Lets Blow The Roof Off This Joint!!! - Guitar Hero Thread.

[Dylonius Funk]

Since there wasn't one already I figured i would start a thread to discuss Guitar Hero and of course the newly released Guitar Hero 2.

I've played quite a bit of Guitar Hero 2 and I’ve played a lot of the first game as well, despite not being able to afford either. I usually play at my friend’s game store or at Best Buy. But i have to say that right now i prefer the first one. Now I do admit I haven’t played every track yet but there are some points with the sequel I’m not happy with.

1. Character Design. It seems like they went back and redid each character and made them look worse. Axel Steel looks less like hard core rocker and more like Frankenstein’s monster. And I don’t know why they went with a Fro for Xavier, I much preferred the dreads. The new toons are ok though I admit the firs time I saw the video of Jessica on You Tube being done by Clive Winston I wondered why Dustin Hoffman as Captain Hook was on the screen. I didn’t even realize it was supposed to be the “Brit Invasion” Hero from the first game. And don’t even get me started on Lars; apparently someone at Red Octane is a fan of Austin Powers 2.
2. The Song selection. I loved the mix of songs in the first game, from old school rock to metal to hard blues. Even the easy songs were fun to play. Going from "Smoke on the Water" to “Infected” to “Ziggy Stardust” to “Texas Flood” and back around again never got bored. On the other hand from what I’ve seen of the sequel I just don’t get that same vibe. There’s a lot of metal and hard rock. Honestly I felt like a selection of songs made for music geeks, as I noticed form playing with my friends who knew every artist and every track as we went through them. I guess I just need to go through and try them all out to find ones I’m good at; it just feels like there wasn’t that instant recognition factor like there was in the first game. But to be fair I am going to play through all the songs and I will admit there were many I didn’t know in the first game that I hadn’t heard before and have become good at. I had actually never heard Ziggy Stardust before I played it. Some of the songs I like are ‘Strutter”, “Jessica” “Carry On Wayward Son”. My friends were really excited to see Thunderhorse by Dethlock and Trogdor on there. I think mostly because they are fans of the [adult swim] show Metalocalypse.

I suppose this makes it seem like I hate the game which is not true. I think it’s a great game and a great sequel but for right now I would much rather play the first one. I guess i would just rather rock to Boston or Bowie than Stone Temple Pilots or Avenged Sevenfold. I hope to get the first game for X-Mas and by the time I get enough money for the sequel I hope to be doing Bark At The Moon and Cowboys…. on Expert.

[jecca-neko]

I don't know. I liked some of the GH2 character designs. Judy Nails looks better in GH2, both of the outfits. I don't think Pandora looks quite as good but she's still neat. The Grim Ripper looks awesome and somehow more evil than the first time around. I also like the new female character. I can't remember her name. I don't really be the guys so much, though I think you can tell.

As far as songs, I don't know. I think I like the two games about equally in that regard. However, Guitar Hero 2 gets a few points off for having a couple of songs. What are they?

1) Stop. I hate anything Jane's Addiction. At least it isn't the horrible Jane Says song.
2) Institutionalized. Anyone who likes this song has problems. /images/graemlins/tongue.gif /images/graemlins/wink.gif

However, some of the really good songs makes up for those. I haven't tried the bonus songs yet. The vast majority of the bonus songs I didn't care for in the first game for one reason or another so this is why I am reluctant to try them. I bought them all anyway. Just because.

One thing GH2 rules at though is multiplayer. Cooperative is tons of fun.

[Dylonius Funk]

The diffrent outfits were cool, i admit. I liked the Top Hat for Judy Nails. i belive. Goes well with "Sweet Child O' Mine" As for the bonsu tracks, again haven't played throuhg the entire lineup yet. As i said my freidns were blown away by Thunderhorse, just from having seen the show. Theyw ere also pretty impressed by the fact that theyw re having trouble with iut on easy and medium and i just grabbed the controller and did it on ahrd on one try. Then i did expert and got creamed /images/graemlins/tongue.gif.
AS for the bands returning, it's amixed bag. I liked Honest Bob's new song "Soy Bomb" But prefer "Hey" I wish there had been another The Slip song since "Even Rats" is one of my favorite tunes from the first game. I haven't tried the new Count Zero song but "Sail Your Ship By" is another one of ym favs from the first game.

[Elana]

I seriously want GH2, but I want to get beyond Medium Mode in GH too /images/graemlins/happy.gif

[GHardin]

After trying co-op with my friend, we have concluded that we cannot take a step back now. /images/graemlins/sweat000.gif The song list seems to be a little uneven in difficulties, though...it's still fairly well balanced, but some of them make me think "easier, my ass!" /images/graemlins/sweat000.gif

[jecca-neko]

[ QUOTE ]
Elana said:
I seriously want GH2, but I want to get beyond Medium Mode in GH too /images/graemlins/happy.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

I am not beyond medium yet. However, I just got the original Guitar Hero about 2 weeks before GH2 came out. Now I have both.

However, I'm at an annoying time in my Guitar Hero development. I can 5-star most medium songs and 4-star the rest fairly easily. The medium songs are feeling too easy. However, everytime I try hard it feels too hard. This isn't just because of the orange button. /images/graemlins/cry00000.gif I guess I need to try harder to practice. I haven't really been trying that hard right now.

[Banchan]

[ QUOTE ]
GHardin said:
After trying co-op with my friend, we have concluded that we cannot take a step back now. /images/graemlins/sweat000.gif The song list seems to be a little uneven in difficulties, though...it's still fairly well balanced, but some of them make me think "easier, my ass!" /images/graemlins/sweat000.gif

[/ QUOTE ]
I have found that GH II songs are significantly harder than those in GH I based on what "bracket" (forgot what the game refers to them as) they fall in. But at the same time, the system also seems a little more forgiving in the hammer-ons and pull-offs in that I can play a little more sloppily than I had to in GH I. Overall though I'm glad it's harder.

[GHardin]

[ QUOTE ]
MPD Ban-chan said:
[ QUOTE ]
GHardin said:
After trying co-op with my friend, we have concluded that we cannot take a step back now. /images/graemlins/sweat000.gif The song list seems to be a little uneven in difficulties, though...it's still fairly well balanced, but some of them make me think "easier, my ass!" /images/graemlins/sweat000.gif

[/ QUOTE ]
I have found that GH II songs are significantly harder than those in GH I based on what "bracket" (forgot what the game refers to them as) they fall in. But at the same time, the system also seems a little more forgiving in the hammer-ons and pull-offs in that I can play a little more sloppily than I had to in GH I. Overall though I'm glad it's harder.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, that's my point...as you progress down the brackets, they will obviously get harder. My point is that some of the later songs are actually easier than some of the earlier songs. /images/graemlins/sweat000.gif

[Dylonius Funk]

[ QUOTE ]
GHardin said:
[ QUOTE ]
MPD Ban-chan said:
[ QUOTE ]
GHardin said:
After trying co-op with my friend, we have concluded that we cannot take a step back now. /images/graemlins/sweat000.gif The song list seems to be a little uneven in difficulties, though...it's still fairly well balanced, but some of them make me think "easier, my ass!" /images/graemlins/sweat000.gif

[/ QUOTE ]
I have found that GH II songs are significantly harder than those in GH I based on what "bracket" (forgot what the game refers to them as) they fall in. But at the same time, the system also seems a little more forgiving in the hammer-ons and pull-offs in that I can play a little more sloppily than I had to in GH I. Overall though I'm glad it's harder.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, that's my point...as you progress down the brackets, they will obviously get harder. My point is that some of the later songs are actually easier than some of the earlier songs. /images/graemlins/sweat000.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree with that. I found that "Jessica" a 6th bracket song is easier tahn "Carry On Wayward Son" a 2nd bracket song, on Hard.

[Elana]

[ QUOTE ]
jecca-neko said:
[ QUOTE ]
Elana said:
I seriously want GH2, but I want to get beyond Medium Mode in GH too /images/graemlins/happy.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

I am not beyond medium yet. However, I just got the original Guitar Hero about 2 weeks before GH2 came out. Now I have both.

However, I'm at an annoying time in my Guitar Hero development. I can 5-star most medium songs and 4-star the rest fairly easily. The medium songs are feeling too easy. However, everytime I try hard it feels too hard. This isn't just because of the orange button. /images/graemlins/cry00000.gif I guess I need to try harder to practice. I haven't really been trying that hard right now.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've been playing to 5 star every song on one level prior to going to the next level. So, I haven't hit the orange button yet.

[Elana]

[ QUOTE ]
Dylonius Funk said:
[ QUOTE ]
GHardin said:
[ QUOTE ]
MPD Ban-chan said:
[ QUOTE ]
GHardin said:
After trying co-op with my friend, we have concluded that we cannot take a step back now. /images/graemlins/sweat000.gif The song list seems to be a little uneven in difficulties, though...it's still fairly well balanced, but some of them make me think "easier, my ass!" /images/graemlins/sweat000.gif

[/ QUOTE ]
I have found that GH II songs are significantly harder than those in GH I based on what "bracket" (forgot what the game refers to them as) they fall in. But at the same time, the system also seems a little more forgiving in the hammer-ons and pull-offs in that I can play a little more sloppily than I had to in GH I. Overall though I'm glad it's harder.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, that's my point...as you progress down the brackets, they will obviously get harder. My point is that some of the later songs are actually easier than some of the earlier songs. /images/graemlins/sweat000.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree with that. I found that "Jessica" a 6th bracket song is easier tahn "Carry On Wayward Son" a 2nd bracket song, on Hard.

[/ QUOTE ]

The original GH had that problem too. I think it depends on what you're good at. Some people are better with rhythm while others suck. My fiance has trouble with rhythm changes in a song. Some people have trouble with lots of notes, some don't. I don't have problems with quick note changes, but I do have some problems with the hammer on concept still.

[Banchan]

[ QUOTE ]
GHardin said:
[ QUOTE ]
MPD Ban-chan said:
[ QUOTE ]
GHardin said:
After trying co-op with my friend, we have concluded that we cannot take a step back now. /images/graemlins/sweat000.gif The song list seems to be a little uneven in difficulties, though...it's still fairly well balanced, but some of them make me think "easier, my ass!" /images/graemlins/sweat000.gif

[/ QUOTE ]
I have found that GH II songs are significantly harder than those in GH I based on what "bracket" (forgot what the game refers to them as) they fall in. But at the same time, the system also seems a little more forgiving in the hammer-ons and pull-offs in that I can play a little more sloppily than I had to in GH I. Overall though I'm glad it's harder.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, that's my point...as you progress down the brackets, they will obviously get harder. My point is that some of the later songs are actually easier than some of the earlier songs. /images/graemlins/sweat000.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

I was agreeing with you, though I was making more of a comparison to how in GH I the songs actually felt like they were more difficult as you moved into the next bracket while in GH II they are hard (at least on hard/expert level) from the get go. I hope people don't end up playing GH II before I and get frustrated to the point of giving up the game.

EDIT: I probably should have just replied to you instead of quoting you.

[machineger4]

[ QUOTE ]
Elana said:
[ QUOTE ]
jecca-neko said:
[ QUOTE ]
Elana said:
I seriously want GH2, but I want to get beyond Medium Mode in GH too /images/graemlins/happy.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

I am not beyond medium yet. However, I just got the original Guitar Hero about 2 weeks before GH2 came out. Now I have both.

However, I'm at an annoying time in my Guitar Hero development. I can 5-star most medium songs and 4-star the rest fairly easily. The medium songs are feeling too easy. However, everytime I try hard it feels too hard. This isn't just because of the orange button. /images/graemlins/cry00000.gif I guess I need to try harder to practice. I haven't really been trying that hard right now.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've been playing to 5 star every song on one level prior to going to the next level. So, I haven't hit the orange button yet.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm currently trying to get 5 stars on every song on medium right now. For some reason, GH2 is a bit easier on medium (excluding a handful of tracks, like Hanger 18, Instiutionalized, Carry Me Home, and a couple others), maybe I'm better than I think I am or they're saving the madness for Hard and Expert, which I would make sense. They'll give you a false sense of security before bringing you back down to Earth.

I do have to say that Misirlou was much easier on Medium than I thought it would be. After seeing it on Hard online, I feared it was going to be big pain in the ass, but I got 4 stars the first time and on the second I missed only a couple notes.

Also, I like how hammer-ons are much, much easier to do in GH2, makes things much easier. I like the song selection, though I don't agree with the choice of "Laid to Rest" by Lamb of God since they already have a real heavy rock song in "Freya." It would've been nice if they got a blues song in the game, something akin to "Texas Flood" from the first game, that song was a lot of fun.

[Dylonius Funk]

[ QUOTE ]
Elana said:
[ QUOTE ]
Dylonius Funk said:
[ QUOTE ]
GHardin said:
[ QUOTE ]
MPD Ban-chan said:
[ QUOTE ]
GHardin said:
After trying co-op with my friend, we have concluded that we cannot take a step back now. /images/graemlins/sweat000.gif The song list seems to be a little uneven in difficulties, though...it's still fairly well balanced, but some of them make me think "easier, my ass!" /images/graemlins/sweat000.gif

[/ QUOTE ]
I have found that GH II songs are significantly harder than those in GH I based on what "bracket" (forgot what the game refers to them as) they fall in. But at the same time, the system also seems a little more forgiving in the hammer-ons and pull-offs in that I can play a little more sloppily than I had to in GH I. Overall though I'm glad it's harder.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, that's my point...as you progress down the brackets, they will obviously get harder. My point is that some of the later songs are actually easier than some of the earlier songs. /images/graemlins/sweat000.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree with that. I found that "Jessica" a 6th bracket song is easier tahn "Carry On Wayward Son" a 2nd bracket song, on Hard.

[/ QUOTE ]

The original GH had that problem too. I think it depends on what you're good at. Some people are better with rhythm while others suck. My fiance has trouble with rhythm changes in a song. Some people have trouble with lots of notes, some don't. I don't have problems with quick note changes, but I do have some problems with the hammer on concept still.

[/ QUOTE ]

For me i've been pretty good at "plucking" style songs such as "More Than A Feeling" and since Ziggy is somewhat Pluckish, i found it easy to do. Songs with lots of stairs still intimidate me since i tend to panic once i lose the rythum and thats what causes me to lose. I've noticed that on videos to where people will miss a part and try to regain composure and miss a lot more and when the next quiet break comes on just keep hitting all the frets getting ready for whatever one comes on down next.

[jecca-neko]

[ QUOTE ]
Dylonius Funk said:
I've noticed that on videos to where people will miss a part and try to regain composure and miss a lot more and when the enxt quiet break comes on just keep hitting all the frets getting ready for whatever one comes on down enxt.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's kinda silly. That's like if you were playing DDR and there's a quiet break you randomly jump up and down on the arrows to prepare for what comes up next.

I like the breaks. They let you rest your fingers for a few (or in some songs a lot more than a few) seconds.

[Lovely]

[ QUOTE ]
jecca-neko said:
[ QUOTE ]
Dylonius Funk said:
I've noticed that on videos to where people will miss a part and try to regain composure and miss a lot more and when the enxt quiet break comes on just keep hitting all the frets getting ready for whatever one comes on down enxt.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's kinda silly. That's like if you were playing DDR and there's a quiet break you randomly jump up and down on the arrows to prepare for what comes up next.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hmm, well, it depends, in DDR, during the breaks in a song, I'm normally still moving a bit so that I don't loose the tempo.

In Guitar Hero I admit to hitting the frets in order during breaks. Heh, I don't really do it for any particular reason though. And it neither helps nor hurts me gamewise.

[jecca-neko]

[ QUOTE ]
Lovely said:
Hmm, well, it depends, in DDR, during the breaks in a song, I'm normally still moving a bit so that I don't loose the tempo.

[/ QUOTE ]

For Guitar Hero you can keep the beat by tapping your foot. That's what I do.

Speaking of GH, I have been hearing music from the GH games a lot on the radio lately. On the way home for instance, Rage Against the Machine's Killing in the Name was on. Then a random other song comes on. Then Franz Ferdinand's Take Me Out. Then Nirvana... it wasn't Heart Shaped Box though. But STILL! /images/graemlins/sdsmiley.gif

I also saw GH2 set up for demo at Walmart yesterday. I was horrified when I saw the guitar covered with Walmart smiley face stickers. /images/graemlins/depresse.gif

[Invisible Crane]

I got to play Guitar Hero 2 recently at a game store.....it's too hard. I say that because the color order of the buttons on the guitar are the other way around than what's displayed on the screen

[Elendil]

I got to play Guitar Hero 2 recently at a game store.....it's too hard. I say that because the color order of the buttons on the guitar are the other way around than what's displayed on the screen

Someone probably had left the settings on lefty mode. (Well I'm assuming anyway since I've never set mine to that.)

[Dylonius Funk]

Yeah Grant, you probably got stuck with a controller on lefty mode. It can be changed in the Options Menu.

I've been able to borrow a friends copy of the game and I've been playing for the last few days. This game is seriously addicting. Even doing songs I've done a hundred times already are still fun to do just to see if i can 5 start them. At this point I've gotten passed most of the regular tracks on hard. On career mode hard track I still can't beat "No One Knows" and thats the only song keeping me from legitimately unlocking the last set fo songs. It's really annoying as the song isn't really that fast but it has a lot of one note follow by chord sections, such as a red, followed by a red-blue. I can't quite get the coordination yet to hit the red then grab the blue in time to make the chord.

I'm having the same trouble with one of the bonus tracks, "All Of This" by Shamius. But in quick play i've maanged to finsih msot fo the songs on hard. In fact all i have left are a couple fo bonus tracks and of course "Cowboys..." and "Bark....", as well as "Frankenstein". Allmost beat that one but couldn't hold it out near the end.

I've also been going back and trying to 5 star a lot of the other songs on hard. I can 5 star 'Ziggy..." So I've been working on it on Expert. And tried to do the tutorial for hamemr ons and pulls off but they are really much harder in the first game. I much prefer the second games system which doesn't require holding down any frets to do the trick. I figure i'll play and work on it till ym freind demands his game and controller back. :)

[Johnny]

OK, so this being a fairly niche/cult game I expect most people who enjoy it do so on a hardcore level.
Anyway, I pretty much avoided all the hype when the first game was released but I've read/watched too much on the second and am considering picking this up.
So, I don't expect to be talked out of that decision in this thread, but should I just go straight for the sequel or play the first game first?

Also, just being lazy, what is the music like? I noticed older stuff like Megadeth and Van Halen which is cool because I actually like those bands, but how much newer stuff is there? I despise bands like Franz Ferdinand and I know they're on it...

[GHardin]

OK, so this being a fairly niche/cult game I expect most people who enjoy it do so on a hardcore level.
Anyway, I pretty much avoided all the hype when the first game was released but I've read/watched too much on the second and am considering picking this up.
So, I don't expect to be talked out of that decision in this thread, but should I just go straight for the sequel or play the first game first?

