Guitar Hero World Tour

I was in Tesco earlier this morning. I’m full of a cold, it’s almost a man-flu but not quite, and I had to go for supplies. Paracetamol, Ibuprofen, balsam tissues for my delicate nose, a bottle of Bell’s and a pot of honey to make Hot Toddies, a selection of Sunday papers and game mags, red chillies and 6 large eggs.

Seeing as I was there I thought I’d take a look at the dvd’s and games. I’m not that ill! Just don’t let my wife know.

What caught my eye was this, Tesco are offering Guitar Hero World Tour for the Wii, the XBox 360 and PS3 for just £50 including the full size wireless guitar. That is nothing short of a bargain!

According to the Gameov3r forum it’s been at £50 since the middle of November so I wasn’t expecting to still see this offer today. Did I buy it? No. There’s no way I could get it into the house un-noticed! Maybe one day in the week though.

Rock on over to the Gameov3r FORUM

Are You Ready To Rock... Again?

Details on Rock Band 2 are coming thick and fast now. Originally it was stated that it would see a world wide release during September but that was later retracted, certainly as far as Europe goes. There are many improvements by the sound of it and best of all your downloaded songs from the first one will play perfectly in Rock Band 2. The new guitar and drums will be wireless with a sturdier strum bar, a reinforced kick pedal, quieter pads with added velocity sensors. All your current instruments will still function just fine if you don't fancy taking out a bank loan to afford the new replacements though. There will be no Spinal Tap style tactics of amps going to 11 as it's one more louder, so you won't be finding 6 fret buttons on the new guitar or an extra few drum pads to try and out do Guitar Hero.

There will be some form of drum tutor to teach you basic beats and fills. The World Tour mode will be available both online and off and there will be no more band leaders so your band isn't reliant on that one person always being there. You can even switch instruments mid tour. Online you'll be able to compete against other bands around the world with contests designed by Harmonix. All songs on the disc will be master recordings and there will be over 80 included. There have been a few lists leaked on the internet that may or may not be accurate but these songs are definitely confirmed:

Dream Theater “Panic Attack“
System of a Down “Chop Suey”
Foo Fighters “Everlong”
The Muffs “Kids in America”
Red Hot Chili Peppers “Give it Away”
Motörhead “Ace of Spades”
Cheap Trick “Hello There”
Elvis Costello “Pump it Up”
Journey “Anyway You Want It”
The Who “Pinball Wizard”

Are you ready to rock... again, on the GAMEOV3R Forum?

Rock Icon Competition

What would you give to be a rock star? It’s ok, we don’t need your soul, we just want to find someone who has the moves and attitude to embody what Guitar Hero is all about.

We’re gonna fly one uber-talented air guitarist to California to be immortalised as a Rock God or Goddess, appearing in Guitar Hero itself. You need to have a passport and be able to travel to the US before the end of April. Closing date for this prize is midnight (CET) 15th April, so get rocking.

This is what you're up against folks...



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Little Rocker

Ok I'm a Guitar Hero addict. There, I said it. Even I don't think I need a version to take while I'm on the move... although it doubles as a carabiner which would be useful when I find myself rock climbing... and it has a fold down fret board so you won't get any funny looks when it's in your pocket...



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Take A Break

It's been a good gaming week this week. I finally finished Guitar Hero II on the hard level and also thrashed my Geometry Wars top score on the 360. It's still pretty weak but good for me!

Not such a big deal you might well say, but both of those were targets I'd tried countless times to achieve and just couldn't. I'd semi given up on them really and just accepted that I was at the limit of my gaming abilities. As most of us do from time to time though, I decided to look through my game collection for something I hadn't picked up in a while. Coming back to them with no real expectations or pressures on my performance worked wonders. I was in the zone, I was on the ball and experiencing the mental state known simply as 'flow'.

An example of this was given by Formula 1 driver Ayrton Senna, who during qualifying for the 1988 Monaco Grand Prix felt like he was driving the car beyond his limits. "I was already on pole and I just kept going. Suddenly I was nearly two seconds faster than anybody else, including my team mate with the same car. And suddenly I realised that I was no longer driving the car consciously. I was driving it by a kind of instinct". Musicians, especially improvisational soloists can often experience a similar state of mind while playing their instrument.

The same concept of flow can be applied to video games.

