If you’ve played through every track on Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, there are now some fresh tunes courtesy of Interscope Records.

The Interscope Track Pack offers up three new songs: Flyleaf’s “Tina,” “Carcinogen Crush” by AFI, and a remix of goth rocker Marilyn Manson’s “Putting Holes in Happiness,” a la Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

The tracks are now available on Xbox Live and the PlayStation Store.

I would like to thank everyone for entering our Guitar Hero III Air Guitar Contest and announce Dennis as the winner. Dennis will soon be the proud owner of Guitar Hero 3 and the wireless Les Paul guitar for the Xbox 360.

If you didn’t win this contest, keep your head up, because we are giving away free shiznit all the time. In fact, we have another contest right now!

Enter our Fantabulous Forum Giveaway and you may walk away with any three games of your choice. Good luck and congrats to Dennis for being so damn awesome.

Chad-

Check out the gobs of stuff added today to the Xbox Live Marketplace. In addition to the abundance of Spiderwick Chronicles videos, there are also some free History Channel customizations, a very interesting Alone in the Dark Video, and a bunch more stuff. Full details following the breakage.

Themes

The History Channel Ax Men Theme
Price: Free
Availability: United States

Trailers

No Doubt Track Pack Trailer (HD)
Price: Free
Availability: All Xbox LIVE regions

Frontlines: Fuel of War – Official Trailer (HD)
Price: Free
Availability: All regions except Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland

Lost: The Video Game Interview
Price: Free
Availability: United Kingdom

Spiderwick Chronicles – Behind the Scenes Trailer (HD) – Sarah Bolger as Mallory Grace
Price: Free
Availability: Not available in Japan and Korea

Spiderwick Chronicles – Behind the Scenes Trailer (HD) – The Making of the Game
Price: Free
Availability: Not available in Japan and Korea

Spiderwick Chronicles – Behind the Scenes Trailer (HD) – Freddie Highmore as Jared and Simon Grace
Price: Free
Availability: Not available in Japan and Korea

Spiderwick Chronicles – Behind the Scenes Trailer (HD) – Characters & Creatures
Price: Free
Availability: Not available in Japan and Korea

Spiderwick Chronicles – Behind the Scenes Trailer (HD) – The Spiderwick Universe
Price: Free
Availability: Not available in Japan and Korea

Gamer Pictures

The History Channel Ax Men Picture Pack
Price: Free
Availability: United States More…

Videos

CP & CJ’s At-Home Challenge Video HD
Price: Free
Availability: All Xbox LIVE regions

Alone in the Dark Tech Demo Ep1 (HD)
Price: Free
Availability: All Xbox LIVE regions

Frontlines: Fuel of War – Multiplayer Video (HD)
Price: Free
Availability: Not available in Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland

In-Game Content

Guitar Hero III – No Doubt Track Pack
Price: 500 Microsoft Points
Availability: All Xbox LIVE regions

Years of hard living will make you look like a Guitar Hero character.

Don’t forget to hop online for a free GH3 song in the form of Aerosmith’s “Dream On”. It’s no “Walk This Way” but hey, you can’t beat free, can you?

Even if they are getting their faces smashed against the floor by Harmonix, it’s a nice gesture. Just be sure to get there before tomorrow 2 am Pacific time, and although I cite Major Nelson as my source, it’ll also be up on PSN as well as XBL.

Just a reminder from your friendly neighborhood Riptenite. Have you played Dream On yet? Let us know how it is in the commens or forums.
Source: Major Nelson

We want to reward one lucky Riptenner with a copy of Guitar Hero 3 and the wireless Les Paul guitar for the Xbox 360.

The rules are simple, just register to be a member of our community, upload an avatar and leave a comment below with the words”air guitar”. We will pick one lucky Riptenner at random and send them out a Wireless Les Paul Guitar and Guitar Hero 3 game for the Xbox 360. Contest ends February 29th at Midnight EST. Good luck.

After seeing the huge sales of downloadable songs for Guitar Hero III and their very own Rock Band, Electronic Arts had this fantastic idea – offer downloadable soundtracks for all of their games. Read on for why we think this is tremendously stupid.