Also, just being lazy, what is the music like? I noticed older stuff like Megadeth and Van Halen which is cool because I actually like those bands, but how much newer stuff is there? I despise bands like Franz Ferdinand and I know they're on it...

For the most part, most of the newer bands are kept to a minimum on both games; most of the songs are 90s and earlier.

The sequel is considerably a little more difficult than its predecessor...but both games have tutorials, as well as 2 having a practice mode for you to better yourself on the songs. Ultimately, the song list would be the deciding factor.

I haven't really played much of 2, since I have to go to Best Buy to play it...especially when my friend is with me. It's just more fun to play the co-op mode. I don't know what we were thinking when we tackled Beast and the Harlot on Hard/Hard (we haven't played down the songlist; we just randomly chose songs). My friend had an easy time; my hand was already sore from the dozen other songs we tried. :D

[Chacranajxy]

OK, so this being a fairly niche/cult game I expect most people who enjoy it do so on a hardcore level.
Anyway, I pretty much avoided all the hype when the first game was released but I've read/watched too much on the second and am considering picking this up.
So, I don't expect to be talked out of that decision in this thread, but should I just go straight for the sequel or play the first game first?

Also, just being lazy, what is the music like? I noticed older stuff like Megadeth and Van Halen which is cool because I actually like those bands, but how much newer stuff is there? I despise bands like Franz Ferdinand and I know they're on it...

I've finished both games (on expert, of course) and I'd recommend that you start with the first game. It's much more gradual in terms of difficulty and it has more variety in the songs it has... GH2 consists mainly of the angrier rock music and it's quite a bit more difficult. There's not too much new stuff... the reason for that (according to the devs) is that new music sucks, so they went with what's good rather than what's popular. Which is a good thing.

[machineger4]

OK, so this being a fairly niche/cult game I expect most people who enjoy it do so on a hardcore level.
Anyway, I pretty much avoided all the hype when the first game was released but I've read/watched too much on the second and am considering picking this up.
So, I don't expect to be talked out of that decision in this thread, but should I just go straight for the sequel or play the first game first?

Also, just being lazy, what is the music like? I noticed older stuff like Megadeth and Van Halen which is cool because I actually like those bands, but how much newer stuff is there? I despise bands like Franz Ferdinand and I know they're on it...

I've finished both games (on expert, of course) and I'd recommend that you start with the first game. It's much more gradual in terms of difficulty and it has more variety in the songs it has... GH2 consists mainly of the angrier rock music and it's quite a bit more difficult. There's not too much new stuff... the reason for that (according to the devs) is that new music sucks, so they went with what's good rather than what's popular. Which is a good thing.



I agree, start with the first one. The second one is a bit harder, a sharper increase in difficuly as you progress.

The setlists are good, mostly older stuff which is nice. I still wonder why they chose "Laid to Rest" by Lamb of God since they kinda had that type of song with "Freya" and IMO both aren't that good. Other than that, I have no big complaints about the song selection (of course there's the issue of no Maiden but there's always hope for the next GH).

[jecca-neko]

So, I don't expect to be talked out of that decision in this thread, but should I just go straight for the sequel or play the first game first?

Also, just being lazy, what is the music like? I noticed older stuff like Megadeth and Van Halen which is cool because I actually like those bands, but how much newer stuff is there? I despise bands like Franz Ferdinand and I know they're on it...

For your first question, definitely get both at some point but I agree with Cha-kun in that the first game is better in the difficulty progressively goes up.

There isn't that much new stuff on there, though honestly I do like the Franz Ferdinand song. The Sum 41 song is far worse in "annoying newer song" factor.

If you like rock music and video games, Guitar Hero is definitely worth it.

[GHardin]

For your first question, definitely get both at some point but I agree with Cha-kun in that the first game is better in the difficulty progressively goes up.

There isn't that much new stuff on there, though honestly I do like the Franz Ferdinand song. The Sum 41 song is far worse in "annoying newer song" factor.

If you like rock music and video games, Guitar Hero is definitely worth it.


I didn't mind "Take Me Out," I enjoyed playing "Fat Lip," but I absolutely hated "No One Knows" by Queens of the Stone Age. Not just because I thought the song was a tad difficult, but because I hate the song, period! :D

You could always go to the game's site (http://www.guitarherogame.com) to see the song list on either game.

[Chacranajxy]

Two things:

1) I got 100% on Heart Shaped Box on expert. Cause I rokk. The 5 stars turn gold if you get 100%... kinda cool.

2) Sweet Child O' Mine is the greatest song ever. No, not the best song in the game -- ever. There has never been a better song written.

[jecca-neko]

Thought you Guitar Hero players might like this: 'tis awesome (http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/funde-razor/the-ultimate-guitar-hero-controller-219218.php). :)

[Chacranajxy]

Thought you Guitar Hero players might like this: 'tis awesome (http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/funde-razor/the-ultimate-guitar-hero-controller-219218.php). :)

Incredible. I can't wait till we start to see GH controllers coming out that are uber-customized like it is with arcade sticks.

[machineger4]

Thought you Guitar Hero players might like this: 'tis awesome (http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/funde-razor/the-ultimate-guitar-hero-controller-219218.php). :)


That is awesome.

[akitokun]

Well, here are a few choices for alternate guitars (I think I may get the Double Range Rocking V myself (wired, not wireless)). Link (http://www.theantcommandos.com/product_overview.aspx)

[Dylonius Funk]

Played some more earlier tonight. Got over 100,000 on most songs i did, including Hangar 18 even though i barely passed that one.

I was wondeirng what your top 10 songs are, by whatever criteria you pick. 10 favorite, the 10 your best at, etc.

Ziggy StardustMonkey WrenchInfectedFat LipSpanish Castle MagicMore Than A FeelingMessage In A BottleCarry On Wayward SonYYZTexas Flood

[machineger4]

Eight of the new tracks for the 360 version have been announced(IGN (http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/753/753668p1.html)):

"Billion Dollar Babies" by Alice Cooper
"Dead!" by My Chemical Romance (original version)
"Hush" by Deep Purple
"Life Wasted" by Pearl Jam
"Rock 'n' Roll Hoochie Koo" by Rick Derringer "Possum Kingdom" by Toadies (original)
"Salvation" by Rancid
"The Trooper" by Iron Maiden

The last two haven't been revealed and these 10 are unlockable in the career mode. RedOctane says there will be downloadable songs on day 1 (hopefully they won't just be indy band songs).

Personally, I've really only heard the Maiden song, I probably heard the others but not recognizing the name. I didn't think I was going to get this, but with "The Trooper" on it, it looks like I'll be double dipping. I wanted Maiden in GH2 so this makes me very, very happy.

The 360 GH2 is expected to be released in March.

[Chacranajxy]

I'd double dip anyway because of my "have the best version" policy, but G'damn, it's easy to double dip when there's Iron Maiden included.

[jecca-neko]

I'd double dip anyway because of my "have the best version" policy, but G'damn, it's easy to double dip when there's Iron Maiden included.

I don't have a 360 so can't double dip. I have a friend who has a 360 but never bought GH2 (he has the original GH). Maybe I should convince him to buy it so I can come over and play. :D

[CrazyAsano]

I'd double dip anyway because of my "have the best version" policy, but G'damn, it's easy to double dip when there's Iron Maiden included.
I'm planning on double-dipping mainly because I have some stupid hope that they might at some point have some downloadable power metal like Dragonforce and Kamelot.
http://www.myspace.com/sewrratt for a sample Dragonforce song on my myspace profile.

Even if you don't like it, imagine what it would be like to play on expert.

[RedComet]

I love Iron Maiden and The Trooper is one of my favorite songs by them but I wish they chose a different song by them instead of the most overrated and most overplayed song. :P I still haven't gotten GH2 for the PS2 so I'll probably pick it up for the 360.

[machineger4]

I'd double dip anyway because of my "have the best version" policy, but G'damn, it's easy to double dip when there's Iron Maiden included.
I'm planning on double-dipping mainly because I have some stupid hope that they might at some point have some downloadable power metal like Dragonforce and Kamelot.
http://www.myspace.com/sewrratt for a sample Dragonforce song on my myspace profile.

Even if you don't like it, imagine what it would be like to play on expert.


Dragonforce would be cool but how bout Helloween? Power metal in general would be awesome for GH2.

I love Iron Maiden and The Trooper is one of my favorite songs by them but I wish they chose a different song by them instead of the most overrated and most overplayed song. I still haven't gotten GH2 for the PS2 so I'll probably pick it up for the 360.

Well, I first thought it wasn't too sure, would've liked "Iron Maiden", "Aces High" or "Hallowed Be Thy Name" but after listening to it I see why it was picked (now will they have lead/rhythm or lead/bass in the game?) any Maiden is good, what song would you rather have?

[CrazyAsano]

Dragonforce would be cool but how bout Helloween? Power metal in general would be awesome for GH2.

I could never get into Helloween. I kept trying to listen to Keeper of the Seven Keys but it never grew on me. I do like Kai's new band, Gamma Ray, though. I'd like to see some of that in GH2-360.

[RedComet]

Well, I first thought it wasn't too sure, would've liked "Iron Maiden", "Aces High" or "Hallowed Be Thy Name" but after listening to it I see why it was picked (now will they have lead/rhythm or lead/bass in the game?) any Maiden is good, what song would you rather have?

I'd pick any of those three over "The Trooper." A few other possible choices I'd pick would be "The Number Of The Beast." and "Run To The Hills." If it were up to me, I'd pick an underrated song like "Still Life", "Out of the Silent Planet", or "Infinite Dreams." :)

Any power metal would make me a happy person but I'd doubt anything beside Dragonforce would make it onto the game.

[CrazyAsano]

Well, I first thought it wasn't too sure, would've liked "Iron Maiden", "Aces High" or "Hallowed Be Thy Name" but after listening to it I see why it was picked (now will they have lead/rhythm or lead/bass in the game?) any Maiden is good, what song would you rather have?

I'd pick any of those three over "The Trooper." A few other possible choices I'd pick would be "The Number Of The Beast." and "Run To The Hills." If it were up to me, I'd pick an underrated song like "Still Life", "Out of the Silent Planet", or "Infinite Dreams." :)

Any power metal would make me a happy person but I'd doubt anything beside Dragonforce would make it onto the game.

That's why we're hoping for a downloadable power metal pack.

[Dylonius Funk]

Eight of the new tracks for the 360 version have been announced(IGN (http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/753/753668p1.html)):

"Billion Dollar Babies" by Alice Cooper
"Dead!" by My Chemical Romance (original version)
"Hush" by Deep Purple
"Life Wasted" by Pearl Jam
"Rock 'n' Roll Hoochie Koo" by Rick Derringer "Possum Kingdom" by Toadies (original)
"Salvation" by Rancid
"The Trooper" by Iron Maiden

The last two haven't been revealed and these 10 are unlockable in the career mode. RedOctane says there will be downloadable songs on day 1 (hopefully they won't just be indy band songs).

Personally, I've really only heard the Maiden song, I probably heard the others but not recognizing the name. I didn't think I was going to get this, but with "The Trooper" on it, it looks like I'll be double dipping. I wanted Maiden in GH2 so this makes me very, very happy.

The 360 GH2 is expected to be released in March.
With My Chemical Romance on there and it being a mkaster track, my friends might decide to buy an 360 for this one. Not me though, nothing there that strikes my fancy. Also Harmonix announced that the nest Guitar Hero will be entitled Guitar Hero: 1980's Edition. The full story is here (http://www.joystiq.com/2007/01/12/new-egm-reveals-guitar-hero-1980s-edition-ps2/)
While i'm willing to wait tilla song list is released just the name says to me lots and lots of hair metal. Which means the chances of another blues song ala Texas Flood is pretty slim

[jecca-neko]

Also Harmonix announced that the nest Guitar Hero will be entitled Guitar Hero: 1980's Edition. The full story is here (http://www.joystiq.com/2007/01/12/new-egm-reveals-guitar-hero-1980s-edition-ps2/)
While i'm willing to wait tilla song list is released just the name says to me lots and lots of hair metal.

Sounds great to me. I'd happily buy it blind. :D

[Josephine]

I just picked up GH2 on Saturday. I had trouble adapting to the controller, and wound up playing lefty since my left hand was tired of pressing buttons after the tutorial. I had a hard time with the game until I realized you could flip the frets onscreen ^_^;

I still have a hard time with the game, but I beat easy mode and am working my way through medium. I definitely think I should've picked up the first GH, though. I was really disappointed with the songs on this version, and when I went back and saw all the awesome stuff that was in the first game, I was so mad... I'm more a fan of 70's stuff, and while there's at least 1-2 songs in each bracket that I recognize (and I especially appreciate Surrender and Jessica), the track list on the first game just seems more suited to me.

Also, I have a question. I have trouble with the blue button at the moment, but I suspect that I will get used to hitting it with my pinky eventually. I have no idea how to hit the orange button, though. I've tried a couple hard/expert songs slowed down in practice mode, and I still have trouble hitting the orange button. You have to move your hand, don't you? It'll take me a long time to get used to that if it's the case, I have a hard enough time remembering which colors go to which fingers as it is ^_^;

[jecca-neko]

Honestly, I think GH1 did a better job of preparing you for the higher difficulty modes than GH2 did. I can understand that you're having trouble learning since you're using GH2.

As far as songs... for me, I like the two games pretty equally. I will admit that GH1's song list was overall better in that there wasn't really a song I disliked. In GH2 there are songs I despise, but the ones I like I tend to like a LOT. It evens out for me. Plus when you play multiplayer pretty often like I do, GH2 is a bit more fun as there's more options.

Also, I have a question. I have trouble with the blue button at the moment, but I suspect that I will get used to hitting it with my pinky eventually. I have no idea how to hit the orange button, though. I've tried a couple hard/expert songs slowed down in practice mode, and I still have trouble hitting the orange button. You have to move your hand, don't you?

For the blue button, yes, you hit it with your pinky. For the orange button you have to just get used to moving your hand up and down the fret board. Some songs will make you constantly move it, others you can mostly just keep one of two positions. The first position is the standard one of green/red/yellow/blue. The second position is red/yellow/blue/orange.

If you have long fingers like I do, you can stretch your pinky down to hit the orange when in position 1 and your pointer up to hit the green when in position 2.

[Dylonius Funk]

Also Harmonix announced that the nest Guitar Hero will be entitled Guitar Hero: 1980's Edition. The full story is here (http://www.joystiq.com/2007/01/12/new-egm-reveals-guitar-hero-1980s-edition-ps2/)
While i'm willing to wait tilla song list is released just the name says to me lots and lots of hair metal.

Sounds great to me. I'd happily buy it blind. :D


Well it depends on what 80's means to you. When you say 80's music all i see is hair metal, so a game with nothing but White Snake, and contemporaries would not be something i would buy. There was more than enough metal in GH2 and the Maiden crew is getting a song in the 360 port.

Of course if there s mix of hair metal and hard rock like more Blue Oyster Cult or Queen, i would be wil;ling to give that a try. Hell i would love to see some 80's Beastie Boys. Imagine rocking out to "Fight for Your Right"

[GHardin]

As far as GH2 goes, it's hard to say...I liked quite a few of the songs in GH1, but the co-op play in GH2 makes even the crummiest of songs quite playable. It is kind of funny I find myself enjoying the bonus tracks more than a couple of the tiers in the game. :P

As for the extra frets, you will have to adjust yourself with using the pinky to hit the blue, and eventually orange. To hit orange, you'll have to slide your hand down to "second position" and play that way (or if your hands get used to it, you could stretch to momentarily hit the orange). The easiest way to remember what you're hitting is remember that the yellow button is the button with the bump in it; so it'll either be 3rd or 2nd finger (depending on your position).

Sorry, didn't help any, but I thought I'd try. :sd: Personally, all I can say is you'll get the hang of it through practice and more practice. :)

[jecca-neko]

Well it depends on what 80's means to you. When you say 80's music all i see is hair metal, so a game with nothing but White Snake, and contemporaries would not be something i would buy. There was more than enough metal in GH2 and the Maiden crew is getting a song in the 360 port.


The 80's had some good stuff that wasn't hair metal. Aerosmith, The Police, Pink Floyd, Queen, Duran Duran, U2, etc.

[Dylonius Funk]

Well it's been confirmed that Harmonix will not be working on the third installment of the series. From Wikipedia we have this little tidbit...GameSpot has also confirmed in an interview with Dusty Welch of RedOctane that Activision will not rely on Harmonix for future game development. This duty has been reassigned to Activison's internal studio, Neversoft, which RedOctane assures will not have any impact on the series' quality.[36]

Well clicking the 36 gives us this article (http://www.gamespot.com/news/6164458.html?tag=latestnews;title;4) which confirms it.

So basically they've decided that the series would be better handled not by the company that created it, and that has a history (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmonix) of games in the rythum genre. No instead the series will do just fine by a company that makes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neversoft#Successful_games) well mostly skateboarding games.

Yeah i can see the frelling connection between the two genres right there. I suppose this may have to do with Harmonix's buyout (http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=12477) by MTV. Perhaps I'm being to harsh. it just seems like they could have made a better choice than a company that makes skateboarding games, that's all. So what does this mean for the future of the series? Well obviously all those bands with connections to Harmonix will probably not be getting bonus tracks. So no more Count Zero, Anarchy Club, Freezepop, Honest Bob..., etc. Sad but thats a casualty of war. And hey, for all we know Neversoft could do an excellent job. All i know is that two excellent games were amde by Harmonix and i don't see any reason to switch horses midstream, but then again i'm not Activision/Red Octane, who must know something i don't

[treatment]

Hopefully they put in some Dinosaur Jr and Pixies licks on the third installment.

[Dylonius Funk]

IGN has released game play videos of the XBOX 360 exclusive songs. (http://media.xbox360.ign.com/media/857/857449/vids_1.html) The ones i heard like Hush sounds pretty good but i'm not really familiar with any of the bands in that list so i don't know how close the covers are. All the videos are also available on YouTube.

So i'm watching a few of these videos and it looks like IGN is continueing it's fine tradition of finding the one person in the office who's never played Guitar Hero and havign themr un throuhg the song on expert. Ok maybe it's not that extreme but honestly i'm finding it painful to watch these preview vids because the people playing the gamke suck so bad. Well to be fair the guy playing Dead! by My Chemical Romance wasn't that abd he was just inconsistent. He would get to 4x then miss an easy trnasition. I think they should just make these at a lower difficulty, it's not he end of the world if the preview video is on hard and not expert. Or hire one of the guys from scorehero.com :).

