You may view this video three times for 500 MS points.

Wish I could have been there.

I'm kind of disappointed he didn't get a real guitar. A real guitar signed by Gene would seem a bit more "priceless". IMO

Only $180 for the full game to match your $180 HDD. M$ gives you so many choices.

Scary

So how much is this game going to cost after you buy the disc, 2 guitars, and every song pack from GH1 and the NEW songs?

1 meeliun dollars!

Note: I write a weekly article for my newspaper at my small school(Ramapo College of New Jersey). I personally am a huge Guitar Hero fan, but I wrote an article about how disgusted I was with how they handled the Xbox 360 version. Tell me what you guys think!(Constructive criticism please).


Guitar Hero In a Jam

Ever since premiering on the Playstation 2 in Fall 2005, the Guitar Hero franchise has been a runaway success. Although music games like Dance Dance Revolution have been out for a while, Guitar Hero changed the way people played video games. Allowing anyone to live out their dream of becoming a rock star, the game came with a plastic guitar with five frets, a strummer and a whammy bar. Featuring 47 songs, gamers could play songs ranging from Queen to Queens of the Stone Age. Developer Red Octane and publisher Harmonix had a hit on their hands and everyone knew it. By 2006, Red Octane was bought out by Activision and Harmonix was bought out by MTV, who hoped to expand their reach to music video games.
By the next holiday season, Guitar Hero 2 was released to just as much critical and consumer reception as the original. Shortly thereafter, it was announced that Guitar Hero 2 would be released for the Xbox 360 on April 3. With downloadable songs, high-definition video and online play, everyone could see the possibilities with next-generation systems.
Unfortunately, as news started to trickle out about Guitar Hero’s next-gen debut, more and more problems sprung up. The game would cost $90, which despite the Xbox 360 title coming with 10 extra songs, is $10 more than the already expensive Playstation 2 version which came out half a year earlier. Then it was announced that Guitar Hero 2 would not allow online play, a feature which is present in almost all current multiplayer games.
Despite all this, the pure fun enjoyed by Guitar Hero was too much to halt the swarm of fans that could not wait to spend $90 or an extra $60 for a second guitar. However, the real problems started after the release of the title. Reports were surfacing throughout the internet of broken whammy bars as early as launch day. The special X-Plorer guitar released for the Xbox 360 version was just not as responsive as the Playstation 2 guitar. It appeared as if there were two models released for the Xbox 360 guitar, 95055 and 95065. The general consensus was 95055 was the broken guitar, which was more likely to have issues with the whammy bar. Gamers were outraged. Why would a company ship two different models of the same product without informing the customers? Did they know that one guitar was more reliable than another?
I have a very close friend who purchased Guitar Hero 2 for the Xbox 360 on Thursday, April 6th. By midday, Friday it was broken. I decided to visit him that day because I was very curious to see what it was like to play Guitar Hero on the Xbox 360. There was only one guitar left to exchange for his malfunctioning original guitar. I tried playing it for a couple of minutes and passed it off to him. He got an electric shock as soon as it reached his hands. The second guitar was broken. He later informed me that the first guitar broke in the exact same way. Somebody was playing it, it was passed off to him, he got an electric shock and the same exact buttons stopped working. Both models were 95055.
Only four days after the game came out Red Octane released a statement, asking gamers who purchased either guitar model number 95055 or 96055 to exchange it for another guitar. Red Octane’s statement was baffling simply because of their lack of options. Most game stores sold out of Xbox 360 guitars on day one and almost all models have been either 95065 or 95055.
The day before Guitar Hero 2 was released USA Today reported that the same developers are working on Rock Band, which will allow two Guitar Hero guitars, a drum set and a microphone. On Tuesday, Red Octane’s website stated "Guitar Hero 3 for the Playstation 2, PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii are currently scheduled for release in the United States in Fall of 2007." On Wednesday, three sets of three songs from the original Guitar Hero went on sale as Xbox 360 downloadable content for $6.25 each. Whenever any company releases a product that’s popular enough, it is to be expected that they will milk it for all it’s worth. However, when all the concentration is put on spin-offs downloads and sequels, it can be easy to forget the basics.

So the game and guitar is $90, 2nd guitar is $60, and the 3 song packs are $6.25 each. So far it's $168.75. If they keep the songs at that price, the 38 additional songs from GH1 will cost another $79.

Total: $247.75. Throw in ONE MORE song pack, and the full game costs more than a Wii.

^BANNNNNNNNED

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

My friend Kelly got 3rd place, woooo!

Were there no non-douchebag rockstars available?? I feel bad for the guy who won; who wants a GH2 guitar signed by Gene Simmons?

seriously. FACK GENE SIMMONS.

Your friend Kelly is hot, just sayin'.

Yeah!!! Ban Rubang B and all his infernal math calculations and logic! :)

Was there someone hidden behind a curtain who actually did the "playing" while Gene faked it the same way he usually does?

Don't be jealous Gary, I'm sure you're a much better musician and showman than Gene. Say, when is your next cd coming out so we can not buy it.

i wonder if the whammy bar on that guitar works....
it's pretty sick looking though, and it is probably easier to play because it's less cramped.
imagine if they did this promotion without the PS2 version being out forever? all the people involved would get up on stage and it would just be missed notes galore

i would also have to say that not only was "kelly" the most attractive person to take stage on the whole video, she also put on the best show by bouncing around and rocking out.

I think just for the fact that she rocks out at the same time instead of just standing there like the little fat kid that got the most points, she should have won.

What they didn't mention was that each contestant had to pay $6.25 in order to play 3 songs.

Too bad I got banned, 'cuz I've got some great jokes for you guys.

I would have peed my pants if the guy had failed the song.

Also, while I'm probably not as good as that guy at the game, and can look better playing it. Considering how simple the game is, you'd think a "pro" like him would be able to go crazy during his solos like a real guitarist. But I guess not.

wow, i think it was a great promotion and all, but damn, isnt the whole idea of rock and roll about sticking it to the man? Gene seems to be selling out alot in his later years.

also @9, dude its called a comment for a reason, people read comments not essays, condensation would be good for you

haha teamdan4life southlake style

Gene is God!

You know he got paid to be there, Gene does NOTHING for free!

that poor kid looked so nervous.

oh my... that looked awkward

Coming from a real guitarist, all of these people look like a bunch of freaking nerds. And that bass part was so easy I could have played it with my tongue, and I bet Gene Simmons could have too. The whole thing flat out sucked. Why not watch one of the many awesome real guitarists who actually have some talent.

I don't think I'm /that/ nerdy. Plus, I play "real" guitar. Though, I think rocking out with a GH controller is more fun. Jumping up and down with it is easier, too. =P

tipperqueen ftw. hah.
i wish i made it to this event! ugh!
i thought only the winner was going to play with gene simmons. good to see gene'll do anything for the ladies. =]