Guitar Hero III has sold over 5 million songs, while Rock Band fans have downloaded more that 2.5 million. Considering these tracks are priced anywhere from one to two dollars, that adds up to a lot of money, especially for not being a physical product.

EA wants to take the assumed consumer demand for downloadable songs and apply it to their other franchises. No offense to anyone working for EA or to EA in general, but that’s fucking ridiculous.

EA doesn’t seem to realize that people are downloading these songs for Rock Band because the songs themselves are the game. People aren’t getting these songs just to relax and listen to. No one is going to pay a few bucks to hear different songs on the menus while playing Madden.

I would assume that if they offer a new downloadable soundtrack for Madden, for example, that the songs would only be available while playing Madden. EA could, however, have everything slapped together and have one large depository for music in their games — expand the “EA Trax” feature across all of their games.

All of that sounds okay on the surface, maybe, unless you know how to use your console properly and can navigate your way around a computer. I’m not completely savvy when it comes to the PS3’s media features, but the Xbox 360 lets you stream music stored on your hard drive, your computer, or a portable device (even a PSP) while you are playing a game. You can effectively replace any soundtrack to any 360 game with any music that you want.

So tell me, EA, why in the hell would anyone pay the same amount of money to download a song to use exclusively with your games as they would to download a song from something like iTunes and use it anywhere they want? They wouldn’t. That was a rhetorical question.

EA hopes that you just don’t know about these console features so that you easily fall victim to their bullshit. Unfortunately for the world, plenty of people probably will download EA’s soundtracks. NPD surveys suggest that half of PS3 owners and only 30% of 360 owners even know that their consoles are capable of hi-def graphics.

EA reads stats like this and assumes (maybe correctly) that you don’t know what you’re doing. Please don’t be one of those people, and help spread the word. Together we can fight the oppression.

Sorry, EA, but I’m going to have to hit the button on this one.

Source: Reuters

Pennsylvania based website stootsi.com has a bunch of Guitar Hero 3 bundles (game and guitar) selling for less than you’d buy them in retail.

They’re selling the PS3, 360 and Wii versions for $79.99 which is 10 to 20 bucks off what Best Buy has them listed at. Pretty solid since the game is hard to find anyway, especially this late in the Christmas gift buying game.

But depending on when your reading this, you only have a few hours to buy it. Stootsi does this crazy thing where they post a new item everyday at noon and you have 24 hours to buy that price slashed item or you miss it.

So go buy right now if you want it and if they’ve already posted a new item, check the Stootsi store on the side bar and they may have a few left.

Exploitation? At least he doesn’t mince words.

Among the titles that would seem to be eligible are (as mentioned) Call of Duty, Guitar Hero, and Tony Hawk, a strong front-end towards Activision and Blizzard’s goal of forming “the world’s most profitable games business.”

In the meantime, I’ll be disappointed if all of this doesn’t yield at least one Wii game that uses the Wii Fit board to let you skateboard across the battlefield, blasting enemy soldiers with music from your Guitar Hero guitar like the cowboy from Silverhawks.

Who says innovation is dead?

Activision’s release of “Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80’s” has spurred a lawsuit from American rock group, The Romantics. Lawsuits are common place these days, however the grounds for the suit against the publisher of the successful video game franchise seems like a stretch.

The Romantics claim that the band commissioned to perform their hit song “What I Like About You” sounded too much like them, resulting in a rendition that is “virtually indistinguishable from the authentic version”.

The lawsuit was filed on November 20th in federal District Court in Detroit. Look out Frank Caliendo, John Madden may be after you next.

Frank Caliendo impersonating John Madden on The Late Show

Via: billboard.com

Guitar Hero and Halo fans rejoice, the Halo 3 theme will be coming to your Xbox360 as a playable song in Guitar Hero 3. The Xbox 360 exclusive (would be a bit cheeky to let Playstation 3 owners play through the theme) track will be available for download tomorrow. Read the press release after the jump.