I'm actually a little bit disappointed that i don't have a 360 becaus eeo far these new songs look like fun. The Trooper by Iron Maiden looks like it'll be a blast to play, though i've heard from the YouTube comments that the cover singer dosen't sound anything like the real guy. Though Youtube comments are often full of lies and idiocy and the covers for GH2, IMHO were a step down in quality from the covers on GH1. That's in vocal work mind you, the guitar work sounds good. And i've never heard Iron Maiden so i can't compare anyway. My Chemcial Romance looks like it'll be a toughie,a lot of 3 note chords, and their mixed up. So you have a strewhtc of G-B-O that then switches to G-O and then over to G-Y-B. i guess i would find it easier to focus on the gameplay if the vidoe wasn't half dings and beeps from missed notes.

[GHardin]

Went to Fry's yesterday and saw that they had the Xbox 360 demo of Guitar Hero 2 up and running. Of course, I was unknowingly playing the PS2 version down the aisle in hyper mode, so playing the 360 version felt very slow...never before did it feel so easy to play through Beast and the Harlot on hard. :sd: Only other song I tried was "Life Wasted" by Pearl Jam, and that was painfully easy.

Other than that, I liked it very much. The visual upgrade is subtle but noticeable. For some reason, I liked the guitar a lot. It was comfortable and sturdy despite looking like those god-awful wireless guitars. :P

[NeoCortex]

Looks like the rumored 80's edition has been confirmed, at least for PS2. (Article here (http://orangeloungeradio.com/phpnuke/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=719) ) I'm getting the 360 version of GH2 when it comes out in two weeks. Hopefully we see the 80's set list as DLC around the same time the PS2 sees the game.

[CrazyAsano]

Is there any confirmed downloadable content yet? I would just hand over my wallet to them if they were to do a power metal pack.

[NeoCortex]

They haven't confirmed anything about DLC yet, beyond the fact that there will be loads of it over time. The most they've said about content is that they are working really hard on getting the GH1 songs available for download.

My expectation is that they're going to release GH1 tracks a handful at a time for the first month or so before we see any really new stuff available. But who knows. If anything deserves to be on Guitar Hero, it's 80's hair bands.

[Dylonius Funk]

Now the question is wither this will be a final swan song for Harmonix or a chance for Neversoft to get their feet wet before tackling GH3. I have yet to find any solid confirmation on who is working on this and from what I've read it seems like this project was in development before Activision made the idiotic decision to switch from Harmonix to Neversoft

Also if 80's edition is nothing but Whitesnake and Friends they just lost my dollar. Some of that stuff is fine but 40-50 tracks of hair metal is not. There's enough music from the 80's to be able to mix it up. Hell there had better be at least one Blue Oyster Cult song if anything, they got giped not getting a song in GH2. I would gladly get rid of Freya or last Child or Don't Fear The Reaper or Burning For You.

[Dylonius Funk]

Well tomorrow, April 3rd the game comes out for XBox #60. Anyone here plan on getting it. I don't have an Xbox but if id di i probably would get thios one. I like the idea of downloadable songs, especcialy since there's word that they might make the GH1 list available for download. Now the question is will the old songs use the GH2 engine. I think with the easier hamemr ons songs like Texas Flood and Crossroads will get a whole lot easier.

[Jarred]

Well tomorrow, April 3rd the game comes out for XBox #60. Anyone here plan on getting it.
Yup, on its way from Amazon! I don't have a 360 yet either, but I plan on getting one as soon as I can get the Elite. In the meantime, we have a setup at work so I'll be jamming out with the co-workers for a little while. :D

[El Santos]

I can't sleep. I have a problem and it GH2 for the 360 just can't wait to pick it up.
I just hope they later have some Progressive songs
like Coheed and Cambria's Secret of Silent Earth or Marz Volta's L'Via L'Viaquez

[Dylonius Funk]

I can't sleep. I have a problem and it GH2 for the 360 just can't wait to pick it up.
I just hope they later have some Progressive songs
like Coheed and Cambria's Secret of Silent Earth or Marz Volta's L'Via L'Viaquez

A press release published on January 9, 2007 confirmed that there will be 10 additional licensed songs included in the Xbox 360 version of Guitar Hero II. The songs that have been confirmed at this time include:[16]

* "Possum Kingdom" - Toadies
* "Salvation" - Rancid
* "Life Wasted" - Pearl Jam
* "Billion Dollar Babies" - Alice Cooper
* "Hush" - Deep Purple
* "Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo" - Rick Derringer
* "Dead!" - My Chemical Romance
* "The Trooper" - Iron Maiden
* "Drink Up" - Ounce of Self
* "Kicked to the Curb" - Noble Rot

Here is the list of the XBOX 360 exclussive tracks.

[Rydsen]

I'll be picking my copy and extra controller up this evening when I get off work. I'm SO stoked about this game! I've had to restrain myself from buying it on the PS2. The whole exclusive and DLC is what sealed the deal for me. Had it been just a 360 port of the PS2 I'd have had it long ago cause I really don't want different guitar controllers laying around. I already have two for the PS2, the black one and the red one. But hey, HD 5.1 rockin' can't be beat so I'm super excited to get mine today! :D

[Jarred]

Got it, plugged it into the office 360, cranked it up, and oh . . my . . gawd. I've only played for about an hour, but this could easily be contender for best fucking game ever. I love it!!

I was blown away when I saw they implemented hammer-ons and pull-offs. That's awesome. This is my first time playing the game, and I think my real guitar and rhythm experience paid off, as co-workers were failing miserably while I was getting high scores.

[FigNewton]

You know, I really want to like GH. I do. But I'm having a hard time getting past the fact that I don't like any of the freakin music. :(

[jecca-neko]

This is my first time playing the game, and I think my real guitar and rhythm experience paid off, as co-workers were failing miserably while I was getting high scores.

The great thing is you don't even need experience. I did great from the get go too and I don't play instruments period (though I've always had an interest in guitar... but with no one to rock with it's not worth it). However, I have been playing music games since 2002 and have built up a rhythm.

Yes, I must specify built up. I completely sucked at music games at first thanks to lack of rhythm. So for those who think they have no rhythm, it is an acquirable skill. :D

[Jarred]

This is my first time playing the game, and I think my real guitar and rhythm experience paid off, as co-workers were failing miserably while I was getting high scores.

The great thing is you don't even need experience. I did great from the get go too and I don't play instruments period (though I've always had an interest in guitar... but with no one to rock with it's not worth it). However, I have been playing music games since 2002 and have built up a rhythm.

Yeah, I'd definitely say experience with music rhythm games is key. Even when I struggle in the first 10 seconds, I can pick up the rhythm quickly and pull everything out into a good finish.

Where my guitar experience kicked in was doing hammer-ons and pull-offs, and like a real guitar I can place all my fingers on the fret buttons and then just pick up the ones I don't need when I hit a note. So the real experience just sort of helped me play more smoothly at first, where everyone else was trying to push buttons and always leaving their fingers off the fret buttons when not in use.

[jecca-neko]

Where my guitar experience kicked in was doing hammer-ons and pull-offs, and like a real guitar I can place all my fingers on the fret buttons and then just pick up the ones I don't need when I hit a note.

Well, I can do the latter (I have long fingers, I barely need to move my hand when I go up and down the fretboard) but I can't do the former very well. I get around that by having learned to strum really fast, but I still need to learn hammer-ons and pull-offs properly. Otherwise I'll never get decent at expert.

[CrazyAsano]

Where my guitar experience kicked in was doing hammer-ons and pull-offs, and like a real guitar I can place all my fingers on the fret buttons and then just pick up the ones I don't need when I hit a note.

Well, I can do the latter (I have long fingers, I barely need to move my hand when I go up and down the fretboard) but I can't do the former very well. I get around that by having learned to strum really fast, but I still need to learn hammer-ons and pull-offs properly. Otherwise I'll never get decent at expert.

Actually, my best performances on expert are when, jedi-like, I go into sort of a trance and do ridiculous things I wouldn't be able to do with conscious effort. Just relax and let the guitar become an extension of your body.

That said, the force is absolutely no match for guitar hero's interpretation of double-picking really fast.

[jecca-neko]

Actually, my best performances on expert are when, jedi-like, I go into sort of a trance and do ridiculous things I wouldn't be able to do with conscious effort. Just relax and let the guitar become an extension of your body.


Oh, I definitely understand that trance. I call that the music game trance. I mean, I do best with DDR as well when I can get into that trance.

However, I'm still new enough to Guitar Hero that on the harder difficulties I can't get into that trance. I don't know how to sight read some of the parts well enough to do so, thus it requires some extreme concentration sometimes.

[Fieri]

Saw this while browsing thru some gaming threads. Apparently there's a couple of defective guitars for GH2 for the 360. Looks like there's at least two different guitars for the game too. I'd at least check out to see if you have either one of these model numbers though: 95055 or 95065.

Joystiq article (http://www.joystiq.com/2007/04/06/xbox-360-guitar-hero-ii-guitar-problem-and-possible-common-threa/)

Kotaku article (http://kotaku.com/gaming/red-octane/red-octane-responds-to-defective-360-guitars-250451.php)

[Dylonius Funk]

Normally i don't do this kind of thing on a message baord but i have something i really need to say. *ahem*

Fuck Franz Ferdinand. Fuck Take Me Out. And Fuck the sons of bitches at Harmonix for making a second tier song need 173,000 to 5 star on Hard. It is the last song i need to complete 5 stars on the first 4 sets and the closest I've gotten is 170,000. I swear tog od one of these days I'm just going to break my guitar. What sucks is i love useing career mode to mix and match players and venues, rather than useing the pre-selected ones in Quick Play. But every time i do i see that one littel 4 star stareing me right int he face, mocking me.
So again, Fuck you Franz Ferdinand and your shitty song.

[Jarred]

Opened up Stonehenge today on Medium difficulty, with current achievement points at 180. Good lord, that 7th Stage set list was incredibly a pain the ass on the mere medium difficulty. Anthrax, Lamb of God, Iron Maiden, Rush . . . YIKES!! I passed the Rush encore at a measly 65%, the lowest I've ever pass a stage.

I have only played one song on the Stonehenge set list, and that's the awesome Institutionalized. I'M NOT CRAZY!!! And I played that one co-op with a co-worker and we both passed with only 70% on medium.

BTW, this has easily become my top favorite game ever. Once I finally get a 360 in the home, the Wii is going to collect dust. I better get through Super Paper Mario before the end of the month. :D What's also funny is that since I've brought it into the office, at least 5 other people have picked up their own copy and we also have another guitar for co-op in the office. Good times.

[Fieri]

And what will happen if it comes to the Wii? I heard it was, but then checked around and couldn't confirm it.

[ape2020]

And what will happen if it comes to the Wii? I heard it was, but then checked around and couldn't confirm it.

Maybe your thinking GHIII rumored to be coming out this fall.

GHIII Fall 07' (http://www.joystiq.com/2007/04/10/redoctane-site-guitar-hero-3-coming-in-fall-07/)

-ape2020

[Jarred]

And what will happen if it comes to the Wii? I heard it was, but then checked around and couldn't confirm it.
Rumored GHIII for Wii, PS3, 360 This Fall (http://kotaku.com/gaming/top/guitar-hero-iii-coming-to-wii-ps3-360-251025.php)

I'm sticking with the 360 version for this game. 720P graphics, audio pushed through the HDMI cable, and new downloadable content FTW.

[Fieri]

And what will happen if it comes to the Wii? I heard it was, but then checked around and couldn't confirm it.

Maybe your thinking GHIII rumored to be coming out this fall.

GHIII Fall 07' (http://www.joystiq.com/2007/04/10/redoctane-site-guitar-hero-3-coming-in-fall-07/)

-ape2020

Yes, but it's just a rumor still.

[Dylonius Funk]

Opened up Stonehenge today on Medium difficulty, with current achievement points at 180. Good lord, that 7th Stage set list was incredibly a pain the ass on the mere medium difficulty. Anthrax, Lamb of God, Iron Maiden, Rush . . . YIKES!! I passed the Rush encore at a measly 65%, the lowest I've ever pass a stage.

I have only played one song on the Stonehenge set list, and that's the awesome Institutionalized. I'M NOT CRAZY!!! And I played that one co-op with a co-worker and we both passed with only 70% on medium.

BTW, this has easily become my top favorite game ever. Once I finally get a 360 in the home, the Wii is going to collect dust. I better get through Super Paper Mario before the end of the month. :D What's also funny is that since I've brought it into the office, at least 5 other people have picked up their own copy and we also have another guitar for co-op in the office. Good times.


Where do you work? I must get a job there. :D . You think i'm kidding don't you? :sd:

[Jarred]

Where do you work? I must get a job there. :D . You think i'm kidding don't you? :sd:
Software development, and we are all a bunch of film, video game, and/or pop culture geeks. :D

[CrazyAsano]

And what will happen if it comes to the Wii? I heard it was, but then checked around and couldn't confirm it.
Rumored GHIII for Wii, PS3, 360 This Fall (http://kotaku.com/gaming/top/guitar-hero-iii-coming-to-wii-ps3-360-251025.php)

I'm sticking with the 360 version for this game. 720P graphics, audio pushed through the HDMI cable, and new downloadable content FTW.

Audio through HDMI isn't any better than optical. I don't really care about the graphics in a game like this but downloadable content is a huge plus.

[Jarred]

I don't really care about the graphics in a game like this but downloadable content is a huge plus.
GHII Song Packs Available for Download (http://www.majornelson.com/archive/2007/04/11/gh-ii-song-packs-3-of-em.aspx)

3 packs w/ 3 songs and 500 points each. And I guess most of these were on GH1.

Name: Guitar Hero Track Pack 1
Price: 500 Points
Dash Details: Bark at the Moon as made famous by Ozzy Osbourne, Hey You as made famous by The Exies, Ace of Spades as made famous by Motorhead

Name: Guitar Hero Track Pack 2
Price: 500 Points
Dash Details: Killer Queen as made famous by Queen, Take it Off as made famous by The Donnas, Frankenstein as made famous by The Edgar Winter Group

Name: Guitar Hero Track Pack 3
Price: 500 Points
Dash Details: Higher Ground as made famous by Red Hot Chili Peppers, Infected as made famous by Bad Religon, Stellar as made famous by Incubus

[GHardin]

3 packs w/ 3 songs and 500 points each. And I guess most of these were on GH1.


Actually, these are all songs from GH1. :)
It sounds even better, considering these can be played in co-op mode now! :D


*Goes to the corner to mope*
Why did my 360 have to break down now? And why am I too cheap to pay $140 to have it fixed? :P :cry:

[NeoCortex]

I'm a little disappointed at how they handled the DLC for this. About $2 a song, I can deal with. Grouping them into packs is ridiculous, though. Isn't the point of microtransactions supposed to be that you can pick and choose what you want? I want only one song from the first and third packs, and 2 from the second pack. Does that mean I should have to spend almost $20? As much as I was looking forward to downloadable songs on the Marketplace, if this is the way they are going to release them, I might have to just pass on them.

[jecca-neko]

And what will happen if it comes to the Wii? I heard it was, but then checked around and couldn't confirm it.
Rumored GHIII for Wii, PS3, 360 This Fall (http://kotaku.com/gaming/top/guitar-hero-iii-coming-to-wii-ps3-360-251025.php)

I'm sticking with the 360 version for this game. 720P graphics, audio pushed through the HDMI cable, and new downloadable content FTW.


I personally don't have any of the "current gen" consoles yet but the Wii. Even then I don't feel like switching over to the Wii for GH if I don't have to because that means 2 more guitar controllers. I'm glad I can get it on PS2 and play with my current guitars.

[Caesar]

This game might be tempting me back into the world of gaming.

[CrazyAsano]

I don't really care about the graphics in a game like this but downloadable content is a huge plus.
GHII Song Packs Available for Download (http://www.majornelson.com/archive/2007/04/11/gh-ii-song-packs-3-of-em.aspx)

3 packs w/ 3 songs and 500 points each. And I guess most of these were on GH1.

Name: Guitar Hero Track Pack 1
Price: 500 Points
Dash Details: Bark at the Moon as made famous by Ozzy Osbourne, Hey You as made famous by The Exies, Ace of Spades as made famous by Motorhead

Name: Guitar Hero Track Pack 2
Price: 500 Points
Dash Details: Killer Queen as made famous by Queen, Take it Off as made famous by The Donnas, Frankenstein as made famous by The Edgar Winter Group

Name: Guitar Hero Track Pack 3
Price: 500 Points
Dash Details: Higher Ground as made famous by Red Hot Chili Peppers, Infected as made famous by Bad Religon, Stellar as made famous by Incubus

When they're done with GH1 content they're going to need to get some good power and/or melodic death metal up for download for me to consider switching to 360 and buying another two controllers.

The game is fun and all but I'm not paying that much extra to get more of the same mainstream stuff I'd never just listen to.

[Dylonius Funk]

I've had a chance to play a few of the X-Box 260 songs. Keep in mind my current play level is Hard.

Dead! as performed by My Chemical Romance- Meh. Nothing against it since i don't know much about My Chemical Romance. Aside from one tough solo the mainline is pretty straightforward and easy enough to keep in rythum to. It's worth playing at least once since it's one of the two new master track songs.

Possum Kingdom as performed by Toadies- I've heard this song lots of times on the radio with no idea what it was called, so i was surprised when i scrolled ove rit and recognized it. Pretty easy, another straightforward main line. Also the other master track

Hush as made famous by Deep Purple- Deep Purple returns with a rocking tune. Not much to say here, i don't remember the solo being all that tricky. You gotta keep to the rythum as it can speed up and slow down quickly, especially on that long stretch of yellows, which can switch over to reds then back again. Overall a nice slow 60's jam with some kicking keyboard work

The Trooper as made famous by Iron Maiden- Bitch and ye shall receive. The first Iron Maiden song to appear on GH and this one kcisk ass and takes names. Playing it on hard was a challenge, no clue what expert will be like. Overall a pretty easy main line but it breaks off into 1-3-3-1-3-3 sections in several spots. If you've played Thunderhorse you know what i mean and it's as annoying here as it was on that song. Add a mess you up solo and you got a challenge.

Well all for now I'll add more as i get a chance to play them. I just did these ones now as i've had a chance to play them for a while

[Jarred]

I'm going through the Hard career mode right now (on the 2nd to last stage with The Trooper), and so far I would recommend these songs for a challenge. At least these are ones that took me a couple days of practice to complete.

Freya by The Sword
Crazy On You by Heart (the beginning is killer)
Woman by Wolfmother
Carry On Wayward Son by Kansas
Laid to Rest by Lamb of God (this one doesn't get real hard until 80% of the way in)
Edit: Oh, and YYZ by Rush is fucking nuts. :D

Of course I found the last two stages to be hard on Medium, so I'm sure they'll kick my ass as I get through them. That Living End song is quite a challenge, and I still can't get 5 stars on the Rev. Heat song on Medium.

