Weedilie-weedilie-WEEDILIE-weedilie!

Found this little gem in the Target the other day, while making one of those manly “load up on as many pairs of socks and underpants as possible” shopping trips.

Oh those men and their wacky shopping.

Anyhoo, this exceptional slice of brand licencing is brought to you by the fine crew over at Jada, makers of the Nine Inch Marvel Universe Touch Tech (now why the hell does that sound too erotic for a kids toy??). The Guitar Hero: Air Guitar Rocker attaches comfortably over your junk and allows you to kick out the jams on an invisible axe. It includes five licenced tracks (Ace of Spades, Iron Man, More Than a Feeling, You Really Got Me and Smoke on the Water) and a few “freestyle” tracks. The box said you could also get cartridges to add new tracks, although I didn’t notice a bevy of extra cartridges clogging up the desk displays.

So if you’re not content flailing around with your plastic guitar, why not consider flailing around with an imaginary guitar? I hear it’s almost eight times the awesome! Especially because nothing says “get that man into rehab” like constantly flicking a guitar pick past your private parts. It’s more than a feeling (more than a feeling).

Also known as "Guitar Hero: Smash Hits" for our US counterparts

God I’m a shill.  Activision has made me it’s bitch so hard it’s not funny.

So here’s the story.  Despite owning every single Guitar Hero game, I seem to have purchased a game called Guitar Hero: Greatest Hits which is a compiled collection of the best songs of Guitar Hero 3 and before.  SIXTY DOLLARS WELL SPENT, MATTHEW!

It’s kind of difficult not to think this way when you see a title like this.

“Oh, so we’re paying money for something we already own.  Who buys this junk?  What a cash grab.  Why wouldn’t they just change discs and play whatever song they like?”

-Rational gamers everywhere

I’m a little mixed on this game.  It seems a little at odds with the rest of the Guitar Hero collection, given the fact that all it’s really doing is giving you a few songs off each title, as opposed to whole collections.  With the speculation that Guitar Hero 5 will be including more than a hundred songs, the 48 tracks on offer here seems paltry by comparison.  They could have included an entirely updated version of the original Guitar Hero setlist of 47 songs, and had plenty of room left over for a selection of II, Rocks the 80′s, III and Aerosmith.

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GH: Aerosmith it ain't

Either you like their music or you don’t. That’s kind of the theme of this game. If you like Metallica, then you’re guaranteed a solidly built game that will probably constantly get dragged out for a bit an afternoon thrash. If you don’t like Metallica, but enjoy Guitar Hero, then this game is great fun for super fast licks and chunky, heavy chord progressions. If you don’t like Metallica, or Guitar Hero, well I’m not sure why you’re even looking at this page. Seriously, why? A friend put you up to it? What a jerk. You should tumble dry all their cotton t-shirts.

I love Metallica, one of the more favourable byproducts of growing up with a metal-head brother. And you have to admire (if nothing else) the band’s knowledge of their fans. This game is built for Metallica fans. Need proof? Check the track listing:

• Total number of Metallica songs: 28
• Songs from questionably received albums released after “Load“: About 5 or so

This game is for the fans of classic Metallica tunes, Black Album and earlier pretty much. The selection is fantastic. They probably couldn’t release a Best Of collection that does as much justice to their earlier work. (more…)

As a long time fan of the Guitar Hero/Rock Band franchises, I dutifully pre-ordered my copy of Guitar Hero: Metallica yesterday so I can be playing it as soon as possible. I love Metallica’s music, so I’m looking forward to what the demo presented as quite a compitent addition to the Guitar Hero series. Rock Band: The Beatles is also slated for release this year, and I’ll probably grab that too. Adding to the already published RB: AC/DC Live and GH: Aerosmith, it’s obvious that publishers have found a new, cheap and easy way of expanding their music titles (even though some may argue that the quality of a music release is often in it’s range of different musical tastes).

Band tie-in games are obviously an untapped gold mine for developers, and to prove my point, I give to you 8 band branded music games that I’m sure we’d all like to see: (more…)