Is This Guitar Hero: World Tour's Setlist?

Console wars are so last season. Now we've got setlist wars for music games. When Rock Band 2's formidable list was confirmed during E3 week, we uttered a low whistle for all the catching up Guitar Hero: World Tour would have to do to to keep it a competition.

Now, via the Something Awful forums comes what purports to be a leaked list of World Tour songs by their respective sections. Now, we know now that Rock Band and Guitar Hero are somewhat different in terms of who plays them and what their motivation is, and a great Rock Band song might've made a boring Guitar Hero III song. But are all bets off now that we've got band sets for both games?

And if so, let's play pretend for a sec, and imagine that what follows after the jump is actually Guitar Hero: World Tour's list. If it is, then who do you think's winning now?

Dragonforce Song Pack Due Next Month For Guitar Hero III

As above. There's a notice on Roadrunner Records' site announcing that a Dragonforce song pack will be released for Guitar Hero III on August 21. It'll contain three songs: "Heroes Of Our Time", "Operation Ground And Pound" and "Revolution Deathsquad". And...yeah. Dragonforce. What, did your dog eat your Slayer song pack, Neversoft?

[Roadrunner Records, thanks Silenced!]

Hendrix Guitar Hero Songs Announced, More To Come As DLC

PopStar Guitar - Oh Look, Another Guitar Game

Electronic Arts. Activision. Konami. XS Games? The relatively tiny publisher is wading into deep waters this October when they ship PopStar Guitar, a guitar playing game for the Wii and PlayStation 2. The game features more than 50 pop songs from artists such as 3 Doors Down, Simple Plan, Blink 182, and many other bands you'd be likely to find on that damn Buzz Cuts CD they keep advertising on television. The game includes single player and co-op mode, allowing one or two players to visit 25 unique venues on their road to making their hands tired.

The difference with PopStar Guitar is the way you control it on the Wii. While the PS2 version is compatible with Rock Band or Guitar Hero controllers, the Wii version ships with something called the AirG, which attaches to your Wii remote to form "an electrifying air guitar." Sounds dangerous. Look, I'm all for competition in the marketplace, but you have to bring something more to the table than a one-shot accessory and more than 50 pop songs " including several masters performed by the original artists." Several?

Okay, NOW they can call the game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. How did Activision get away with this for so long without including Joe Satriani and Steve Vai? We probably should have set the company on fire for this gross oversight, but it's too late now. In two days Satriani's "Surfing with the Alien" and Vai's "For the Love of God" will be joined by Buckethead's "Soothsayer" to create the Guitar Virtuoso Track Pack, barely giving us time to gather enough pitchforks and torches to form an angry mob. We always miss the good angry mob moments, don't we?

The Guitar Virtuoso Track Pack will be available July 24th via PlayStation Store and Xbox Live Marketplace.

Jimi Hendrix Confirmed For Guitar Hero

It's been confirmed by Jimi Hendrix's estate that several of his tracks will be appearing in the upcoming Guitar Hero: World Tour. Janie Hendrix - who oversees the late guitar god's estate - says that after originally being unable to locate a ton of master tracks (indicating, perhaps, this deal's been in the works for quite some time?), they've now been found, and promptly made available to Neversoft. Three of the songs mentioned are Purple Haze, Foxy Lady & Little Wing. Janie says of the deal "Guitar Hero really was on the ball and and they were biting at the bit to get this out this year, so, we just accommodated them...Jimi was a kid at heart — he definitely would have played these games". Whether that's true or not is besides the point. Purple Haze, people. Purple. Haze.

Exclusive: Hendrix Comes to Guitar Hero [Rolling Stone] [Pic]

Into the Pixel is a juried art exhibition that selects sixteen works of video game art to be displayed both digitally and in actual exhibits, like the one currently at E3. The exhibit is an opportunity for video and computer game artists to showcase their work and receive critical feedback from both digital and fine art experts; it also showcases the actual visual art of games in creative and unique ways. The pieces range from playful to serious, and utilize a variety of visual styles to convey their subjects. Now in its fifth year, the selected entries are usually quite impressive, and this year was no exception.

The exhibition hall was quiet compared to the chaos both above and below it — a few people wandered through, but it was otherwise silent. The exhibition included some of the winners from the 2007 competition (including my personal favorite, "Defeated Dragon" by Daniel Dociu (Guild Wars)), and it was nice to see the art in large format. Four of the sixteen entries were takes on Guild Wars (I was particularly fond of the one entitled "Four Knights" by Richard Anderson); also covered were games like flOw, Fallout 3, and Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, and untitled DS game (seen at the top; "Puzzle World Twilight" by Jay Epperson).

The exhibition will be headed to E for All in October, but you can all see the winning entries over at the Into the Pixel website, which also includes archives of art and commentary from previous years. A few selections from the silent gallery hall are below.

GH: World Tour Open to Rock Band Instruments

At last night's Activision non-E3 press conference, it was quickly mentioned that Guitar Hero: World Tour being compatible with non-Guitar Hero instruments. Meaning? The Xbox 360 version of Guitar Hero: World Tour are compatible with instruments from the first Rock Band. (Obviously, the developers haven't been able to incorporate the unreleased Rock Band 2 instruments into the game.) While other third party guitar and drum controllers should jive with World Tour, Activision isn't yet commenting whether or not the Wii, PS2 or PS3 versions of both Guitar Hero and Rock Band will work with Guitar Hero: World Tour.

