A New patch for Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock has been released for the PC and Mac versions of the game. Fixes include a new “Front Row Cam” option which allows better performance on low end configurations, with smoother gameplay, laptop specific optimizations for better performance, Intel X3100 graphics chips are now supported, a battery meter icon will display remaining battery charge on supported laptops, and a Wifi meter will display signal strength during multiplayer games on supported laptops.

For the patch, hit the badges below for the windows and mac versions, respectively.

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You just gotta love the NeoGAF forums for their timely information updates, and spoilers too.

Today, they have posted some information that is supposedly in the June issue of “Game Informer” regarding Guitar Hero IV - and since I have not received mine in the mail yet I cannot back them up; plus we have zero info from Activision or Neversoft regarding this information, so please take this with a grain of salt until it can be considered reliable. Of course, NeoGAF is usually spot on, so just continue reading and let the speculation begin.

Here are the goods:

Guitar Hero 4 (PS3, 360, Wii, PS2)

• Create a song. Although these exclude vocals due to storage and possible copyright issues.
• You’ll be able to name your song as well as creating album art. After you’ve done all that you can upload it to GH Tunes where anyone can download it.
• You’ll be limited to 5 songs at first. But depending on the ratings you get you’ll possibly be able to upload 10 or more.
• The song sharing mode will be in the Wii and PS2 versions also, but GI says it’s unlikely that it’ll be as robust as the PS3 and 360 versions.
• Drums, bass, vocals guitar
• Create a rocker
• Create a guitar and drums
• All songs will be master tracks
• They don’t want to discuss specifics on track listing out of fear of being scooped by the competition. However they confirmed 4 bands: Van Halen, The Eagles, Linkin Park and Sublime.
• A new guitar designed by Red Octane that includes a new input mechanic that’ll “impact the way you play GH in the future”.
• GI saw see through notes while playing that Neversoft said was the new input mechanic and that they were trying to patent.

To be honest with you, all of this sounds good to me, especially Van Halen and the Eagles - as long as it is rocking Eagles and NO DESPERADO!!!!

Via: NeoGaf

Activision has announced a new milestone Guitar Hero has achieved. Not to be upstaged by the former guitar heroes at Harmonix, who recently announced that Rock Band had passed the 10 million songs downloaded mark, Activision announced at a recent conference call that Guitar Hero has surpassed the 15 million downloaded songs mark.

That’s certainly an impressive figure that’s larger than Harmonix’s, but these numbers do, after all, include Guitar Hero II on Xbox 360. A commenter on Xbox 360 Fanboy made the keen observation that these don’t necessarily reflect the number of songs purchased, and Guitar Hero has seen several free tracks released.

But it seems clear that both companies are finding DLC to be a profitable form of business. Not profitable enough, though, as the cash-in known as Guitar Hero: Aerosmith proves.

via Joystiq

Jonathan mentioned last week that a Muse Track Pack for GH III would be available this week, and Chris mentioned that it was now available through PSN yesterday.Today, The Major posted that it became available last night for the Xbox 360 and here are the details:

Content: Muse Track Pack
Price: 500 Points
Availability: Not available in India
Dash Text: [ESRB: T (Teen) MILD LYRICS,MILD SUGGESTIVE THEMES] “Exo-Politics”, “Stockholm Syndrome” & “Supermassive Black Hole” as performed by Muse. For all song credits please visit www.redoctane.com There are no refunds for this item. For more information, see www.xbox.com/live/accounts.

Via: Major Nelson

The fourth annual Games for Health Conference will be showcasing the expanding role of video games in the Health profession. Video game technology is being applied in the field for rehabilitation, training and to encourage exercise.

Some highlights of the conference will be familiar to most gamers. A new version of Activision’s Guitar Hero is being introduced, which will be used in the rehabilitation of arm amputees. The results of studies based on the “Corrupted Blood Syndrome” form Blizzard’s World of Warcraft are also being presented.

Attendees will have the chance to play training games like 3DiTeams and the K.I.C.K. (Kid’s Interactive Creation Kiosk). 3DiTeams offers emergency health care training to medical professionals in virtual worlds. The full press release follows the break.

Read the full article

We have known for quite some time that Activision has planned to release Guitar Hero IV sometime close to the holiday shopping extravaganza, but during their conference call yesterday they confirmed that it will be made available for all three major consoles plus the PS2 and DS. Still, that is no surprise.

What is surprising though, slightly at least, is that this yet unnamed title will provide what Activison calls a “significant leap forward in innovation” for not only the franchise but for music simulation gaming as a whole. Could this be the extra instruments they have been talking about recently? Who knows at this point, but during the call it was stated that information would be forthcoming soon.

