Guitar Hero II, we've been writing about it nonstop since it was released. It was the major topic of our most recent Fancast. The song packs have outraged us. The game itself, however, is basically pure gaming gold. At least, it's gold so long as you have a functional guitar. Our own David Dreger, for example, has a broken whammy bar. Or does he? According to a recent statement from Activision, it looks like the whammy bar issue may actually stem from software, not hardware. Activision and Red Octane's supportpages note that the issue is caused by an element of Guitar Hero II that was added to "ensure accurate scoring". In other words, it was placed there to prevent cheating. Activision plans to release a patch that should rectify the issue within the coming weeks. So, if you were planning on fixing that guitar yourself, you may want to wait for the patch. After all, if you fix your guitar, and then Activision patches the game, you may wind up with the same problem all over again.
3 sets of 3 songs from the originalGuitar Hero have landed on Xbox Live Marketplace for GHII. Track Pack 1 has Ozzy's "Bark at the Moon", "Ace of Spades" by Motörhead, and The Exies' "Hey You". Pack numero dos is rockin' "Killer Queen" by Queen, The Donnas' "Take it Off", and "Frankenstein" by The Edward Winter Group. Finally, the third Pack gives you "Higher Ground" by Red Hot Chili Peppers, Incubus' "Stellar", and "Infected" by Bad Religion.
Note that all of these songs are covers and not master tracks, like they were before. Each pack weighs in a 500 MS points. That means, at this price point, to get all 47 of the original Guitar Hero tracks, it would cost you roughly 7,850 MS Points or $98.09 USD. So, will you be picking up any of these packs, if so, which one?
RedOctane's Support Center has an interesting tidbit of information regarding the next installment of Guitar Hero, and it's release schedule. The PS2, PS3, Wii, and Xbox 360 can expect to be rocking out to a new set of songs to unlock in Guitar Hero III this Fall (for North America). This also will be Neversoft's first shot at the game, so it will interesting to see what direction they take the series, and if the pedal jack will be used or not. Do you think that this is too soon for the next game? Or is it justified as the PS2 release was back in November?
As if Guitar Hero II wasn't enough on its own, it seems the X-plorer guitar does even more than expected. Our overlords and fellow slaves of rock at Joystiq have discovered that the X-plorer guitar controller that ships with the Xbox 360 version of Guitar Hero IIworks flawlessly with Windows. The device reportedly works in both Windows XP and Vista. The fret buttons correspond to buttons 1 through 5, back and start control 7 and 8, the D-pad and strummer control the Point of View Hat, the whammy bar controls X rotation, star power controls Y rotation and the Z-axis moves as you move the guitar.
With some control configuration, the peeps at Joystiq even managed to get the guitar up and running with the freeware PC Guitar Hero clone, Frets on Fire. Getting the guitar to control a guitar game is interesting, but we're not satisfied. No, we won't be satisfied until we're pulling off headshots with our guitar. Even better, we'd like to see someone rig a music program to use the guitar as an actual instrument. Maybe someone could whip something up with Game Studio Express. Anyone care to take up the challenge?
We've waited for months for this day, and lo, it has arrived. Guitar Hero II is out and ready to allow you to jam to the likes of Aerosmith, KISS, Alice Cooper, Stone Temple Pilots, and even shed a tear for My Chemical Romance. Packed with 74 songs and downloadable content available in the coming weeks, this spring is starting off with a bang. So here at Fanboy Towers, only two Fanbloggers have the intention of getting the game, half of which are able to pick it up today, and we'll let you take the wild guess who's who in that situation.
But the situation we want to know is whether any of you, dear readers, are planning on busting out the tunes today. Who here is going to rock out and grab GHII today? How about later?
When you get your hands on a copy of Guitar Hero II, tomorrow, you'll find in the instruction manual the answer to the question which many inquisitive gamers have been pondering: What's that port on the bottom of the axe for? While it's been rumored for an effects pedal since the first shots showing it were released, it can now be confirmed. The manual explicitly states three things, first that it's for an effects pedal. Secondly, it will, naturally, be sold separately, and finally, that the feature is currently unavailable. We'll probably see it get use in the next iteration of Guitar Hero's series. Would you welcome some footwork when rocking out?
With Guitar Hero II mere weeks away from release, competitions were bound to start to get planned. GameHQ is holding a tournament on April 7th, sponsored by Red Octane. The catch, of course, is that it takes place in Deland, Florida at the Sunshine Bowling Center. Festivities start at 7:00 pm and there are unspecified prizes to be given to true rockers. We do like the name of the group, though: G.H.O.U.L., the Guitar Hero Organized Underground League. So, if you live in that region of America's wang, are you going to see what all the fuss is about? If so, will you start practicing now on the PS2's version, or wait until you pick it up for 360?
