Guitar Hero and Nintendo News!

This has been a good week for fans of Guitar Hero and Nintendo games, and it's only Wednesday! A few juicy bits out of Activision about Guitar Hero III and Guitar Hero 80's Edition, and a release schedule for the summer/early fall from Nintendo is a good week for me!

First up, Activision has announced that this Autumn (still no date or month, but a season is better than nothing) Guitar Hero III will be released, and will feature wireless guitar controllers. I am a little nervous about this venture, as it may require even MORE batteries (thanks Wiimote!) and the potential lag between controller and game could seriously mess up your game. But if my buddy Travis's abilities with a 3rd party wireless guitar are any indication, I have nothing to worry about (5 stars on Hard on most songs he plays). The Wii, PS3 and 360 all get Gibson Les Paul models, while the PS2 will have a Gibson Kramer model. All the guitars will also have removable faceplates, ala the 360, so you can customize your guitar with more than the puny sticker pack that came with the first two games. They will also feature a "new button color design" that they say will give "an even greater authentic feel and rock experience." I say that means that I will need to relearn the controls a bit, and not be able to use my existing PS2 guitar for the game. That does not please me, but until more info (specifically, pictures and video) become available, I will attempt to remain optimistic.

Speaking of optimism, I like the track list released so far. The list released so far includes The Rolling Stones (Paint it Black), Smashing Pumpkins (Cherub Rub), Beastie Boys (Sabotage), Weezer (My Name is Jonas), Foghat (Slow Ride.... DUH!), and other tracks by Tenacious D, Kiss, Alice Cooper, Living Coulor, and Heart. Oh, and KNIGHTS OF CYDONIA BY MUSE. Hmm? What? Yeah, little excited about that last one.... A great list of songs AND bands so far, more on par with GH1 than GH2. You can read more about the announcement on Joystiq and IGNPS2. Now it is simply a matter of deciding which version to buy! I am thinking the Wii version will win out, assuming it has downloadable content.

One Guitar Hero game that I will have no trouble deciding which system to buy it for is Guitar Hero 80's Edition, or whatever name they are calling it this week. It will be a PS2 exclusive... ya know, until costly 360 downloads are available. The 2nd set of tracks available was recently announced, and it includes.... a bunch of songs I have either NEVER heard or have not heard in such a long time I can't remember them. I wasn't allowed to pick my music in the 80's, it was mainly easy listening, Bon Jovi, and whatever my sister had on. 7 year olds are mature enough to pick their own music, despite what my parents said. Songs from Skid Row, The Police, and Poison are found on the new list. You can read the actual list by CLICKING HERE and seeing what IGNPS2 had to say about it.

In Rock Band news, last week Harmonix said it will not actually cost you an arm and a leg to buy this game... because with only 1 arm, the game will not be playable. There's some logic for ya. They still will not say too much about the game (are developers actually going to give info at the min-E3?) other than it won't eat your pocketbook. Stop carrying around a pocketbook. You are supposed to be a boy. You can read his little blurb on Joystiq. Still kind of unsure about Rock Band, but I have faith in Harmonix (still playing the free Frequency demo on my PS2).

And finally, onto Nintendo and release date goodness. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption will be released on August 20th of this year... wow, that is odd... that is the same week I am scheduled to take some vacation time... look at that... what a coincidence! The rest of their release list can be found at IGN by CLICKING HERE! It doesn't end there kiddies! Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Mario Galaxy AND Phantom Hourglass were all confirmed for a 2007 release as well! Those last two games being confirmed by Reggie at the Nintendo Summit in Seatle recently. You can read a brief description of that day at GameSpot by CLICKING HERE, and the full speech by the Reginator at IGN by CLICKING HERE!

Ok, time to go buy some batteries. I better stock up.