ACTIVISION AND MICROSOFT GIVE THANKS TO GUITAR HERO AND HALO FANS

In appreciation of Guitar Hero® and Halo fans alike, Neversoft, Bungie, Activision/RedOctane, and Microsoft have all joined forces to bring players the iconic Halo theme (MJOLNIR Mix) as a free playable song for Guitar Hero® III: Legends of Rock , exclusively for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft. The theme will be available from Xbox LIVE® Marketplace on Thanksgiving, Thursday, November 22 nd .

The Halo theme was written, composed, and performed by Martin O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori; and the MJOLNIR Mix features guitars performed by the Grammy Award winning guitar hero, Steve Vai.

It’s a real pleasure to hear one of the best loved and most iconic themes from Bungie’s Halo Universe in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock,” said Marty O’Donnell, Composer and Audio Director for Bungie Studios. “As longtime fans of the Guitar Hero® franchise, it was great to collaborate with Neversoft and Activision/RedOctane to offer this exciting free download to our fans.”

In a press release sent out today, Activision announced the release of two new track packs that hit the Xbox Live Market Place this morning. While the release stated that the Playstation Store would be receiving them later this month, we have confirmed that they are in fact available on the Playstation Network right now as well.

Prospective plastic-shredding rockers can elect to download the Velvet Revolver Pack, which includes master recordings of “Messages,” “She Builds Quick Machines”, and the Grammy Award winning “Slither”. Alternatively, players can also choose from the Foo Fighter Pack, which includes “The Pretender”, “This Is a Call” and “All My Life”.

With the release of so many amazing titles this month, most people haven’t had the chance to process everything GH3 has to offer yet. That makes this move even more interesting. Is Activision amping up its track list in preparation for EA’s Rock Band? Or is it trying to start a new business model for the rhythm game genre? Regardless, this can only be seen as good for fans of the series. We don’t need anymore sequels, and we already have the instruments, so just give us the music!

No self-respecting Guitar Hero fan should miss South Park’s take on the little plastic controllers of rock. Following in the footsteps of the Emmy-winning World of Warcraft episodes, “Guitar Queer-O” has Stan and Kyle living the rock and roll lifestyle when a talent scout discovers their high score of 100,000 points.

Soon Stan and Kyle are in the good graces of the recording industry, attending lavish parties with the greatest Colorado celebrities. But when their manager breaks them up before their big 1,000,000 point performance, Stan turns to the relaxing comfort of “Heroin Hero”.

Heroin Hero is the inevitable downside to living the high life of a Guitar Hero–it’s the ultimate first person “shooter”, where all you do is chase a big dragon that always stays out of reach. When Stan shows up wasted on Heroin Hero for his big performance, it seems like his career ends in the gutter.

The episode is filled with jokes for the GH crowd, like the way Stan’s dad tries to impress the kids by playing songs on a real guitar. Cartman’s response? “Real guitars are for old people”. In the end, the game actually berates the kids for spending so much time mastering it.

No telling if it’ll win another Emmy, but “Guitar Queer-O” shows that the guys behind South Park know their pop culture. This virtual audience was cheering.

If you’ve gotten to song 42 in Guitar Hero 3, you know what a jerk the devil can be in a rock-off. The demon code prevents him from declining a rock-off challenge, but that doesn’t mean he won’t cheat his way to stealing your soul.

Whether you’re playing on medium, hard, or expert, we found some helpful tips on how to bust a massive, monster mamma-jam and send this upstaging prick back to hell. This website has a collection of blog posts and ideas with tips on how to beat Lou, but here are the basics.

Practice! It’s nearly impossible to use tricks to beat Lou. You’ll just have to get really good at the song, which is extra tough considering you can’t practice The Devil Went Down to Georgia without being in the battle. If you can’t make it after a few tries, rest your tired hands and try again later.

Power up! The battle powerups don’t start to appear until a third of the way through the song (after the part where the devil picks up his bow), so you’ll have to patiently sit through the introduction many times. Focus on just the tasty riffs that reward you with powerups, but save them for when you need them.

