Music Library that will span multiple genres of rock including, alternative, punk, and good ‘ol heavy metal.

First up, The Used now have three songs now available for download including, “The Taste of Ink”, “The Bird and The Worm”, and “Pretty Handsome Awkward”.

Next week, Canadian Rockers Sum 41 will be crashing Guitar Hero house parties around the world with their three song track pack that will feature, “Fat Lip”, “In Too Deep”, and “Still Waiting”.

Come August 24, Dave Mustaine and Megadeth will make available three of their finest, most ball crushing tracks like, “Symphony of Destruction”, “Hangar 18″, and “Peace Sells (but who’s buying?)”

Rounding out the month on August 31, shitty Nu-Metal band, P.O.D. will be making their Guitar Hero debut with a three song track pack that will include, “Southtown”, “Youth Of The Nation”, and “Boom”.

As usual, all of these track packs will be available via the Xbox Live Marketplace for 440 Microsoft Points each, the PlayStation Store for $5.49 each, and for the Nintendo Wii for 550 Wii Points each.

It’s been a long time coming, but in the past year or so, Rush, one of the most influential rock bands in history, has finally gotten their due. From their hilarious appearance on the Colbert Report, to their amazing documentary, to the Canadian trio’s “it’s about fucking time” article in Rolling Stone magazine, one could say that Rush FINALLY have hit the mainstream.

Well, if you still doubted the influence of this amazing, underrated, oft mocked band, let this news be further proof of their popularity. Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock will feature Rush’s classic album, 2112, in the game’s all-new, story based Quest Mode.

“The music, the story and the journey of 2112 lends itself perfectly to the quest in Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock,” said Geddy Lee of Rush. And guitarist Alex Lifeson added, “I love the idea of Guitar Hero, they have combined two great things- music and fun. I think it’s a great way to introduce people of all ages to music of various styles by all kinds of different bands, while providing a launching pad for kids who want to get into playing music.”

Within the narrative-driven journey, Rush and Guitar Hero fans alike will experience 2112 in a totally new and authentic way, while traversing the exclusive three-part 2112 Rush-inspired venue and playing their way through the 20 minute, seven part suite. Additionally, each song transition will feature band members narrating liner notes from the 2112 album, which might just be the coolest shit, ever.

Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, hits stores this September.
More info can be found at: GuitarHero.com

Just in time for her concerts at the Fake Boston Garden this week, and for the holiday weekend, Lady Gaga will be part of some new downloadable content for Guitar Hero and DJ Hero.

Available as of today, the DJ Hero Dance Party Mix Pack delivers a trio of new mixes- Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” mixed with “Girls On Film” by Duran Duran, Pussycat Dolls’ “Buttons” beat juggle and Rihanna’s “S.O.S.” beat juggle- that will have all of you plastic turntablists spinning, scratching and battling throughout the 4th of July weekend.

Ms. Gaga will also be featured in the Pop 1 Track Pack for Guitar Hero (which is also available today) with her club anthem “Just Dance”, as will Maroon 5′s hit “This Love” and arguably the worst song of the last five years, “Fireflies” by that dork who calls himself Owl City.

All of this DLC is available for the XBOX 360, Playstation 3, and Nintendo Wii.

Activision has officially unveiled Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock today and it’s got one of the unlikely additions to a rhythm game: a story.  This time, Guitar Hero fans will be going on a journey to save rock n’ roll as we know it (and clearly, it MUST be saved.)

“Guitar Hero has set the standard for music based gaming and with Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock‘s all-new Quest Mode, robust and authentic set list, over-the-top challenges and rock-inspired new hardware, we are once again bringing the soul and energy of rock n’ roll to fans around the world,” said David Haddad, Chief Operating Officer, Guitar Hero.

In Quest Mode, using any combination of instruments, players will embark on a larger-than-life, epic rock journey from the stage of CBGBs, the infamous punk-rock club in New York City, to the molten lava fields of rock treachery as eight Guitar Hero characters transform into rock warriors that must join together to use their unique, game-changing powers to help the Demi-God of Rock take down “The Beast” and save rock n’ roll.

“The world is a boring place. Come with me, and enter a world populated of Demi-Gods and Beasts. Transform from an everyday person and become the savior of rock and roll,” said Gene Simmons of KISS. “It was an honor and privilege to narrate Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, even more so, to voice the Demi God. From the God of Thunder to the Demi-God, how cool is that…”

Delivering the largest on-disc rock music set list to-date, Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock features more than 90 tracks that include guitar shredding hits from bands such as Black Sabbath, Megadeth and Slipknot and larger than life anthems from Queen, Muse and KISS. Additionally, Dave Mustaine of Megadeth wrote and recorded “Sudden Death,” an original track for the game, which was inspired by Quest Mode’s storyline. Along with original songs, the set list also includes special re-records by famous artists and tracks from bands that are making their music video game debut. The first songs off of Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock‘s set list to be revealed are:

• AFI – “Dancing Through Sunday”
• Avenged Sevenfold - “Bat Country”
• Black Sabbath - “Children Of The Grave”
• Buzzcocks - “What Do I Get?”
• Children Of Bodom - “If You Want Peace… Prepare For War”
• The Cure - “Fascination Street”
• Def Leppard – “Pour Some Sugar On Me (Live)”
• Dethklok - “Bloodlines”
• DragonForce - “Fury of the Storm”
• Drowning Pool - “Bodies”
• Foo Fighters - “No Way Back”
• Foreigner - “Feels Like The First Time”
• Jane’s Addiction - “Been Caught Stealing”
• KISS - “Love Gun”
• Megadeth - “Sudden Death”
• Metallica & Ozzy Osbourne - “Paranoid (Live)”
• Muse - “Uprising”
• My Chemical Romance - “I’m Not Okay (I Promise)”
• Queen - “Bohemian Rhapsody”
• Rammstein – “Waidmanns Heil”
• The Rolling Stones - “Stray Cat Blues”
• Silversun Pickups - “There’s No Secrets This Year”
• Slayer - “Chemical Warfare”
• ZZ Top - “Sharp Dressed Man (Live)”

To maximize players’ shredability, Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock delivers the next evolution in finger-fretting with an all-new, show-stopping guitar controller that was inspired and born from the game’s unique art style and specifically made for shredding.

