Guitar Hero 2 News
Family and friends of the air guitar yesterday paid their final respects as it was cremated in an East London funeral parlour.
As the funeral party tearfully took their seats, a church organist and choir performed classic rock hymns such as ‘More Than a Feeling’ and ‘Heart-Shaped Box’. The guitar-shaped coffin was lead in by three female gothic pallbearers, and a rock vicar delivered an impassioned tribute to the once-great fictional instrument. Following the service, the air guitar coffin was cremated as a Slash lookalike played an emotional solo.
Mourner Anna Starr, 24, of South London, said: “There was not a dry eye in the house. The moving service really captured the spirit of the air guitar as it played its final note before ascending the ‘Stairway to Heaven’.”
The air guitar died this week as its 21st Century replacement was born: Guitar Hero II for the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system, which hits stores today. Rather than pretend playing air guitar riffs using fingers and thin air, Guitar Hero II lets anyone look and feel like a true rock star. The video game uses interactive music technology and the Guitar Hero SG Controller, modelled after the Gibson SG guitar, to allow players to thrash along to more than 40 rock classics including ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’, ‘Freebird’ and ‘Message in a Bottle’.
Following the service, the funeral party moved to the wake, where the air guitar’s life was celebrated and remembered. Top rock artists White Rose Movement and LunarMile provided the entertainment, as the evening moved from a tearful wake into a raging party. Mourners then cranked up the volume as they rocked out to Guitar Hero II till the wee hours of the morning.
“The air guitar had a good innings,” added, Chris Tufnell, 23, St Albans, “but all things must come to an end. The fact is, there’s really no place for the air guitar any more in this PlayStation generation. Strap on your Guitar Hero SG controller and rock out.”
The rock gods have spoken, and are pleased to announce further details on Activision, Inc.'s (Nasdaq: ATVI) Guitar Hero IITM on the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, which will feature a variety of new exclusive downloadable content through Xbox Live Marketplace, along with over 70 finger-melting tracks. The franchise that has rocked the video game industry is set to go on another highly-anticipated world tour this spring, and fans will now enjoy sharply remodeled HD visuals for the next-gen platform, and be able to shred their new Gibson-shaped X-Plorer axes to impressively pulsating audio sweetness on the Xbox 360.
Providing exciting rock venues, characters, guitars, and play modes, Guitar Hero II on the Xbox 360 allows players the opportunity to unlock achievement points, download themes, picture packs, and most importantly, new songs through Xbox Live Marketplace. An intuitive online leaderboard feature will also be utilized through Xbox Live, allowing competitive Guitar Heroes to track their high scores and share bragging rights with their friends and other top rock gods.
Included on the 360 version of Guitar Hero II will be an additional 10 songs, and the initial list of tracks includes:
- Billion Dollar Babies (as made famous by Alice Cooper)
- Hush (as made famous by Deep Purple)
- Dead! (by My Chemical Romance)
- Life Wasted (as made famous by Pearl Jam)
- Rock N Roll Hoochie Koo (as made famous by Rick Derringer)
More on-disc, and the downloadable tracks, will be announced shortly.
"Guitar Hero is all about feeling like a rock star, and we're adding to the experience by offering our fans an exciting pipeline of new songs, fun and exclusive downloadable content, and the opportunity to see who rocks hardest with an online leaderboard," said Dusty Welch, head of publishing at RedOctane. "The expansive capabilities of the Xbox 360 will allow us to provide a consistent stream of fresh new content to our fans, and we plan on fully supporting these efforts."
 Guitar Hero 2 Playstation 2 Items
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