As far as new concerning Guitar Hero: On Tour for the DS, Activision announced that the company and Nintendo are planning to release a bundle which will include a Nintendo DS, Guitar Hero: On Tour and the DS peripheral. Also, an add-on pack of new music will be released for Guitar Hero: On Tour sometime this year but contents, release date, and price was not given.

Stay tuned for more information on the ever growing assortment of Guitar Hero titles. I am sure Guitar Hero: Fergie is next somewhere down the line. God I hope not.

Thanks: Videogaming247 (here and here)

Activision has published results for the company’s 2008 financial year and the numbers are pretty impressive. Raking in over $2.9 billion in net earnings gave them a 92% increase in monetary gains over last year’s figures. Activision’s net income stands at $344.9 million, up from $85.8 million last year and kudos goes out to Guitar Hero III and CoD4 helping them out by bringing in one billion dollars each in sales.

Head honcho Robert Kotick stated during a conference call following the published figures:

“During the fiscal year, we were the number one US console and handheld publisher in dollars for the first time ever, according to The NPD Group, and we grew our worldwide share of the console, handheld and PC markets year over year.”

Also mentioned during the conference call was the confirmation of a fifth Call of Duty game, the reinvention of the Tony Hawk series, the announcement of a new Marvel: Ultimate Alliance title and discussions relating to Guitar Hero 4 and its holiday release date.

This means that Activison will be another contender for number one publisher next year, especially considering that they have merged with Blizzard. Just think of the money they will earn when Wrath of the Lich King is unleashed upon the world.

Via: Eurogamer

It looks like a new track pack will be available for Guitar Hero III next week. Gamers will be able to download three new songs from Muse through the Playstation Network and Xbox Live. The songs will include “Exo-Politics” and “Supermassive Black Hole” from their Black Holes and Revelations album, as well as “Stockholm Syndrome” from their Absolution album. These are of course in addition to the Muse track “Knights of Cydonia” that’s already on the disc. Look for these songs to be up for download on May 8th. And if you haven’t seen it yet, be sure to check out their awesome music video for “Knights of Cydonia” below. It’s got sci-fi karate cowboys, and, no, I’m not kidding.

Via Press Release

Activision has unveiled the rack list for the upcoming DS installment of the Guitar Hero franchise. Strangely though, it only includes 15 songs, which is down from the 25 count that the publisher was claiming before. The rest will probably need to unlocked throughout the course of the game or possible downloaded later. Either way, it’s kind of an odd mix of tracks:

• Do What You Want - OK Go
• All The Small Things - Blink 182
• Spiderwebs - No Doubt
• Are You Gona Be My Girl - Jet
• We’re Not Gonna Take It - Twisted Sister
• All Star - Smash Mouth
• Breed - Nirvana
• Jessie’s Girl - Rick Springfield
• Hit Me With Your Best Shot - Pat Benatar
• This Love - Maroon 5
• Heaven - Los Lonely Boys
• Helicopter - Bloc Party
• China Grove - The Doobie Brothers
• Rock and Roll All Nite - KISS (cover by Line 6)
• What I Want - Daughtry

Wait, is that Smash Mouth on the list? Seriously? I think I associate them more with those “Kids Bop” CDs they advertise on TV than with any actual music. As if the goofy non-guitar controls weren’t enough to deter people.

Via Pocket Gamer

Ok, Activision, I know you’re locked in a mortal struggle with Rock Band over rhythm game supremacy, but these constant efforts to whore out the Guitar Hero franchise in any way possible have got to stop. Take this new browser-based widget, for example. Using the keyboard, you can “play” songs by Living Colour, Alice Cooper, and Lions…horrible, scratchy versions that sound like the lead singer is being choked to death during their performance. Seriously, where does it end? You’ve taken the once sweet, hot girl and broken her down into a trashy skank (insert Tila Tequila joke).

Via Game|Life

We’ve seen hints that Aerosmith was making their tracks exclusive to Guitar Hero (what with them getting their very own game and all), but some digging by Newsweek has now confirmed it as fact. According to Aerosmith’s publicist and Activision’s VP of music affairs, Aerosmith is signed exclusively to Guitar Hero for an unknown amount of time. Bottom line: don’t expect to see any more Aerosmith tracks for Rock Band or any other rhythm games for awhile. There’s still a lot of speculation though that Harmonix may have similar deals worked out with other bands, but has been hesitant to reveal which ones. All I know is that in either franchise, Aerosmith songs are usually the more difficult and therefore frustrating to play; so this deal makes very little difference to me.

Via Level Up

Not one to be proven wrong all that often, Electronic Gaming Month’s Quartermann has some hot rumors he’s reporting on in the upcoming June issue of EGM, which should be arriving in subscribers’ mailboxes soon.

