That Gaming Site Writes: "I play real Guitar and Guitar Hero.

Being a fan of both, I've been subject to numerous arguments over and over about how playing Guitar Hero or Rock Band is a waste of time and that 'nerds' should try picking up a real instrument and do something productive for a change. It was in this week's edition of NME (a British Indie Music Publication) that brought me this comment, in an article that........"
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MCV: The Guardian sticks up for gaming following attack from music mag NME
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Guitar Hero kicking your butt after one too many beers? Maybe it's time to automate your gameplay - with a robot guitar god, the Cythbot.

The Cythbot combines a camera with a vision processing system and pneumatic fingers to create a robot that can play the popular Guitar Hero videogame by itself.
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MCV: 'Rock Star' combo blame rhythm action titles for lack of new US bands
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After making their entry in a Guitar Hero set list with When You Were Young on Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, multi-platinum alternative rockers The Killers are playing a downloadable encore in Activision Publishing, Inc.'s Guitar Hero World Tour, the company announced today...
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SnagWire: A partnership has been announced between Activision and the United Service Organizations, the group that provides American entertainment to troops stationed overseas.

The video game publisher plans to ship over $100,000 worth of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock game discs and peripherals to USO lounges around the world.
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Yesterday, Logitech revealed its new $250 wireless guitar controller for Guitar Hero for the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3. However, there were some questions about whether or not the peripheral would see a release for the Wii or Xbox 360, or if it would work with other non-Guitar Hero branded games. And now, those questions no longer remain unanswered.
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Ever since Sunday, Rock Band 2 has been the talk of the town. Xbox 360 owners have been digging deep into the game's new set list, as well as the online battle of the bands, instrument challenges, and revamped World Tour mode. You'd think that maybe we've all started to forget about a little franchise known as Guitar Hero, but according to Activision CEO Bobby Kotick, you'd be wrong. He would like to take a moment to remind you that Guitar Hero is still the world's number one music franchise.
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Director Brett Ratner has been plenty vocal about wanting to develop a movie based on the game Guitar Hero. But Activision, the company that owns the franchise, isn't going for it. "I'd really like to do it, but they're not letting me," he tells EW.com. "I expressed my interest, but because it's such a success, it's like now there's no reason to make a movie about it."

Ratner is a big fan of the game, incorporating it into videos he's directed for Miley Cyrus and Mariah Carey, and he envisioned a story about a small-town kid who dreams of fame and wins a Guitar Hero competition. "The game is wish-fulfilling, everyone can be a rock star."

But despite the setback, Ratner is not giving up hope. "I might prevail," he says. "I usually do."
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Via MajorNelson:

"Content:Metallica "Death Magnetic" Full Album

Price: 1440 Microsoft Points

Availability: All Xbox LIVE regions

Dash Text: [ESRB: T (Teen) MILD LYRICS,MILD SUGGESTIVE THEMES] Metallica "Death Magnetic" Full Album featuring 2 exclusive versions of "Suicide & Redemption", including - "That Was Just Your Life", "The End Of The Line", "Broken, Beat & Scarred", "The Day That Never Comes", "All Nightmare Long", "Cyanide", "The Unforgiven III", "The Judas Kiss", "Suicide & Redemption J.H.", "Suicide & Redemption K.H.", and "My Apocalypse"."
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Acti-Blizz has announced that Metallica's latest album will release on Guitar Hero III on Friday, the same date it's available at retail.
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For a limited time only (well, until the end of October) the Xbox Live Marketplace is running an 'Extended Play Download Days' promotion which is offering some pretty good savings on some of the more popular DLC.

Games include:
Mass Effect
Lost Odyssey
Forza Motorsport 2
Oblivion
Guitar Hero 3
Beautiful Katamari
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Destructoid writes, "As part of some kind crazy limited supply promotion, Best Buy will be dishing out "exclusive bonus tracks" for Guitar Hero III for anyone willing to order Metallica's upcoming CD, Death Magnetic. It isn't clear as to what tracks can be downloaded via Best Buy's instructions, but one would assume that a few Metallica tracks would be included with the package."
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A new survey of Guitar Hero and Rock Band players by Brown University ethnomusicologist Kiri Miller has revealed some fascinating trends, including the fact that 76 percent of the players bought music they heard in the game, and 69 percent often play in multiplayer modes.

The initial results from Miller, who has previously written on the subject for Gamasutra sister site GameSetWatch, were first revealed on her 'Guitar Hero Research' weblog.

She explained: "As of this writing I have received 414 responses. Survey respondents were self-selecting; most heard about the survey through recruitment messages posted on several high-traffic online messageboards devoted specifically to these game"
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Console Monster writes: "Two demos are now available to download from the Xbox Live Marketplace. The first is Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, as expected, and the second is NHL 2K9. There's also a range of gamer pictures, themes, trailers, music videos and if you have failed to complete Through the Fire and the Flames on Expert, the Guitar Hero III Dragonforce Track Pack may not be for you. Here is the full list of updated content on the Xbox Live Marketplace for Thursday 21st August 2008:

Name: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Demo
Price: Free
Availability: All Xbox Live Regions

Name: Star Wars The Force Unleashed The Apprentice Theme
Price: 150 Microsoft Points
Availability: All Xbox Live Regions

Name: Star Wars The Force Unleashed Characters of TFU 1 Gamer Pics
Price: 100 Microsoft Points
Availability: All Xbox Live Regions..."
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NextGen Player writes:

"The World Cyber Games, described as the world's largest cyber-gaming event, will be coming to Montreal, Quebec on August 31 - September 1. This three day event will be held at La Ronde, Eastern Canada's largest amusement park. According to the WCG Canada website this is the second time in three years the gaming event is being staged at the Six Flag theme park in Montreal."
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Activision has revealed that a DragonForce track pack for Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock will be available to download from Xbox Live Marketplace and PlayStation Store this Thursday.

The three track pack will include the debut single from their new album "Heroes Of Our Time", which will apparently "set players' fingers ablaze as they try to keep up with some of the most challenging riffs to date". Guitar Hero III fans will no doubt remember DragonForce for their impossibly difficult "Through the Fire and Flames".

The pack also includes two tracks from their third album "Revolution Deathsquad" and "Operation Ground and Pound".
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Darren Madigan 27 of Huddersfield, England was served with a noise abatemant last year for playing music to loudly. But he has now breached it by playing Guitar Hero to loudly and poorly according to neighbour.
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From gameplayer: "the negotiating power of the games companies stem from their control over the track lists in their titles… The game publishers have the power. So, in a sense, they ARE the music industry."
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Ripten writes:

"It was only a matter of time.

As the popularity of rhythm games continues to gain purchase in the pocketbooks of gamers worldwide, Warner Music is of the opinion that the publishers are getting away with robbery.

Executive Edgar Bronfman explained that Activision and MTV, developers of Guitar Hero and Rock Band, respectively, will eventually have to pay more for the licenses for the songs from their catalogue."
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