Be afraid, be very afraid.

Entertainment Weekly today revealed that song’s from Disney teeny-boppers Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato are coming to the world of Guitar Hero next week.

Disney Stars Gomez, Lovato and Cyrus

The Disney-made-me-famous trio’s track pack arrives May 18 for Wii and May 25 for Xbox 360 and PS3 for both Guitar Hero and Band Hero.

The songs include Miley Cyrus’ "7 Things," Demi Lovato’s "Here We Go Again," and Selena Gomez & The Scene’s "Falling Down."

To get an early glimpse at the songs in action, head to the EW page.

The next stage for Guitar Hero to dominate is the little one, in the palm of your hand, via your Blackberry or Android-enabled device.

Today, Hands-On Mobile Inc., a cell-phone game developer, released the popular music-game on the world’s most popular smartphones, Android and Blackberry.

In the palm of your hands!

Guitar Hero: World Tour Mobile: Backstage Pass, the official name of the game, will run you $4.49 and comes with 15 songs to play and more made available each month.

"The Guitar Hero sensation is one that crosses all platforms with mass market appeal spanning generations and geography," said Lynn Monica, VP & GM of Mobile Games, Hands-On Mobile. "Guitar Hero World Tour Mobile: Backstage Pass has gameplay for everyone and will surely satisfy any mobile gaming fan from beginner to expert."

With Google/Android recently surpassing Apple/iPhone, it’ll be interesting to see if developer’s attention soon shifts more dominantly to the Android Marketplace over the App Store. Fight!

Guess what? It’s the beginning of the month, and that can mean only one thing.

Activision passed along a press release this morning, revealing every last song coming to the world of Guitar Hero and Band Hero this May.

It’s really an eclectic offering, as classic rock tunes from Lynyrd Skynyrd, Steve Miller and Foreigner and Aerosmith combine with a random week of alternative rock songs from Snow Patrol, Capra and Alpha Rev.

Individually, each song will run you $1.99/160 MS Points/ 200 Wii Points and the 3-packs will be $5.49/440 MS Points/ 550 Wii Points.

May 6 (May 11 for PS3) – “Classic Rock 3 Track Pack”

• “Juke Box Hero” – Foreigner
• “Sweet Home Alabama” – Lynyrd Skynyrd
• “Take the Money and Run” – Steve Miller Band

May 11 – “Alternative Pop Track Pack”

• “Face Down” – Alpha Rev
• “Low Day” – Capra
• “You’re All I Have” – Snow Patrol

May 18 – “Aerosmith Track Pack”

• “Living on the Edge”
• “Love In An Elevator”
• “Rag Doll”

Source: Destructoid

I’m somewhat enamored with stage monitors that were developed for use in music video games. But I can’t help but wonder — WTF took you guys so long?

Between the Polk Audio Hitmaster, which my friend Big Jim Murray reviewed a few weeks back, and the Altec Lansing Stage-Gig, we have a few good ideas here that have come out several years after Guitar Hero and Rock Band (and about a year after the games hit their maximum popularity).

At its core, the Stage-Gig is a versatile, 40-watt speaker with strong bass response and clear highs. It plugs in via standard Red/White audio plugs, so it works with PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, and anything else that, you know, makes sound.

It’s only about 1/2 as big as a “real” stage monitor. It’s meant to give you some more realism when you (and hopefully your friends) are making fake music in your living room. You can also string together multiple units for added audio power.

The problem is, and the problem was with the Polk product, is timing. This would have been a fantastic product to showcase at all the music game booths at E3 in 2008.

But as a bonus, both stage monitors we’ve tested are just $100. The Stage-Gig is a great speaker, which will sound fantastic at a party with your iPod or stereo. It even hooks up to your computer if you want it to.

If you already have a great home theater setup, you don’t need the Stage-Gig, but if you’re relying on your television’s speaker, this will make everything sound better.

Blast Factor: The Stage-Gig is a great speaker, if you need a great speaker. While it might be more practical for picnic music than for pretending to be the next great American band, the product does what it says it will do without costing much.

The Altec Lansing Stage-Gig is $99. A sample was given to us by the developer for reviewing purposes.

Activision today announced every song headed to the world of Guitar Hero and Band Hero for the month of April and the list includes the likes of classic rockers Black Sabbath and Lynyrd Skynyrd to new sensations Phoenix and The All-American Rejects and more.

Here’s how the month will shake out.

April 1 (no, this is no  Apri Fools joke) - Lynyrd Skynyrd – “Free Bird,” “Simple Man” and “Gimme Three Steps.”

April 8 – Fall Out Boy – “Thnks fr th Mmrs,” “This Ain’t A Scene, It’s An Arms Race” and “The Take Over, The Breaks Over.”

April 15 – All American Rejects - “Gives You Hell” Blur – “There’s No Other Way” and Saving Abel - “Addicted.”

April 22 - Phoenix – “Everything Is Everything,” “1901″ and “Lisztomania.”

April 29 – Black Sabbath – “After Forever,” “Sweet Leaf” and “Into The Void.”

The Skynyrd, Fall Out Boy, Phoneix and Black Sabbath track packs will be available for 440 MS Points/550 Wii Points/$5.49 (all equal).

Each song, individually, is $2.

I have to give Activision credit here, this is an extremely solid list. I’ll be buying way too many

Do people even care about the Rock Band/Guitar Hero genre anymore?

While I do think a firm “no” as an answer to that question would be hyperbole, there’s no question that those games popularity is most definitely not what it was just a few short years ago. And look no further than the sales trending downward and trouble at Cambridge-based Harmonix for proof.

That said, I find it somewhat odd that Polk Audio has chosen now to release their new Hitmaster stage monitor.