[itsuka]

I've just picked up GHII on the PS2, as a total newby, and I enjoy it immensely. So far, I'm going through easy level on 5 stars each without too much effort, and I've done the first 6 tracks in medium as well. Someone said that the difficulty of GHII might be off-putting, but I don't expect to be able to do hard or expert, I'm having enough fun at easy and medium so far. And I looooooove Practice Mode.

I didn't know too many of the songs before I started, but I like them all so far (I guess I have a broad taste, and I don't care if it's punk, metal, sixties, classic rock - whatever). Actually, 2 of my favourites to play for warming up are songs I didn't know before - Monkey Wrench and Tattoo Love Boys.

I'm sure I'll like the songs of GH1 as well (can't wait to hear myself play the intro to Smoke on the Water), but did I hear correctly that there is no practice mode on GHI? How on earth do you learn to play songs when you can't slow them down for practice? Encoring songs on GHII (again without any practice) is horribly enough - I just pale at the idea of having to do all my songs that way :(.

So, how do people actually practice on GHI?

[MKVarana]

I tried the demo for this game for the 360 in a store the other day. The demo reminded me of Angelic Concert, which I'm very much addicted to, so I decided to pick it up. (Angelic Concert is a Japanese "Music Action Game" made by Kogado Studios. It's similar to this game, except it uses the keyboard as opposed to a guitar. Other games in this series include Angelic Serenade, Symphonic Rain, and Dear Pianissimo, as well as an enhanced version of each of them. I'm going to be referencing them alot in this post, so if it confuses you [or you're curious about it], feel free to try the free Dear Pianissimo demo (http://www.kogado.com/html/kuroneko/dearpia/download.htm) on the Kogado website.)

Anyhow, I've enjoyed this game so far. My Concert skills seemed to have caried over somewhat, since I started on medium and passed everything on my first try (even got a few 5 stars). Then I went to easy and 5 starred everything on my first try (got a few perfects, too o(^-^)o ), and when I went back to medium, I 5 starred the rest without too much hastle. I just started hard, and haven't failed anything yet (failed once on easy for the achievement, though), but I've only gotten 3-4 stars so far. I got sidetracked when .hack//G.U. 2 came out, though, so I haven't played it in a few days.

So far, from what I've played, it's alot more generous with points than Angelic Concert. In Concert, if I almost hit the note at the right time, it gives me less points and kill my multiplier. In this game, though, that same distance will still give you full points and keep your multiplier, so you don't have to be nearly as precise in this game (which is good, because I'm expecting the expert songs to be crazy, though I haven't tried them yet).

So overall, I'm enjoying this game. It's not going to replace Concert as my favorite of these type of games, but I'll most likely be buying more of them, and who doesn't like a two-player mode in this type of game. o(^-^)o

[jecca-neko]

So, how do people actually practice on GHI?

Pretty much your only option on GH1 is to play the song over and over until you get it. It's not so bad though.

[Dylonius Funk]

So, how do people actually practice on GHI?

Pretty much your only option on GH1 is to play the song over and over until you get it. It's not so bad though.


I found the best way was to find a couple of songs i liked and do them over and over again. For me one of them was Ziggy Stardust. I did that over and over again on Medium then i moved onto Hard and now i can do Expert though that solo and final part always get me flustered. I like to say i can 100% the part of the song that Bowie himself actually wrote, not including that idiotic solo they threw in just to pad out the song.

SO find a couple of songs you like and try doing them over again till you get the feel for them then move on to a couple more. I found once you ge the hang of a certain difficulty it's easier to move onto other songs on that same difficulty. I find that easier than jumping around from Hard to Expert then back to Hard.

[CrazyAsano]

So, how do people actually practice on GHI?

Pretty much your only option on GH1 is to play the song over and over until you get it. It's not so bad though.

Every time I've used the practice option in 2 I found it to be pretty worthless. Slowing things down doesn't really help me at all for some reason, and having to go all the way back to the start of the menu and all the loading screens to get to the practice mode for a song and then going all the way back makes it not even worth it for me.

[Dylonius Funk]

Looks like that 80's themed Guitar Hero game is a reality. The GH 80's Wikipedia Article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guitar_Hero:_80%27s_Edition) article ahs been updated with new info courtesy of 1Up (http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3159720)
They got thier info courtesy of Activision (http://investor.activision.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=241877)

From what i can tell despite the claims of the rpess release, from these Gamespot videos (http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/puzzle/guitarhero80s/media.html) it looks like GH2 just with some 80's clothing and other elements added. I hope i'm wrong and we see some new venues. At least the person playing the songs in these vids knows how to play the game, unlike whoever IGN got for the vidoes of the XBOX 360 songs.

Here is the current track list according to compiled data from Wikipedia....

Activision's press release[9] revealed the first 7 of 30 songs in the game. Further news on 1UP.com[10] revealed 7 additional songs. Songs in bold denote master tracks.

* "18 and Life" - Skid Row
* "Bathroom Wall" - Faster Pussycat
* "Heat of the Moment" - Asia
* "Holy Diver" - Dio
* "I Ran (So Far Away)" - A Flock of Seagulls
* "I Wanna Rock" - Twisted Sister
* "I Want Candy" - Bow Wow Wow
* "Lonely is the Night" - Billy Squier
* "Metal Health" - Quiet Riot
* "Nothin' But a Good Time" - Poison
* "Play With Me" - Extreme
* "Round and Round" - Ratt
* "Shakin'" - Eddie Money
* "Synchronicity II" - The Police
* "We Got the Beat" - The Go-Go's[11]

I know we got more songs to come but so far i'm disappointed. Where is the Guns N Roses? Ok well there is one GNR song on the GH3 list, but still. Where is the Blue Oyster Cult? I've been dying to play Burning For You or Don't Fear The Reaper. Where is Ozzy? Still no Crazy Train for Guitar Hero? Also i'm not sure how pleased i am at a game with only 30 songs priced at $39.99. For half the content of GH2 i expect to pay half the cost.

Still more GH News as new details have bene reported about Neversoft's first entry into the series, Guitar Hero 3. There's a lot of stuff there to digest so i'll let you puruse the Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guitar_Hero_III) article at your leisure. Here is the current Track List....

On May 23, 2007, Activision announced 11 songs that will appear in the game.[11] The list includes both cover songs (indicated by the phrase "as made famous by") and master tracks featuring the performances of the song's original artist.

bold denotes song performed by the original artist (all other songs are covers)

* "Paint It, Black" - The Rolling Stones
* "Cherub Rock" - Smashing Pumpkins
* "Sabotage" - Beastie Boys
* "The Metal" - Tenacious D
* "My Name is Jonas" - Weezer
* "Knights of Cydonia" - Muse
* "Rock and Roll All Nite" - Kiss
* "School's Out" - Alice Cooper
* "Slow Ride" - Foghat
* "Cult of Personality" - Living Colour
* "Barracuda" - Heart

In addition, bands confirmed to be contributing to the game include:

* Queens of the Stone Age[8]
* Velvet Revolver[9]

Concerning other bands, Huang also stated in an interview, "We've got a lot of songs and artists still that we would love to have. In particular, we've been trying to get Metallica, AC/DC, and Led Zeppelin. So hopefully sometime in the near future, my wish and everybody's wish will come true and we can get some of their music in the game."[12]

Now that's what i'm talking about. A lot of master tracks and even The Beastie Boys. I was a littel worried aobut how Neversoft would handle thier first entry into this kind of game but thios song list is a good start.

[machineger4]

About the 80s version, the tracks are looking good overall - Holy Diver, I Ran, I Wanna Rock, 18 and Life, and Heat of the Moment are all songs I want to play - but hopefully they get some alternative rock to balance the hair stuff (not that the hair metal won't be fun to play or anything). Though the game needs possibly the quintessential 80s song: Europe's "The Final Countdown". Maybe they'll get an original Van Halen song - hell I'll settle for a good Van Haagar song like "5150". Also, this one or GH3 needs more Iron Maiden and/or Rush!

GH3 got me quite excited for it already with Sabotage, Barracuda (just seeing a vid of it once got me interested), Paint It Black, Slow Ride, I can't wait for more to be revealed. More original versions is awesome, it would be nice if a good percentage of the tracks are not covers.

[CrazyAsano]

I'm still waiting for news of downloadable power metal. :(

[machineger4]

I'm still waiting for news of downloadable power metal. :(

While I don't have the 360 GH2 (yet), I'm very disappointed at the DLC so far. I really expected more than GH1 songs, hopefully they change that soon or I won't pick it up at all (despite really wanting to play "The Trooper").

[Johnny]

I'm still waiting for news of downloadable power metal. :(

While I don't have the 360 GH2 (yet), I'm very disappointed at the DLC so far. I really expected more than GH1 songs, hopefully they change that soon or I won't pick it up at all (despite really wanting to play "The Trooper").

It's a con sticking the good/popular songs in with a couple of lesser known ones so you have to buy them all.
Course, I say it's a con but ended up buying them all anyway :sd:

And yeah, that 80's pack had better be DLC for the 360 version. I so badly want to rock out to Skid Row!

[jecca-neko]

Kotaku put up the cover art (http://cache.kotaku.com/assets/resources/2007/05/GH80s.jpg). I don't particularly care for it myself.

I think I'll love this new addition. Boyfriend's not much of a fan of 80's hair metal. Actually, most 80's music he listened to didn't have real instruments, it was synthesizer stuff. So I may be playing this Guitar Hero alone. :(

[Johnny]

So I may be playing this Guitar Hero alone. :(

I'll come and play it with you Jeccs :) 80's hair metal is awesome. But only if the guys look like attractive chicks.

[jecca-neko]

So I may be playing this Guitar Hero alone. :(

I'll come and play it with you Jeccs :) 80's hair metal is awesome. But only if the guys look like attractive chicks.

Hey, you ever come to the US you're more than welcome to come stop by for some gaming fun. Though I think Loafy would kill me if I got to see you in person before he did.

[machineger4]

I'm still waiting for news of downloadable power metal. :(

While I don't have the 360 GH2 (yet), I'm very disappointed at the DLC so far. I really expected more than GH1 songs, hopefully they change that soon or I won't pick it up at all (despite really wanting to play "The Trooper").

It's a con sticking the good/popular songs in with a couple of lesser known ones so you have to buy them all.
Course, I say it's a con but ended up buying them all anyway :sd:

And yeah, that 80's pack had better be DLC for the 360 version. I so badly want to rock out to Skid Row!

If the 80s pack is DLC then I'm so buying the 360 version and probably selling off the PS2 games. (Has there been any rumblings about an adapter to use the PS2 guitars for the 360? That would be quite awesome if one came out (and save money in the long run.)

And I realize the whole DLC thing is a "do we cheat them and how?" type of thing, but so far only GH1 songs are available and I think that's kinda lame, maybe my expectations were set a bit too high to begin with.

[Jarred]

Nothing like getting through 90% of god awfully long "Free Bird" on Hard only to fail miserably when trying to go crazy with the finger rollin' and your arms locks up and quits working due to playing the damn song for the past hour. Gah!

The Hard achievement is right in front of me! Just . . . can't . . quite . . . grasp . . ughhhhh. I never liked Free Bird in the first place, so now I'm beginning to despise it.

[jecca-neko]

Nothing like getting through 90% of god awfully long "Free Bird" on Hard only to fail miserably when trying to go crazy with the finger rollin' and your arms locks up and quits working due to playing the damn song for the past hour. Gah!

The Hard achievement is right in front of me! Just . . . can't . . quite . . . grasp . . ughhhhh. I never liked Free Bird in the first place, so now I'm beginning to despise it.

Are you trying to 5-star it or just beat it? I haven't quite gotten to it on hard yet. Stop is giving me a bit of trouble.

[Jarred]

Are you trying to 5-star it or just beat it? I haven't quite gotten to it on hard yet. Stop is giving me a bit of trouble.
Just beat it, and I did this morning!! Now I know what the loading screen meant when it said to practice "Guitar Solo i". That part was killing me every time, which sucks because it is 73% into a LONG song.

The other part that was messing me up for a bit was "Guitar Solo q" about 90% in. It's all about nailing those stars to help me through the hard times. :D

[Dylonius Funk]

Some new GHJ3 info. According to this (http://au.xbox360.ign.com/articles/793/793240p1.html) IGN story The Living Colour song, Cult of Personality, is a track that people have been wanting in Guitar Hero for a long time. There was a slight hitch with it though. The master track was nowhere to be found. Instead of getting a cover, Living Colour came in and re-recorded the song just for the game. And they threw in a wicked solo that makes this song on expert just plain ridiculous.

They also have some gameplay videos showing My Name is Jonas and Slow Ride game play as well as some footage of the new Battle System, including a vid of the redone Cult Of Personality. The game looksm prtty good. They've redone the entire graphics engine and the stadium the vidoes show look pretty well done. I'm still hopeful they go with my idea and have the game take place on alien worlds since it would connect the game with the end of GH2 where your hero gets taken away by the aliens after finishing Freebird on career mode. I was hopeful that was for 80's edition since it was the last Harmonix GH.

I found the part of the article that talked about master tracks pretty interesting. It makes me wondering why the website for the first game had the original Spanish Castle Magic with Hendrix singing while the game had an instrumental cover.

I would also be curiouis to know if they go by the studio version of a song when they cover or if they use material from live tracks. One good example is the solo in Ziggy Stardust whihc is not on the studio cut but my friend claims was used by David in live show sin the 80's. Also see the end of Freebird or the end of Search and Destroy.

I understand a lot of studio songs just fade out which dosen't work in a video game like this but that dosen't explain a song like SAD which had a solid ending and for some reason the developers felt they had to add more to the song. I would be curious to know if what they add is from the band or stuff they make themselves. Also why do they remove stuff like the verse taken out of Iron Man? I guess we'll never know.

[itsuka]

I've almost finished my 5 star medium path - though a few 7 and 8 tracks are still eluding me. How the hell do people keep the pacing in the Psychobilly bits where you have to alternate 2 colour notes very fast? I've never finished any of those bits with my modifier intact.

Also, after trying the first song on hard, I freaked out. What works best for people on hard? I read somewhere that putting 4 fingers on red to orange is easier for the fingers, but my brain refuses to recode the colours to different fingers :( My brain really insists on going green to blue with index to pink. Makes me wonder if trying to do double shift with the pink for blue and orange is doable?

Also, what songs where your surprise nemesises? I mean, some songs I didn't have any trouble with on easy where rather fiendish on medium. Even now I still have trouble producing 5 stars for Surrender, Them Bones and Crazy on You on medium when I replay (though I got them eventually) - not to speak of the 7th and 8th part, where all my songs are still on 3 or 4 stars.

Oh, and am I particularly klutzy for not being able to get 5 stars on every song in medium in a few tries for each song? It seems most people talking in forums complain about not getting 5 stars on a particular song at expert level... I seem to be on a totally lower level compared to the rest of the world. :sigh:

[itsuka]

As for the website covers, I remember reading somewhere that it is permitted to play up to 30 seconds of a song without paying for it, so maybe they did that and used the covers for other reasons.

I guess with old songs it would be mostly missing master tracks or rights being too costly. Now that the game is getting more popular, they have more to spend on licensing costs, and maybe there is some positive marketing effect for the bands involved. I'm quite willing to buy and try a CD of Wolfmother, for instance...

Apart from the tracks, I hope they do fix a minor issue: I'd like to have a peek at the high score list without having to play through Quick Play first. Sometimes at Career, I want to know if I have just beaten my husband to the highest score or not.

[MKVarana]

How the hell do people keep the pacing in the Psychobilly bits where you have to alternate 2 colour notes very fast? I've never finished any of those bits with my modifier intact.

I haven't had the game for too long, so I can't offer very efficient hard mode advice, but maybe I can help you with this part. Keep the left-most of the two colors held down the whole time and just keep pressing and releasing the right note as you strum. For all single notes, the game only acknowledges the right-most note that you hold down, so if you hold all four normal-mode notes down, it will count it as a blue note.

[Dylonius Funk]

I'm still playing on hard for the most part, a handful of songs on 1 i can do on Expert but not that many on 2. On GH1 some songs that i still have trouble with are...


Take Me Out-Yeah surpriseing that a second tier song would give me trouble but this song is a pain in the arse. I honestly think it should be third tier, it's not to ahrd to start but after the first part it gets worse. it's the only song on my Hard career in that bracket i have yet to 5 StarZiggy Stardust-My favorite song, yet the solo still kills me even on Hard while i have no problem with the rest of the song. I have yet to finish in the green on Expert becasue of that alst seriesof Y-R-G stairs which on hard is just a string on Y. And again the frecking solo. I like to say i can 100% all the stuff Bowie actually wrote since i have yet to find evidence that the solo is his work.Bark At The Moon-I can beat it on Hard but it's not rpetty. I still have yet to master double struming so the verses with the repeating Green throw me off since i'm trying to hit them strumming in one direction. The solo is actually not to bad on Hard, it's the verses thata re the biggest painTexas Flood- If there was ever a song that needs GH2 Hammer Ons it's this one. Come on XBOX folks, make it a download. If i could hammer on proeprly i could do much betetr but just trying to strum everything on what is essentially one long solo is insane.
Those are the ones from 1 i can think off right now. I gotta get to class but i'll add some more later on. I actually haven't played 1 in a while.

[Jarred]

How the hell do people keep the pacing in the Psychobilly bits where you have to alternate 2 colour notes very fast? I've never finished any of those bits with my modifier intact.

I haven't had the game for too long, so I can't offer very efficient hard mode advice, but maybe I can help you with this part. Keep the left-most of the two colors held down the whole time and just keep pressing and releasing the right note as you strum. For all single notes, the game only acknowledges the right-most note that you hold down, so if you hold all four normal-mode notes down, it will count it as a blue note.
And if you aren't, I would recommend strumming up and down, and not just using down strokes (if you are). Those parts of that song killed me for a while as well. It was more of a timing issue than technique for me. I just ended up keeping my eye on the right most color and strumming up when it was time, then down on the left color, than back up, etc, etc

[jecca-neko]

I've almost finished my 5 star medium path - though a few 7 and 8 tracks are still eluding me. How the hell do people keep the pacing in the Psychobilly bits where you have to alternate 2 colour notes very fast? I've never finished any of those bits with my modifier intact.

Over the weekend I finally completed this task. My last 2 songs holding out on me were Freebird and Institutionalized. Freebird because the solo would kill me and Institutionalized because of the tempo changes and the fact that I HATE the song so haven't played it much. I conquered them though. Hooray!

Anyway, I do suggest practicing double strumming. Even if you get really quick at strumming in one direction, the pace will really be a strain on your wrist and you'll get tired out quicker. I had slight problems with Psychobilly Freakout until I learned it myself. Then it was incredibly easy.

