PS3 Fanboy

The first full downloadable album for Guitar Hero III is finally here; Metallica's latest album, Death Magnetic, will debut on GH III on September 12th, the same day it goes on sale worldwide. Exclusive to Guitar Hero will be two versions of the song Suicide & Redemption featuring extended solos by James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett. The album will also be foward compatible -- all the songs will work in Guitar Hero: World Tour and presumably all the new instruments when it is released in October.

Look for the album this Friday, September 12th on the PS Store for $17.99. Check out the complete tracklist after the jump:

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]

Activision has announced today that Guitar Hero III will be receiving five downloadable track packs during the month of June. All of these will contain master tracks, but only two have been detailed, with the other three shrouded in mystery. The first song pack, which has been released today on the EU PSN Store and will no doubt be made available later today in America, is the Motorhead pack. This contains the songs "We Are the Road Crew," "Stay Clean" and "Motörhead."

The second pack will be made available on June 12th and will combine performances from the Isle of Wight 2007 and 2008 festivals into an aptly named "Isle of Wight" pack. This contains Kasabian's "Shoot The Runner," The Kaiser Chiefs' "I Predict A Riot" and The Sex Pistols' "Problems." A one-off free God of War II pack is also available today for free. With this, Activision is clearly really putting a lot of effort into downloadable content and, dare we say, giving Rock Band a run for its money. Well, not really, but it's pretty impressive nonetheless.

[Via Press Release]

When the latest PlayStation newsletter randomly mentioned that Guitar Hero III fans would soon be able to rock along with a tune from God of War, we were understandably perplexed. The song has now been revealed by Guitar Hero producer Chuck Park on the PlayStation Blog as "The End Begins (To Rock)" from God of War II. This song will be available on the US PSN Store tomorrow and will cost you absolutely nothing.

It seems like a pretty fun track to play and, considering the price, is a must-grab for any Guitar Hero or God of War fan. It's a shame the song doesn't add Kratos as a playable character in the game. That would be something to behold. Be sure to check out the tune in the video above, if you haven't already.

If you missed out on this generation of music gaming, this deal from amazon.com may help kickstart the habit. The Guitar Hero III bundle, which includes a wireless guitar, is now available for $60. Yeah, that's expensive ... but that's $40 cheaper than standard MSRP.

While we're pretty sure this guitar will work in the upcoming Guitar Hero: Aerosmith and Guitar Hero IV, don't expect to use it in Rock Band. If you don't care about cross-series compatibility, this is a pretty stellar deal.

[Via slickdeals.net]

Over at the official Rock Band forums a member of Harmonix has made an announcement that a patch for the PS3 version of the game should be arriving imminently. This patch "addresses a number of items related to guitar controller compatibility." Most people on the forum are assuming that this will fix the problems with the Guitar Hero III guitar when used with Rock Band, finally allowing PS3 owners to play the game as it was meant to be played - with four players.

The announcement came last night and, sadly, the patch is still not available. HMXSean has posted again to apologise for the delay and to let everyone know that he is finding out what's taking so long. We'll let you know when the patch is finally up and what exactly it does as soon as we find out.

[Thanks, Wes!]

Activision has announced that the wireless controllers for Guitar Hero III will finally be made available separately in early 2008. Ultimately, this means that if you want to play 2 player this Christmas then you'll need to buy two copies of the game or know somebody else who has one too. Bit of a shame, really, when you consider that this is the time of the year when families are getting together to celebrate stuff.

Rock Band is currently suffering from the same problem, especially on the PS3 - the controllers for GHIII and Rock Band are incompatible. At least Rock Band has two other controllers of various types included in the box, making it the perfect holiday party game.

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?

Having said that, there's plenty to keep us busy what with the holiday season lineup. At least we're not waiting until next year like another game we won't mention. Those of you who are impatient can import the game, but we're not sure how the downloadable content will work in that case. We're currently trying to find out, so watch this space.

All of us PS3 owners know that our sexy console sports Bluetooth technology -- real awesome stuff, being able to attempt to play Warhawk while cooking in the kitchen and the TV is upstairs in a bedroom. Anyway, Red Octane doesn't seem to think Bluetooth is all it's cracked up to be. It's been revealed that the PS3 version of Guitar Hero 3 will force PS3 owners to attach a wireless USB dongle to their consoles instead of using the Bluetooth technology. Well, that might not be true. Red Octane is blaming Sony for this USB device. Let's investigate!

1UP contacted Red Octane for comment and they replied: "Our products require considerable time for certification and testing to perfect both our software & hardware, so this was the most effective way for us to bring a high quality wireless solution for PS3 this holiday." Since that didn't adequately answer why, they pried further, since the Wii uses Bluetooth but won't require such a crazy USB device. Apparently the Bluetooth technology only works with the Sixaxis and Sony doesn't have the technology set up to allow third-parties to use it. That's a little strange sounding.

Sony gave vague answers, using the word consider many, many times: "Many factors were in play regarding the decision to go USB wireless vs Bluetooth for GH3. However, we are considering Bluetooth for future consideration." Everything else is classified! This is a minor issue, but speculation seems to surround the PS3's strange de-sync with the Sixaxis. Surely that would be a horrifying situation while strumming your axe, so perhaps Red Octane decided not to risk that problem on the PS3. Who knows. Does anyone really care? Wireless is wireless, right?

With Guitar Hero III's imminent release later this month we've almost got the entire track list for the game. Almost. Activision have today revealed another seven songs that will be available on the game disc. Are you ready to see them? Are you sure? Go on then, they're just below. Check out the rest of the previously announced songs as well, after the break.

• Same Old Song and Dance (by Aerosmith)
• Helicopter (by Bloc Party)
• Stricken (by Disturbed)
• Monsters (by Matchbook Romance)
• Before I Forget (by Slipknot)
• Kool Thing (by Sonic Youth)
• When You Were Young (by The Killers)
• Devil Went Down to Georgia (as made famous by Charlie Daniels Band)
• Sunshine of Your Love (as made famous by Cream)
• Holiday in Cambodia (as made famous by Dead Kennedys)
• Cliffs of Dover (as made famous by Eric Johnson)
• Hit Me with Your Best Shot (as made famous by Pat Benetar)
• Black Magic Woman (as made famous by Santana)
• Story of My Life (as made famous by Social Distortion)
• Pride and Joy (as made famous by Stevie Ray Vaughn)
• The Seeker (as made famous by The Who)
• Black Sunshine (as made famous by White Zombie)
  

As usual, "as made famous by" means that the song will be a cover. All the others are master tracks. We're excited about this lineup, particularly with the addition of British indie rock favourites such as Bloc Party. Don't forget more songs will continuously be available for download after the game is released too. At what price? Good question.