The biggest rumor is that one of the titles Bungie purportedly agreed to make for Microsoft as a way of securing its independence is a third-person action/adventure spinoff of Halo. The game would take place before the first Halo and would focus on ODST (Orbital Drop Shock Troopers; gosh, get with the times, will ya?) encounters with the Covenant. It’s unclear if this is the Peter Jackson project, but Jackson’ WETA studio will be involved either way. Details are expected to surface around the same time that Gears of War 2 makes its way to retail later this year.

Of course, that’s not the only juicy rumor — Rockstar is also working on both Max Payne 3 and Red Dead Revolver 2, both for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, in addition to the PS3 exclusive L.A. Noire. Oh, and one other little game from Rockstar is in early development: a massively multiplayer Grand Theft Auto is apparently in the works.

And while Guitar Hero might be working on adding instruments to its currently guitar-only experience, Rock Band 2 (slated for this fall) won’t be adding to its current load of instruments. Hopefully that means current Rock Band owners won’t need to buy anything more than a copy of the game to get the full experience.

As for the rest, you’ll have to check out the June issue of EGM to get all the details. It’s the one with Splatterhouse on the cover.

via 1UP

Today is the day that you can download the Def Leppard song pack for Guitar Hero III. Unfortunately, a big surprise is headed your way should you choose to download this pack. I for one will not be doing so. Why you ask? Because for one, I am not too keen on their new single “Nine Lives” and secondly, “Rock of Ages” and “Photograph” are LIVE versions of the songs NOT the master tracks. What fresh Hell is this????

If you decide to purchase the pack anyway, it will cost you 500 MS points. I don’t know if the masters have been lost, Mercury/Island Records did not want the masters included in the game or what the deal is, but it pretty much sucks. Masters all the way, or no way at all.

Thanks: Major Nelson

There has been a rumor spinning around for months that Metallica will debut their new single on Rock Band. This will follow the recent trend started by Def Leppard and Motley Crue and release thier new single as DLC before it hits retail shelves.

This rumor is getting hotter as it nips at the heels of an recent interview with Rolling Stone in which Metallica stated that video games, particularly Guitar Hero, offer “many positive things” to young people.

Lars Ulrich, drummer for Metallica stated that Guitar Hero has allowed him to connect with his own offspring about music.

When asked ‘You signed a lot of Guitar Hero controllers. Is that cool?’, he said:

“It’s f**king way cool. Our kids love playing Guitar Hero and Rock Band. It’s awesome. There’s something really positive coming out of video games. “It’s so cool to sit there and have your kids talk to you about Deep Purple and Black Sabbath and Soundgarden.”

Perhaps the positive quotes are a little more calculated than first impressions would have you believe, however: the rumor states that Metallica will release their next single through Rock Band not Guitar Hero III.

Motley Crue released their new single ‘Saints of Los Angeles’ on PSN and XBL for Rock Band and tomorrow, Def Leppard will follow suit when they release their new single ‘Nine Lives’ as part of a GHIII song pack on XBL.

We will keep you informed on this rumor as more information becomes available. What I really want to know is when in the world will “… And Justice For All” be released as a full album for Rock Band?

Via: Press Release

Many people have attempted automatic guitar hero mods in the past, but none of them have been quite as functional as this one. When one father had reached the peak of his skills at Guitar Hero II, he decided to work on a mod to overtake his 16-year old son’s score. With the help of a friend, he devised the “AGH1000″ to detect the notes on-screen and play the game by itself. As you can see, the device works nearly perfectly, only fumbling over held notes and when there’s not much happening on the screen, it seems. This is just one step closer to the robot apocalypse, people. If you’re really interested in making your own, schematics and such are on the website below.

Via AutoGuitarHero.com

Industry analyst Janco predicted it back in August and now an interview with Activison CEO Bobby Lotick over on Conde Nast Portfolio, confirms that new additions to the Guitar Hero franchise will indeed include additional instruments.

“It’s not just about guitars. We’ll include a lot of other instruments, vocals.”

Kotick also commented that the merger with Vivendi will benefit the GH franchise by it having access to the Universal Music Group’s library thus broadening the game’s appeal. Cool, maybe this means we will finally see some Godsmack in the near future - say what you will about them, it would be fun to play “Keep Away” and “Alive”. Just think, if vocals were added you could try and mimic Sully’s trademark scream.

According to Kotick:

“The artist’s relevance and importance to 17-year olds change in a way that you could never get in any other medium. Forty per cent of [Guitar Hero] users are women. The age appeal is something we’ve never seen before: 7 year-olds who have no idea who Aerosmith is are playing the band’s music on Guitar Hero. So are 45-year olds who spent a good portion of their lives following the band around.”

I can actually agree with those numbers because the majority of my female friends, which are not gamers at all, love to play Guitar Hero. Heck, my Mom even likes to play the game and she is lucky to be able to surf the internet and check her email. Sorry Mom.