Also, after trying the first song on hard, I freaked out. What works best for people on hard? I read somewhere that putting 4 fingers on red to orange is easier for the fingers, but my brain refuses to recode the colours to different fingers :(

For me, it depends on the song on where I have my fingers sitting. If it uses a lot of green, I have my fingers sitting green to blue. If it uses a lot of orange, I have my fingers sitting red to orange. Some songs have you constantly moving though so either way you need to get your fingers used to moving, learning where the buttons are by feel, and you need to be able to learn to automatically transpose things, like knowing your pinky is going to be hitting orange instead of blue if that's where it's sitting at that moment, and then maybe it might be sitting on blue later and you need to keep track. It gets automatic after practice.

Go to the Free Play option and try the "Amp Warmers" section on hard. Those are a lot better at helping you learn how to go up and down the fret board and how to adjust than the first set of songs are. The first set of songs are actually kinda killer in GH2 for learning hard. Woman is the worst... its solo is a real killer if you don't know how to switch really fast.

Edit: Note, just realized for the 360 version they changed the order of the songs around. Opening Licks has less difficult songs in it now so if you practice those on hard you should be good.

Also, what songs where your surprise nemesises?

Which difficulty are we talking about? For me, 5-starring Free Bird on medium was a pain in the ass, just because of how many times I had to do it, but fortunately I like the song. Institutionalized was a song I dreaded playing so when I got 4-stars after putting up with it, it was very disappointing.

For hard, the songs that have given me the most trouble are Woman (took a while to get through that solo) and Stop. I'm actually stuck on Stop right now. That one you definitely need to learn how to go up and down the fret board and really quickly. I just can't handle those really quick chord changes. Plus, while I like the instrumentals, I've never been a fan of the Jane's Addiction singer. He and the Smashing Pumpkins singer are two voices that when I hear them on the radio I change the station. This is a track I wish it wasn't still done by the original artist.

Oh, and am I particularly klutzy for not being able to get 5 stars on every song in medium in a few tries for each song?

Uh, no. I have no idea how many times I tried to 5 star Freebird on medium before I finally got it. It was seriously between 15-20 times, I'd imagine. And considering the length of that song, that's a lot of time wasted trying to 5-star it. :sd:

So far in my quest of working through hard on Career Mode on GH2 (again, I'm stuck on Stop) I've only 5-starred one song and it was by chance on the first time I tried it. I did 4-star a few others but most have been 3-stars. However, 3-stars is pretty good considering most of those songs I haven't tried playing again as I passed it the first time and went on. I'll probably do what I did for medium, and that's just try to get through Career Mode on hard and then I'll go back and attempt to 5-star everything.

I did also start playing through expert Career Mode. Honestly, the jump in difficulty has felt fairly negligable thus far. Well, I can't beat Woman on expert yet but that's to be expected. I barely got through it on hard. I need to practice that song some more.

[Jarred]

First you hate on Suicidal, then you hate on Jane's Addiction, and like Free Bird!?!

I hope Steve Vai eats your soul! :D

[itsuka]

Thanks everyone so far... And since I happened to score 5 stars today on Psychobilly, I'm really happy. Though I did it somehow without surviving a single set of fast double notes :).

Double strumming (and fast notes) is indeed beyond me - I lack control if I do that.

Wouldn't it be great if there were a few tutorial practices just designed to learn sliding and double strumming? That way you wouldn't have to take on a whole song, and the practice bits could just focus on rows of fast notes, or going up and down from green to orange and back.

[jecca-neko]

First you hate on Suicidal, then you hate on Jane's Addiction, and like Free Bird!?!

I hope Steve Vai eats your soul! :D

Suicidial has no singing. It's crazy shouting and talking. I like singing with my songs. Jane's Addiction does get higher points because at least he's singing. And Free Bird's awesome. Don't hate it because it is. :P

I have rather eclectic tastes in music though so it makes sense people would think it weird. You'd make fun of me if I said what my all-time favorite band is. :sd:

[jecca-neko]

Wouldn't it be great if there were a few tutorial practices just designed to learn sliding and double strumming? That way you wouldn't have to take on a whole song, and the practice bits could just focus on rows of fast notes, or going up and down from green to orange and back.

I have no idea why they never put such a thing in and it would've been nice if they had.

If you're a music oriented person learning it happens a lot faster. For a non-musically inclined person, such as myself, it takes pretty much that raw effort of playing over and over and over until whatever it is clicks in your head. Then it feels incredibly easy all of a sudden and you feel like all that time you spent learning it was almost wasteful. :sd:

[Jarred]

I have rather eclectic tastes in music though so it makes sense people would think it weird. You'd make fun of me if I said what my all-time favorite band is. :sd:
Journey (http://youtube.com/watch?v=7ygLO64hVww) ?

And I'd wager you'd absolutely hate 80% of my library of tines, which are mostly "crazy shouting and talking" (well, if you call hip-hop talking i guess). :D

To steer this back on topic, has anyone found any favorite bonus songs to play? You know, the ones you buy with credits from the store. I found a few, and have purchased most of the tracks from iTunes.

My favorites:
"Fall of Pangea" - Valient Thorr
"Laughtrack" - The Acro-brats
"Less Talk More Rokk" - Freezepop
"Jordan" - Buckethead
"The New Black" - Every Time I Die
"The Light That Blinds" - Shadows Fall
"Trogdor" - Strong Bad
"Yes We Can" - Made in Mexico

Really dig the Shadows Fall, so I may have to pick up one of their albums. I also picked up a Valient Thorr album, because I can never have enough MC5-inspired cock rock. :D

[Jarred]

If you're a music oriented person learning it happens a lot faster. For a non-musically inclined person, such as myself, it takes pretty much that raw effort of playing over and over and over until whatever it is clicks in your head. Then it feels incredibly easy all of a sudden and you feel like all that time you spent learning it was almost wasteful. :sd:
But that's how it works for learning to play any instrument. You practice and practice until your exhausted, and then lo and behold it actually becomes easier. There's no tutorial really for strumming or sliding your fingers, it's just patience and repetition.

Start on an easy song and practice the up stroke with every other note. Then maybe try a medium song, but only play it with 3 fingers to practice moving them. And gradually just work up.

[jecca-neko]

I have rather eclectic tastes in music though so it makes sense people would think it weird. You'd make fun of me if I said what my all-time favorite band is. :sd:
Journey (http://youtube.com/watch?v=7ygLO64hVww) ?

And I'd wager you'd absolutely hate 80% of my library of tines, which are mostly "crazy shouting and talking" (well, if you call hip-hop talking i guess). :D


No, it's not Journey. While I like Free Bird, it's not of the genre of rock music I typically mostly listen to. Try again.... you probably won't get it though. :P


If you're a music oriented person learning it happens a lot faster. For a non-musically inclined person, such as myself, it takes pretty much that raw effort of playing over and over and over until whatever it is clicks in your head. Then it feels incredibly easy all of a sudden and you feel like all that time you spent learning it was almost wasteful. :sd:
But that's how it works for learning to play any instrument. You practice and practice until your exhausted, and then lo and behold it actually becomes easier. There's no tutorial really for strumming or sliding your fingers, it's just patience and repetition.


Yes, but if you have a music background it makes things easier to adjust to. You understand rhythm and the very makeup of a piece of music.

My boyfriend's a big music nut and that's why he loves music games. But the reason he's better at Guitar Hero than I am is when he's playing he can visualize sheet music in his head despite never having played any string instruments save piano (he's more of a brass instrument kinda guy). From the mental sheet music he can actually learn the song without paying too much attention to the colors or anything. In fact, he can stop even paying attention to what's going on with the screen after a while and just jam out.

I haven't been able to read sheet music since middle school and even then I wasn't very good at it. I must pay attention to the screen at all times. Sure, I can learn portions of the song, but that's more of raw memorization, like memorizing the multiplication tables when I was in elementary school. I jam out too but my eyes have to be glued to the TV.

That's what I mean comparing someone who plays an instrument and someone who does not. :sd:

Now, I have gotten tons better with music games over the years and it has given me enough of an interest to be tempted to pick up an instrument. If I did that though I'd probably play jazz, not rock, as I'd want to play guitar and I'd want to be able to play stuff with my boyfriend occasionally. Rock music and trombones don't tend to mix unless you're playing ska and he's not so much a ska person.

[itsuka]

To steer this back on topic, has anyone found any favorite bonus songs to play? You know, the ones you buy with credits from the store. I found a few, and have purchased most of the tracks from iTunes.

I still haven't really tried them all or listed to them, even, but my husband, who is more connected to the alternative music scene, pointed out that Count Zero has inherited some talent from Think Tree, so I tried Radium Eyes, and I think I'll like it. But I'm pretty sure I'll find others once I get to that.

But I still have a few 5 stars to go on medium before I'll really dive into the bonus songs. Can anyone give me a few pointers on how to rank the bonus songs in ascending difficulty, as if you would compare them to the tiers? Preferably on medium? I'm not sure the order in which they can be bought is also the best order to try them on.

[Dylonius Funk]

While looking for a lyrics FAQ for the first game (some one needs to tell Mr Zombie to Emphasize what he's saying), i notice Game FAQS has an entry for a DS port of Guitar Hero. Anyone know what this is about, it's the first i've heard of such a thing.

[Dylonius Funk]

From
Kotaku.com (http://kotaku.com/gaming/rumor/slash-playable-in-guitar-hero-3-275993.php)

Metal Injection reports that Slash of Velvet Revolver and Guns N Roses fame will be a playable character in Guitar Hero 3. To play as Slash, who did motion capture for the game, you have to complete all of the songs in the game and then face him in a one-on-one duel. No idea what sort of cred Metal Injection has and they don't list a source, but it sounds very conceivable.

[TheStrongMan]

Hard

Anyone have tips on 5 starring The Trooper, Carry Me Home, and/or Psychobilly Freakout? These are the last 3 I need and I'll get my 5-Star Hard achievement.

I'm about 30,000-40,000 points away from the cutoff on each song.

Expert

Anyone have tips on beating Hangar 18? I've been stuck on this song at 92% for two weeks now. I've practiced the Bigger Riff (that yellow, red, green, red, yellow, blue, red, green hammer on chain that repeats between the solos) constantly but I can't seem to get any sort of consistency outside of the practice mode. Should I just bite the bullet and actually learn how to do solo 4b and solo 7 instead of just mashing fret buttons under star power?

I've been practicing the Freebird solos in practice mode, so once Hangar 18 falls, Freebird shouldn't be too much of a problem...I hope, and then Expert mode will be beaten!

Lastly, I'm very close on Jordan...well, at least I'd like to think that I'm very close on Jordan. I can consistently make it to Guitar solo B now. But I can't make it to solo C without using star power, and I usually don't have enough to make it through solo C into D. If I can get to D I'll be fine...well, maybe except for the Bridge. :sd:

[MKVarana]

Since noone mentioned it yet, I should probably point out that a new DLC pack came out the other day.

[TheStrongMan]

Since noone mentioned it yet, I should probably point out that a new DLC pack came out the other day.

Yep...and with the release of yet another pack from GH1...there goes the dream that the downloaded tracks they were hinting at releasing in July would be from Rocks the 80s.

Oh...and still 500 points? After all the complaints?

[NeoCortex]

Since noone mentioned it yet, I should probably point out that a new DLC pack came out the other day.

Yep...and with the release of yet another pack from GH1...there goes the dream that the downloaded tracks they were hinting at releasing in July would be from Rocks the 80s.

Oh...and still 500 points? After all the complaints?

Don't expect it to change any time soon:

Yahoo! News Article (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070712/wr_nm/gamesexpo_activision_dc;_ylt=AnP7uReOixllfoJO6WxCY noK77EF)

[TheStrongMan]

I have now beaten the game on Expert and am currently rocking out on my Battleaxe!

I also boosted my career score (campaign only) into the top 10,000 on the leaderboards.

Now I have to decide whether to focus on 5 starring the last 3 songs I need on Hard, or on beating Jordon on Expert. All I know is...my hand hurts. :sd:

A question...for those of you with a PS2 and a 360, do you plan on buying Rocks the 80s for the PS2? Or are you waiting to see if it's released for the 360? (as a disc or downloadable content)

[machineger4]

While I have a PS2 and 360, I don't have GH2 for the 360 (so I'm not exactly someone that fits the question), but I don't think I'll be getting Rocks the 80s. The song list looks cool, but $50 for only 30 songs? That's a bit hard to accept, if I can get my brother to split the cost, then I'll get it but other than that, I'll probably skip it.

[Dylonius Funk]

While I have a PS2 and 360, I don't have GH2 for the 360 (so I'm not exactly someone that fits the question), but I don't think I'll be getting Rocks the 80s. The song list looks cool, but $50 for only 30 songs? That's a bit hard to accept, if I can get my brother to split the cost, then I'll get it but other than that, I'll probably skip it.
Yeah i wouldn't mind getting it at some point but i'm not really big on 80's music and while there are a few songs that look like they would be fun to play,( Holy Diver, for one) i can wait for a sale or to ask for it for x- mas

[itsuka]

So, has anyone started on the 80's supplement so far? I bought it yesterday, and did the first 5 songs or so on medium. Can't say anything about the difficulty level yet, since I am now at the level that I'm routinely 5-starring medium songs except for a handful of the last ones (but I like to start with a comfortable level to unlock the songs before I start on the more challenging levels).

Don't know many of the songs, which is strange, since I am old enough to have musically experienced that aera, but apparently the sort of stuff I listened to (U2, the Simple Minds, that sort of thing), wasn't really on the GH radar.

[Banchan]

Four more songs announced for GHIII
* Dragonforce - Through the Fire and Flames (Master)
* Iron Maiden - Number of the Beast (Master)
* Red Hot Chili Peppers - Suck My Kiss (Master)
* ZZ Top - La Grange

I'm looking forward to playing some more Maiden.

[CrazyAsano]

* Dragonforce - Through the Fire and Flames (Master)
Fucking. Awesome. I recommend everyone listen to this song and realize that your fingers will be bloody stumps after it.

[FigNewton]

Four more songs announced for GHIII
* Dragonforce - Through the Fire and Flames (Master)


Would have preferred Fury of the Storm, but that works too i guess.

[CrazyAsano]

Four more songs announced for GHIII
* Dragonforce - Through the Fire and Flames (Master)


Would have preferred Fury of the Storm, but that works too i guess.

Well, I think it's a miracle they're using any power metal at all, but yeah, in a perfect world there are some other songs I would've preferred. Or bands. I would just drop dead happy if they ever had Kamelot.

[machineger4]

* Dragonforce - Through the Fire and Flames (Master)
* Iron Maiden - Number of the Beast (Master)



Right when I thought I was out, they pull me back in. I was all set on just getting Rock Band but now it looks like both will have to be bought. :) :sd:

[TheStrongMan]

* Dragonforce - Through the Fire and Flames (Master)
Fucking. Awesome. I recommend everyone listen to this song and realize that your fingers will be bloody stumps after it.

You know, I wish intsead of a song like this, that will require you to alt-strum like a monkey on crack (most likely leading to rampant overstrumming for most people) that they would get something like, I don't know, Eruption so we could have a song with huge HOPO sections. Sort of like, Laid to Rest just with less strumming sections.

I dunno, I'd just rather see a song that requires fast, complex fretting with minimal strumming as opposed to the fast strumming, moderately difficult fretting.

I'm problably doing a crappy job of explaining myself. Basically, more stuff like solo B and C in Jordan, less stuff like the intro to Six

[CrazyAsano]

* Dragonforce - Through the Fire and Flames (Master)
Fucking. Awesome. I recommend everyone listen to this song and realize that your fingers will be bloody stumps after it.

You know, I wish intsead of a song like this, that will require you to alt-strum like a monkey on crack (most likely leading to rampant overstrumming for most people) that they would get something like, I don't know, Eruption so we could have a song with huge HOPO sections. Sort of like, Laid to Rest just with less strumming sections.

I dunno, I'd just rather see a song that requires fast, complex fretting with minimal strumming as opposed to the fast strumming, moderately difficult fretting.

I'm problably doing a crappy job of explaining myself. Basically, more stuff like solo B and C in Jordan, less stuff like the intro to Six
I'd think Through the Fire and Flames would require a lot of complex fretting and strumming, but I guess we'll see.

[Dylonius Funk]

* Dragonforce - Through the Fire and Flames (Master)
Fucking. Awesome. I recommend everyone listen to this song and realize that your fingers will be bloody stumps after it.

You know, I wish intsead of a song like this, that will require you to alt-strum like a monkey on crack (most likely leading to rampant overstrumming for most people) that they would get something like, I don't know, Eruption so we could have a song with huge HOPO sections. Sort of like, Laid to Rest just with less strumming sections.

I dunno, I'd just rather see a song that requires fast, complex fretting with minimal strumming as opposed to the fast strumming, moderately difficult fretting.

I'm problably doing a crappy job of explaining myself. Basically, more stuff like solo B and C in Jordan, less stuff like the intro to Six

I think i understand what you mean. Some of my favorite songs in the series are Sweet Child O MIne and More Than A Feeling, which both are what i call "picking" songs, single notes as opposed to lots of double strums or rapid cords.

[Dylonius Funk]

Game Stop has a vidoe review of the 80's expansion here. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvxACzfJGo4)

It pretty much summarizes my feelings, a fun game but not worth full price for expansion pack level of content.

[itsuka]

Game Stop has a vidoe review of the 80's expansion here. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvxACzfJGo4)

It pretty much summarizes my feelings, a fun game but not worth full price for expansion pack level of content.

Given how much time in enjoyment I spend at playing any Guitar Hero game, the price per minute of happiness is still very adequate for me :). Comparing a few other things I enjoy:

Movies: EUR 8 for 2 hours (EUR 4 per hour)
Going on holiday: Eur 1000 for 168 hours (about EUR 6 per hour)
Buying anime: EUR 4 per episode (EUR 12 per hour)
High quality restaurant: EUR 40+ for 3 hours (EUR 13+ per hour)
Guitar hero eighties: EUR 50 for at least 25 hours (EUR 2 per hour).

So, for me plenty of value for money, no problem. Sure, it has less value for money than Guitar Hero II, but another 30 songs to play around with till GHIII and Rock Band come out are never a waste for money for me...

Anyway, so far the medium level looked easier than Guitar Hero II (since I've progressed a bit since then, I can only guess that it is). No Psychobilly or Carry me Home type challenges to 5 star there. For people who 5 star stuff on expert easily, the eighties supplement might be too easy.

I'm currently somewhere in hard, stuck on "What I like about you", which has nasty power cord rythm change sequence that I can't seem to get right so far. For the rest the songs weren't too difficult, though some nasty solos here and there keep me from 5 starring some of it.

[Chacranajxy]

Rocks the 80's is fucking terrible. My friend got it (and promptly returned it a day later) and there were like 2 or 3 songs that were any good. Utter garbage.

