Guitar Hero III
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(Texts copied from the Guitar Hero III Wikipedia article)
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock is a music video game and the third full installment in the Guitar Hero series (the fourth title overall). The game is published by Activision and RedOctane, with Neversoft as the developer for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, X-Box 360, and Wii consoles, and Aspyr Media as the developer for the PC and Macintosh computers. Due to the acquisition of RedOctane by Activision, Harmonix Music Systems is no longer involved in developing titles in the Guitar Hero series; instead, they developed Rock Band in association with MTV Games.
As with the previous Guitar Hero games, the player uses a guitar-shaped controller to simulate the playing of varying genres of rock music by playing notes as they scroll in-time with the music. Gameplay from the previous installments of the series has remained mainly intact, except for the addition of a new cooperative mode. The game features over 60 total songs, many of which, in contrast to previous games, are master tracks. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock is available both individually and in bundles packaged with wireless controllers. Previous Guitar Hero controllers are compatible with this title. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock is the first game in the series to feature online play, in addition to existing game modes.
Furthermore, the game includes Tom Morello (of Rage Against the Machine/Audioslave) and Slash (of Guns N' Roses/Slash's Snakepit/Velvet Revolver) as in-game characters. The Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC versions also include Bret Michaels (Poison).
Development history
In May 2006, RedOctane, the publisher of Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero II and Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s, was purchased by Activision. Several months later, in September 2006, MTV purchased Harmonix Music Systems, the developer behind the earlier titles. As a result of both purchases, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock was instead published by Activision, with development responsibilities shifting from Harmonix to Neversoft Entertainment. Neversoft president Joel Jewett noted that his company was asked to perform the development work based on a humorous conversation that Jewett had with RedOctane's founders Kai and Charles Huang at the 2006 E3 Convention, describing how Guitar Hero helped to reduce the stress in the Neversoft offices during their development of Tony Hawk's Project 8; months later, Jewett was contacted by the Huangs, requesting them to work on Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.
Activision initially stated that the game was planned for release in the fiscal year of 2008, which stretches from March 2007 to March 2008. On April 9, 2007, RedOctane clarified this by unofficially stating on their website that "Guitar Hero 3 for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii are currently scheduled for release in the United States in Fall of 2007." On April 16, 2007, RedOctane founder Kai Huang revealed that all versions of the game will feature wireless controllers as well as online multiplayer and downloadable content.
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock was officially announced by Activision and RedOctane on May 23, 2007 for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Wii and Xbox 360. The fall 2007 release date was reconfirmed. New wireless controllers shaped like a Gibson Les Paul (PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360) and Kramer (PlayStation 2) models were also confirmed, along with removable faceplates that will allow players to personalize their guitar. Activision also avoided all mention of the title "Guitar Hero III," instead referring to the game as "the next Guitar Hero." Also promised by Dusty Welch, head of publishing at RedOctane, are "new online and multi-player game play modes," and that "many of the top bands and songs we've tried to get in the past are now on board, and we've definitely got some giant aces in the hole to say the least." The online play feature will also extend to the Wii version, as announced by Nintendo at the 2007 E3 conference. A week later, IGN revealed the wireless Les Paul controller, which will feature a removable neck for travel purposes. Additionally, new gameplay videos and screenshots were revealed.
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock introduced three new characters modeled after real-life life musicians. Slash is one of the "bosses" and an unlockable playable character in the game. Slash did motion capture with RedOctane to record his movements for the game, and by beating him in a one-on-one competition (playing an original composition of his), he will be unlocked as a playable character. The master track of "Welcome to the Jungle" appears an encore song which is playable with Slash. Similarly, Tom Morello is also a boss and unlockable character within the game. Bret Michaels appears as non-playable vocalist for certain songs, providing his voice for these master tracks.
A demo of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock appeared in Tony Hawk's Proving Ground for the Xbox 360, as well as being available as both a Xbox Live Marketplace download and an ISO image that could be created through a PC to use on the Xbox 360. The demo features five songs ("Lay Down," "Rock You Like a Hurricane," "Even Flow," "Hit Me with Your Best Shot," and "The Metal") played within the Desert Rock Tour venue.
On September 11, 2007, Aspyr Media and Activision announced that Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock will also be developed for both the PC and Macintosh platforms. The PC and Mac versions of the game are expected to ship bundled together on November 12, slightly after the release of the console versions, and will include the same USB-based Gibson X-Plorer guitar controller included with the Xbox 360 version of Guitar Hero II. However, Windows users with the Xbox 360 Wireless Gaming Receiver for Windows will be able to use the Xbox 360 Gibson Les Paul wireless guitar controller as well, though this is not supported by Aspyr Media.
On November 29, 2007, the Australian release of the hybrid Mac and PC version of Guitar Hero III was pushed back to 2008. This was confirmed by local Aspyr Media distributor Try & Byte and Activision Australia.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack features such songs as The Rolling Stones' "Paint It, Black", The Smashing Pumpkins' "Cherub Rock", Beastie Boys' "Sabotage", Tenacious D's "The Metal", Weezer's "My Name is Jonas", Muse's "Knights of Cydonia", Kiss' "Rock and Roll All Nite", Alice Cooper's "School's Out", Foghat's "Slow Ride", Metallica's "One", and Heart's "Barracuda." It also features re-recordings of the Sex Pistols' "Anarchy in the U.K." and Living Colour's "Cult of Personality" specifically for Guitar Hero III, as the original master tracks could not be found. This game is the first in the series to feature a bonus track ("She Bangs the Drums") that is not an original recording.
Xbox 360 players that purchase the compact disc soundtrack (which contains select tracks from the game) will have access to a code that can be redeemed for 3 exclusive playable tracks on Xbox Live Marketplace.
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock also supports future downloadable tracks. Since the game's release, downloadable songs from the Die Fantastischen Vier, Extremoduro, Foo Fighters, Linkin Park, Mastodon, The Used, Trust, Velvet Revolver, the game's boss battles, and a metal version of the Christmas carol (technically an Epiphany carol) "We Three Kings" (by Steve Ouimette) were made available for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 releases. The Halo theme song was only made available for the Xbox 360 release. It has been announced that Activision will be releasing downloadable content for the Wii in the first quarter of 2008.
