Guitar Hero - The Origins Of Video Game Rock

Guitar Hero was originally released on the PS2 on one glorious day in November of 2005. This much anticipated video game was special in that instead of the usual control pad used to play, the game was designed for use with a life-like guitar shaped device.

This unique controller was modelled after a real guitar called a Gibson SG. Using the guitar controller was very similar to using a real guitar, albeit with a few minor adjustments for simplicity’s sake. Instead of containing several frets and six strings, the guitar hero controller had 5 fret buttons of differing colors, and a strum bar for strumming.

Originally developed by a video game company named Harmonix, it went on to receive numerous awards for its ingenuity and for the core of the game, its musical soundtrack. With 47 rock tracks by various big name artists, from the modern day to the 60s.

Due to the success of the first game, a second was released for the Playstation 2 in 2006, this time with an astonishing 64 musical tracks. Additional features included were the ability to multi-play against friends and non-friends alike. It went on to become the fifth highest grossing game of 2006 for the PS2. And due to unprecedented demand, a Guitar Hero II version was released for the Xbox 360. This version came with a special guitar and more songs.

The third in the series, aptly named Guitar Hero 3, will be released in October of 2007. The company behind it this time is Activision, who have taken over development of the game from Harmonix. But fear not, as Activision is a major power-house in the gaming industry, having churned out such classics as the Tony Hawk Series and the Call of Duty series.

The much anticipated Guitar Hero 3, has been confirmed to contain at least 46 songs, with new characters and an all new Battle Mode. Characters from the previous games to be featured in the new Guitar Hero 3 are Casey Lynch, Axel Steel, Judy Nails, Izzy Sparks, Johnny Napalm, Xavier Stone and Lars Umlaut. A brand new playable character will be Midori. Unfortunately Clive and Pandora were removed from the game. For the boss battles, there will be three. One of them being Slash, who is also rumoured to be a playable character.

Guitar Hero III, also known as Legends of Rock, will be available on the PS2, Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii. Activision are also actively looking to bring the game to the Nintendo DS.