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Far Cry 3 And The Stranger In A Strange Land Conde Nast Portfolio magazine isn’t generally our number one source for gaming news, but Activision CEO Bobby Kotick has told the publication that Guitar Hero IV will…well…we’ll just let him say it.
It’s not just about guitars. We’ll include a lot of other instruments, vocals. It will help us expand internationally. It’s the first game we’ve had in which we can use local content and local bands.
Yes, this TNA Wrestling clip is from way back in January, but after MTV spotted it and we hit the play button, it was truly one of those magical gaming sights that one simply can’t unsee. Two 250+ pound men running around a ring while pretending to play fake, plastic guitars in front of thousands of fans is such a sight.
Pro Wrestlers Torn Between Love Of ‘Rock Band,’ Love Of ‘Guitar Hero’ [MTV Multiplayer]
Anyone who picked up Guitar Hero III on the Wii, you’ve had problems. Multiple problems. Our hearts go out to you. And while nothing anybody can ever say or do will give back to you the hours spent playing a game with 20th-century sound output or weeks spent waiting for replacement discs to arrive, RedOctane sure would like to try. Seems users who sent their “busted” GHIII discs back to Activision, then were forced to endure the long wait for Pro Logic discs to be shipped back, are being sent guitar faceplates. Rather snappy fire-and-phoenix-ones, too, may I add. How poignant.
Activision’s Guitar Hero licensing fest continues as they team up with toy maker Basic Fun for the Guitar Hero Carabiner. This pocketable Guitar Hero is about 7-inches long—75% smaller than the original controller—and it folds up even smaller to prevent dreaded unintentional pant-tenting.
Guitar Hero tournies have been floating around bars since the game’s inception, and the trend has only grown since. But not everyone is so happy about the popularity of drunks pretending to be rockstars on stage—namely musicians. And while these comments were just from one guy who liked to jam at one bar, we have a feeling that he speaks for a multitude of others. Yea, it’s fun. Yea, it’s cool and difficult to master (nowhere near on the level of a real musical instrument), and yea it’s an escape from your miserable existance [sic]but it’s not something I want to see LIVE ONSTAGE in a venue that should have a REAL musician Performing! Anyone who has even the slightest bit of culture and refinement would agree. GUITAR HERO belongs in the home, at house parties or in a Frathouse basement but it DOES NOT BELONG AT HUMPY’S GREAT ALASKAN ALEHOUSE, REPLACING OPEN MIC MONDAYS!!!!!
Oh, and Humpy’s actually exists, by the way. This only gets better.
Since Guitar Hero III’s launch back in October, I have been on a quest for standalone wireless guitar controllers. Having purchased the game by itself thinking I would be satisfied playing while tethered to my Xbox 360, the videos of GH fans jumping off furniture soon swayed me to the wireless cause. My quest hit a snag when I realised the wireless controllers weren’t out yet, but Activision promised they would be on the shelves in early 2008, and now they deliver on said promise. March is the month in which retailers will begin receiving shiny new standalone wireless guitar controllers for Guitar Hero III, with the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions running $69, and the Wiimote-embedded Wii version $US 10 cheaper at $US 59. Then shortly after we all run out to snag ours, Activision will no doubt reveal all new guitars for GHIV that will make us feel like idiots for buying these. Woot!
While most of this circuit soldering fun is over our heads, for those interested, you can modify your Guitar Hero (or Rock Band, we’re assuming) controllers to automatically whammy through entire songs at inhumanly fast theoretical maximums by replacing the whammy output with a 555 timer circuit. Essentially this circuit automatically alternates proper voltage to build up your star power fast.
Also of note, this mod requires no external power (like batteries) and it can be toggled on and off for the times when you don’t want to be an evil awful horrible cheater.
HOWTO Hack Your Guitar Hero Whammy Bar [Gogglemarks via MAKE]
The story doesn’t seem like a big deal: Red Octane partners with NAMM (the giant International Music Products Association) to promote music awareness and creation in the “Wanna Play?” campaign. Big whoop, right? But when you realise that Red Octane is NAMM’s first ever video game industry partner, the story’s significance shifts a bit. In partnering for cross promotional events and kiosks, not only is NAMM acknowledging Red Octane’s ability to recruit youngsters to play music (and buy real instruments), they are also publicly acknowledging Red Octane’s (and Guitar Hero’s) legitimate seat at the giant table that is the musical world. It’s like they’re holding hands in public or something and NAMM is totally cool with it.
Red Octane Adds GHIII Backing To Music-Making Campaign [gamasutra]
We’d seen YouTube user egyokeo’s videos of his custom MIDI drum pad-Guitar Hero III interface, but had yet to see him drum his way through Dragonforce’s “Through The Fire And The Flames” on expert. It’s a fairly impressive effort, even for a 20-year veteran of the drums, when someone can register a four-star performance on a song this challenging. For details on how he pulls off held notes and chords plus technical info, check his video description at YouTube.
Through the Fire and Flames – Achievement Unlocked on Drums [YouTube]
Like any fracas between ex-lovers, the current showdown between former Guitar Hero pillowmates Red Octane (Guitar Hero III) and Harmonix (Rock Band) is an entertaining one. And that’s just in the marketplace. When they literally start talking shit at each other, well, it’s time to pull up a chair and grab a snack of your choosing. Red Octane’s Charles Huang: I don’t think we’re too interested in having their guitars work on our game, because they’re having a lot of issues with their guitars. From our standpoint, to be quite honest, if you know a competitor’s product has issues, there’s not a whole lot of motivation to make these problematic controllers work with your game. Why would you want to cause yourself the headache?
He did not go there, did he? Oh, he so just went there.
Guitar, Interrupted [1UP]