So on Friday, or maybe it was Thursday, we told you that Guitar Hero II was releasing on April 3rd in North America. Well, fortunately the blokes over in the UK won't have to wait too much longer after the fact to get their grubby hands on a guitar controller. According to Eurogamer, Activision US also announced that the UK should have Guitar Hero II hit store shelves on April 6th, Good Friday. Hopefully there will some stores open for business to sell it to eager gamers looking to rock out on the long weekend.
Screw Guitar Hero IIdemo stations! Why waste time with a puny demo station when you can bag the real thing in just two weeks? That's right, Activision has officially announced that Guitar Hero II will release on April 3rd. Wait a minute, that sounds awfully familiar. Oh, that's because we reported it two months ago, booyah!
At any rate, in just over two weeks, budding 360 rockers will finally get to lay down some righteous chops with the best of them. The 360 version of GHII features the all new X-plorer guitar, updated graphics, and 10 exclusive new songs. Not only that, but Red Octane already has a ton of downloadable content in the pipeline.
So, 360 fanboys, we ask you: are you ready to RAWK?!
For you fellow Canadian fanboys out there, Blockbuster Video is carrying the "Badges of Honour". For a toonie, you can get your hands on one of five limited edition badges, from GRAW 2, to Guitar Hero II to Halo 3. Proceeds are going to be donated to the Children's Miracle Network, so its definitely for a good cause. They will only be available until Sunday, April 1st, 2007, so next time you're renting something over at Blockbuster, pick up a couple badges to help show gamers care.
OXM's exclusive article and review combo of Guitar Hero II in their March issue had an interesting tidbit on an exclusive song. Apprarently, the Xbox 360 version will get a little spartan nostalgia as they get to rock out to the Mjolnir Mix of the Halo 2 theme. In terms of the song itself, it sounds like a lot of fun, as the guitar is very distinctive. Honestly, who wouldn't want to play the Halo 2 theme?
Still, when we read the magazine's article prior to coming across this news, we didn't see any mention of the song, but perhaps we overlooked it in a sidebar or something. So, until we double check our issue of OXM, or a Fanboy reader confirms it, we're going to classify this as a rumor. No word if it is going to be available on the disc off the bat or through a download off of Xbox Live Marketplace. We're going to look into this as soon as we can. Let's say this is true, how do you feel about the Halo's theme showing up in other games?
Associate Producer for Guitar Hero II, Ted Lange, was asked a few questions by IGN Australia. They touched on downloadable content as well as the exclusive tracks and even licensing issues with other bands. The main thing that caught our attention was Ted's thoughts on a wireless guitar. He said that he hopes they'll be able to provide a wireless solution rather shortly to fans, which is definitely a good thing. Hopefully this indicates that their talks with Microsoft about bringing this to the market is making significant progress. After getting Guitar Hero II with its wired guitar, would you buy a second one if it was wireless, and for how much?
On Friday, IGN added another one of Guitar Hero II's Xbox 360 exclusive songs to their video page. It is, of course, none other than My Chemical Romance's "Dead!". It, alongside "Possum Kingdom", are the only "Master Tracks" of the new songs included. This is definitely a good thing, as Gerard Way's distinctive vocals would be hard to reproduce by the cover artists used. The video is pretty good, and available in High Definition for IGN Insiders, showing how difficult the Expert rendition of the song is. For the purists out there, it seems the completelyrics are intact (2:50 in the video, 2:40 in the song). In any case, everyone here at Fanboy Towers is pining for this game and can't wait for its release. This video, along with the others available on the same page, makes the wait all the more difficult. Are you guys ready to rock out?
RedOctane, developer of Guitar Hero II, posted a pre-order for the game's Xbox 360 version on their corporate store. Look closely though, because they listed an April 3rd ship date for the Guitar Hero II bundle. This has to mean something, because this isn't Gamestop or Toys R Us listing a release date. This is the developer's official online store listing the release date. This has to be accurate, unless RedOctane is just as clueless to the release date of their game as the rest of us. And as an added bonus you'll get a free gig bag when you preorder the game directly from them. Can you say rock on to an April release?
We've waited for months for this day, and lo, it has arrived. Guitar Hero II is out and ready to allow you to jam to the likes of Aerosmith, KISS, Alice Cooper, Stone Temple Pilots, and even 