Persevere! When Lou sends you an attack, try to survive it, if only to get another powerup. Lefty flips, double notes, and difficulty ups are the trickiest to live through, so pray that he only gets a whammy or broken note for you. If you are on the receiving end of an amp overload, rely on your memory of the song to get you through.

Pulverize! Lou is really damn good. Only a series of attacks will end his reign. Instead of piling on 2 or 3 attacks, wait until you’ve got them all ready to go and then unleash them one at a time (waiting for one to end before the next). It helps if you wait until after the lull that comes halfway through the song (during the part when Johnny prepares to play his solo).

Party! After Lou goes down you’ve got a relatively easy solo to “finish him”. When you’re done, and have beaten Guitar Hero 3, you’ll be glad you stuck it out.

Good luck! You’ll need it, along with some epic skills. If you need some inspiration (and don’t mind witnessing the end of the game) check out the video below.

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It’s not Warped Tour or Coachella, but this yearly concert tour is still one of the best shows in town. It’s got roaring crowds, outrageous stages, and even some special guest appearances. Best of all, they want you to play lead guitar.

The thrill of gaining admission into the world of Guitar Hero hasn’t diminished, even though this is the third time we’ve been to the show. For those unfamiliar with the series, Guitar Hero is a rhythm and music game played using a colorful plastic guitar. Any strange looks you get from the uninitiated are quickly dispelled when they pick up this odd peripheral and “feel” like they’re making the music themselves, even if they’re only hitting a combination of five fret keys.

The soundtrack of the Guitar Hero games is what sets this series apart. Except for perhaps the Tony Hawk series, there hasn’t been as big a videogame music breakthrough as Guitar Hero. The set list of GH3 is just as strong as the first two, with modern hits like “When You Were Young” by The Killers and “Miss Murder” by AFI alongside classics like “Paint it Black” by the Rolling Stones and “Anarchy in the UK” by the Sex Pistols.

Each track scales very nicely, allowing younger or inexperienced players to follow along on easy or medium while hardcore thrashers can turn it up to 11 with hard or expert mode. The challenge of Guitar Hero is what keeps people playing it year after year, and there’s a ton of replay value to be enjoyed in beating over 40 popular songs and two dozen indie bonus songs.

This year’s set list may be a bit divisive, as each new Guitar Hero tends to be. With pricey downloadable songs on the way, you’ll want to make these built in tracks last as long as possible. Fortunately there’s a good variety of old and new, but also some really clever riffs that are great fun to master. “Lay Down” by Priestess, for example, will urge you to master the hammer-on and pull-off techniques.

Though the difficulty might have been toned down slightly, it doesn’t detract from the fun. It can even result in higher scores and combos, as there’s a little more leeway now when you hit a note.

Guitar Hero has sold millions of copies by creating a specific formula for rock sauce, but what happens when you throw in a few new ingredients? The battle mode (which holds up well in multiplayer) and celebrity guest appearances (Slash just happened to be in the neighborhood?) might not be for everyone, but in terms of making this game feel like a star-studded MTV special they are pretty fun. It’s not a revolutionary step forward for the series, but Guitar Hero only needs to gradually refine its formula.

In terms of refinement, the greater number of master tracks gives Guitar Hero 3 a more genuine feel than its predecessors. While it’s still disconcerting to hear KISS songs by a crappy cover band, the authentic voices in other songs go a long way towards improving the series.

There are a few, slight missteps. The lip-synching, while improved in Guitar Hero 3, leaves the male singer looking like a creepy wide-mouthed monster. The animated cutscenes between venues look great, but they’re extremely short and don’t really qualify as a reward for beating a set of five songs. Otherwise, the background graphics and general presentation are colorful and extremely attractive.

The new publisher of Guitar Hero 3 has also apparently taken the approach of sexing up the characters unnecessarily. Judy Nails is so tarted-up in this game that she’s practically unrecognizable. Midori, a perky Japanese schoolgirl, looks very punk but also seems to be there solely for fanboy service. One level even features midriff-baring pole dancers, which may give pause to parents who would otherwise buy Guitar Hero for their kids without hesitation.