Yes, you read that right. It’s a stage monitor.

Something normally reserved for REAL bands with REAL instruments, but, here’s one for use with Rock Band and or Guitar Hero.

First, you audiophiles should know the all important stats.

The Hitmaster comes in at roughly 14 inches wide and 9 inches tall, and is packed with a 6.5 inch sub-woofer and two 1-inch neodymium tweeters housed in 2.5-inch by 5.5-inch horns, and 80 watts of amplification.

Look, I’d be lying to you if I said I knew exactly what all of that exactly means, but I CAN tell you that the Hitmaster does “go to 11″ (no, literally!) and, it sounds pretty awesome.

Especially if you’re comparing that to the sound from your T.V. speakers.

For example, while playing Motorhead’s “Ace of Spades” for Rock Band 2, I was pleasantly surprised by the big sound, in this relatively small speaker.

Lemmy’s baseline is immediately much more punchy and bottom heavy with the Hitmaster.

A sound you’re clearly not going to get through ANY t.v.’s speakers, no matter how fancy it may be.

Still though, as much as I enjoyed the obviously better aural experience of playing Rock Band 2 through the Hitmaster, I couldn’t help but feeling that much more…um, dorkier for doing so.

I mean, let’s be honest. It’s silly enough wailing out on the plastic guitar or drums at this point, but to then add a stage monitor to blast music into your face while you’re playing?

It just feels like overkill.

I guess if you were say, a bar owner who still held a Rock Band or Guitar Hero “night,” I’d recommend picking one or more of these up (they can be daisy chained) but I just can’t see blowing a hundred bucks on one for your home.

That is unless you’re without any kind of home theater system.

If that’s the case, well, then the Hitmaster ends up being an incredible bargain.

See, as long as it uses RCA stereo cables (T.V.’s, DVD/Blu-Ray players, your iPod, etc.), you can plug it into your Hitmaster, crank it up, and annoy your neighbors!

Obviously, Polk isn’t advertising this monitor for that kind of thing, but after using the Hitmaster with my iPod out on my porch while grilling delicious meats this past weekend, I came to this conclusion.

The Hitmaster for use with Rock Band and or Guitar Hero?

Kind of dumb.

The Hitmaster for use with outdoor bbq’s and or for people too fiscally conservative to blow money on a real home theater system?

Kind of awesome.

The Blast Factor:Based solely on the fact that you’re getting an all in one three speaker and amp for just 99 bucks, the HitMaster not only sounds better than expected, it’s also a pretty good bargain. The unit is incredibly easy to hookup, and thanks to this, you’re not forced to use it exclusively with your gaming console, solely for RockBand or Guitar Hero. Summer’s coming. So, if you’re the party hosting type who wants to blast their MP3 player outdoors and get things moving for relatively short money, I’d recommend picking one up.

Alternative rockers Breaking Benjamin will log onto Xbox Live tomorrow afternoon (Saturday, Feb. 20) for rounds of Guitar Hero 5, will you be there?

Breaking Benjamin

As part of the Xbox 360 Game With Fame promotion, the band will appear on Xbox Live tomorrow and, if you get a chance to play with them, consider it the closest you’ll ever get to being a rockstar, and from the comfort of your living room, nice.

The shenanigans run from 1-3 p.m. Eastern, tomorrow afternoon.

If you want to participate, send a friend request to:

• BBGWF
• BBAaronGWF

And be online 30 minutes prior to 1, so 12:30.

I’ve never even attempted to participate in one of these Game With Fame events, but I might for this one, because this song is awesome.

Activision has shut the doors on Guitar Hero publisher Red Octane today as well as an in-house development studio, Underground Development, a Kotaku report says.

The news arrives in the wake of Activision’s promise to release fewer Guitar Hero titles in 2010 and just weeks after Guitar Hero COO Dan Rosensweig stepped down.

Red Octane, most famous for believing in Harmonix enough to publish the original Guitar Hero, with its plastic guitar peripheral and all, is now gone.

According to Kotaku, about 30-40 have lost their jobs, with the remaining staffers headed to Activision’s Santa Monica offices to work under the fist of the publisher.

Underground Development, the studio responsible for Guitar Hero: Van Halen, got the boot entirely, as Kotaku reports the studio is shut down 100 percent. Gasoline is currently being poured all over the building.

This news is certainly hard to take, as the cynic in me believes if Activision didn’t whore out the franchise as it has in the past years, no one would be out of a job and all studios would remain intact. Ouch.

Source: Kotaku

Three new songs from alt-rockers Breaking Benjamin arrived in the Guitar Hero Music Store this morning.

The triple-shot of tunes are collectively called the "Breaking Benjamin Track Pack" and include one song of the band’s last three albums, "Until The End" "Sooner or Later" and "Give Me a Sign."

Breaking Benjamin’s 2007 "Phobia" album was definitely my favorite from the band as so I’ll blindly thrown down $2 for "Until the End," but what about you? Any of these interest you.

Below are Youtube music videos of the songs, if that helps.

It’s no secret we’re Guitar Hero fans around here. We love Rock Band as well, but Guitar Hero shines in places Rock Band does not.

All petty indiferences aside, Activision today announced the entire catalogue of songs coming to the Guitar Hero and Band Hero music stores in the shortened month of February.

Songs from Breaking Benjamin, 30 Seconds To Mars, Third Eye Blind and Black Sabbath are on the way in the next month, and can you guess which I’m most excited about?

30 Seconds To Mars- “Attack,” “From Yesterday,” and “King and Queens” arrive February 4.

February 11 sees the debut of rockers Breaking Benjamin with the release of “Until The End” and “Give Me a Sign.”

Yet another 7 days later on February 18, “After Forever,” “Into the Void”and “Sweetleaf,” from classic-rockers Black Sabbath arrive.

And finally, and definitely not least in importance, on February 25, Third Eye Blind returns to the scene with “Can You Take Me?,” “Losing  a Whole Year,” and my personal favorite, from the 1999 album Blue, “Never Let You Go.”

