DarkZero writes: "Activision has revealed that Muse will be bringing three brand new songs to Guitar Hero III. "Exo-Politics", "Supermassive Black Hole" and "Stockholme Syndrome" are those songs, and they will be available to download next Thursday, 8th May should you feel the need to rock!

No official price point was revealed by Activision, but 500 Points (£4.25 / €6.00) on Live and £3.99 on PSN is the norm for the company, so unless they've got even more greedy then it should stick to that."
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Finally Activision does something selfless. From May 2 to May 5, Guitar Hero III will host a charity challenge competition (on easy, medium and hard), benefiting the Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation. Activision will donate $1 to the charity for every participant and $100 for every 1000 points of a challenger’s individual score. The Starlight Starbright Foundation helps sick kids and their families cope with the ... » Read More

Fancy a free gig in May? Then test your rock knowledge in our competition. ... » Read More

OpinionDebug writes:

"Well the first details of the imminent Guitar Hero 4 have begun to trickle out of Activision, stating that Guitar Hero 4 will feature drums and vocals¿hmm, this seems familiar. While this is just a rumour it is backed by some reliable sources, including Activision CEO Bobby Kotick. Ok, this sounds like Rock Band, a lot. I mean really, couldn't they have thought of something slightly original - a didgeridoo controller for example? However I think Activision are entitled to copy Rock Band and its peripherals."
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Activision CEO Bobby Kotick has said that Guitar Hero IV will be receiving extra peripherals, including a microphone. Kotick commented on the future of the franchise in an interview with Conde Nast Portfolio magazine (according to IGN). He also mentioned that the next instalment will let players strum along with bands local to their area. ... » Read More

"Well have no fear, I have a list of products that are out, or will soon be available that will help you with the fact of having two guitars for both of your stellar rock games. Even if you only have one of these rocking games I will help you out too.
Please visit the site for this helpful information."

-www.psnathome.com
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As games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero continue to gobble up market and mind share, it's a safe bet gamers are going to continue to see more manufacturers trying to one-up the originals with their own take on the fake instruments. To that end, longtime guitar crafter The Ant Commandos is back with a new line-up of gear coming this spring.

First are two new wireless products, The Widow Maker Wireless Bass Guitar and The Double Range Guitar, compatible with Rock Band and Guitar Hero 1, 2 and 3 for the PS2 and PS3.
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PlayStation 3 outsold Xbox 360 for the third month in a row, but the Nintendo Wii overshot the combined sales of its rivals, according to Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter.

Ahead of March's NPD Group sales data, due to release this Thursday, Pachter forecast PS3 sales of 365,000 units, edging out sales of 310,000 for Xbox 360.

In a Monday investor note, Pachter predicted that Nintendo will come out on top for yet another month, with Wii sales of 700,000 during March's five-week retail period.
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The Def Leppard coming to Guitar Hero III/IV rumors are still ricocheting around the net. First there was Phil Collen announcing on Rockline that Def Leppard would have 3 songs in Guitar Hero 4, then the news that the Def Leppard tracks Collen mentioned were confirmed to not be part of Guitar Hero IV but featured as DLC for GHIII.

Today, word on the street is that on April 24th, DLC featuring Def Leppard's newest single "Nine Lives" as well as "Rock of Ages" and "Photograph" will be available for download via XBL and PSN.
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Charlie Daniels, the writer and musician responsible for 'The Devil Went Down to Georgia,' has hit out against Guitar Hero 3 for perverting the meaning of his music. "[The song] is supposed to be a lighthearted novelty about a fiddling contest between a country boy and the devil and the devil always loses," Daniels posted on his personal website. ... » Read More

Engadget writes: "While we fully support a baseless and antagonistic war between Rock Band and Guitar Hero III fanboys, Nyko has those profit margins to worry about. The new Front Man wireless guitar for the PS3 works with both games, and can be switched via that fancy red stomp box. Wireless range is about 25 feet, and you can get about 80 hours of rock out of the thing before you need to swap the batteries. You know, the batteries of rock and roll. Too bad the guitar costs $60, what most retailers are charging for the first party controllers."
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VG247: Activision's offering you the chance to get into the next edition of Guitar Hero.

