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My pre-order for the official Red Octane wireless controller for Guitar Hero (and Guitar Hero II) came in yesterday. In short, it works great. The range is excellent and it works with both games (unlike the off-brand controllers that were locked out of GH2 action). It’s a white guitar and the buttons seem to be slightly deeper than the regular unit, but it could just be me. I’m still breaking it in so the action is a bit stiff, but it works great and I never miss a note (well, except that I suck and miss them all the time, but it is not the fault of the controller).

It was only $60 (I got mine at GameStop, next to Wings-To-Go on Riverside) and well worth the investment. Now I have three guitars and have yet to start a multiplayer game! Argh!

Yeah, pretty lame title, but I picked up my pre-order of Guitar Hero II today. I’m up to the 7th set on medium, cruising through to get a feel for the tracks. I love the Encores, a slick way to expose the 5th song from each set without knowing in advance what it is (well, unless you memorized the set listing from the Wikipedia notes).

The graphics are great, support for 480p/Widescreen via component out is a huge bonus, and the controller is sweet looking compared to the turd-brown neck on the previous iteration. I was seriously bummed that the Red Octane wireless controller was delayed, but once it comes out I’m sure it will rock as well.

The game modes are excellent, graphics are improved over the previous version, hammering-on and pulling-off are indeed easier to nail as well. Not to mention the kick ass songs in the second release. Medium is a cakewalk so far, but I’m only doing it to unlock the tracks and get them fresh in my head before jumping into hard/expert modes.

“She’s my Cherry Pie! Cool drink o’ water such a sweet surprise!”

Seems like the Burning Crusade is going get some folks burning mad by thwarting their holiday weekend plans. Blizzard has delayed the release until 2007, probably so they don’t all have to work the entire holiday season 24×7 fixing bugs and dealing with exploits/issues.

Good call!

Well, my birthday isn’t until this weekend, but I’ve got a hell of a busy one with TechFest this weekend so my wife gave me my present early! A wireless Guitar Hero II controller!

I’m charging the batteries up now so we’ll have some review information added later tonight!

Well fuck that. The controller doesn’t work with the Guitar Hero II demo and it is confirmed that it will not work with the final game. No reason to even open the package, it’s going back to the store.

I guess I need to pre-order the official Red Octane wireless controller that is coming out with GH2 on Nov 7th.

I picked up the new Playstation magazine today with the Guitar Hero II playable demo. I’m going to spin it up after dinner and get my first taste of the new GH2!

The Wikipedia has a nice update with the first six tiers of songs completely filled out. They also indicated that the October 10th issue of the official Playstation magazine will include a playable demo of Guitar Hero II with four songs (“Shout at the Devil”, “Strutter”, “YYZ”, and “You Really Got Me”).

1. Opening Licks

• Motley Crue – Shout at the Devil
• Danzig – Mother
• Cheap Trick – Surrender
• Wolfmother – Woman
• Spinal Tap – Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You Tonight

2. Amp-Warmers

• Kiss – Strutter
• Nirvana – Heart-Shaped Box
• Police – Message in a Bottle
• Van Halen – You Really Got Me
• Kansas – Carry on Wayward Son

3. String-Snappers

• Foo Fighters – Monkey Wrench
• Alice in Chains – Them Bones
• Iggy Pop and the Stooges – Search and Destroy
• Pretenders – Tattooed Love Boys
• Black Sabbath – War Pigs

4. Thrash and Burn

• Warrant – Cherry Pie
• Butthole Surfers – Who Was in My Room Last Night
• Mathew Sweet – Girlfriend
• Rolling Stones – Can’t You Hear Me Knockin’
• Guns N’ Roses – Sweet Child O’ Mine

5. Return of the Shred

• Rage Against the Machine – Killing in the Name Of
• Primus – John the Fisherman
• Sword – Freya
• Thin Lizzy – Bad Reputation
• Aerosmtih – Last Child

6. Relentless Riffs

• Heart – Crazy on You
• Stone Temple Pilots – Tripping on a Hole in a Paper Heart
• Stray Cats – Rock This Town
• Allman Brothers – Jessica
• Jane’s Addiction – Stop

7. Furious Fretwork

• Anthrax – Madhouse
• Living End – Carry Me Home
• Lamb of God – Laid to Rest
• Reverend Horton Heat – Psychobilly Freakout
• Rush – YYZ

8. Face-Melters

• Avenged Sevenfold – Beast and the Harlot
• Suicidal Tendencies – Institutionalized
• Dick Dale – Misirlou
• Megadeth – Hangar 18
• Leonard Skinard – Free Bird

UPDATE: it seems the official song list has been seriously overhauled.

Check out this hilarious video for TeamFortress 2!

In my days of twitch gaming, TeamFortress (QuakeWorld) was my absolute favorite game. We used to play every day for hours and had a pretty hard core clan (PPD – Pay Per Death) the competed in a weekly gaming league. We rocked ass, even went toe-to-toe with Clan Braveheart. Those were some fun days and certainly the most interesting game play I’ve ever seen in an FPS.

The TFC for Half Life was a weak-ass copy of the game and didn’t have the pulse of the original. This one looks seriously awesome and I might even have to dust off the old teflon mouse pad to see if I can still snake a newb from across the map.

The best part about this video? It’s my least favorite map, 2fort4!

I love Guitar Hero. It’s a blast to play. It’s fun at parties. And the last 5 songs continue to kick my ass on both Hard and Expert. Yeah, I can flub my way through some solos with Star Power to get some of the wicked songs finished, but these final tracks and downright brutal.

I’ve been watching updates come out on newly released songs for GH2, and the list is getting more and more refined. The complete details can be found on the Wikipedia. The latest additions I am seriously stoked about are:

• Monkey Wrench (The Foo Fightars)
• Shout at the Devil (Motley Crew)
• Surrender (Cheap Trique)

A few of the yet-to-be-confirmed tracks that I’m really excited about:

• The Final Countdown (You’rup)
• Killing In the Name (Rage vs. The Machina)

I can’t wait!

On another note, I’ve seen a wireless Guitar Hero controller in the shape of a “Flying V” at Toys-R-Us that I’m hoping to get for my birthday!