Like you could have guessed, every tune will set you back $2.Rock on!

All you need is love? Yeah, I don’t think so.

Added to the growing Guitar Hero Music Store today were three metal-themed offerings from huge names in the thrash business, Dethklok, Amon Amarth and Shadows Fall.

Think the Guitar Hero name was soiled by last year’s teenager-oriented Band Hero?

I urge you to think again. Embedded below are the songs added to the Music Store today. Each is $2 and I’ll be snagging all three. You with me?

Dethklok- Laser Canon Death Sentence

Amon Amarth- Twilight Of The Thunder God

Shadows Fall- Still I Rise

Sure, I’m pushing my metal agenda, but the guitar and drum work, not to mention the vocals, should be challenging and fun in Guitar Hero.

Guitar Hero’s vast catalog has been steadily growing and 2010 is looking like a very promising year for track releases.

January looks like it will have something for everyone with planned releases for: Vampire Weekend, Creedence Clearwater Revival, up-and-coming blues artists Tyler Bryant, Joe Bonamassa and Scott McKeon and metal bands Shadows Fall, Amon Amarth and Dethklok.

Today marks the release of Guitar Hero’s New Blues Masters Track Pack featuring:

- Tyler Bryant’s “Who I Am”

- Joe Bonamassa’s “Lonesome Road Blues”

- Scott McKeon’s “Broken Man”

Jan 11 – Vampire Weekend’s new album, Contra, drops in stores, so to celebrate Guitar Hero is releasing “Holiday”, “Cousins” and “The Kids Don’t Stand a Chance”

Jan 21 – The Metal pack is released so that Metalheads can play Shadow Fall, Amon Amarth and Dethklok on their consoles.

Jan 28 – Creedence Clearwater Revival comes to Guitar Hero with “Proud Mary”, “Bad Moon Rising”, and “Travelin’ Band”

For more information about the game and future track releases and pricing, visit their website.

Guitar Hero music gamers have a lot to love in January, as Activision today detailed its plans for the next 30 days of downloadable content.

As usual, the content is varied, awesome, but not overly plentiful.

With each passing week in January, new tunes will make their way to the Guitar Hero Music Store, and perusing the list, I see many a song I plan on buying.

Metal Pack? Count me in.

Masters of Modern Blues:

“Lonesome Road Blues” by Joe Bonamassa
“Who I Am” by Tyler Bryant
“Broken Man” by Scott McKeon.

Vampire Weekend :
- Holiday
- The Kids Don’t Stand A Chance
- Cousins

Creedence Clearwater Revival :
- Travelin Band
- Bad Moon Rising
- Proud Mary

Metal Pack :
- Dethklok – Laser Cannon Deth Sentence
- Shadows Fall – Still I Rise
- Amon Amarth – Twilight of The Thunder God

Source: GuitarHero.com

A demo for Activision’s latest title in the music-game genre “Guitar Hero: Van Halen” came to Xbox Live today for fans of the guitar-shredding, drama-filled music act to enjoy.

GH: Van Halen was made available, for free and for a limited time, to those who purchased Guitar Hero 5, and we already reviewed the full game, but if you need to feel for yourself, the demo should do just fine.

Included in the demo is an eclectic yet profound trifecta of tunes including Van Halen’s “Panama,” Weezer’s “Dope Nose” and Killswitch Engage’s “The End of Heartache.”

My goodness, in all seriousness, I love all three bands and songs. Considered this downloaded.

Start your download here from the Xbox 360 Web Marketplace.

Activision today detailed its plans for Guitar Hero downloadable content for December, offering up a heap of goodies to fill digital stockings with as the days grow cold and the snow begins to fall.

Tunes from the finger-busting, screaming guitar lords The Fall of Troy, and mainstream acts Taylor Swift, Maroon 5, OneRepublic, and lots more, are on the way, including a free Christmas-themed offering.

Here’s how it all breaks down.

December 3 — The Fall of Troy Track Pack (440 MS Points/$5.49/550 Wii Points or $1.99 individually)

“Panic Attack,”

“A Classic Case of Transference”

“Single”

December 12 — OneRepublic Track Pack (440 MS Points/$5.49/550 Wii Points or $1.99 individually)

“All The Right Moves”

“Everybody Loves Me”

“Mercy”

December 17 — Indie Rock Track Pack (440 MS Points/$5.49/550 Wii Points or $1.99 individually)

Nada Surf — “Hi-Speed Soul”

Pavement — “Cut Your Hair”

Spoon — “Sister Jack”

December 22

Steve Ouimette — “Hark The Herald Angels Sing” — it’s free!

Also on Dec. 22 — New Years Pop Rock Track Pack (440 MS Points/$5.49/550 Wii Points or $1.99 individually)

Taylor Swift — “Our Song”

Maroon 5 — “Harder to Breathe”

No Doubt — “New”

Here’s to a great Holiday season, thanks to Guitar Hero!!

Image Credit

This review originally appeared on ReviewCenter.com in 2002. It scored a 9.1 at the time.

By Carlos McElfish

KOEI is most widely known for kicking out strategy games. So the last thing this reviewer was expecting from them was an extremely entertaining music/rhythm game. KOEI has managed to not only avoid the common pitfalls of breaking into a new genre but also manages to kick the entertainment value up a notch or two — or three.

Gitaroo Man is the story of a kid named U-1, who, despite his highly original name, is constantly picked on by his classmates and picked over by the girlies. What no one knows (including himself) is that U-1 is the last of the legendary “Gitaroo Man.” Aided with a psychotic-looking guitar and a sarcastic, talking, transformable pet dog, U-1 is charged with saving the planet of Gitaroo from the clutches of the sinister Gravillians family. Along the way U-1 will learn to believe in himself, fall in love with a Bajoran and save the universe with the sound of music.

All in a day’s work.