[Chuplayer]

I think you've gotta be a hardcore hair band fan like me to appreciate the game fully. When I heard that Scorpions song on the review posted up there, I just about jumped out of my seat and into my Jeep to buy the game right away.

But I think I'll wait to get it used and cheap. I just got GH2 360 last month, and I'm only now beginning to get good at hard mode. I don't need more songs to distract me. I never played hard mode on GH1 PS2.

[Chacranajxy]

I think you've gotta be a hardcore hair band fan like me to appreciate the game fully. When I heard that Scorpions song on the review posted up there, I just about jumped out of my seat and into my Jeep to buy the game right away.

But I think I'll wait to get it used and cheap. I just got GH2 360 last month, and I'm only now beginning to get good at hard mode. I don't need more songs to distract me. I never played hard mode on GH1 PS2.

Eh, I would've liked it if there were more songs that appeal to people who don't necessarily love the 80's (I hate the 80's.) Turning Japanese was a semi-interesting choice, but where was The Final Countdown? Where was Foreigner? I don't even know how 80's that is. Don't care either. I just want it.

[machineger4]

Turning Japanese was a semi-interesting choice, but where was The Final Countdown? Where was Foreigner? I don't even know how 80's that is. Don't care either. I just want it.

Final Countdown would've fit nicely and totally agree on the lack of Foreigner - actually forgot about them with regard to GH 80s until you mentioned them. 'Hot Blooded' or 'Juke Box Hero' would've been great selections for the game, especially the latter (if I remember the song accurately :sd: ).

[Chacranajxy]

I wanted Cold As Ice.

Yourr as COOOOLLLLDDDD ASSSSSSS IIIIIIIIIIICCCCCEEEEEE

Well, I want to sing it too.

[machineger4]

Oh yeah, forgot about that one! Maybe it'll show up in Rock Band, that would be sweet.

[Chacranajxy]

And where the fuck is Eurythmics or frickin' Styx? Whoever developed this miscreant can blow me.

[Dylonius Funk]

The impression i get ( and keep in mind this is just my iumpression from what we've seen with no special inside knowledge) is that the 80's game was something Harmonix staretd working on as a holdover till they could get started really digging into GH3. Well then we get the Activison/ Red Octane split from harmonix moving GH3 to Neversoft and Harmonix left out in the cold. I get the feeling it might have happened suddenly but in any case they had this game which had a lot of resources allready invested into it and so ratehr than cut their losses they let it be Harmonix's final contribution to the series and that way Neevrsoft could get a clean start with GH3, rather than have Neversoft try to take on what is basically a GH2 Expansion and have thier first piece of wrok on the series marred by comparisons to Harmonix's work on the GH2 proper.

[Jarred]

Fuck Foreigner, bring on the Journey! And better yet, bring it to Rock Band so I can bust out the drunken style croonings.

"She's just a small town girl, livin' in a lonely weerrrreeeerrrrrld. She'll take the midnight train going annnnnniiiiiiiii where...."

I could sing that intro 24/7 and die a happy man.

[itsuka]

Rocks the 80's is fucking terrible. My friend got it (and promptly returned it a day later) and there were like 2 or 3 songs that were any good. Utter garbage.

Some of the songs I didn't know from GHI and GHII became favourites later on, so I don't mind an unknown set of songs at all. I only knew one song of GH80, but I trusted some others to win me over. Sure, it's my least favourite GH game so far, but I'm still having great fun with actually trying to play these songs. If I want to sing along, I'll wait for Rock Band.

I don't know how bargain bins work in your part of the world, but here it usually takes half a year for something to get a reprice. By that time, I'll be deep into GHIII and Rock Band, while now I don't mind another game WITH practice mode to help my skills further along. GHI was very frustrating in that regard - just failing a song over and over again without the possibility to practice is rotten. At least now I have 2 games with practice mode.

[Johnny]

Eh, I would've liked it if there were more songs that appeal to people who don't necessarily love the 80's (I hate the 80's.) Turning Japanese was a semi-interesting choice, but where was The Final Countdown? Where was Foreigner? I don't even know how 80's that is. Don't care either. I just want it.

God, I wish 'I wanna know what love is' was on there. I would play that song in tears! :D

But hey, Skid Row are on there so that's gotta count for something. Bring these to the 360 Marketplace ASAP!

[machineger4]

Fuck Foreigner, bring on the Journey! And better yet, bring it to Rock Band so I can bust out the drunken style croonings.

"She's just a small town girl, livin' in a lonely weerrrreeeerrrrrld. She'll take the midnight train going annnnnniiiiiiiii where...."

I could sing that intro 24/7 and die a happy man.

Journey in Rock Band goes without saying - it HAS to be in there or the game is incomplete! :)

[Chacranajxy]

Eh, I would've liked it if there were more songs that appeal to people who don't necessarily love the 80's (I hate the 80's.) Turning Japanese was a semi-interesting choice, but where was The Final Countdown? Where was Foreigner? I don't even know how 80's that is. Don't care either. I just want it.

God, I wish 'I wanna know what love is' was on there. I would play that song in tears! :D

But hey, Skid Row are on there so that's gotta count for something. Bring these to the 360 Marketplace ASAP!

Skid Row's inclusion would've been cool if the song they chose from them was any good. It wasn't.

[Chuplayer]

Final Countdown would've fit nicely

No, it would've been way out of place. The game's not called Casio Hero.

[machineger4]

Final Countdown would've fit nicely

No, it would've been way out of place. The game's not called Casio Hero.

There's a guitar solo and obviously a bass there and a Keytar could be used for other bits. I mean, the Freezepop songs in GH 1/2 are not exactly 'traditional' guitar songs IIRC.

[Johnny]

Skid Row's inclusion would've been cool if the song they chose from them was any good. It wasn't.

Oi! 18 and Life is a great song! But I'm hyped that X and the Dead kennedys are on there. But seriously, where the fuck is the punk version of Guitar Hero? (and proper punk not most of the modern shite).

[TheStrongMan]

Now that I've had a chance to listen to Through the Fire and Flames in its entirety, I can say that if Neversoft does the note charts like Harmonix, the majority of the song is going to be alt-strumming like mad with relatively few HOPO sections. The middle to end of the song sounds like it has promise, but, guess we'll find out when GH3 is released.


Game Stop has a vidoe review of the 80's expansion here. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvxACzfJGo4)

It pretty much summarizes my feelings, a fun game but not worth full price for expansion pack level of content.

I wonder if all these people saying, "it's not worth the full price" are actually following through on that statement. 30 songs for $50 is about $1.67 per song. The DLC is $2.08 per song and people are still willing to buy it.

For me personally, I previewed all the songs I didn't know on Itunes, and these are the songs that I would be interested in playing:
Run so Far Away
Balls to the Wall
No-one Like You
Radar Love
Holy Diver
Hold on Loosely
I Wanna Rock
What I Like About You
Ballroom Blitz
Seventeen
Play With Me
So...11 songs out of 30. That's not saying I wouldn't enjoy playing all the songs. Because, there are some songs in GH1 and GH2 that I absolutely hated when I started playing and now I love them...but, considering I would have to drag the black monolith out of retirement just to play Rocks the 80s; we're looking at a rental, not a purchase.

I think the main problem is that Harmonix confined themselves to a certain time period and didn't explore it fully. I mean, where is the stuff by Motley Crue? The Cure? The Cult? Van Halen?! Styx? KISS? Megadeth? Insert Favorite Band here? Granted, these bands span multiple decades, but you get the idea. And I don't see how in the Hell they picked "No-One Like You" over "Rock You Like a Hurricane"

Ah well...I'm not buying it, so I guess I shouldn't complain...so much =p

[CrazyAsano]

Now that I've had a chance to listen to Through the Fire and Flames in its entirety, I can say that if Neversoft does the note charts like Harmonix, the majority of the song is going to be alt-strumming like mad with relatively few HOPO sections. The middle to end of the song sounds like it has promise, but, guess we'll find out when GH3 is released.
Dragonforce essentially has two lead guitarists, so unless they're dueling solos, one is usually doing alt-strumming stuff and the other alternates. I don't really know what alt-strumming and HOPO mean, but I'm pretty sure I've got the context right.

[Dylonius Funk]

Now that I've had a chance to listen to Through the Fire and Flames in its entirety, I can say that if Neversoft does the note charts like Harmonix, the majority of the song is going to be alt-strumming like mad with relatively few HOPO sections. The middle to end of the song sounds like it has promise, but, guess we'll find out when GH3 is released.
Dragonforce essentially has two lead guitarists, so unless they're dueling solos, one is usually doing alt-strumming stuff and the other alternates. I don't really know what alt-strumming and HOPO mean, but I'm pretty sure I've got the context right.

HOPO is shorthand for Hammer On Power On which is where you hit the notes on the fret board without strumming. Alt-strumming is another term for doulbe strumming where you strum up and down mainly to hit a stream of fast notes on the same fret i.e a long stream of yellows.

[Dylonius Funk]

Game Stop has a vidoe review of the 80's expansion here. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvxACzfJGo4)

It pretty much summarizes my feelings, a fun game but not worth full price for expansion pack level of content.

I wonder if all these people saying, "it's not worth the full price" are actually following through on that statement. 30 songs for $50 is about $1.67 per song. The DLC is $2.08 per song and people are still willing to buy it.

Well i don't have an XBOX 360 so the DLC dosen't affect me and they haven't made a song available that i could do better on the GH2 Hamemron-Pull Off system better than i did on GH1. When stuff like Texas Flood, Crossroads, hell even Ziggy Stardust becomes available i might get interested.

I think the main problem is that Harmonix confined themselves to a certain time period and didn't explore it fully. I mean, where is the stuff by Motley Crue? The Cure? The Cult? Van Halen?! Styx? KISS? Megadeth? Insert Favorite Band here? Granted, these bands span multiple decades, but you get the idea. And I don't see how in the Hell they picked "No-One Like You" over "Rock You Like a Hurricane"

Ah well...I'm not buying it, so I guess I shouldn't complain...so much =p

Rock You Like A Hurricane is confirmed as being in GH3. But i agree with you that the song selection could have been improved.

[GHardin]

And where the fuck is Eurythmics or frickin' Styx? Whoever developed this miscreant can blow me.

Well, I wasn't expecting much out of it...but when expert is quite easy, you know something is wrong with this picture.

Sad to say, I think Harmonix really dropped the ball on this one. :tired:

[Dylonius Funk]

And where the fuck is Eurythmics or frickin' Styx? Whoever developed this miscreant can blow me.

Well, I wasn't expecting much out of it...but when expert is quite easy, you know something is wrong with this picture.

Sad to say, I think Harmonix really dropped the ball on this one. :tired:

I don't know if you can place all the blame on Harmonix. yes they are credit as designer but given the circumstances surrounding the game's developer, as i stated in an earleir post, i still think it was a victim of politics and external interference. It might have been better to just let the whole thing drop and let Harmonix go out on a hit with GH2 but i suppose enough cash and resources wree allready invested so TPTB decided they wanted something for thier trouble

[GHardin]

I don't know if you can place all the blame on Harmonix. yes they are credit as designer but given the circumstances surrounding the game's developer, as i stated in an earlier post, i still think it was a victim of politics and external interference. It might have been better to just let the whole thing drop and let Harmonix go out on a hit with GH2 but i suppose enough cash and resources wree already invested so TPTB decided they wanted something for their trouble

Don't get me wrong, I agree wholeheartedly...something seriously seemed off with this game, as if it was just something to cash in...it's not a bad game, but it just didn't seem like a whole lot of effort went into it (as evidenced by the barebones presentation).

[Banchan]

From 1UP (http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3161701)

* AFI - Miss Murder (Master)
* Black Sabbath - Paranoid
* Blue Oyster Cult - Cities on Flame
* Mountain - Mississippi Queen
* Queens of the Stone Age - 3's and 7's (Master)
* Slayer - Raining Blood (Master)
* The Strokes - Reptilia (Master)

I like Miss Murder but I don't think it really lends itself all that well to a Guitar Hero game. With Paranoid being in Rock Band as well (same with Mississippi Queen and Reptilia) I wonder how close the guitar note patterns and sequences will be.

[Jarred]

* Slayer - Raining Blood (Master)
Finally, Slayer joins the fray! Never was a huge fan of the band, but I've always wanted "Raining Blood" to play in this game. :D

[Jarred]

Activision lets slip (http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=17020) that Guitar Hero III will have Metallica's One and it's a master track to boot! Seven-and-a-half minutes of fun, my hand is already getting tired. :D

Also, based on the new tracks listed today for GHIII, it looks like that there will be some tracks shared between GHIII and Rock Band.

[TheStrongMan]

From 1UP (http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3161701)

* AFI - Miss Murder (Master)


This is the sad state of affairs in my musical existence...I'm more excited about playing Miss Murder in GHIII than I am about playing any Metallica song. :sd:

[Johnny]

* Slayer - Raining Blood (Master)
Finally, Slayer joins the fray! Never was a huge fan of the band, but I've always wanted "Raining Blood" to play in this game. :D


Yes! Finally! Such an epic song :D Now we just need less Metallica and more Megadeth (Tornado of Souls please!)

[machineger4]

Activision lets slip (http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=17020) that Guitar Hero III will have Metallica's One and it's a master track to boot! Seven-and-a-half minutes of fun, my hand is already getting tired. :D

Also, based on the new tracks listed today for GHIII, it looks like that there will be some tracks shared between GHIII and Rock Band.

Oooh, that's awesome though with it being a master track the bass guitar will be just as hard to hear in the game as the CD. ;) - the Wiki entry has the story if you don't know of it (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...And_Justice_for_All_%28album%29)

[Dylonius Funk]

So how is it that Rock Band gets Don't Fear The Reaper as a master track and GH3 has to use a cover for Cites On Flame...? Seems kind of cheap.

Also i got a chance to borrow my friends copy of the 80's expansion. As i stated in the "Games that are to short" thread i timed myself playing my hard career and got halfway done at around one hour. So i guesstimate that it would take around two hours to get the entire game unlocked. Still what i played was a lot fo fun but again the price is just to high to justify it especcialy with 3 right around the corner. Still might be a good rental since it's not really a bad game, i guess the best way to describe it would be to imagine what it could ahve been like if produced right.

Oh i've also found the video game equivalent of Ain't It Cool's Talkbalk section. The Official Guitar Hero forums. if you aren't a slobering Red Octane fanboi they want nothing to do with you over there.

[machineger4]

A video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZutgOyA9EY) of Dragonforce's "Through the Fire and Flames" (on expert) was posted at ScoreHero. It's fucking nuts and it ain't even the whole thing! O.O I can't imagine this one being 100%'ed on expert any time soon.

[Dylonius Funk]

So what exactly is an FC? I've seen those initials sued on Guitar Hero vids and one the forums but i have no idea what they mean.

[machineger4]

So what exactly is an FC? I've seen those initials sued on Guitar Hero vids and one the forums but i have no idea what they mean.

I was wondering that myself - from what I could find from a quick search, it's "full combo" so basically 100% complete with a full note streak. Correct me if I'm wrong, I just did a two minute search.

[covnam]

Not sure if this would be best asked in a new thread, but I was wondering what other people would recommend I purchase. I want to get GH II and I have a PS2 and a 360. I can't decide which system to get it for. Any advice/opinions as which would be the better buy? Or should I wait for GH III?

Thanks in advance.

[Jarred]

Not sure if this would be best asked in a new thread, but I was wondering what other people would recommend I purchase. I want to get GH II and I have a PS2 and a 360. I can't decide which system to get it for. Any advice/opinions as which would be the better buy? Or should I wait for GH III?

Thanks in advance.
I'd wait to pick up the guitar/game bundle for GHIII, since the controller looks to be an improvement over GHII's hastily made one. And it should be wireless. But then I would pick up the GHII game at some point, because there are some good songs to play.

And go for 360, with the hopes that DLC will be better after GHIII comes out than it's been for GHII. And GHIII will have online play.

[Jarred]

Dueling Banjo Hero custom mod (http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/kotaku/full/~3/141519315/dueling-banjo-hero-286658.php)

No, it's not officially a GHIII song, but goddammit someone make it so!! That song would be perfect for the new battle mode.

And my hand still hurts after watching Dragonforce. Never heard them before, but I've now added a couple songs into my iTunes cart. Good stuff.

[TheStrongMan]

I was looking forward to playing Guitar Hero today after having to work 8 straight 10-12 hour days.

Except...

I cut one of my fretting fingers with a box cutter yesterday. My ability to play Guitar Hero is now about zero.

I think a little part of me has died on the inside. :(


As for Through the Fire and Flames...after watching the video:
-That sound for note streaks is annoying
-The sound for missing notes and overstrumming is different; this is going to be jarring until I get used to it
-Those ascending/descending scales and those trills look nice and challenging. I hope the middle and end of the song has more of those sections
-The intro looks like a blast to play, the end with the chords and trills also looks fantastic.
-Those straight strumming sections can go to Hell.

[TheStrongMan]

This one has kinda slipped under the radar, what with the Bioshock, Madden, Stranglehold, and Beautiful Katimari madness on XBL...but there's a new track pack available for download.

All songs by My Chemical Romance (Master Tracks)
-Teenagers
-Famous Last Words
-This is How I Disappear

500 pts

There's a preview trailer (which I'm downloading as I type) I plan on watching before I decide whether to purchase. If the songs are anything like Dead (which I play once or twice every time I boot up GH2) then I'll problably get the track pack.

[Jarred]

I think it's definitely a step in the right direction in offering artist packs rather than the random song packs. And they should be master tracks as well, which is doubly good.

I'll probably check out the preview as well, since I do want some more tracks to play while I wait for GHIII/RB.

[FigNewton]

Yeah, the MCR pack is on my purchase list for the next set of points I get. I said I'd never buy one of their song packs, but making a single-band pack fixes one of my main problems with the deal... and I doubt they're gonna give us a more reasonable price, ever. At least these are master tracks, and thank god it's a band I like.

Hopefully Rock Band's downloads will be priced a little better.

[TheStrongMan]

For those of you that are getting Guitar Hero 3...are you going to get the game only? Or with the guitar?

I'm leaning more towards the guitar because:
(1) it's wireless
(2) I'd have a second guitar

But then again, I do love the feel of the X-plorer.

[Jarred]

I'm undecided. I'll probably wait until I hear more about Rock Band's final build of the guitar and pick the best one, since both should be compatible with each game (it's just pushing the right colored buttons).

Right now I'm leaning towards Rock Band's guitar, because it has those extra five buttons for quicker HOPO in delivering massive damage. :D

[Jarred]

For all the Guitar Heroes out there, Penny Arcade has a new hoodie (http://www.pennyarcademerch.com/pah070061.html) to purchase. Mine just arrived today and I love it. I will caution though that the 'XL' feels more like a 'L', so those who want it big go for the XXL.

