What's the best way to counteract constant accusations that you're the most greedy, soulless and creatively bankrupt publisher in gaming today? That's right, you announce a massive charity deal! Activision have today pledged to donate "$US100,000 worth" (so, around 1000 copies) of Guitar Hero III to the United Service Organizations, or USO as you may know them as. The games are destined for USO lounges at US military installations across the world, and, while Activision's motives are certainly cynical, the end result is still a good one, as the games should provide a welcome distraction for US troops no doubt engaged in activities nowhere near as fun as playing Guitar Hero.

Activision Supports The USO, Gives Guitar Hero to The Troops [Shacknews]

Don't think Microsoft are letting up on the 360 bundles this Christmas. They're just getting started. The latest official pack-in deal - exclusive to Sam's Club - is not only the biggest bundle deal we've ever seen, but potentially also the best value. For $US349 you get a 60GB Pro console, Lego Indiana Jones, Kung Fu Panda and Guitar Hero III. The full, comes-with-guitar version of Guitar Hero III. With the 60GB unit normally costing $US299 by itself, $US50 for those three games constitutes what we like to call a bargain. It'll be out mid-November.

This reminds me a little of that bit Billy Crystal used to do about getting old, when his teenage daughter asks, "Dad, is it true Paul McCartney was in another band before Wings?"

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Guitar Hero III owners — PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 only, natch — will get three new downloadables this Thursday with the "Interscope Track Pack". The bundle features tunes from Flyleaf, AFI and Marilyn Manson, with the last of three three coming to Guitar Hero as a remix by Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner. Truly a potpourri of sound.

Pricing wasn't provided in the press release, which is after the jump, but if you happen to like Marilyn Manson, Flyleaf and AFI, you probably can't go wrong. There's also a very strong possibility that you're wearing eyeliner right now, regardless of your gender.

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As above. There's a notice on Roadrunner Records' site announcing that a Dragonforce song pack will be released for Guitar Hero III on August 21. It'll contain three songs: "Heroes Of Our Time", "Operation Ground And Pound" and "Revolution Deathsquad". And...yeah. Dragonforce. What, did your dog eat your Slayer song pack, Neversoft?

[Roadrunner Records, thanks Silenced!]

The bad news? Activision is making Guitar Hero: Aerosmith. Wait, that's not the bad news. The actual bad news was that all those Guitar Hero III tracks you downloaded from either Xbox Live or the PlayStation Store won't work on your copy of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith.

Here's a dash of good. Guitar Hero World Tour will support your existing GH III downloads, which begs the question "Why would you buy Guitar Hero: Aerosmith?"

Get ready Guitar Hero II fans, for your doom (at least according to Luke) comes on June 19th, the official release date for the Coldplay track pack on the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live. The three-pack of songs includes the single "Violet Hill" from their upcoming album Viva la Vida, due out June 17th, along with two of the band's older tracks, "God Put a Smile Upon Your Face" form A Rush of Blood to the Head and "Yellow". Seriously, "Yellow"? Did that even have guitar in it? I'd head over to Amazon and check out the excerpt from the song to check but that would mean I voluntarily listened to it, and I made a pledge never to do so again after they played it on the local "alternative" radio station for the millionth time.

Anyone overly excited by this track pack? Speak up, so we might poke you with sticks and try to figure out what makes you tick.

Bear witness, ladies and gentlemen, to one man's triumph over Dragonforce's Through The Fire and Flames on expert, hitting every single note to achieve a score of 987,786 and 100%. Youtube user iamchris4life has been uploading videos of his performances for quite some time now, to the point where people were faking videos of him completing TTFAF, but this one is for real. Watching this makes my hands ache.

Be warned, Chris uses some strong language at the end of the run, but he damn well earned it. Thanks everyone for sending in the tip!

It was swell of Sony to bring a little parity to Guitar Hero's DLC, let PlayStation owners get their own console-specific, mascot-endorsed anthem to play with. While they made the initial announcement a few weeks ago, they neglected to tell us just which GoW song it would be. They have now: it'll be called "The End Begins (To Rock)", a guitar-heavy reworking of God of War II's title theme. There's a preview clip above (and it looks surprisingly excellent!), and if you dig it so much you just want to listen without playing, it'll be made available in "downloadable form" (an mp3, then) on the PlayStation Store as well. Both the DLC and song will be free, and they'll be part of the US PSN update tomorrow.

Coldplay are going to be in Guitar Hero. Coldplay. I'll give you a moment to emit a deep, remorseful sigh. As part of the promotional circus surrounding their latest album, the song "Violet Hill" will be made available as DLC for Guitar Hero III, though a date for its release has yet to be specified. Coldplay frontman Chris Martin says of the song, in all seriousness, "It's not [all] about the piano shit". Come now, Activision. It wasn't enough to kill Guitar Hero, you now gotta whizz on its freshly-covered grave?

Coldplay to make 'Guitar Hero' debut [EW]