Despite these few missed notes (blame it, perhaps, on a bad sound engineer or unplugged amp) Guitar Hero is still the best show in town. Competitor Rock Band has a lot to prove, as Guitar Hero has made the stage dive to next-gen almost perfectly.

Guitar Hero is finally facing some tough competition this year due to Rock Band, and the behind-the-scenes maneuvering between companies is probably pretty confusing to most music game fans.

The creators of Guitar Hero may have moved on to develop Rock Band, but the GH license is still going strong with big-name contributors and more addicting guitar gameplay. We talked with Activision’s Alex Ortiz, who is Guitar Hero 3’s production coordinator, about how the legal and licensing changes have affected this popular series.

Q: What was the transition like from Harmonix to Neversoft?
A: I joined the team later in development. As far as working with Neversoft on this title, it seems like Neversoft knew what exactly what they were getting in to. They’re a really great developer who pulled off a really good game in GH3. They pretty much proved they can take over Harmonix crown and still preserve what Guitar Hero is.

Q: Did you use the same engine and interface as the previous two Guitar Heroes?
A: They have their own engine. We couldn’t use what Harmonix developed, but overall users who are familiar with GH1 and 2 will pretty much feel right at home with GH3 and see that not much was changed. Obviously the menu and everything is completely different. It’s more of the Neversoft style of things, but it’s a really good change, to be honest.

Q: What were Red Octane and Activision’s response to EA buying out Harmonix?
A: It was one of those buyouts that takes everyone by surprise. It wasn’t really expected, but we weren’t really surprised that a great developer like Harmonix was eventually bought by another company.

Q: What sets Neversoft apart from Harmonix?
A: I think what really sets it apart is our own unique style. When you look at the two games, Rock Band and Guitar Hero, there’s not a whole lot you can do as far as changing up the prep board too much. They’re almost going to look the same, it’s just what each developer going to bring to the table art and style-wise that’s going to differentiate the two.

Q: What’s in store for online play?
A: Online play is available right out the gate on PS3, Xbox 360 and the Wii. PS2 does not have online.

Q: What can you do online?
A: Basically it’s what you can do offline. Co-op mode is available online and competitive online play is there. You can pretty much go head-to-head against anyone in the world and prove who the best GH player is.

Q: Rockband has MTV, what about GH?
A: GH has the fact that it’s a monster franchise and brand name that is so well known. Throngs of people know GH. People still don’t yet know that Rock Band name. It’s yet to prove itself to the wide consumer market. You know when most people hear GH they know what it is. Rock Band, they’re not sure what it is. Because GH is such monster of a franchise it’s actually easier now for us to get artists involved. Artists are more proactive about coming to us first and trying to get involved.

Sex Pistols came back and rerecorded “Anarchy in the U.K.” for us. That was a major, awesome accomplishment. We got the band Living Colour to also rerecord “Cult of Personality”, and they actually extended and added things to the solo in the song. It’s amazing.

We also have Slash and Tom Morello who came in and recorded new, exclusive music just for us.

Q: EA claims that their guitar and the GH guitar are interchangeable, are they?
A: That’s been the long-standing thing that Harmonix has said– that the Guitar Hero guitar will work with their game. I’m sure their controller will probably work with ours, but I’m pretty sure there’s going to be some compatibility issues. Each piece of hardware is different. How the pieces of software are going to react to a controller that wasn’t necessarily designed for it, that’s kind of up in the air.

The much anticipated Guitar Hero III sequel from Activision and RedOctane is set to hit shelves October 28th (this Sunday), with an estimated 3,000 plus retailers organizing midnight release parties.

Hit up your local Wal-Mart beforehand, and buy that cranky neighbor of yours a few extra pillows to block out the sounds, cuz’ practice makes perfect, and you my friend are on a quest for perfection that starts at midnight, and stops when you damn well say so! Press release after the jump.

