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Wireless GHIII guitars to be sold separately at some point in the future
You know what's better than rocking out in Guitar Hero? Rocking out wirelessly. Those of you who've purchased Guitar Hero III for the Wii, though, have sadly been forced to rock without wires by you lonesome (in person), unless you know someone (or know a guy who knows a guy) that also has a GHIII Wii bundle.But, depending on how you interpret the vague term of "early 2008," you won't have to wait too long before being able to buy an official standalone wireless guitar in the U.S. We weren't given any more details on the matter, but we suppose that's better than being told nothing.[Via press release]
Get another wireless GHIII Les Paul in early 2008
If your other corded Xplorer guitar just isn't cutting it and are in desperate need of another wireless Gibson Les Paul to rock out with in Guitar Hero III, then your wait is almost over.Today, Activision announced that the not so white Guitar Hero III wireless Les Paul guitar controller will be available separately at retail stores starting in early 2008. No price or exact date were revealed in the press release, but you can bet your left leg that they'll try to get it onto store shelves rather quickly and at a price that will be semi-hefty compared to the bundle. But it's a small investment to be rockin' wireless and rockin' with a friend, because that's how real rockstars roll.[Via Joystiq]
New Wiimote hack for the air guitarist in all of us
The idea of using the humble Wiimote to create music seems to have really fired the imagination of the hacking community recently. DJing WiiJing and drumming are already both possible with the waffly versatile controller and a bit of know-how, and now those of you who lack the funds for Guitar Hero III can get your virtual shred on for free.Hacker Evan, maker of the Wiimote drum sampler we linked to exactly one paragraph ago, has developed software that allows users to play air guitar, simply by "strumming" the Remote while holding down the d-pad to alternate between chords, or the B button to toggle between major and minor chords. As Evan points out, this has a similar feel to Jam Sessions on the Nintendo DS, which is far from a bad thing if you ask us.[Thanks, Evan!]
Guitar Hero III's wireless Gibson available solo in early 2008
If you've grown tired of your Guitar Hero rocking partner staring at you longingly while you wirelessly strum your way through Knights of Cydonia, you'll be happy to hear that at least one of your band's schisms will be repaired soon. Activision announced today that they'd be rolling out the wireless Gibsons sans Guitar Hero III for all platforms early next year.Though we love the black model, we hope that we'll also see the guitar in different colors, if only to give our digital bands something new to argue about. See, much like a young Fleetwood Mac, the conflict feeds the music.
Guitar Hero III featured on Will It Blend
Where will it stop, Tom? When will you and the other mad scientists at Blendtec draw the line between the advancement of science and the study of the dark appliance arts? Liquifying a bundle of glowsticks is one thing, but putting an X-plorer guitar (from one of the rip-off Wal-Mart Guitar Hero III bundles) on frappé is a horse of a twisted color (though we admit we were curious what guitar dust looked like, and whether or not we would be allowed to breathe it).It's worth noting that even after being put through the Blendtec gauntlet, the X-plorer still worked better than the Rock Band Stratocaster. Zing!SPOILER ALERT: It blends. It always blends.
GHIII gets the Halo theme tomorrow (free)
Not a hacked version either. No, this is the real thing. Starting tomorrow, Halo fans can download the Mjolnir mix of their favorite theme song, as originally played by Steve Vai. As if that news weren't good enough, we can also confirm that the track will be free. That's 0 MS Points, no money required, zip, zilch, naught, etc. So there you have it, folks, a free Halo treat on Thanksgiving day. Pass the gravy.Now all we need is Master Chief as an unlockable rocker.
Rock Band vs. Guitar Hero difficulty
Games Radar recently went to the trouble of comparing the guitar track difficulty in both Rock Band and Guitar Hero III. We've mentioned the fear that Rock Band would have simpler guitar than Guitar Hero III, and according to Games Radar, that fear is not unfounded at all. After directly comparing some of the songs available on both titles, Games Radar has come to the conclusion that Guitar Hero III on Hard is equivalent to Guitar Hero II on Expert. Rock Band, on Expert, on the other hand, is equivalent to Guitar Hero II on Hard. But don't take our word for it, check out the video comparisons for yourself. Part one is embedded above, and part two is embedded after the break.[Via Joystiq]
Guitar Hero III gets free Boss Battle Pack
To be honest, this new pack for Guitar Hero III is kind of a snooze-a-roo. It's the three Boss Battle songs (Tom Morello and Slash's tunes and "The Devil Went Down to Georgia"), now playable in the game outside of career mode. So, yes, boring. But it's free, so all is forgiven. On the downside, the pack is only for 360 so far, with no similar announcement on PS3 or Wii. We'll see what PSN Thursday brings.What's more interesting is that it's been exactly one calendar week since we got the last chunk of DLC for the game. Does this mean that we can expect the same weekly schedule that Rock Band is sporting? If Activision hopes to keep their series competitive with the oncoming juggernaut, it wouldn't be the worst idea.
