Guitar Hero

Logitech rock Wii and Xbox 360 with Wireless Drum and Guitar Controllers

By Mick Webb

11:02 September 10, 2009 PDT

In exciting news for Guitar Hero fans, Logitech has made good on its promise to release premium Wireless Drum and Guitar Controllers for the Wii and Xbox360. Following on from the initial release for the PS3, Logitech’s new peripherals will have lounge room rock stars rejoicing – and all in time for Guitar Hero 5. Read More

Music Maker RockStar lets the inner rock god cut loose with freestyle play

By Mike Hanlon

19:53 May 30, 2009 PDT

Playing music is therapeutic in myriad ways. It can soothe the mind, lower blood pressure, increase your IQ – but most of all, it's fun. The recent advent of the Personal Media Player may have taken music to the masses, but it's a fair bet that musical console games will be seen in decades to come as the true democratizing force behind creating your own music. Now, the massive success of play-along games, such as Rock Band and Guitar Hero, is about to progress to the next level with the European release of MAGIX Music Maker RockStar for PlayStation 2, which turns your guitar controller into an instrument to be played with complete freedom. Read More

Do the Guitar Hero World Tour instruments work with Rock Band 2, and vice versa?

By Tim Hanlon

03:29 February 9, 2009 PST

We're still getting a heap of traffic to our Guitar Hero World Tour vs Rock Band 2 article, and a lot of it is from people looking to find out whether the Guitar Hero World Tour instruments work with Rock Band, and vice versa. We've done some experimenting - here's the results. Read More

Disney Star Guitarist: Guitar Hero with a real guitar

By Tim Hanlon

13:01 January 14, 2009 PST

US Music Corp., parent company of several music brands including Washburn Guitars, have partnered with Disney to create the Disney Star suite of applications - which unlike console-based music games, will teach children to play a real guitar or piano using familiar songs from Disney franchises like Hannah Montana and High School Musical. Read More

Guitar Hero World Tour vs Rock Band 2

By Tim Hanlon

22:21 December 7, 2008 PST

After initially shunning the idea of the full band game, Activision caved, and decided to bring the Guitar Hero franchise up to par with the release of Guitar Hero World Tour - just in time to compete with MTV's sequel to Rock Band, the game that brought music video games to the next level last November. We've spent (far too much) time with both games to bring you this in-depth comparison. Read More

Logitech's premium Guitar Hero controller

By Darren Quick

19:55 October 23, 2008 PDT

In news for lounge-room Rock Gods, Logitech has announced the Wireless Guitar Controller Premiere Edition for the PS3 and PS2. The premiere edition of the Logitech Wireless Guitar Controller is the first in Logitech’s planned line of premium peripherals for the Guitar Hero franchise. Officially licensed by Activision, the guitar is compatible for all Guitar Hero games, including the highly anticipated Guitar Hero World Tour. It features a wood neck, rosewood fingerboard and metal frets and tuning peg handles to provide that little bit of extra realism for belting out your favorite tunes. Read More

Wii Music aims to take music gaming to the masses

By Darren Quick

21:07 October 20, 2008 PDT

While music based rhythm games such as Guitar Hero and Rock Band let players let out their inner Rock God, Nintendo, like they have done for the majority of their Wii titles, have aimed for a different demographic with Wii Music. With the standard lead, bass, drums and vocals combo pretty well catered for, Wii Music has widened the net by bringing more than 60 instruments to your living room. And unlike other games where the object is to hit the right note at the right time, Wii Music lets you put your own spin on songs. According to Nintendo, it’s all about improvisation, creativity and fun. Read More

Sony working to make Rock Band, Guitar Hero instruments compatible

By Darren Quick

09:13 August 20, 2008 PDT

Sony has been working with rhythm based games developers to ensure compatibility between the various companies’ peripherals on the PS3 for Rock Band 2, Guitar Hero: World Tour and Rock Revolution titles. Read More

Guitar Hero release for Metallica’s new album

By Darren Quick

11:20 July 17, 2008 PDT

July 17, 2008 Metallica fans will be able to rock out to new anthems from the band in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock with Metallica’s highly-anticipated full studio album, “Death Magnetic”, to be available simultaneously in record stores and as downloadable content for the game. Lounge room rockers will be able to unite on drums, guitar and vocals when the album and game content is released in September. The downloadable content will also be available for Guitar Hero World Tour when it ships this Fall. Mike Griffith, president and CEO of Activision Publishing also said that Guitar Hero World Tour will, “deliver unprecedented innovation to the rhythm-based genre with new instruments, a significantly expanded song list, and a music creator to share user-generated soundtracks.” Read More

Guitar Hero: Rocks the 80s announced

By Tim Hanlon

May 11, 2007 It was only recently that we became properly aquainted with Guitar Hero 2, but that doesn't mean we're any less excited about Activision's announcement of the third game in the series, Guitar Hero: Rocks the 80s. Details are scarce, but read on for a sneak peak at the tracklist. Read More

Guitar Hero 2 Review (Xbox 360)

By Tim Hanlon

April 30, 2007 As you might imagine, we're surrounded with technology at the Gizmag office...and we thought we'd learned to do a pretty good job of soldiering on despite all the distractions the wired lifestyle brings. Alas, those times are over now, and we refer to the period as BG (Before Guitar Hero). For the uninitiated, Guitar Hero is rock and roll condensed into a video game, complete with plastic guitar controller and a drummer who always turns up to practice on time (and doesn't hit on your girlfriend). The original Playstation 2 game sold over one million units in its first year, and the sequel sold over 1.3 million units in 2006 - 800,000 in December alone - and it's hooked everyone from the neighbors seven-year-old to members of the prog-rock super-group Tool. Now it's here on the Xbox 360 in crisp 720p resolution with 10 additional tracks - if you've listened to guitar music at all in the last thirty years, read on for the full review, video and track list. Read More

Guitar Hero Game expected to be an instant best-seller

By Mike Hanlon

November 9, 2005 Now we don’t often do games but this was worth a mention. This is a new game we think will be HUGE, partly because the installed base of PlayStation2 is close to 100 million units, and partly because there are few boys on the planet who haven't dreamt at some point about becoming one of the high priests of the 21st century, the guitar hero! Launched today across America the rock 'n roll guitar video game is called Guitar Hero and is exclusive to the PlayStation2. Guitar Hero combines addictive game play with some of the greatest rock songs of all-time and lets gamers experience the thrill and excitement of being a rock star without leaving home! By pressing down on the fret buttons of a specially designed guitar controller, gamers play notes and chords by strumming in time on a "strum bar" representing the strings of an electric guitar. Guitar Hero features hits spanning all the facets of rock music, from classic rock to metal including tracks made famous by such legendary artists as Boston, Red Hot Chili Peppers, David Bowie, Sum 41, Ozzy Osbourne, Audioslave, White Zombie, Franz Ferdinand and The Ramones. Read More