ACTIVISION TEARS IT UP ON STORE SHELVES WITH LAUNCH OF GUITAR HERO® III: LEGENDS OF ROCK

SUNNYVALE, CA – October 26, 2007 – Activision, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) today announced that Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock will officially rip it up on retail store shelves nationwide this Sunday, October 28. To help celebrate the legendary launch, over 3,000 stores across the country are expected to organize their own midnight launch events this weekend, allowing all aspiring axe-shredders to unleash their inner-rock star.

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock will include explosive new content and features including a multiplayer action-inspired battle mode, grueling boss battles, a host of exclusive unlockable content and visually stunning rock venues. Expanded online multiplayer game modes will also allow fans worldwide to compete head-to-head for true legendary rock status. Fresh downloadable content will also be offered on multiple platforms, and players can now shred to a killer set list from many of the most popular rock songs ever recorded.

“Where there is music this holiday season, there is Guitar Hero, and we’re excited to deliver Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock as the ultimate guitar-bending experience for our fans,” said Dusty Welch, head of publishing for Activision/RedOctane. “With an amazing set list, added gameplay features, online functionality, and new wireless guitars, aspiring rock stars are going to shred harder than ever before.”

For the first time ever, Guitar Hero® fans will also be able to thrash and burn with new wireless guitar controllers available for each platform, including exclusive Gibson Guitar’s Les Paul model for the Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, Wii™ home video game system from Nintendo, and PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system. PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system gamers will also get to shred on a new exclusive shape, Gibson’s Kramer guitar, popularized by hard rockers and known for its body design, pickups, electronics and construction for furious finger fretting.

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, published by RedOctane® and developed by Neversoft, is rated ‘T’ for Teen by the ESRB and will be available October 28, 2007. For more information about the Guitar Hero franchise, please visit the dedicated community site: www.guitarhero.com.

Can’t wait until the release of Guitar Hero III to start jamming to some of the awesome rock music? Well now you don’t have to, because iTunes has published playlists for all past versions and the upcoming version of GH. This means that you can listen to all of the songs on your Apple iPod or iPhone, and that is no small feat, as Guitar Hero III alone, will host 61 face-melting rock tracks. Hit the jump for a complete list.

1. Welcome to the Jungle – Guns N’ Roses
2. Sunshine if Your Love – Cream
3. Anarchy In the U.K. – The Sex Pistols
4. Sabotage – Beastie Boys
5. Paint It Black – The Rolling Stones (One of my votes)
6. Even Flow – Pearl Jam
7. Rock ‘n Roll All Night – Kiss
8. Black Magic Woman – Santana
9. One Way or Another – Blondie
10. One – Metallica
11. Suck My Kiss – Red Hot Chili Peppers
12. School’s Out – Alice Cooper
13. Barracuda – Heart
14. La Grange – ZZ Top (One of my votes)
15. Bulls On Parade – Rage Against the Machine
16. Hit Me With Your Best Shot – Pat Benatar
17. The Devil Went Down to Georgia – The Charlie Daniels Band
18. Cherub Rock – Smashing Pumpkins
19. Rock You Like a Hurricane – Scorpions
20. The Number of the Beast – Iron Maiden
21. Talk Dirty to Me – Poison
22. Mississippi Queen – Mountain
23. When You Were Young – The Killers
24. The Seeker – The Who
25. My Name Is Jonas – Weezer
26. Pride and Joy – Stevie Ray Vaughan
27. Slow Ride – Foghat
28. Holiday In Cambodia – Dead Kennedys
29. Black Sunshine – Iggy Pop & White Zombie
30. Story of My Life – Social Distortion
31. Cult of Personality – Living Colour
32. Kool Thing – Sonic Youth
33. Miss Murder – AFI
34. Raining Blood – Slayer
35. Before I Forget – Slipknot
36. Reptilia – The Strokes
37. Stricken – Disturbed
38. 3’s & 7’s – Queens of the Stone Age
39. Ruby – Kaiser Chiefs
40. Cities On Flame With Rock and Roll – Blue Oyster Cult
41. Knights of Cydonia – Muse
42. Helicopter – Bloc Party
43. Prayer of the Refuge – Rise Against
44. She Bangs the Drums – The Stone Roses
45. Cliffs of Dover – Eric Johnson
46. My Curse – Killswitch Engage
47. The Metal – Tenacious D
48. I’m In the Band – The Hellacopters
49. Go That Far – Bret Michaels
50. Can’t Be Saved – Senses Fail
51. Closer – Lacuna Coil
52. Take This Life – In Flames
53. Monsters – Matchbook Romance
54. F.C.P.R.E.M.I.X. – The Fall of Troy
55. Through the Fire and Flames – Dragonforce
56. In the Belly of a Shark – Gallows
57. Avalancha – Heroes Del Silencio
58. Metal Heavy Lady – LIONS
59. Lay Down – Priestess
60. The Way It Ends – Prototype
61. Don’t Hold Back – The Sleeping

