Guitar Hero III Hands On Preview

A few years ago the music genre of videogames in the United States was all but non-existent; we did have the Parappa games and a few others but as far as what is out there today there was nothing like it. Thanks to some really smart developers over at Neversoft (and publisher Activision) we were introduced to Guitar Hero and the multi-million dollar franchise that has followed. This year there is a bit more competition for best "guitar" game that comes in the form of Rock Band (more than just guitar) but Neversoft is not taking the heat lying down, and will be releasing the best version of their Guitar Hero franchise to date shortly. This week we had a chance to go hands-on with the near final version of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock at a press event in San Francisco and came away more excited then ever to get this in our homes. They have done something with this title that few thought were possible; keep the same working formula and add enough to it that easily warrants a purchase.


The first thing we need to talk about is the new guitar; long gone are the days of wires and cheap feeling plastic, now is the time of complete wirelessness and heavy, solid feeling game controllers. From talking with the people behind the creation of the new guitar controller (see accompanying video on PX360) it is easy to see why this thing turned out so great, these people love what they do and are very passionate about making the best peripheral they can. After seeing for the first time the guitar in person I can honestly say that the new guitar alone will cause me to walk, no run, out to my local game shop and pick up Legends of Rock. The differences between the new exclusive Gibson guitar and the old average guitar are in large number, and add up to what the creators called, "the best videogame peripheral ever created". I am not sure if I would go that far but it is easily the best guitar controllers ever created. As I mentioned earlier it is completely wireless, solving one of the largest complaints gamers had with Guitar Hero II. Also changed is the main color of the guitar, from white to solid black. Even though the white matched the console unit better I am more happy with the black color and for some reason it fits Legends of Rock better than the white one would have.


Another new addition to the guitar controller is the option of switching out the faceplate. I pulled the standard one off with no trouble whatsoever and stuck on a cool UK one that was shown to us at the event. In the past if you wanted to customize your guitar it was done with cheap stickers or colored markers but now the possibilities are endless, I cannot even begin to imagine how many quality, plastic faceplates will be made available for purchase once this game comes out. Something my wife is very excited about is the option to pull the neck completely off of the body, separating the otherwise bulky guitar into two small components for storage or easy transportation. If you have ever played Guitar Hero II (or watched Peter Moore play Rock Band at E3 2007) you will know how easy it is to accidentally pause the game while jamming out. Neversoft has fixed this problem entirely by moving the buttons on the guitar around a bit and depressing them inside the body itself. Everything about the new guitar just screams quality and next-gen controller so the new Guitar Hero III bundle will be tough to pass up, even for those gamers who already own a previous version of the controller.