PS3 Fanboy

Of course, what good is a guitar if it can't play as well as its competitors? In spite of its large size, we found the buttons to be as familiar as ever. The guitar may be larger, but the buttons are located in the exact same place. The strum bar is infinitely improved over the Guitar Hero and Rock Band guitars -- gone are the days where you'll hear your guitar instead of the music. The noise of hitting the strum button has been considerably muted. The tilt sensor is also responsive, and the addition of the easy-to-hit Star Power button near the strum bar is much appreciated.

Another Guitar Hero III track pack is ready to be released this week. the Dragonforce track pack will include three tracks from the English speed metal band, including "Heroes Of Our Time," the debut single from their upcoming album "Ultra Beatdown." The other two tracks are "Revolution Deathsquad" and "Operation Ground Pound," both from their third album "Inhuman Rampage." The track pack will be released worldwide on August 21st.

Dragonforce fans will no doubt be ecstatic at the idea of not only playing three more of their songs on Guitar Hero III, but also shredding along to "Heroes Of Our Time" before the album is even released. For non-Dragonforce fans, this is probably only a worthwhile purchase if you're in need of a hardcore Guitar Hero III challenge. We just hope they're a bit easier than "Through The Fire And The Flames."

[Via Press Release]

There may not be much choice in new titles this week, but that shouldn't stop you from looking back and seeing what other titles the summer had to offer. One of those games is Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, and lucky for you we just so happen to have a copy to give away. To enter, just leave us a comment and tell us your favorite Aerosmith song. That's it. Comments must be left before 12am Eastern Time on Saturday, August 16. Multiple entries are allowed.

One winner will be selected in a random drawing. Grand Prize Winner will receive a copy of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith (game only) for the PS3. MSRP: $60. Click here for complete Official Rules. Eligibility is restricted to the legal residents of the 50 United States (including DC) and Canada (excluding Quebec). You must be 18 years or older to enter.

In an interview with USA Today, the prince of darkness himself revealed that he will be appearing in Guitar Hero: World Tour. Like Jimi Hendrix, both Ozzy Osbourne and guitarist Zakk Wylde will be available as avatars in the game. Two songs have been unveiled so far:

• "Crazy Train" -- Ozzy Osbourne
• "Mr. Crowley" -- Ozzy Osbourne

In other metal news, Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich teased us about the possibility of a Guitar Hero: Metallica: "There's an Aerosmith game out there that's super successful, and if somebody's gonna follow that up...we're talking, and its exciting, and the people at Guitar Hero and Activision are rapidly becoming our best new friends in the world. You can put the rest of it together yourself."

Yes, I think we can. Don't believe us? Watch the man tell you himself after the break:

Source -- USA Today
Source -- MTV Multiplayer

It seems to us a strange choice of a publication, but apparently Stuff Magazine (UK edition) has secured an exclusive feature on the upcoming Guitar Hero: World Tour. Apparently, the article features nine confirmed tracks along with five additional confirmed artists but with no specific song listing. Some of the tracks have been known for some time, but there are five new songs and three new artists announced. Who are they? We got a list for you after the jump, courtesy of our friends over at Joystiq:

[Via Joystiq]

Looks like Activision is ready for some blood in the battle against Rock Band; after scoring Van Halen and the Eagles as exclusives, they have now secured the lengendary Jimi Hendrix into their lineup for Guitar Hero: World Tour. Hendrix will be a playable character in the game, and two master tracks have also been confirmed to be in the game, with more tracks coming later as downloadable content:

• "Purple Haze (Live)" (recorded in 1969 at the San Diego Sports Arena)
  
• "The Wind Cries Mary"

In Legends of Rock news, three songs are set to debut this Thursday on Guitar Hero III. We honestly think the tracklist speaks for itself:

• "Surfing with the Alien" by Joe Satriani
• "For the Love of God" by Steve Vai
• "Soothsayer" by Buckethead

This "Virtuoso Pack" will be released this Thursday. While no pricing info was provided, we can assume it will be $6.25 like previous 3-track packs.

[Via Joystiq and press release]

Some details have been revealed about Guitar Hero: World Tour. To start things off, there will be 85 tracks shipped with the disc. A R.E.M. track pack from their newest album will contain three songs. Metallica will be debuting their latest album both in stores and on Guitar Hero: World Tour on the same day. Van Halen and the Eagles will both be exclusive to the title. A GH Tunes feature was also announced, which will allow users to upload their musical content for sharing, and act as a means for players to get ahold of new content for the game.