How do you do it? It's very simple: make a video recording of yourself imbuing anything from a guitar to a Guitar Hero controller to a tennis racket with the mystical power of rock; shred to the best of your ability to your favourite rock song and administer lordship over the universe through whatever axe you choose to wield. Then register on www.releaseyourrockstar.com and upload your video.

The movie that gets the most views...
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VG247: Actress Jodie Foster is a terrible musician but is good enough at Guitar Hero to beat her six and nine year-old children.

"I have no musical ability," she said. "I tried in my life. I tried to learn the trumpet, that wasn't so good. The good thing about Guitar Hero is you can just go 'blue, green, green, green, blue, green, green.'"

Not much more to add to that, is there?
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Playstation Blog writes: "What makes your house feel like home? For many of the readers of this blog, the answer probably includes your living room video game set-up. Major League Baseball's Washington Nationals just moved into their new home ¿ Nationals Park ¿ and they, too, have a killer gaming den: The PlayStation Pavilion.

Located in the "Strike Zone" near the Center Field Gate, this 3000 square foot PS3 paradise is a good reason to get to the stadium early. Opening 2 ½ hours before the first pitch, Nationals supporters (or visiting Phillies or Mets fans) can duke it out in MLB 08 The Show, test drive Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, or ¿ and I'm sure this will be entertaining after several innings' worth of beer sales ¿ try out the Guitar Hero III and SingStar stages. Some SingStar singers will actually end up on the JumboTron!"
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Calling all Guitar Hero III players!

Think you have what it takes to become a rock legend? Sign up now to compete in our Guitar Hero III Rock-tacular, and show off your most amazing licks and riffs. We'll be flying four finalists out to our studio in San Francisco to compete for $1000 in prizes!
Registration for GameSpot's Guitar Hero III Rock-tacular begins March 24, 2008.
To register, click here to go over to guitarhero.com. You will need to create a profile and link it to your Xbox 360, Wii, or PS3 game.

As always, we'll broadcast the finals live on GameSpot Tournament TV. You'll get to see your favorite GameSpot editors provide analysis and commentary on the competition, as well as interviews with some of the top players. Be sure to tune in!
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Gibson Guitar are suing both Wal-Mart and other major consumer retailers in relation to them selling Activision's Guitar Hero series of games. It should getting very interesting, but in the meantime the parties have each issued press releases.
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Wal-Mart is one of five big-box retailers being sued for selling Guitar Hero 3, and in fact the entire Guitar Hero franchise.
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Activision has released a statement in response to Gibson Guitar's claims that the publisher's popular Guitar Hero series of games infringe upon one of its patents.

Activision said in a statement released on Thursday, "Gibson's lawsuit is a transparent end run around an impartial court that Activision asked on March 11 to rule on patent assertions that Gibson knows have no merit."

"Our Guitar Hero retailing partners have done nothing wrong. We will confront this and any other efforts by Gibson to wrongfully interfere with Activision's relationship with its customers and its consumers."
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Martin Bandier, a top executive at the music publishing company that owns the Lennon-McCartney song writing copyrights, has said he'd be interested in a dedicated edition of Guitar Hero for the Beatles."It's something we have talked about and something I'd like to pursue," said Bandier to the Los Angeles Times.Traditionally, the rights to cover Beatles tracks have been notoriously hard to obtain, but copyright owner Sony/ATV Music ... » Read More

The L.A. Times reports:

"The latest sign of a video-game "Revolution"? You may soon be able to plug in and play guitar in "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."

Martin N. "Marty" Bandier, the top executive at the music publishing company that owns the John Lennon- Paul McCartney copyrights, said he liked the idea of a dedicated Beatles edition of Guitar Hero, Activision Inc.'s hugely popular video-game franchise.

Activision announced last month that Aerosmith would be the first act with a dedicated version of Guitar Hero.

"It's something we have talked about and something I'd like to pursue," said Bandier, who last year took over as chairman and chief executive at Sony/ATV Music Publishing.

The company has loosened its approach to the Beatles' music. Producers of " American Idol," for instance, had for years sought permission for contestants to perform Beatles hits on the show but were turned down again and again.

That's changed: Tonight's episode is the second week of an "all-Beatles" format for the show, which Bandier calls "a wonderful way to get this legendary music in front of an audience of 30 million people in an exciting way."
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