Free GHIII Boss Battle Pack on XBLM
Available on the XBLM this very moment is the promised Guitar Hero III Boss Battle Pack and it's 100% free with no (guitar) strings attached. Zing! The Boss Battle Pack includes GHIII's three boss songs that are technically included in the retail game, but now as a normal playable tunes. And for the uninitiated, the boss tracks included in the pack are "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" and two custom songs written by Tom Morello and the top hat wearing Slash. This may be the only time Activision releases free GHIII content of any sort, so we advise taking advantage of it.
Guitar Hero III PC/Mac hybrid 'later this year'
While it may seem like everyone and their roadie already picked up a copy of Guitar Hero III earlier this month – what with $115 million in sales in the first week alone – Red Octane and Activision aren't even through with their brutal march towards total platform saturation. Though the peripheral-laden DS version is still undated, the PC version was released on Tuesday; unfortunately, the Mac version – now revealed to be a magical PC/Mac hybrid disc – won't be available until "later this year" according to Aspyr, the developer porting the game.When asked what will happen to the current PC-only SKU when the hybrid variant is unleashed, Aspyr told Joystiq "the hybrid PC/Mac version will eventually replace the PC-only SKU." Aspyr is aiming to have that version on shelves this year (we assume bundled with the PC version's wired X-plorer guitar and priced at the same $79.99) but we also worry the veteran Mac developers have their hands full with their just announced Xbox 360 port of Supreme Commander.
Wii's Guitar Hero III not down with surround sound?
We don't know who thought it'd be smart to mess with the gods of rock, but choosing not to include surround sound support for Guitar Hero III just doesn't sound like an intelligent move. Nevertheless, a assemblage of Wii gamers are reporting that the game is outputting audio in mono, despite the packaging advertising that Dolby Pro Logic II is supported. We've even seen users with Pro Logic II-capable decoders explain that while other Wii titles sound fine, GHIII in particular refuses to cooperate. Supposedly, Activision is busy looking into the problem, but there doesn't seem to be a definitive time frame for when we can expect a fix. So, any of you shredders out there experiencing something similar, or have we only heard one channel, er, side of the story?[Via Joystiq]
GHIII bands see album sales increase
Guitar Hero III has seen rather stellar sales since launch and the game's musical talent is seeing the financial benefits too. According to various record labels who have music featured in GHIII, they're saying album sales have seen a dramatic spike for the better in the US which can be attributed to their inclusion in the video game. Roadrunner Records has even revealed that DragonForce's album "Inhuman Rampage" has seen a 126% week-on-week sales increase and Slipknot's albums have seen similar sales spikes too. How about them apples?And to all the record execs who keep an iron grip on their artists' music and think video games aren't a viable marketing tool for their content, then we say "ha, ha dummies, you're wrong! So very, very wrong! Ha!"
Wii Guitar Hero III outputs only mono sound
If it weren't bad enough that Activision shipped out Guitar Hero III with no offline co-op quickplay mode, a few careful listeners have noticed another thing they left out - a few channels of sound. Audiophilic owners of Guitar Hero III for the Wii have noticed that not only does the game not support Dolby Pro Logic II surround sound systems (despite that feature being advertised), but it doesn't even output sound in stereo. As we all know, it's nearly impossible to pass "Cult of Personality" on Expert unless the manic shredding of Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid washes over you from six different angles.Apparently, Activision is looking into the problem, though they said in regards to a fix, "the time frame is still unknown." For the time being, we're afraid you're going to have to learn to rock out monaurally.
Guitar Hero National Championships next year, world records on the line
By now, all you virtuoso Guitar Heroes (and from what we hear, there are quite a few of you) will have had a couple of weeks in the company of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. So, if you possess digits like these, and have a certain knack for the plastic axe, you may be interested to know that the first ever Guitar Hero National Championships are "just" six months away, giving you oodles of time to perfect those high kicks.The event is being staged at the sixth TooManyGames conference on May 4th, 2008 in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, and will be presided over by video game world record keepers Twin Galaxies, meaning you'll have a chance to be immortalised in Twin Galaxies' Official Video Game & Pinball Book of World Records.It's best to weigh up the competition first though, so hit the break to watch the most irritating child of all time casually slaughter "Dead!" by Chemical Romance on Expert (occasionally turning his back to the screen), and then have the audacity to show us the Devil's Horns. The scamp.