[Jarred]

GHIII to get some international rocker love, some new tracks:

* "Minus Celsius," by Backyard Babies
* "Hier Kommt Alex," by Die Toten Hosen
* "In the Belly of a Shark," by Gallows
* "I'm in the Band," by The Hellacopters
* "Avalancha," by Heroes Del Silencio
* "Take This Life," by In Flames
* "Ruby," by Kaiser Chiefs
* "Closer," by Lacuna Coil
* "Generation Rock," by Revolverheld
* "Mauvais Garcon," by NAAST
* "Radio Song," by Superbus

[machineger4]

That list does not have Helloween on it, so it already loses points for me. I only recognize the Kaiser Chiefs song but I imagine the others will be pretty good so I guess I'm kinda indifferent to these new tracks.

[Dylonius Funk]

When i heard they were adding a J-Rock character i was honestly hoping there might be a chance they would add God Knows from The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya. It would be a song from an anime that is currently somewhat popular, and being release don DVD, plus it sounds like it would be a fun song to play and would be pretty tricky on Expert. Now the question would be would the credit go to Aya Hirano or Haruhi Suzumiya :D

[Dylonius Funk]

Some new songs confirmed here (http://www.gamespot.com/news/6180298.html)

Good:

1. Master Track Aerosmith

Bad:

Everything else. I mean honestly, master track Slipknot and cover version of Cream and Stevie Ray? What the frell man?

Yes i know they were covered when done on GH1 but i was hoping by now the series was well known enough that they could get the masters. Either the price is still to high or the studio/band/family doesn't want Red Octane to get the masters for some reason. This pretty much goes by what a leaked setlist being discussed on the Wikipedia article said, but i was holding out hope. Guess this gives us an idea as to which bands we can expect to never get a master track from. Still, cover Charlie Daniels band and master track The Killers? Bullshit Steve!

[Jarred]

Dead Kennedys and Social D? Awesome.
Covers of "Holiday in Cambodia" and "Story of my Life"? Not so much. Bummer.

And why the hell even include "Devil Went Down to Georgia" if it's a cover and there's no fiddle controller?

Ah well, I'll still play the game like mad when it arrives in a few weeks. :)

[Azumangaman]

* "Ruby," by Kaiser Chiefs


Without question, I'm now buying at least the game only copy of GHIII.

[itsuka]

I sincerely hope the the idea of the co-op unlock only is not true. Since I'm switching to PS3, I need new guitars, and I had decided to wait till Q1 2008 for Rock Band for my second guitar (hopefully compatible), since buying the complete bundle would probably be more cost effective.

It sucks when some of my favourite songs (like Sabotage) cannot be played for months and months simply because I want to make a smart guitar investment :(

[Johnny]

Dead Kennedys and Social D? Awesome.
Covers of "Holiday in Cambodia" and "Story of my Life"? Not so much. Bummer.

And why the hell even include "Devil Went Down to Georgia" if it's a cover and there's no fiddle controller?

Ah well, I'll still play the game like mad when it arrives in a few weeks. :)

Oh fuck yes! I don't care if they're covers! (too much - Jello's voice is inimitable) Some fuckin' punk rawk love at last! Fuck all this other shit, we need a GH Punk version.

Devil Went Down to Georgia is a weird choice but a cool song.

This needs to be released now.

[MKVarana]

I'm surprised noone mentioned it yet, but a new DLC pack came out last week.

[AbeChinchilla]

Abe's totally into Guitar Hero now, but is totally lost in this thread.

Pre-ordered GHIII for PS2 (with guitar, so I can have my own and not steal my brother's) two weeks ago. Can't wait.

[Dylonius Funk]

Abe's totally into Guitar Hero now, but is totally lost in this thread.

Pre-ordered GHIII for PS2 (with guitar, so I can have my own and not steal my brother's) two weeks ago. Can't wait.
I still need to change my pre-order to the one with controller. I origionally pre ordered just the game but now i think i want a seocnd controller since i know there are guys in my domr i can play against but everyone around here only has the XBOX version

[TheStrongMan]

Well, better late than never I suppose.

There's some new DLC singles out for GHII. Yes, you read that right...singles. Although, the price is a steep 200 points. The songs themselves? Generic foreign bands as far as I can tell.

-Exile (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdK84I3yzyA) by Soilwork. (If I was to buy any of these, this would problably be the one)
-Sept (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akua4fr9N7E) by Pleymo. (Boring and meh)
-Sin Documentos (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWhPqJ5Y5w4) (Just not my style)

Oh, and for those that want the GH3 demo before the rest of us...snag your copy of Tony Hawk's Proving Ground for the included demo. Or head to your local bookstore and see if the new OXM is out, supposedly the GH3 demo is on the disc. Or, you can continue to wait for the demo to pop up on Live.

[Chuplayer]

There's actually a .iso floating around that allows you to play the demo on any 360. Simply burn to CDR and experience the awesomeness. It has...

Hit Me With Your Best Shot - Pat Benetar
(I forget) - Priestess
Evenflow - Pearl Jam
Rock You Like a Hurricane - Scorpions
The Metal - Tenacious D

It's yet again more of the same, but how can you go wrong? It's also compatible with the Xplorer controller. They're not forcing you to get the new wireless one.

[Dylonius Funk]

There's actually a .iso floating around that allows you to play the demo on any 360. Simply burn to CDR and experience the awesomeness. It has...

Hit Me With Your Best Shot - Pat Benetar
(I forget) - Priestess
Evenflow - Pearl Jam
Rock You Like a Hurricane - Scorpions
The Metal - Tenacious D

It's yet again more of the same, but how can you go wrong? It's also compatible with the Xplorer controller. They're not forcing you to get the new wireless one.

Lay Down is the Priestess song. Not the 5 song si would ahve picked and why 5 i don't know. If i recall the demo for two had at least 8 songs. I would have added Paint Itox version will buy the controller package because

A. The Les Paul controller looks kick ass

B. The XBOX never had GH1 unlike the PS2. So when 2 came out there was allready a lot of people who had controllers and didn't need them. For the XBOX right now the only way to do multiplayer is either know someone who also owns the game or buy a third party controller. I imagine more people will geet the package for the XBOX so they can have two controllers. I actually have never bought GH2 and so i need to to switch my pre order of Three to the controller one so i can have two for multiplayer. I got some guys in my building i can play against but one of them has the XBOX so we can't play against each other.

[Dylonius Funk]

If you're curious here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89p8ya3ZdnQ) is the cover of The Devil Went Down To Georgia that is being used as the last osng of them game where you play against Lou aka the Devil The Artist is Steve Ouimette. I think it's pretty blah but i love the origional so maybe it will be one of those songs that is a pain to listen to but fun to play.

[AbeChinchilla]

Wow! I beat Guitar Hero II on hard today. After numerous tries, I finished "Laid to Rest" and nailed "YYZ" soon after. I was pretty close to failing about two times in "Free Bird." Luckily, I managed to nail the SP Phrases and saved myself in the second half.

Shall Abe try and do Expert now?

[itsuka]

Wow! I beat Guitar Hero II on hard today. After numerous tries, I finished "Laid to Rest" and nailed "YYZ" soon after. I was pretty close to failing about two times in "Free Bird." Luckily, I managed to nail the SP Phrases and saved myself in the second half.

Shall Abe try and do Expert now?

Congratulations! I also passed hard a number of weeks ago, and I'm still trying to 5 star most of it (I've 5 starred more than half now, but it's really odd how 3 of the non-5 stars are in the first tier: Shout, Woman and Tonight). I also finished 23 expert songs so far (most 3 star). The easiest expert songs are not as difficult as the most difficult hard songs, IMO. I'm stuck somewhere in the 5th tier with Expert.

I guess I should switch again to 80'ies, also have to 5 star those on hard. It's always fun to switch after a month or so, because I usually can 5 star a few songs extra when I haven't touched a game for a while. Too bad I can't play the original game anymore for a lack of lag calibration... But soon GHIII will add to my switch pile.

[TheStrongMan]

The demo for GH3 is out and available on Live.

Some things...
-The demo kicks you out after you play 4 songs. Doesn't matter if it's the same song and/or you fail, you still only get 4 plays before you have to restart the demo.
-The demo doesn't save anything. No big deal, but annoying for lefties (like me!) setting lefty flip every time the demo starts.
-As I expected, I dislike the new error sounds. This could most likely be because I don't know what the sounds mean yet. Still, the majority of the time, I don't know if I'm over-strumming, missing a note, or hitting the wrong note.
-Star power triggers very easily. There's been a few times where I've adjusted the strap and/or my standing position during a song and I've triggered star power.
-Hard is slooooooooooooooooow. If this is the case for all the songs on hard; I think many people are going to blaze through the first 3 difficulty levels only to hit a brick wall once they reach expert due to lack of progression.
-For the most part...the songs are fun to play, and that's all that really matters.

[FigNewton]

Protip on the demo: you can replay a song as many times as you like if you pause and select restart.

And is it just me or are the doing some funky audio stuff on some of the solos? Like everything gets muted considerably. It was off putting whatever it is exactly they are doing.

I liked the lip syncing of the lead singer, even though it's something I typically won't see when playing.

My wife was a little annoyed by the new characters in general - her complaint was they look too bulky and athletic to be rock stars... they need to be skinnier and look more strung out on drugs, haha. She also didn't like the girl, largely thanks to her big flopping breasts.

[AbeChinchilla]

big flopping breasts.

WHERE?!

[Dylonius Funk]

So anyone getting their copy on Midnight Saturday the 27th? I plan to get off work at around 2 on Saturday, head home and sleep till like 10:30, and then head to mall to pick up my copy. I will then ehad home play from like 1 till 7 in the morning get a shower and then head to work at 8.

[TheStrongMan]

So anyone getting their copy on Midnight Saturday the 27th? I plan to get off work at around 2 on Saturday, head home and sleep till like 10:30, and then head to mall to pick up my copy. I will then ehad home play from like 1 till 7 in the morning get a shower and then head to work at 8.

While it would be nice, I can't for two reasons...
(1) I don't get paid till Tuesday (or Wednesday if they are going to be bastards)
(2) I have to work Sunday and Monday so both days would be extremely frustrating knowing the game was just sitting there at home...mocking me.

I'm still waffling between the bundle and the game only. On one hand, it'd be nice to have a second guitar...and who knows, it could be better than the Xplorer. On the other hand, it's a $40 price difference (more once you factor tax), I don't have people over that often anymore, and I might still like the Xplorer better.

[GHardin]

My GameRush is mean...right now, they have copies of GH3 for rental, and they have the bundles on the shelves/game racks...but pretty sure they're not allowed to sell them until Sunday. :P I didn't bother to ask, as I was in a slight hurry...I'll just wait until Sunday. :sd:

[Jarred]

Activision launched a pretty impressive Guitar Hero website today. I've create an AnimeOnDVD Tour Group (http://www.guitarhero.com/tour_groups/200067) so we can all aggregate and compare scores. :)

[itsuka]

How do these tour groups work? I've just played for my own fun until now. Are people who are not good enough to five star or finish the game on expert welcome? Are European gamers welcome (who have to wait another month till they can join? And are groups multi-platform?

[Johnny]

How do these tour groups work? I've just played for my own fun until now. Are people who are not good enough to five star or finish the game on expert welcome? Are European gamers welcome (who have to wait another month till they can join? And are groups multi-platform?

Signed up for this Jarred dude. Can't wait! :D
As for the Euro gamers question, if you're getting the 360 version it'll be region free so you won't have to wait or anything.

[ape2020]

Well it seems GHIII doesn't play nice with everyone, even its own sibling GHII (on the PS2).

Guitar Compatibility Test IGN (http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/830/830759p1.html)

-ape2020

[Jarred]

How do these tour groups work? I've just played for my own fun until now. Are people who are not good enough to five star or finish the game on expert welcome? Are European gamers welcome (who have to wait another month till they can join? And are groups multi-platform?
Anyone can join, any platform as long as it's PS3, 360, or Wii. Once you get the game, you just have to link the code it gives you with your online account and then your scores will get posted to your online account.

The tour groups just seem like a nice way to group a bunch of players together so you can view scores. You can do this easily per platform with your friends lists within the game, but this will do it cross-platform which is the cool.

[Jarred]

Well it seems GHIII doesn't play nice with everyone, even its own sibling GHII (on the PS2).

That's a funny slant on that piece of news. :sd: Seems like it does play nice with everyone, except the PS2 version using PS3 backward compat (which is removed in new consoles anyway).

It sounds like the Rock Band guitar won't play nice with everyone. Which makes me glad I went with the Les Paul (and lots of critics have already spoken about how the Les Paul is the better guitar).

[itsuka]

Hrm, looks my chosen strategy wouldn't work then - I was planning to buy GIII first, and wait with the multiplayer part of that until Rock Band was released for the second guitar. Since I'm going PS3, I have no previous guitar available that will work since the PS2 can't be used. But if the Rock Band Guitar can't be used with GIII, I still can't play the co-op mode. There was talk somewhere of a 2-guitar bundle, but I haven't heard whether that would be available in Europe.

It's annoying, especially since I expect that it will take a while before I can buy a PS3 GIII guitar without the game or a decent 3d party guitar will be available.

All the more annoying because there are rumored to be songs that can only be unlocked in co-op. Without 2 guitars available, that's going to be a problem.

[ape2020]

That's a funny slant on that piece of news. :sd: Seems like it does play nice with everyone, except the PS2 version using PS3 backward compat (which is removed in new consoles anyway).

It sounds like the Rock Band guitar won't play nice with everyone. Which makes me glad I went with the Les Paul (and lots of critics have already spoken about how the Les Paul is the better guitar).


Uh what do you mean? Rock Band the game accepts everyones controller except some extra special effects. GHIII the game doesn't and might mean Activision might be trying to hinder Rock Bands controller. This might also be an indication that they aren't going to play nice with any 3rd party controller. Remember its the publishers that are in control of how open their games are to other controllers.

-ape2020

[Jarred]

That's a funny slant on that piece of news. :sd: Seems like it does play nice with everyone, except the PS2 version using PS3 backward compat (which is removed in new consoles anyway).

It sounds like the Rock Band guitar won't play nice with everyone. Which makes me glad I went with the Les Paul (and lots of critics have already spoken about how the Les Paul is the better guitar).


Uh what do you mean?

Sorry, I was reading as the GHIII controller plays nice with everyone, not the game itself with all controllers. Yeah, I see your point. And I'm still glad I got the Les Paul. :D

[TheStrongMan]

Sorry, I was reading as the GHIII controller plays nice with everyone, not the game itself with all controllers. Yeah, I see your point. And I'm still glad I got the Les Paul. :D


Out of curiosity...why?

I read that the guitar was not compatible with the Play and Charge kit, and that a Red Octane charging kit($19.99+tax, s/h) would be required in order to keep the battery-free juice flowing. That was my main reason for deciding not to get the GH3 bundle.

[Dylonius Funk]

I would like to know if anyone else is haviung trouble with thier whammy bars. I got the PS2 controller and my whammy bar is mroe ro rless busted right out of the box. I tried running the callibration program and that didn't do anything. So i'm a little pissed off right now and would like to know if anyone else is having the same problems.

[GHardin]

I would like to know if anyone else is haviung trouble with thier whammy bars. I got the PS2 controller and my whammy bar is mroe ro rless busted right out of the box. I tried running the callibration program and that didn't do anything. So i'm a little pissed off right now and would like to know if anyone else is having the same problems.

I'm not having any problems with my guitar, but judging by the number of threads on the GH forum (http://www.guitarhero.com/forum/14), I think it's safe to say that there are quite a few busted guitars. :tired:

[Jarred]

Sorry, I was reading as the GHIII controller plays nice with everyone, not the game itself with all controllers. Yeah, I see your point. And I'm still glad I got the Les Paul. :D


Out of curiosity...why?

I read that the guitar was not compatible with the Play and Charge kit, and that a Red Octane charging kit($19.99+tax, s/h) would be required in order to keep the battery-free juice flowing. That was my main reason for deciding not to get the GH3 bundle.

I only want 2 guitars, so I wanted the one that worked with both GHIII, GHII, and Rock Band. Plus the Les Paul is so much more well put together than the Xplorer. I've played through about 7 songs now and I can't go back.

I've also read/heard from many journalists and critics that the Les Paul >> Rock Band's Strat.


BTW. I'm so bummed I couldn't buy the Dragonforce song!! Looks like you gotta beat the game on any difficulty and let the credits roll. Dammit! :D Oh well, I had fun play Rise Against and totally kicked Social D.

Also, anyone have problems linking their account with the game? It won't accept my token for some reason, so I can't get my stats posted to the site. :(

[Maxflier]

It won't let me link mine either, it keeps saying that my code is invalid.

[Jarred]

It won't let me link mine either, it keeps saying that my code is invalid.
Ok, and by the looks of the forums being down, it looks like they are having some technical difficulties.

I'll just keep warming up on Medium until I'm ready to post my Hard scores to show off. :D

[Dylonius Funk]

Well i got my whammy bar working, guess i just didn't have my neck pushed into the head far enough. And i got hyperspeed on and the gaame is a lot easier now. But i will never be able to beat Raining Blood, Number Of The Beast or One on hard. I should just starta mediuym career so i can get Lou and Dragonforce unlocked.

[Jarred]

But i will never be able to beat Raining Blood, Number Of The Beast or One on hard.
Man, I'm going to have a hard enough time getting 5-star runs on those in Medium mode. That last set list on Medium is just as difficult as all the hard songs in GHII, but it fucking rawks!!!

I've beaten the game on Medium, starting on Hard now (pass the first set), and played a lot of co-op online last night which was a friggin blast. So as of now, these are my top 10 tracks. These are rated purely on their ability to make me feel like I'm rocking out, not just technical challenge (sometimes the technical ones aren't fun to play).

10. Prayer of the Refugee (Rise Against) *
9. Anarchy in the UK (Sex Pistols)
8. When We Were Young (Killers)
7. Metallica (One)
6. Welcome to the Jungle (GnR)
5. Raining Blood (Slayer)
4. Cherub Rock (Smashing Pumpkins)
3. Through the Fire and Flames (Dragonforce) *
2. Knights of Cydonia (Muse)
1. My Name is Jonas (Weezer)

* = bonus tracks

Also, it looks like when playing co-op quick play, they let you play any of the special encore co-op campaign tracks, like Sabotage and Suck My Kiss. So they aren't locked.

[TheStrongMan]

Also, it looks like when playing co-op quick play, they let you play any of the special encore co-op campaign tracks, like Sabotage and Suck My Kiss. So they aren't locked.

According to the guys over at the PA forums, using the "unlock all" cheat code gives you access to the co-op only songs in single player mode. Supposedly, the cheat also gives you the achievements...but hey, what would be the point in that?