Activision: ‘Guitar Hero: World Tour’ Is Compatible With ‘Rock Band’ Instruments [Multiplayer]

Guitar Hero Tunes Is Like YouTube, But For Plastic Instruments

Metallica Album DLC Also For Guitar Hero World Tour

More DS Strumming - Guitar Hero On Tour Decades

In case you didn't get enough of looking completely ridiculous while strumming your Nintendo DS while it plays music, Nintendo has revealed the next version of Guitar Hero: On Tour, Guitar Hero: On Tour Decades. Details were slim on the new title...basically it was Nintendo letting us know that it was on its way ...but they did reveal that the game will feature song sharing between Nintendo DS handelds, which would mean one copy of the game has the potential to have a song the other doesn't? Could there be DS downloadable tracks in the near future? The mind boggles!

Metallica DLC Is Entire Metallica Album

Red Octane's Kai Huang said during today's Microsoft address that there'd be some Metallica DLC coming for Guitar Hero, to coincide with their latest album, Death Magnetic. Well, it's not coinciding with it as much as it is the album, with a note on Metallica's homepage informing fans that, on the same day the album's released in stores, you'll be able to download all of its songs in Guitar Hero III. They also say there'll be Death Magnetic content for Guitar Hero World Tour as well, but info on that isn't quite as specific.

"Death Magnetic," the entire album, available for Guitar Hero too! [Metallica, via Guitar Hero News]

Red Octane founder Kai Huang took the stage today at Microsoft's E3 2008 presser to toss out a few pertinent Guitar Hero related tidbits. First up, REM DLC is coming, and Xbox 360 owners will get first shot at it when it drops. Then Huang revealed that Van Halen and The Eagles will be completely exclusive to Guitar Hero: World Tour. No Hot For Teacher for Rock Band? Not fair.

Finally, Metallica is coming to Guitar Hero in a big way, with DLC being readied to release alongside their new album, Death Magnetic, which is guaranteed to completely make up for Saint Sinner...as if any album could actually contain such power.

MTV Calls Konami's Rock Band Lawsuit "Surprising", "Baseless Litigation"

Last night, word broke that Konami, publisher and developer of trailblazing rhythm games Guitar Freaks and Drummania, was suing Harmonix. The Japanese company claimed that the developer of Rock Band was in violation of three patents held by Konami, seeking damages (read: cash) and demanding that Harmonix and parent company Viacom cease the use of its inventions (read: more cash).

MTV News received a response from an MTV spokesperson on the matter — which, in my mind, was shouted across cubicles — who said the lawsuit was "extremely surprising." The rep further noted that "successful products such as 'Rock Band' can often become targets for baseless litigation." We agree, especially when the entity filing suit is showing up extremely late to the party with its own stillborn excuse for a rock game. At least those poor unfortunate litigation lawyers will finally get a few bucks coming to 'em.

Further details on the suit at MTV News.

'Rock Band' Creators Sued By 'Rock Revolution' Publisher Konami [MTV News]

Slash Goes From Guitar Hero To Fashion Hero

Guns And Roses guitarist and top-hat lover Slash wasn't kidding when he said that gaming had endless possibilities. The aging rocker is teaming up with long-time friend and Australia's Next Top Model stylist Jonathan Pease to work on a video game centered around fashion and styling. According to The Daily Telegraph, Pease is heading off to Los Angeles to launch the new venture with his Guitar Hero friend, so odds are good that we'll hear something about this new title at E3 next week.

Slash and fashion? Really? How many different combinations of long-hair and top hat can you possibly have? Note that the picture accompanying the Telegraph article features a clean-cut Slash, while his wife sports the hat/hair combo, in adherence with the law of conservation of rock.

All rosy as Jonathan Pease and rocker Slash unite [The Daily Telegraph]

There are differing leaks out there regarding the track list for Rock Band 2. Both are unattributed, one to a friend of a friend who got a look at an email from Harmonix to MTV or something. But in the interest of rumormongering, we'll repeat both with the caveat that there is no way of knowing if this stuff is for real or not. But if, combined, they're half right then this could be one hell of a track list, possibly the best of any rhythm game.

Also, an IGN Insider interview (transcript provided by reader Max) let slip that buyers of Rock Band 2 will have access to all of the songs off the original Rock Band disc, available as free DLC. Full details on both after the jump.

360 Rock Band Guitars Work With GH: Aerosmith [Update]

Not that this will matter to any of you on a practical level, since we pray you won't actually pick up a copy of Guitar Hero Aerosmith, but it's good news on principle. Seems that Rock Band controllers will work with Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, with the G4TV team testing the 360 version and finding that all functions - including the whammy bar and star power - are up and running. Seeing as the problem was always at Activision's end (GH controllers would work with Harmonix's Rock Band), have they swallowed their pride and opened up the music controller market? Appears so, at least for 360 owners. Let's just hope this carries on into Guitar Hero World Tour, where it might actually matter.

'Rock Band' Guitar Work With 'GH: Aerosmith' [G4TV]

UPDATE - Thanks to all the readers who let us know, after testing, that this only applies to the 360 version. Sorry PS3 owners.

Led Zeppelin Uncomfortable With Licensing Songs To Rock Band, Guitar Hero

There's little doubt that the artist line-up for Rock Band 2 is shaping up nicely. Guitar Hero is getting some nice exclusives as well. With Journey, Boston, Metallica, The Who and other top tier acts lending their tunes to the dominant rhythm games, there aren't many superstars left to cross off the list.

One of the artists that continues to elude both Activision and Harmonix is Led Zeppelin. It's been chalked up to a lengthy licensing process, but a recent write-up from the Wall Street Journal helps shed more light on the British band's absence.