Gitaroo Man is a musical-rhythm game along the same lines as Um-Jammer Lammy, or Space Channel 5. However, this game goes far beyond simple ‘hit the corresponding button at the appropriate time’ philosophy. When you are playing, because of the intricate motions that you have to go through to make your guitar sing, you feel as if you really are a skilled guitarist. You feel as if the awesome sounds being emitted from the TV should somehow be credited solely to you. KOEI has done a terrific job in keeping the transcending feeling of creating music intact.

There is a girl named Kirah who U-1 finds on a foreign planet and attempts to serenade her. The game’s manual describes Kirah as “shy and reserved with the heart of a warrior.” This suspiciously named girl is wearing a dress, on which the Star Trek Federation Communicator symbol is blatantly embroidered.

Graphics are cartoon styled, but not flat like Parappa. As you are engaged in musical-combat the action will evolve into a crazy, beautiful, 3D rendered cartoon. Having to pay undivided attention to making sure you are hitting the right buttons, and pushing the left analog stick in the proper direction makes it easy to overlook the wonderfully rendered on-screen action. Watching someone else play the game can be nearly as entertaining as actually playing it for that reason. Perspective changes around like a wild 3D cartoon hopped up on an illegal substance but can be most closely likened to a Parappa-view.

Gitaroo Man’s soundtrack is definitely it’s crown jewel, the music in the game sports some of the most catchiest tunes ever to grace a video game. The Japanese music group COIL produced the musical aspect of the game. Everything from heartfelt, catchy, guitar riffs to happy-happy J-pop is in attendance. There are 12 songs in total. You cannot help but bob your head in rhythm with the music along with Gitaroo-Man and his entourage. At times the grooves are so jammin’ that you will find yourself making a complete ass out of your person by providing auxiliary sound effects, sporting crazy guitar-playing-facial-gestures, and trying to get that trademark guitar “twang” by shaking the dual shock.

Voice acting is unique and fits the theme and style of the game flawlessly. From the high-pitched voice of Panpeus (the game’s equivalent of Glass Joe) exclaiming, “The Gitaroo is mine! Can I eat it?” to the leader of the Gitalline people of the planet Gitaroo who sounds nearly identical to the obnoxious old man in Ninja Scrolls or Goku’s mentor in Dragon Ball.

There are three different phases per round: Charge Phase, Battle Phase and Final Phase. The Charge Phase is your chance to increase the life-bar of U-1 by using the left analog stick along with the ‘O’ button to perform various guitar riffs. The Battle Phase will have you executing the same tricky-stick combinations but instead of charging your strength it will damage the enemy, also in Battle mode the enemy will instrumentally attack you so you must hit the correct sequence of buttons to defend. The final phase has you laying down the block-rockin’ beats to perform an aural fatality on the opposing character. It may sound complicated but believe me, after 10 minutes you will be kicking out the jams like a pro. What it all boils down to is that if you play good then you deal the enemy damage. If you play poorly, then you take damage.

One annoyance with the game though is that when you hit pause for whatever reason, you are forced to restart the level from the beginning.

Finishing the game once through on normal mode will open up “Master’s Play.” Master’s Play will take you through the same 10 levels but this time around you will be required to shred your axe in rhythm even faster, and enemy attacks are more devastating as well. There also seems to be some minor modifications to the levels as far as background characters and various on-screen goings-on.

Aside from the standard single player mode KOEI included a few additional modes and bonuses to extend the life of the game. Vs Play is a worthy addition, allowing you to play against a human opponent. The gameplay dynamics are the same, allowing you to charge your energy, attack, defend, and deliver a finishing blow. This mode screams ‘on-line play’ but as we all know, internet connectivity is not something Sony seams to want to deliver on until they can get a system up and running that they can charge for. You can also assign your opponent in VS mode to be computer controlled if all your friends are on vacation. The other bonuses are Theater and Collection. Theater allows you to view all the CG cinemas you have witnessed thus far. Collection offers up illustrations of characters and vehicles in the game, complete with bios. You will have to beat the game on Master’s Play in order to “catch’em all.”

Gitaroo Man is a surprising, welcome, diversion to the as-of-lately stagnant music/rhythm genre. Fans of previous rhythm games will eat this title up like a kid in a candy store, and even casual gamers who rarely enjoy games of this nature will surely find a place in their heart for Gitaroo-Man. Quite simply, Gitaroo Man lays the funk down on all competing musical games currently on the market with enough left over style to put a particular K9 back in the doghouse

Every time Activision releases a new Guitar Hero game the songs on the disc are at the forefront of our thoughts. Sure new features, graphics, and such are great, but what Guitar Hero games have always boiled down to are the songs you play.

Activision, publisher of all things Guitar Hero knows this and speaking with GI.biz, Guitar Hero Business CEO Dan Rosenweig said:

“We have a sophisticated way, in our music team around the world who work with the studios to really… once it’s determined what the focus of the game is about, what would be the kinds of songs that go in there. Then you do a scientific analysis of the popularity of that song, how you group the songs together, how many songs should be in there.

And then you do the magic part which they’re focused on, which is the stuff statistics can’t tell you. Some of it is factual – who’s going on tour, who’s interested in promoting, but really they blend the science and the art together.

Then the last component goes to the studio, which is, is it fun to play? If it’s not fun as hell to play, it’s not going to make the game. That’s the common element, and the reviews have been spectacular on it. To say there aren’t legendary songs today… there are – it’s just different themes.”

I’ve always had my minor gripes with every Guitar Hero game Activision puts out, but that’s based on personal issues with songs. Guitar Hero 5, the subject of the interview, had the most varied setlist to date. The result?

Rosenweig left with a scathing remark regarding sales of Guitar Hero 5 versus The Beatles: Rock Band in the UK.

“We’re pretty happy, and as you look at the European sales and our ability to outsell The Beatles: Rock Band 2-to-1 on their home field… that would suggest it was a good decision.”

Is U2 the next band to receive a music-game slapped with their name and likenesses on it?

The USA Today reports that U2 was very interested in starring in their own Rock Band game last year, but for some reason decided against it.