To download the list and listen to samples of all the songs above, visit www.itunes.com.

My fingers have BARELY begun the healing process from Guitar Hero II on the 360. My left hand is stiff, achy, swollen, and just exhausted from earning 5-stars, and what’s worst is … I love it! If you also suffer from Hero-Hand, then get out the ice-pack and rest up, because Activision has a TON of GHIII content on the way. Press release after the jump.

***

Fans Can Download Game Demo and Shred Against Guitar Hero® Developers Online to Win Prizes and Ultimate Bragging Rights

SUNNYVALE, CA – October 22, 2007 – Activision, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) today announced a special Xbox LIVE® online entertainment network weekend for the highly anticipated title, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. Beginning November 2, 2007, fans 13 years old or older will be able to participate in a number of exciting activities online including a 72-hour Play & Win Sweepstakes where every hour winning axe shredders who register and play are awarded with special prize packages, such as a limited edition guitar faceplate signed by Slash, as they battle in a multiplayer showdown against the developers of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, as well as an exclusive Xbox LIVE leaderboard tournament to crown the top Guitar Hero player.

Before Guitar Hero fans sign up for this gnarly shredfest, they will have the rockin’ opportunity to practice their skills with a free game demo available for download on Tuesday, October 23 exclusively through Xbox LIVE® Marketplace for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft. The free game demo, playable with either the X-Plorer guitar or Xbox 360 controller, will include the following 5 finger-melting songs:

- Even Flow (by Pearl Jam)
- Lay Down (by Priestess)
- The Metal (by Tenacious D)
- Hit Me with your Best Shot (as made famous by Pat Benatar)
- Rock You like a Hurricane (as made famous by Scorpions)

To kick off Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Weekend, fans will have the coveted opportunity to secure the rare and elusive “Meet Your Maker” Xbox LIVE achievement, where axe-shredders can beat the creators at their own game, while competing online against the developers from Neversoft on Friday, November 2 from 6:00pm – 9:00pm EST. Be on the look-out for the following development team Gamertags:

- GH DesLead, Alan – Design Lead
- GH AsstProd, Lee – Asst Producer
- GH SrProdTech, Clive – Sr. Producer Technology
- GH OnlineEng, Mario – Online Engineer
- GH OnlineEng2, Tim – Online Engineer
- GH MidiDes2, Chris – Midi Designer
- GH MidiDes3, David – Midi Designer
- GH MidiDes4, Geoffrey – Midi Designer
- GH MidiDes5, John – Midi Designer
- GH MidiDes6, Brian – Midi Designer
- GH MidiDes7, Kyle – Midi Designer

More details on registering for Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Weekend, and information regarding terms, conditions, and official rules will be available on Tuesday, October 23 through the official event page: www.xbox.com/gh3weekend. Open registration will begin when the site goes live and will end at 11:59pm (EST) on November 4, 2007.