GHIII gets Velvet Revolver and Foo DLC [update]
Update: The official press release mentions that the Boss Battles songs ("The Devil Went Down to Georgia" and battle music by Slash and Tom Morello) will be made available on the XBLM for FREE later this month. Rock on!We saw this Guitar Hero III DLC coming a mile away and today it's available for everyone to purchase and enjoy. For 500 Microsoft points apiece you can grab either the GHIII Velvet Revolver Pack or the Foo Fighter Pack. Each track pack includes three songs performed by the original artist (would we have it any other way?) with "She Builds Quick Machines", "Slither" and "Messages" in the Velvet Revolver Pack and "The Pretender", "All My Life" and "This is a Call" in the Foo Fighter Pack. The DLC is still as expensive as ever breaking down to a little over $2 a song, but we knew it was coming. Enjoy, rock out and spend frivolously!
Velvet Revolver, Foo Fighters Guitar Hero III track packs hit Xbox Live
We think the signs are pretty clear now that Activision isn't taking the threat from Rock Band lying down. Just a bit more than a week after Guitar Hero III was released, we already have two meaty song packs to download through Xbox Live and enjoy.For 500 points ($6.25) you can get either a Foo Fighters pack that includes "The Pretender" from the new album "Echoes Silence Patience & Grace", "All My Life" and "This Is A Call" or the Velvet Revolver pack, with "She Builds Quick Machines","Slither" and "Messages". Each of the packs are by the original artists. With a nice boost like this to the track listing before the old songs have even gone stale, it's clear Red Octane is playing for keeps. ... You may not want to count Guitar Hero out just yet.Update: Activision has also announced that boss battle anthems and "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" will be downloadable (for free!) later this month for play outside the game's Career mode.
You don't say: Guitar Hero III bringing in the big bucks
Earlier today, Activision announced Q2 revenues of $318 million, a 69% increase on the same period last year.Now, those figures alone are worthy of applause, if that kind of thing floats your boat. However, the recent release of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock on the Wii (and, y'know, some other consoles you may have heard of) is tipped to boost Q3 earnings to unprecedented levels, with many expecting Activision to shatter the $1 billion mark in net revenue. And sure enough, despite the odd issue, the game has made a fine start in the US, with Activision crowing today about first week revenues of $115m.Of course, it's not exclusively the Wii version of Guitar Hero III that will have contributed to that mind-boggling number, but you can bet your bottom dollar it will have played its part, thanks to the sheer ubiquity of the Wii, not to mention its popularity at social occasions. So "yay" for the Wii, "yay" for Guitar Hero, and "yay" for capitalism. A winning combination.Incidentally, don't forget that Legends of Rock headbangs its way into Australasia tomorrow, while Europeans will be rocking out from November 23.[Via Joystiq]
Guitar Hero III sells tremendously - DLC on its way
Did you go out and pick up Guitar Hero III after it was launched a week ago? Ok, fine - forget going out. Did you order it in from one of the many online retailers? We're willing to bet you did because Activision have today sent out a press release bragging to notifying everyone that the game has sold more than $115 million worth in its first week. This gives Guitar Hero III the honour of being the largest single product launch in the company's history. The press release goes on to state that Activision have made plans for downloadable content for the PS3 version for November. Three content packs will be made available within the next four weeks. Each song pack will contain three new songs though there's no indication as to the price or what exact songs they will be. Still, a little bit of mystery is always fun, right?
Activision expects Guitar Hero III shortages
You might think it was enough that Rock Band and Guitar Hero III were facing off at retailers this holiday, but no. Not only must one game eventually best another, but it seems that their respective company executives must compete for the ultimate sales hyperbole. You may recall that EA's CEO recently advised Rock Band purchasers to line up a day in advance to secure a copy. Not to be left behind, Activision CEO Robert Kotick stated in a conference call that Guitar Hero III may be hard to find this holiday as well, even though the company touts "an unprecedented amount of global supply."At this rate, we're expecting EA to announce that Rock Band will now be so scarce that it won't actually be available for purchase.[Via Joystiq]
GHIII makes $115 million in first week
If anyone, anywhere had doubts about the monstrous success of Guitar Hero III, said doubts can officially be put to rest. Activision has announced that Guitar Hero III has made over $115 million dollars in its first seven days of availability. This makes Guitar Hero III the biggest launch in Activision's history, and they are pleased to note that Guitar Hero is the number one selling franchise in North America through September (really? bigger than the Halo franchise?). The press release also notes that three more downloadable song packs should be available this month. To put it succinctly, we're betting the execs at Activision are congratulating themselves for acquiring Red Octane (and thus the Guitar Hero name) right about now.As for Rock Band, well, it's got some mighty big shoes to fill.[Via GameStooge]