"After mastering a game's learning curve or sometimes completely at random, the player may experience an increase in skill for no determined amount of time"

I've since tried many many times to better that score on Geometry Wars but I can't even get close. I'm back to my normal self for now at least. It's a strange phenomenon though and it's not the first time it's happened to me. Maybe it was because I was relaxed and not trying so hard. Whatever it is that causes it, it seems practice makes perfect but simply taking a break can work just as well.

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Guitar Hero Eye Syndrome

I'm sure I've rattled on about Guitar Hero far more than I should have recently, but I have to know if other people suffer from the symptom I've named Guitar Hero Eye Syndrome.

After a session of Guitar Hero your brain seems to be confused when an object you look at doesn't scroll rapidly downwards like the fret board on Guitar Hero.

As soon as you finish playing look at a specific spot on the carpet and miraculously it will come alive! Warping and twisting around for a good 30 seconds or so. The first time this happened to me I found it quite strange and disorientating, it was like I'd been dropped into the 1960s. I was overcome by the urge to go out and purchase the biggest bong I could find, a purple sofa, maybe a Volkswagen camper van and some Doors vinyl LPs.

Those feelings mostly passed but I've never heard other people mention it before. Does this happen to you?

UPDATE:
I've since discovered that this symptom has a proper name...

Source: Wikipedia

The motion after-effect (MAE) is a visual illusion experienced after viewing a moving visual stimulus for a time (milliseconds to minutes) with stationary eyes, and then fixating a stationary stimulus. The stationary stimulus appears to move in the opposite direction to the original (physically moving) stimulus. The motion aftereffect is believed to be the result of motion adaptation.

For example, if one looks at a waterfall for about a minute and then looks at the stationary rocks at the side of the waterfall, these rocks appear to be moving upwards slightly. The illusory upwards movement is the motion aftereffect. This particular motion aftereffect is also known as the waterfall illusion.

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Playing The Hero

After a short break from Guitar Hero 3 I'm back in to it in a big way. I'm currently around half way through my career on the hard level and surprising myself with how well I'm doing. On Guitar Hero 2 I don't remember getting 5 stars on any hard level songs yet I'm getting them regularly on GH3. Either it's easier or I'm starting to become a rock god. I really must load up GH2 and find out!

I'm not really one for making use of the practice mode, slowing the songs down to learn the difficult riffs. I tend to just keep trying them until I get it. I dread to think what expert might look like however.

I've also been playing through the medium level on co-op trying to get 5 stars on all of the songs. There was just one song left that we were struggling with, literally... Metallica - One. Of course this must have been down to my co-op partners failing and not my own performance! While we were doing this we came across a little tip worth trying if you're really stuck. If you spend a bit of time playing a few songs on the next level up and then go back to where you were stuck it all seems so much easier than before. We got the 5 star rating first time after trying this.

On a completely different note, does anyone actually enjoy the boss battles?

The Devil Went Down To Georgia but GAMEOV3R just stayed at home in his cellar on the Forum

Guitar Hero III Demo Leaked

The Guitar Hero III demo that I'm told comes with Tony Hawk's Proving Ground and the latest issue of OXM seems to have made it onto download sites before becoming available on the Xbox LIVE Marketplace. Nothing too unusual in itself I guess but apparently if you burn it to a regular blank CD or DVD it will work on any Xbox 360 (accessed from the demos list), no dodgy firmware hacks or chips required. I haven't tested this and I have no idea whether it'll get Microsoft's knickers in a twist so GAMEOV3R in no way recommends doing this but will you resist?

The track list is below:

• "Hit me with your best shot" - Pat Benetar
• "Lay down" - Priestess
• "Even flow" - Pearl Jam
• "Rock you like a hurricane" - Scorpions
• "The metal" - Tenacious D

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Guitar Hero DS Style

Guitar Hero is coming to a Nintendo DS near you! Annnnnnnd it might not be using the stylus...

So what will we be using to rock out on then? Well it's anyones guess at the moment but it's said to be a brand new peripheral! The final design isn't erm... final yet, but imagine the sales if they made a range like this!
Surely a licence to print money if ever I saw one. I'm wasted in this job I really am! You could whip out your Flying V for Hanger 18, or your Gibson SG for Back in Black, I'm serious!

Whatever it ends up being like apparently we're going to "absolutely love it". It's also said that the visuals will be kept consistent with the other games in the Guitar Hero series.

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