But now that the Irish rockers have seen the success of The Beatles: Rock Band, or at least its apparent success, they want in.

“We definitely would like to be in there, but we felt some of the compromises weren’t what we wanted,” Adam Clayton told USA Today. “That could change. I love the idea that that’s where people are getting music, and we’d love to be in that world.”

The group was concerned about their digital portrayal, and rightfully so, but when Harmonix pulled it off with The Beatles, they were quick to become enthused again.

“What The Beatles have done, where the animation is much more representative of them, is what we’re interested in, rather than the one-size-fits-all animation. We didn’t want to be caricatured.”

Anyone up for a U2-flavored Rock Band game? They do have the catalogue of songs neccessary to pull it off, not to mention Bono.

Source: Kotaku

Did you take advantage of that nifty free Guitar Hero Van Halen offer? If so, your free copy of the game should in your mailbox in the very near future.

Activision hasn’t told us much about the game, but now that some guy in Minnesota received his copy, we’ve got screenshots and information previously unavailable.

First off, the game doesn’t come in a full-sized box, rather only a DVD sleeve with the words “Not For Resale” slapped on the front. Does that mean your local GameStop won’t give you money for it? We’re not sure!

Also, as of today, the tunes on-disc, can’t be exported to Guitar Hero 5. But hopefully, when the game officially launches December 22, Activision will have cleared that issue up.

Additionally, the game is said to mirror that of Guitar Hero: Metallica, only with Eddie and Alex instead of Kirk and Lars.

The setlist for the game is actually pretty killer, and if you took advantage of the promotion and scored the freebie, you should be in for a treat.

For more check out the full story @ 5Frets

Activision today revealed October’s Guitar Hero DLC plans, laying out the schedule on a per-week basis, with three new tunes a week.

Beginning Thursday, Oct. 1 and running straight through till October 29, Activision will release a triple-shot of new tracks into the in-game music store for the ever-thirsty music-gamer.

Excuse me as I get excited over the “All Hallows’ Eve” pack. Anyone else see anything worth buying?

October 1

Queens Of The Stone Age Track Pack

• “Mexicola”
• “Avon”
• “How to Handle a Rope”

October 8

Billy Squier Track Pack

• “The Stroke”
• “Everybody Wants You”
• “When She Comes To Me”

October 15

Wolfmother Track Pack

• “Pilgrim”
• “California Queen”
• “Cosmic Egg”

October 22

Classic Rock 2 Track Pack

• The J. Geils Band – “Freeze Frame”
• Peter Frampton – “Show Me The Way (Live)”
• Triumph – “Lay It On The Line”

October 29

All Hallows’ Eve Track Pack

• GWAR – “Gor Gor”
• Marilyn Manson – “Beautiful People”
• The Misfits – “Astro Zombies”

via Joystiq

Microsoft have hacked and slashed the price of 10 songs from the Guitar Hero DLC catalogue today, passing along a savings of 25% on each to you, faithful living room rocker.

The selection is what Microsoft calls “Guitar Hero Favorites,” but we’ll let you decide. Here’s the full list, once priced at 160 MS Points, and now available for 120 Points.

The Killers- “Mr. Brightside”

Travis Barker- “Low”

Blink 182- “What’s My Age Again”

Rick Springfield- “Jesse’s Girl”

Queen- “We are The Champions”

Ram Jam- “Black Bettty”

Nickelback- “Because of You”

Smashing Pumpkins- “1979″

Foreigner- “Hot Blooded”

Blind Melon- “No Rain”

All songs are compatible with both Guitar Hero: World Tour and the recently released Guitar Hero 5 and are, thankfully, master recordings. Too bad I already own most of these.

Deal of the Week @ Major Nelson

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick, in an investors meeting yesterday spoke about the future outlook and potential growth of the games industry, and stated a “console-free Guitar Hero” looms on the horizon and it’s “only a matter of time” before the concept materializes.

What does this mean? Well, with the advancement and penetration rate of high-definition televisions, that is, those capable of 1080p streaming, the ability to plug your Guitar Hero game straight into your TV, without a system, is right around the corner.

Kotick also remarked about how, if the strategy is indeed employed, would open up an entirely new business model, namely in terms of additional song downloads, a sector the Guitar Hero brand has always paled in comparison to Rock Band.

“I think what the untethered Guitar Hero does is it maybe equals the playing field a little bit more and gives you leverage with first parties on downloadable content and the business model,” he said.

Whatever the future holds, we’re excited, and you should be too!

via IGN

Logitech, makers of all sorts of damn fine electronic goodies, today revealed brand new high-end faux-instruments for gamers of the Guitar Hero crowd.

A brand new stylish and wireless drumset and a sleek Iron Maiden modeled guitar await Wii gamers, while Xbox 360 fans are treated to a fully collapsable and performance-ready drum kit.

Logitech hears you, Wii gamers, and did not skimp on production value for the guitar, as it is crafted with the exact same materials as its Xbox 360 and PS3 companions. You’re getting a maple neck, rosewood fingerboard and full-on metal frets. Aesthetically, the guitar has a white body with a black pickguard with realistic looking humbuckers and whammy bar.

Additionally, the drumset features adjustable drum pads and cymbals and utilizes a recessed rim design making it easier for the living room rocker to earn high scores and avoid those lousy accidental rim shots. The kick pedal is built with stainless steel and promises a “durable, responsive experience.” The Xbox 360 drumset fits the previous description word for word and only differs in its sans-Wii Remote nature.

Your Wii remote easily snaps into both the guitar (in the back where, thankfully, it cannot be seen) and the drum kit (awkwardly placed in front). Now for the damage. The Wii Logitech guitar will set you back $199, while the drum-set will run you $229 (Xbox 360 too).

Logitech neither confirmed nor denied compatibility with Rock Band games, but when we hear, you’ll hear.

Xbox 360

Watch this man describe the Xbox 360 drumset.

Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards does more than snort cocaine mixed with the ashes of his father you know, his music group was crazy-popular in the 60′s, like some other band releasing a game next week.

But today, for this hour, the news is all about The Rolling Stones, as 5 never-before released cuts from the guys who can’t get no satisfaction were released as DLC for Guitar Hero 5.

*All tracks are live recordings.

“(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”

“I’m Free”

“Prodigal Son”

“You Gotta Move”

“Under My Thumb”

Each song sells for $1.99/160 MS Points a pop or together for a bundled rate of $9.00/720MS Points.

Start your download here from the Xbox Live Web Marketplace (even if you’re at school or work)

Activision is ready for next week’s Guitar Hero 5 release, but are you? If you haven’t already, you’ll likely see the following TV spot between now and Tuesday, when the game releases.

This Risky Business advertisement focuses on pantless girls, guitars, and a robed man smoking a pipe in an easy chair. Any ideas?

You guessed it, Hugh Hefner and a cast of Playmates round out this latest TV spot, with a final tag line of “what, I like variety” from Hef either speaking about his multiple sexual partners, or the 85 songs in Guitar Hero 5, you be the judge.

When Guitar Hero 5 launches in less than month on the first of September, not only will faux-rockers enjoy the game’s 85 on-disc tunes, but also the ability to import most of World Tour’s DLC, and some of the core tracks from previous installments, Smash Hits and World Tour.

According to Activision, 152 of World Tour’s 158 DLC tracks will play, after a minor patch, as fast as you can say “let’s rock!”, and “some” tracks from World Tour and Smash Hits will also make themselves available after a “a small charge to cover the licensing costs of using these songs from the original game.” Think the $5 fee Harmonix charged for the same service for Rock Band, only probably more, as we are talking about Activision here.

Oh, so I’ll just borrow World Tour and transfer all the songs to Guitar Hero 5!! Awesome! Hold on there, Activision is smarter than that. Straight from the gaping mouth of Activison: “To import the songs, you will need a 20 digit Unique Owner ID that is printed on the back of the manual of the game you are importing from.”

This news, coupled with the publisher’s even more flattering gift we revealed earlier today, are strong statements for where Activison hopes to take the Guitar Hero brand name into the future. Now we sit and wait for these endeavors to either fail, or rescue the game from the rocketing popularity of the Rock Band universe.

Guitar Hero 5 interview @ IGN

Guitar Hero Smash Hits, from Activision, Red Octane, Neversoft and all our old GH friends is like any “best of” collection, and offers exactly what you’re expecting, no more no less. If you want a strong variety of solo rhythm game tracks, you would buy a solitary Guitar Hero game, and if you wanted a good, well balanced group rhythm game, you would buy Rock Band because those games are designed with those purposes expressly in mind. You buy Smash Hits for the reason you would buy anything with the word “Hits” in the title: you know what’s on the game already, you like it, and you want it all in one place.

There is a slight contradiction in the idea of a full band game filled solely with songs that were initially chosen for their prominent guitar parts, and because of the need to balance the fun across four controller parts instead of one, the songs that are on the game aren’t necessarily the most fun from Guitar Hero, but are all more or less the most fun for the most people. I was disappointed by the absence of songs like “My Name is Jonas” and “Cliffs of Dover” (both from Guitar Hero III), which have fun parts specifically for the guitar, but would understandably be less fun on the full-band set up. I was particularly disappointed that “Sweet Child O’ Mine” was not on the Smash Hits play list, but to be fair I wouldn’t want to be in a room with somebody trying to sing like Axl Rose. The songs that did make it on to Smash Hits are some of the more well-known from the Guitar Hero repertoire, as well as some of the more challenging (expert-level “Through the Fire and the Flames” is still mind-blowingly impossible, even with the addition of the new neck-slider feature), and most of the songs are pretty well balanced across all four instruments (a notable exception is “YYZ” which doesn’t have a vocal part, but is hella fun on every other count). Unfortunately, there is no downloadable content for Smash Hits to fill in any notable gaps that you might find in the set list, so read the back of the box before you pick it up so you make sure you know what you’re getting.

The game’s mechanics, graphics, and features are very much like a no-frills Guitar Hero World Tour, with comparable character customization, band creation and music studio features. Though the game’s tracks are all master recordings, there are no “celebrity appearances” or boss guitar battles as there have been in past iterations of the franchise (sadly, no Slash, but thankfully no Ted Nugent). Again, this is not the full Guitar Hero experience, just the major bullet points condensed into a single game. If you really want the CG chick from Paramore to play onstage with your Avatar, the other games are what you’re looking for. This game is for the Guitar Hero junkie (that is to say: me) who has “Killer Queen” and “Fire and the Flames” on his iPod and‚  really would like to try the vocal part for once.

With this in mind, Smash Hits does do us all a favor by dispensing with the trouble of unlocking all the songs in career mode before being able to play them casually in quickplay. All the songs are available in quickplay from the get-go, because Activision realizes if you buy this game, you just want to play with your rhythm game addict buddies and want to skip over the easy setting and pop songs and crank some Skynyrd on expert without all the hassle of having to think up a band name and play boring songs for an hour to get there. There is a career mode, but even that is streamlined; more complex set lists are unlocked according to a cumulative score from all available songs rather than just the last setlist you played. This means you can unlock a wider variety of songs through good performance on easier songs, and not just adequate performance on the hardest available setlist.

The gameplay itself the tried and true Guitar Hero model with no real differences. The songs have been updated with some of the more complex note patterns that appeared in World Tour, so there are some slight differences between these songs and their originals on the older Guitar Hero releases. The addition of a few neck-slider bars isn’t enough to make the experience of playing the same songs on a new game completely fresh and revolutionary, but it does keep things from getting boring, and the differences between songs are substantial enough that it shows that Activision didn’t just re-package some old games and try to sucker you in to buying them.