Via: GamesIndustry.biz

There is an interesting post over on Joystick Division where Chris Ward talks about his interviews with both Rivers Cuomo of Weezer and Rob Zombie. The lucky bastard - well, for getting to interview “Mr. Zombie” anyway. Both artists discuss Guitar Hero and what they think about their music being included in music simulation games.

Here are some excerpts from the Rob Zombie interview:

WARD: So, I’ve almost beaten White Zombie’s “Black Sunshine” on Guitar Hero III.

ZOMBIE: Oh good. [laughs]

WARD: What do you think of Guitar Hero? Did they approach you about using the master tracks?

ZOMBIE: Yeah, I mean they come in and ask to do it, and I think it’s great. I don’t play them, but I think it’s awesome.

WARD: What do you think of the guy trying to re-create your voice on the game?

ZOMBIE: I actually haven’t heard it, but I bet it’s pretty funny.

WARD: It’s not too good actually.

ZOMBIE: [laughs] They should just use the original tracks.

Of course they should have used the original track! It’s Rob Zombie for Satan’s sake!

Then comes the more interesting interview- the one with Rivers Cuomo from Weezer. While I have nothing personal against Weezer, what I took from reading the interview was that Rivers was kind of making fun of Guitar Hero fans. I could just picture the look of smug self-satisfaction on his face:

WARD: On a scale of 1-10, how bad could I kick your ass at Weezer’s “My Name is Jonas” on Guitar Hero III?

RIVERS: [laughs] Probably a 10, because I don’t know how to play it! I’ve never played it. I don’t get those games at all. I mean, I haven’t tried them. But they must be fun because people love them. But, to me, it seems like if you’re going to put that much effort into playing something, you should just play a real instrument. [laughs]

Granted, I have to agree that playing a musical instrument is much more fun than a fake plastic one, but the last time I checked, most people who play these games are not guitar gods. Hell, I am lucky to be able to play the cello and piano enough to where it doesn’t make your ears bleed - and even more lucky to be able to play bass on the song “Dazed and Confused by Led Zeppelin” - for the first part of the song anyway, but an orangutan could do that.

What Rivers and other musicians must realize is that deep down inside we all want to be guitar heroes, but lack the discipline to practice, take drugs and sleep with skanky women on the road. We have real jobs, real lives, and other major responsibilities in real-life, and sometimes we just want to plug in our fake guitars and de-stress a bit.

Plus, you shouldn’t make too much fun of us because your record sales have soared thanks to Guitar Hero (I-III) and Rock Band.

Thanks: Chris Ward -Joystick Division (Chris - Next time you decide to interview Rob Zombie, give me a call *wink*)

Activision has unveiled the new bundles for Guitar Hero: Aerosmith that are now available for pre-order. Each bundle will come packaged with a guitar controller, an exclusive Aerosmith faceplate, an Aerosmith tour book, and the game itself. Prices will be as follows:

$99 for Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii

$89 for PlayStation 2 wireless

$109 for the two-guitar (wired) PlayStation 2 bundle which includes both a black and silver guitar.

I guess this is for all those people who still haven’t bought any Guitar Hero game or Rock Band. Either that or it’s for all the die-hard Aerosmith fans that would gladly take a bullet for Steven Tyler. 

You can go to the official site for a list of participating retailers and to pplace your pre-order.

Xbox, Toyota, and Peavey are teaming up to bring a special Guitar Hero III contest to Xbox Live members. The prize will be a custom Guitar Hero controller made from an actual guitar stock and decorated in some contest art, which will be awarded to two winners. To register for the sweepstakes, simply download the “Toyota Matrix Xbox All-Nighter Registration Gamer Picture” from the Marketplace. In addition to that, Xbox is asking gamers to play all night long on the weekend of April 26-27. If you send them a recap of your night along with pictures of you and your friends, you could be featured on the Xbox.com homepage. Which is totally better than any sort of unique prize, right?

Via Xbox.com

Remember that lawsuit involving Guitar Hero where it seemed no one really cared about the franchise until it was suddenly one of the most popular video games over the holidays and people began realizing they could make a quick buck by finding some sort of legal action to bring against the company? Oh wait, let me narrow it down: remember the one involving the Wii version having mono sound? There you go. Well, it looks like you can cross that one off the list of pending lawsuits against Activision, as it has now been settled out of court. The case was dismissed after Activision reached an agreement with Sam Livingston — who originally filed the lawsuit — and his lawyers in order to “avoid the burden, expense and distraction of potentially protracted and complex litigation.” As part of the agreement, Activision will continue to supply replacement discs for those who purchased the mono version until “at least” August 31 and will also supply a free faceplate to those who participate in the replacement program.

Congratulations to all the people who brought up the lawsuit. You won…a bunch of stuff you were already getting anyway. Good job.

Via Next-Gen