Not to be outdone by the onslaught of Rock Band 2 information leaking out, Activision has officially announced a collaboration with Line 6 to integrate the Line 6 POD into the new Music Studio in Guitar Hero World Tour. The Music Studio is a feature that will allow you "record, edit and share their own rock 'n' roll anthems." No vocals though, sorry! The POD, on the other hand, basically allows the player to change guitar tones using amps, cabs and effects. You can go anywhere from acoustic to heavy metal with this baby.

The official site also launched with a video explaining how all of this works -- Liam Lynch, director of Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny and Tim Mahoney of 311 tells you their experiences with the game. Lynch is particularly enthusiastic, claiming the POD "might be the most incredible object in the universe of music." You can check out all the screenshots, the video and other content here.

[Via press release]

Most of you should know that two days ago Activision merged with Vivendi's games division Blizzard to form the new publisher Activision Blizzard. The chief executive of the new company, Bobby Kotick, told the Financial Times today the company plans to create an iTunes alternative based off the Guitar Hero franchise. Kotick feels this is "the natural evolution" and Guitar hero has the "potential" to be a "credible alternative to iTunes."

These plans, of course, emerged at least partly due to Activision now having access to Universal Music, which is owned by Vivendi. Vivendi is also known to have payment processing capabilities in "virtually every country." The newly formed company ain't kidding around -- with $3.5 billion dollars lying around that was originally going to be used for a tender offer, there are rumors of them after everything from the Beatles catalogue (which iTunes failed to gain access to), to entering the bidding for Take-Two. Will Activision finally get its act together with the new sources it has at hand? Rock Band has obviously become a major threat by taking market share for rhythm games away from the profitable Guitar Hero franchise. Thoughts?

In the wild and wacky world of rhythm game peripheral, it can be quite a frustration figuring out what guitars work with what games (beyond their intended use of course). To make things easier on axe-mortals, Joystiq has further broadened their Guitar Hero / Rock Band guitar compatibility matrix to include all the new games. Need to know the perfect guitar to buy for any certain number of games? Head on over to Joystiq then to get your answer.

Looking to rock out with an extra wireless controller for Guitar Hero III? Look no further than this deal. The official Guitar Hero III Les Paul wireless guitar controller for the PS3 shipped to your door for $35.24. Retail is $59.99 but some like Best Buy are asking for $69.99. And remember, this will not work with Rock Band. We are not sure how long this deal will last, so act fast.

[Via CAG]

You probably know how we feel about the direction that the Guitar Hero franchise is headed in -- and some of you may even agree. But the time to put your money where your mouth is is almost upon us as Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is ready to release very soon. We've got the full track list for your perusal after the break, so have a look and see what you think. Our thoughts? That's a whole lot of Aerosmith. For fans of the band this is no doubt a real treat, but for the rest of us, not so much.

Sure, there's some non-Aerosmith stuff in there, but not really enough to get us interested. Why isn't this a DLC pack, again? Check out the full tracklist after the jump and let us know what you think in the comments.

The Beatles are still a hot commodity after almost 50 years. Everyone wants to get a piece of the Fab Four's music and make oodles of boodle for themselves through either commercial usage, digital downloads, or even appearing in videogaming. Speaking of videogames, according to Financial Times, reps for the British music legends are currently in talks with both Activision (Guitar Hero) and MTV Games (Rock Band) in regards to potentially bringing Beatles master recordings to either rhythm game. Both Activision and MTV Games have not outright said that they have been gunning for Beatles rights.

Back in March, we heard rumblings about interest in a Beatles solo-Guitar Hero game similar to what's going on with Aerosmith and Metallica. Around that same time, rumors of Beatles songs going to iTunes hit and gave signs of a potentially broadening license catalog where there virtually was none before. What this means is that we know for sure the rights holders have interest in bringing out the songs; the question now is: who will get them? A victor might be found quickly as a deal could be "reached in a matter of weeks." E3 fits into that time frame; perhaps we'll know then?

[Via Gamasutra]

As previously reported, this month will see a flood of new Guitar Hero III DLC made available worldwide. We've already had the Isle of Wight pack and the Motorhead pack so far. Activision has now announced that the next collection of tracks to be made available will be the Coldplay pack. This will include a song from their new album and will be made available on June 19th.

The songs included in the Coldplay pack will be "Violet Hill," from the new album "Viva la Vida," along with earlier songs "Yellow" and "God Put A Smile Upon Your Face." This marks the third of five announced DLC packs for the month of June, with two more yet to be announced. We have to say, the Guitar Hero III DLC is definitely gathering steam. Shame it couldn't have been this good back in November, when the game first released.

[Via Press Release]