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock will include explosive new content and features including a multiplayer action-inspired battle mode, grueling boss battles, a host of exclusive unlockable content and visually stunning rock venues. Expanded online multiplayer game modes will also allow axe-shredders worldwide to compete head-to-head for true legendary rock status. For the first time ever, Guitar Hero fans will also be able to thrash and burn with new wireless guitar controllers available for each platform. The game will feature a star-studded soundtrack including master tracks by such legendary artists as Aerosmith, Guns N’ Roses, The Rolling Stones, Beastie Boys, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Pearl Jam as well as original songs by guitar icons Slash and Tom Morello. While continuing to retain all the key features from their prior legendary performances, fresh downloadable content will be offered on multiple platforms, and players can now shred to a killer set list from many of the most popular rock songs ever recorded.

For the first time ever, Guitar Hero fans will also be able to thrash and burn with new wireless guitar controllers available for each platform, including exclusive Gibson Guitar’s Les Paul model for the Xbox 360®video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, Wii™ home video game system from Nintendo, and PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system. PlayStation®2 gamers will also get to shred on a new exclusive shape, Gibson’s Kramer guitar, popularized by hard rockers and known for its body design, pickups, electronics and construction for furious finger fretting.

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“The Devil Went Down to Georgia”, the final song in Guitar Hero III, was composed and produced by Steve Ouimette, a 16-year veteran of the video game industry. He has scored original soundtracks for film, mobile media, and video games.

Since 2001 Steve has created over 5,000 ringtones and music for over 24 mobile phone games including HBO’s The Sopranos, SpongeBob SquarePants, and Alien vs. Predator. An accomplished guitarist, producer, and composer, Steve is currently working on an MMORPG, a television series, and another music based console game for release in Christmas 2008.

In 2005, Steve formed 8 th Wonder Productions. He is rapidly establishing himself as the leader in ultra-realistic re-records of songs from the 60’s through today. Steve is working on several top rhythm based games for next generation systems.

Steve’s rendition of “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” is available here, and you can get more information on Steve and his work by visiting www.steveouimette.com .

Guns N’ Roses rocked the hell out of the late 80’s – early 90’s. And even if you aren’t the biggest fan of Axel Rose, you still have to tip your hat to Slash. Unless your hat is a fashion statement, then by all means, leave it alone! After all, something has to hold all that hair down right?

We just got a bunch of new stuff in from Activision including a cool new gameplay video as well as several new photos of the game and console specific guitar controllers. Check them out after the jump.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Guitar Hero III – Controller Images (click to enlarge)
360	PS2	PS3	Wii
360 Screen Images		Wii Screen Images

I always wanted to play a guitar; I was just too lazy to learn. So when I heard about Guitar Hero I was pumped, but I didn’t want to buy a PS2 just to play it. Then the happy little elves over at Microsoft started making it for the Xbox 360. Man, I was so excited that I almost went into diabetic shock (Hey, I said I was fat).

So I headed over to my local Bestbuy store, picked that bad boy up, and flew home. From the moment I walked in the door and plugged it in I was jamming away. I started on easy figuring that I could breeze right through it. Five beers and one large pizza later I was buzzed, pissed, and ready to admit that I was wrong.

Being cursed with short stubby pickle fingers really wasn’t making things any easier. I was able to pass songs but man this was kicking me hard.

You aren’t going to learn to swim if you wade around in the shallow end all day, so I finally decided to kick it up a notch, and try my hands at medium difficulty. When your fingers look like rolls of quarters playing Guitar Hero on this level is like trying to pick a lock with a noodle. Mmm noodles! No matter how hard I tried my stubby little piggies just didn’t want to go to market … and the blue key? Forget about it.

Rest assured my fellow buffet bandits, I am a firm believer that with enough practice anything is possible. The Guitar is designed very well and has plenty of slack for even the manliest of bodies. I never had a problem strapping the harness around me and strumming away. Am I great? Hell no, but I have fun.

I might never get to expert level, and if I don’t, it sure as hell won’t be from a lack of playing time. If you have a 360, and even think you might enjoy Guitar Hero II, I say give it a shot. You’ll have fun and find that much like cheese dip and nachos, you just can’t put it down.

Well it’s time for me to hit the Gym because just like Jared, I don’t want to be fat forever…