Perhaps the only new addition to the actual gameplay screen is a meter that tells you how many out of five stars you have earned so far in the course of gameplay, and how far you are to earning the next one. If this sounds familiar, it’s because Rock Band has had that feature from the beginning, though I don’t mind it when Guitar Hero tries to be more like Rock Band. There are some of the old Guitar Hero-related irritations like distracting designs on the note highway, or flashes of lightning when you gain star power, but these aren’t any better or worse than they were in World Tour, and have been greatly reduced in scale from earlier versions of the game.

Blast Factor: If you haven’t already decided whether or not you really want Guitar Hero: Smash Hits, you probably don’t. At a full $50 price tag, it costs probably about as much as a used collection of Guitar Hero I, II, and III, or a brand new Rock Band II or World Tour, all of which would offer a greater variety of songs and downloadable content, and would be better especially for newcomers to the rhythm genre. However, if you like what you see and have been dying to play some of these old songs with your rhythm game buddies, then by all means, grab it up, plug it in, and rock out.

Guitar Hero: Smash Hits is available on Xbox 360 and PS3 for $49.99, and on the Wii for $39.99

This fall music-game lovers will have many a worthy option to get their fix with, including The Beatles: Rock Band, Guitar Hero 5, and Band Hero.

But remember, with great music-game comes great amounts of plastic peripheral responsibility, and today, we finally know what the Guitar Hero 5 guitar will look like, but don’t hold your breath, it’s not a show-stopper.

Adorned with a red finish complemented by a white pick-guard and all set about a Stratocaster style guitar, this new Guitar Hero controller is pretty sexy. There, I said it.

Noted changes include a revamped strum bar built for added durability and performance, an updated slider that now sends all digital values instead of the analog ones of World Tour for increased precision, and, thankfully, reliefs on the slider so you’ll know exactly what notes your sliding your fingers to.

Not sure if anything I’ve heard so far warrants dropping more cash for the Guitar bundle, but, to each his own, and since I’ve played every music game under the sun, as they are the air I breathe, I’ll most likely pony up the cash to bathe in “the new thing.”‚  What do you think?

The last time we threw a party, we pulled out our plastic Guitar Hero controller and absolutely shredded “Free Bird” on Expert in an attempt to make our ex-girlfriend jealous of what she left behind. However, the skinny hipster dude that she brought told us that if we wanted any real respect, we would need to get our hands on a real guitar. They proceeded to make out together when everyone should have been watching our solo. We then went to go cry in a corner.

The thing is, while we can learn to play just about any video game, the skill to actually play a real guitar has always proved a bit elusive to us “" we played the French horn in high school after all.

However, the time has come when Guitar Hero meets a real guitar. Fretlight is a guitar manufacturer that makes a series of acoustic and electric guitars “" you know, the ones with strings “" that have built in LED lights on the fret board that show you where to put your fingers to actually play notes, chords, and even music. This essentially makes learning to play a guitar as easy as learning to play Guitar Hero.

Fretlight also publishes free Mac and PC compatible software with lessons to teach you the basics and songs to let you show off your skills. There’s also a plugin for Garage Band, and a number of third party software programs available to expand your repertoire.

We’ve got ours in the mail right now, and we’ll be practicing all month. Check back later to see if we were able to build the skills to win the ex back.

Studies show that an attractive woman increases traffic by 12,783%, even if she is only tangentially related to the original content.

Because Guitar Hero: Smash Hits is just a re-release of previous tracks, I didn’t really feel it deserved its own review.‚  If you are interested in purchasing it, check the track list beforehand – Some songs are re-used from the Aerosmith, World Tour and GH3, so there might not be enough new content to make it worth your while.

That being said, I enjoyed it, since I am a relatively new convert to the whole Guitar Hero scene.‚ ‚ ‚  I still can’t use all five buttons, so I’m not good enough to be mocked on South Park, but there is something oddly hypnotic and fun about the whole concept.

Playing did make me create my own “wish list” of songs and features for future installments, though.‚  As a note, I tried not to include any songs that have been confirmed for future games, or use artists – Van Halen, The Beatles – who have their own games in production.‚  If I did mess up somewhere, feel free to e-mail me or to point it out in the comments.‚  In no particular order:

- “Your Love” by Outfield.‚  Along the lines of “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey, this is a strong karoake number that would translate well to Guitar Hero or Rock Band.‚  As an added bonus, it is from 1986, giving it retro points.‚  Covers are not acceptable, unless a bosom-y avatar for Katy Perry’s version, “Use Your Love,” is used.

- Anything by Pink Floyd or Led Zeppelin, but especially “Wish You Were Here” or “Comfortably Numb” or “Kashmir“.‚  Although there is hope that Pink Floyd will eventually get their own game, it hasn’t happened yet, and the talks are at such preliminary stages that I feel find settling for a song or two.‚  I nominated “Wish You Were Here” even though it is such a sparse song because of its haunting vocals, and the guitar solo in “Comfortably Numb” is a natural for Guitar Hero or Rock Band treatment.‚  According to the scuttlebutt on Wikipedia, concerns about the quality of the original masters and royalty payments to the bands have caused the hold-up for both.

- More noteworthy live tracks.‚  Pretty much anything from Cheap Trick’s Live at Budokan would apply here; “Surrender” was in Guitar Hero 2, but it is scandalous that “I Want You To Want Me” also hasn’t gotten the digital treatment yet.‚  Similar to Cheap Trick, anything from Nirvana’s Unplugged album would be great, although a bit somber for a GH/RB game.‚  An “acoustic” game in general might be a good idea.

- More difficulty sliders.‚  In sports games like Madden and NBA Live, you can specify whether certain penalties and fouls will be called, or dumb down certain aspects of the computer AI.‚  Likewise, I’d like if I could play these rhythm games at the higher difficulties, but limit the songs to four fingers.‚  For example, there is a big jump in difficult in Rock Band 2 from the normal to hard difficulty.‚  Why not give the option of normal with more notes to hit, as opposed to jumping straight to the five-fingered hard?

So, you’ve heard my half-baked ideas.‚  What are some of yours?

- Steve