Kotaku: guitar zero

Suddenly, Slash Feels ... Old

Owen Good — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 09:00:00 MDT

This reminds me a little of that bit Billy Crystal used to do about getting old, when his teenage daughter asks, "Dad, is it true Paul McCartney was in another band before Wings?"

Slash, who would prefer that I say is of Guns N' Roses fame and not Guitar Hero III fame, gave a Q&A to Rolling Stone this week, and had this to say about an upcoming solo album and his custom Les Paul guitar ...

Which is also what you play in Guitar Hero.

I was very specific about that because they didn’t have a Les Paul in their entourage at that time, and I said the only way we can do this is with a Les Paul.
Has the huge success of Guitar Hero boosted your rep even further?
Yeah, but the flip-side of that is I met this kid who came up to me and was blown away by the fact I was the guy in the Guitar Hero game, and he kept going on about that. Ten minutes later he goes, “Do you play real guitar?”

I can picture Slash, after recoiling in horror at this encounter with a real geek in the wild, immediately seeking to reassure himself of his rock-star status — in the bosoms of about a dozen adoring groupies wearing no underwear.

UPDATE: Oops, this went out early; I forgot to set the posting time correctly. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.
Slash: This Time Around We're Not Making Compromises [Rolling Stone]

Murder Suspect Too Busy Playing Guitar Hero To Notice Impending Arrest

Luke Plunkett — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 02:00:00 MDT

30-year-old Raymundo Castaneda is suspected of having killed a man in December 2007 following a dispute over a soccer game. Wanted by the fuzz in Charlotte over the murder, Castaneda was apprehended by police in Jacksonville on Friday, who tracked him down after he was spotted at a local Wal-Mart. Spotted playing Guitar Hero in the games section. And playing it so damn hard he didn't even notice police first approaching, then surrounding him. Jacksonville Sheriff's Office spokesman Ken Jefferson:

A team of U.S. Marshals and JSO officers went in to get Castaneda, but he wasn't paying all that much attention to them. His focus was on this … He was calm, cool and collected. Playing a video game. He didn't have a care in the world.

Reports claiming Castaneda only agreed to "come quietly" if the cops helped him beat the devil are unconfirmed.

Suspected Killer Caught Playing Air Guitar [News 4 Jax, thanks Brett!]

Guitar...Zero?

Mike Fahey — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 14:40:05 MST

There's a new PC Guitar Hero clone in town, and this one is much more of an outright clone than the popular Frets on Fire. Going by the title Guitar Zero, the game pretty much blatantly rips off GH, menus and all. The song interface itself is only slightly different.

Same meters, same scoring section, same song listing down to the font and layout. I'm going to guess this is a little too close to the real game to survive for any long period of time. As it stands the game only supports a guitar controller, so you'll need a PS2 to USB adapter to play it.

Honestly I'd rather play Frets on Fire, which has some really kickass music and at least tried to be original in presentation, delivering a somewhat unique experience on the PC rather than trying to simply duplicate greatness. Michael Fahey

Guitar Zero Alpha Release [ScoreHero.com Forums]