[Jarred]

Also, it looks like when playing co-op quick play, they let you play any of the special encore co-op campaign tracks, like Sabotage and Suck My Kiss. So they aren't locked.

According to the guys over at the PA forums, using the "unlock all" cheat code gives you access to the co-op only songs in single player mode. Supposedly, the cheat also gives you the achievements...but hey, what would be the point in that?
Good to know. I'll probably use it if I can't get anyone over to play the campaign with me. Too bad they couldn't make this part online.

[GHardin]

I decided to stupidly play through on hard as my first playthrough...really only had difficulties with Raining Blood...but I'm stuck on that asshole Lou. :tired: I can only try about 3-5 times before I completely burn out and rest. :/

[MKVarana]

They're finally allowing you to get the code for the DLC over at www.guitarherocode.com . Of course, you need a code from that soundtrack CD in order to get it.

[TheStrongMan]

Alrighty! Finally got the game today!

-Izzy Sparks! What have they done to you!

-Started out on Hard mode. Either I've gotten that much better at Guitar Hero, or the game is just easier than Guitar Hero 2. I 5-starred every song on my sight-reads except for Raining Blood, One, Knights of Cydonia, 3s and 7s, and Same Old Song and Dance.

-I'm loving these songs with the extended HoPo sections. Although, sometimes, I forget to strum when it's time to start strumming again. I can't wait to see what Expert has in store for me.

-Anyone else like that in-game advertising? Anyone else have a sudden urge to drive a Pontiac? :sigh:

-Boss battles.
I.Fucking.Hate.These.God.Damn.Stupid.Boss.Battles.

Look, I understand the developers were able to get some musical "talent" involved with the game, but there had to be a better way to involve the talent in the final product because battles are just fucking stupid. Look, if I wanted to play fucking Mario Kart, then I would play that...I don't need to collect "battle power" so I can launch "attacks". I'm here to play Guitar Hero. Since you have to make the boss fail in order to win, it doesn't matter how good you play the damn song, it all comes down to the stupid power-ups you get. And since the boss doesn't miss a fucking note unless you use a power-up...let's not even get into the fact that because of how the battle power is spaced out that it's possible to get locked out of even hitting the battle power notes. The whole situation is just a mess. I'm all for this type of mode being in a multi-player environment. But this shit has absolutely no place in single player.

-After breezing through hard, I'm stuck on the final battle with Lou. This is idiocy. I was stuck on Expert: Hanger 18 and Freebird for weeks on GH2. But, at least there were signs of progress. Since the battles are so fucking random, I have no way of telling if I'm getting better or not. All I want to do is beat the game so I can unlock Through the Fire and Flames...but it looks like playing through on Easy/Medium is the way to go for that right now. :sigh:

-The achievements list is quite varied. Although, I think they should've thought of something else besides the "regular controller" achievements. The whole point of the game is to play with the guitar controller. Playing with the regular controller should not be encouraged.

-When We Were Young seems to be my favorite song so far.

-Co-op only songs that are unlockable in single player via cheat? Bad design decision. At least put them in the single player store or something like that.

-Did I mention I hate the stupid battles?

[Jarred]

-Started out on Hard mode. Either I've gotten that much better at Guitar Hero, or the game is just easier than Guitar Hero 2. I 5-starred every song on my sight-reads except for Raining Blood, One, Knights of Cydonia, 3s and 7s, and Same Old Song and Dance.

Probably a bit of both. I'm definitely better, as I breezed through Medium (all 5's except last set) and was doing well on Hard (some 5-stars). I didn't fail my first Hard song until the 7th set, where I'm now hitting my skill wall and need to practice.

They opened up the time to hit the notes a bit more with this game, so you don't have to be so exact which makes it a little easier. But I've noticed some fantastic note tracking on Hard, with more complex chord changes (LOVE Cherub Rock in this regard) which wasn't there as much in II. And yeah, the HoPos are a blast, especially Weezer.


-Boss battles.
I.Fucking.Hate.These.God.Damn.Stupid.Boss.Battles.

Amen! And I give Neversoft/Activision credit for trying to bring something new to the series, and the idea of battling legendary guitarists in a game called "Legends of Rock" sounds like a good one. But there are only 2 real-life guitarists to battle and they do feel like roadblocks rather than boss battles. I'm not looking forward to getting to Lou on Hard. :(

And yeah, the in-game advertising is laughable. DId you see the "AXE" guitar you can buy? Couple other ad guitars as well. It's ironic that they have an animated sequence about your band refusing to sell out, and then you see the ads. :D

[Dylonius Funk]

I think i must be the only person who liked the Battle Mode. I don't know it just seemed like a nice change of pace from the iusual 4 star then an encoure routine of 2. I am annoyed by the co-op career and the fact that you mst beat that to get the last songs without a cheat,he fact that you can't even play co-op from the multiplayer menu, just as a co-op career seesm dumb ( i'm on PS2 so no lovely patch)

Also maybe it's just me but it does seem annoying that the PS2 people, the ones who amde the GH franchise what it is are getting somewhat shafted. I mean how ahrd would it have been to make a Les Paul controller for the PS2. I like the Karamer and all but i Les Paul would ahve been cool. Plus we don't evne get Grim, just some stupid robot character and some Elvis impersonator. Hey Neversoft if you wanted an Elvis character why did you get rid of Eddie Knox? I know PS2 is the old and the future is the 360 PS3 and Wii but come on, throw a bone to the people who amde your series as big as it is.

[Jarred]

I do like the concept of the Battle Mode, and have had fun with it in multiplayer, but in the Career mode it just doesn't seem to flow for me. I think it would have made for a fantastic new mode outside of Career, like a fighting tournament or tower where "legends" come with their axes to do battle. :D

[AbeChinchilla]

I like Battle Mode. :)

[Rydsen]

I finally beat hard last night. I've 5-starred most of the songs along the way. Just a few to go back and get. I only failed out of one song the whole way through and that was One cause my fingers got off half a beat during the solo and it failed real quick. After that though I had to battle Lou probably 15 times before I figured out I had to stack the power-ups and use all three at once to get him into the red, pick up a fourth and use it to finish him off.

Of course what's sickening is that I can't make it past 2% on Dragonforce on Expert! :roll:

[AbeChinchilla]

Of course what's sickening is that I can't make it past 2% on Dragonforce on Expert! :roll:

Be proud, I can't make it past 0% on Expert!

[Jarred]

Of course what's sickening is that I can't make it past 2% on Dragonforce on Expert! :roll:

Be proud, I can't make it past 0% on Expert!
I got 1%, booyah! :D

[GHardin]

-Boss battles.
I.Fucking.Hate.These.God.Damn.Stupid.Boss.Battles.

-Did I mention I hate the stupid battles?

I agree. I hate battle mode period...nice try at something new, but for some reason, it just doesn't look or feel right.

I've got to get back and face Lou again, but right now, I'm taking a break from the game...if I do this a few more times, I'm going to break the disc...and that would make me sad. :cry:

[TheStrongMan]

I've got to get back and face Lou again, but right now, I'm taking a break from the game...if I do this a few more times, I'm going to break the disc...and that would make me sad. :cry:

Here are some reasons why the battle with Lou is just flat-out horrible game design:
-He does not miss notes unless you hit him with a power-up
-He does not miss notes during certain power-ups that would spell death for a human player (difficulty up, double notes, hand flip)
-Unless you end up learning the song by heart, Lou can lock you out of ever getting power-ups simply by launching attacks at the right time
-You either have to get lucky and get a whammy attack as your first attack, or you must stack 3 attacks in order to beat him
-there are no power-ups until 2 minutes into the song. Lou's most difficult solos are over, and your difficult solos are just beginning.
-There is no way to practice the damn song.

You put all those things together and what happens? The game is no longer fun.

It's one thing to make a game difficult, it's another to make it unnecessarily difficult to the point the game is no longer fun. This whole boss battle thing has killed a fair majority of my enjoyment with the game. No matter how bad things got with songs on GH1 and GH2, I could at least go to practice mode and work on things. GH3...I can't even do that here. The Lou battle just feels like a giant roadblock until the one day I either snap my guitar in half, or I get lucky and win. The battles were a great idea...for multiplayer. Single player...horrible, horrible design decision.

[Dylonius Funk]

A few thoughts on the game.

I habve absically accepted that i will never be able to play Lu on Hard because i will never be able to beat ONe, Raining Blood and Number Of The Beast on Hard. It's like having not just oen Freebird to beat but three. So i will simply have to use an unlock code to get access to dragonforce. Also co-op career is the bane of my existance. I despretly want to PLay Cites On Flame...but of course it's one of those frelling co-op encourses. That has to be the dumbest idea ever, making you run an entire seperate career apth for what, 5 songs? SOngs you paid for and can't get without someone else shelp. And from waht iv'e ehard there's no co-op in normal multiplayer just the career path. I think that has to be my biggest beef with the way Neversoft has handeled this franchise so far, stupid things like that which make no sense. I know a lot of folks have issues with the battles in career mode and/or battle mode in general. My beef is co-op career. \

But since i don't like being to negative i will mention some good points. The game looks great, even on my crappy TV and PS2. I like little touches like the crowd surfer, the singer lipsyncing, and little things like that. The cut scenes were a cute idea though they were to short and didn't even mention the female singer or the keyboard player. The keyboard player looks to not even be in this game. Also the game seems to continue the fine GH tradition of only allowing for three standing characters on the stage, so you get things like no bassist when you play a song where Slash or Tom appear, which seems kind of odd. The graphics also appear a bit to, i don't know cartoony. I know it's odd to mention the realism of graphics in a game with Star Power animations, but for all thier crazyness, the animations in the second game felt 3-D to me. In this one they seem flat and 2-D.

I suppose no GH review is complete without mentioning the setlist. Overall it's good, a nice mox. Though to much modern stuff and not enough classic rock. I remember reading somewhere that Harmonix said they wanted to avoid useing to much modern day music. It seems like Neversoft has gone in the completly opposite direction and tried to get as much recent stuff as possible, probably figuring it would be easier to get master tracks from never bands. Overall i wish the game was less WCYY (modern rock) and more WBLM (classic rock), both radio stations in southern Maine. OK thats all for now I'll add more thoughts as they come.

[AbeChinchilla]

So i will simply have to use an unlock code to get access to dragonforce.

What's the point of unlocking "Through the Fire of Flames" when you can't beat three previous tracks? One, and the other 8th tier tracks are NOTHING compared to "Through the Fire and Flames..."

[Dylonius Funk]

So i will simply have to use an unlock code to get access to dragonforce.

What's the point of unlocking "Through the Fire of Flames" when you can't beat three previous tracks? One, and the other 8th tier tracks are NOTHING compared to "Through the Fire and Flames..."
Just so i can see it i have no illusions about ym ability to beat the song on anything higher than medium

[Rydsen]

Well, I made it further in TFAF tonight with some help from a friend. He strummed my guitar so I could use both hands to tap the intro which actually worked really well. Got a 4x multiplier all the way through until the beginning of the next section. I made it to 47% before failing out so there's possible hope... hehe, yeah right, but it was still fun none the less. :D

In career mode I'm up to the 7th venue on Expert. I think I can make it to Lou but that's where I get scared thinking about it. He was damn hard enough on Hard. I'm worried about Expert buy hey, I won't know until I try it, right? :P

[TheStrongMan]

I finally beat that fucker Lou on hard!

In the end, it was a combination of luck and skill. Skill because I've played the song so many damn times that I can hit the majority of the notes (barring righty flip and/or doubles) Luck because I snagged a whammy, amp shortage, and expert...in that order. Waited towards the end of the song when it starts throwing "battle power" at you like crazy and launched expert, then amp, then finally whammy. I smacked him with two more power-ups (I have no idea which ones) and that fucker went down.

I was elated that I had finally beat him, but I think it was more out of relief that I only have to do that one more time (on expert) than out of any sense of accomplishment.

I hope they eventually release the boss songs as DLC (I've heard the rumors) I hope they decide to be smart and release those songs for free (as they rightfully should be) instead of selling them.

[Jarred]

I finally beat that fucker Lou on hard!

Congrats! At least I know now it is doable by the time I get there. I had trouble taking down Morello on Expert last night, but finally prevailed.

My current status:
Easy - Slowly progressing, I use this set as my finger warm-up.
Medium - Slayer. Goddamit. 94% and 122+K isn't good enough for 5-stars!?!? The only song keeping me from 5-ing the whole set.
Hard - One & fucking Slayer again keeping me from getting to Lou. I've failed One multiple times at 90+%, I think it's finger fatigue at that point. :D
Expert - Just beat Morello and The Killers Song in the following set.

[AbeChinchilla]

So did anyone catch this week's new episode of South Park?

It was centered around Guitar Hero, which was funny because I remember joking with a friend back in September that South Park should totally do a Guitar Hero episode.

There will be an encore of the episode tonight at 10 PM EST (before a new episode of Drawn Together).

[MKVarana]

My current status:
Easy - Slowly progressing, I use this set as my finger warm-up.
Medium - Slayer. Goddamit. 94% and 122+K isn't good enough for 5-stars!?!? The only song keeping me from 5-ing the whole set.
Hard - One & fucking Slayer again keeping me from getting to Lou. I've failed One multiple times at 90+%, I think it's finger fatigue at that point. :D
Expert - Just beat Morello and The Killers Song in the following set.


My status:
Easy - I think I passed 2 songs...lol. (I barely played it.)
Normal - All main songs (not the bonus/downloadable ones) 5 starred.
Hard - Beat all of the main songs except Lou.
Expert - Beat the first tier. (Also barely played it)

I feel you pain with One, though I was kind of stubborn in not risking trying to double strum. Might I suggest pausing the song about halfway through the end part to let your arm rest? I paused it about there because I had to do something quick, and conveniently enough I passed it that time.

[TheStrongMan]

So did anyone catch this week's new episode of South Park?


I found it highly entertaining and enjoyable.

For the 360 users...

Adding to the legendary set list for Guitar Hero® III : Legends of Rock, Activision, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI ) announced that master recordings from Grammy Award winning artists Velvet Revolver and the Foo Fighters will be the first downloadable track packs for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system for the month of November. Both packs are now available on Xbox LIVE

Also


Additionally, later in November, the Boss Battle anthems will be available, free of charge. Originally composed music by Slash and Tom Morello along with “The Devil Went Down to Georgia ” can be downloaded to play outside of Career mode.

Fuck Yes.

Song packs are still 500 points...so it appears nothing has changed.

PS3 users will have to wait till later in the month for the DLC.

[MKVarana]

Well, I beat Lou on Hard. I was able to get three powerups by Johnny's part and hit him with them as soon as he started getting notes.

Now on to Expert. I played it for a bit and just beat the 3rd tier.

[Bitterman]

People keep talking about this Guitar Hero game, and with the third one out I figured I'd see what all the fuss is about. I've heard all the stories, about how people play this game until their fingers bleed and so forth. It's got me curious. But here's the thing...

Oh my frickin' gosh, they expect me to pay $100 to play the stupid game? I mean, seriously? I downloaded the 360's trial and played with the normal controller, and the game is fundamentally amusing, but I'm just not convinced I'm going to get $100 of enjoyment out of it. The game feels like a big gimmick. I fear that I'll enjoy the heck out of the game for maybe a week, then I'll find that one song that totally shuts me down and throw the guitar in the closet.

Right now I figure I'm in the market for a new 360 game, but I can only reasonably budget for one. My choices right now are Call of Duty 4, Assassin's Creed, and Guitar Hero 3. I thought about getting one of the earlier Guitar Hero games, but the prices on them haven't dropped. In any case, I think the song list for Guitar Hero 3 suits me more than previous incarnations of the game. It seems somewhat more accessible to me. My taste in music isn't really the hard-core guitar rock stuff. Truly, what I need isn't really "Guitar Hero" so much as "Wussy So-Called 'Alternative' Hero."

With all that in mind, should I go ahead and take the plunge on Guitar Hero 3, or should I stick to safer games that I'm pretty sure I'll like?

[MKVarana]

That's a tough call. Guitar Hero is definitely a game with a lot of replay value, as long as you're a fan of music action games. I've only been playing Guitar Hero for a few months myself, but I'm still having fun with it. I've been playing my favorite music action game (an import called "Angelic Concert") for almost 2 years now, and I still play it all the time, too. So I'd reccommend playing the demo a little more to see if you like this type of game, and if you do, then defintely get it.

[Dylonius Funk]

The biggest issue with getitng into Guitar Hero is the price. Hunt online and see if you can find it cheaper there. Or consider trying to find a cheap copy of the game and get a third aprty controller. Honestly i think you'll get the most enjoyment out of the game with the guitar controller. Now since you're on the XBOX you'll get the added benefits of online play ( for GH3) and downloads. It also depends how much you are into music games to begin with. Another thing you might consider doing is waiting till rock band comes out. The price will be more but you'll be getting two guitars drums and a mic. And hopefully the Rock Band controllers will be compatible with GH. We still aren't sure what the final word on that is but hopefully they can work it out. Plus i think Rock Band looks like it would be a better party game.

[MKVarana]

The biggest issue with getitng into Guitar Hero is the price. Hunt online and see if you can find it cheaper there. Or consider trying to find a cheap copy of the game and get a third aprty controller. Honestly i think you'll get the most enjoyment out of the game with the guitar controller. Now since you're on the XBOX you'll get the added benefits of online play ( for GH3) and downloads. It also depends how much you are into music games to begin with. Another thing you might consider doing is waiting till rock band comes out. The price will be more but you'll be getting two guitars drums and a mic. And hopefully the Rock Band controllers will be compatible with GH. We still aren't sure what the final word on that is but hopefully they can work it out. Plus i think Rock Band looks like it would be a better party game.

Does Rock Band come with two guitars? For some reason I thought it only came with one, but I might just be misremembering something. BTW, if you want to try Rock Band out, Wal-Wart has a display with the guitar and drums set up (though the kick-petal is missing and set to auto-play). The guitar on the one I tried was pretty abused, though, so I don't suggest judging the guitar experience from it....

[GHardin]

Does Rock Band come with two guitars? For some reason I thought it only came with one, but I might just be misremembering something.

No, you're right - Rock Band only comes with one guitar, drums, and mic; Guitar Hero 3's Les Paul or GH2's Xplorer can be used to fill in the other guitar (unless you want to use the effects switch, which while nice, is completely unnecessary).


BTW, if you want to try Rock Band out, Wal-Wart has a display with the guitar and drums set up (though the kick-petal is missing and set to auto-play). The guitar on the one I tried was pretty abused, though, so I don't suggest judging the guitar experience from it....
Best Buys also have a Rock Band demo set up. I don't really want to try the Wal Mart units, for fear of little kids really abusing the hell out of it (well, it's no better at Best Buy, but it tends to fare better...).