Well we knew it was coming but without much fanfare it is now here! Xbox 360 owners with an Xbox Live Account can now download the playable demo of Guitar Hero Smash Hits (also called Guitar Hero Greatest Hits on European downloads), featuring 3 playable tracks from the upcoming game.

The tracks, which can be played on all instruments unlike the first time you may have played them on previous versions of the game, are:

Rock and Roll All Night - Kiss

Take Me Out - Franz Fredinand

Woman - Wolfmother

Gamers will still have to wait until Jume 16th for the release of the full game but this should keep you warmed up in the meantime!

To see the full setlist for this game see this earlier post

E3, the games industries annual showcase for their latest and greatest creations, has given Guitar Hero fans a lot to get excited about.

We had the first look at Guitar Hero Van Halen - This footage was taken on a handheld so no sound sorry!

We got a look at the much hyped Guitar Hero 5, with it's many new play modes, allowing it to be more of a party game yet more accessible at the same time.

On top of all that goodness we also had the first real viewing on the DJ Hero controller and how the game will play - as an early sceptic I can now say I am truly excited!

Looks like there is fuel in the fire of the Guitar Hero franchise for a good while longer!

Well after bringing you the story and teaser pictures of the forthcoming DJ hero game, more details are now coming in about exactly what it will consist of... and its looking good!

Thanks to the Red Octane blog we now know that the game will feature music and features from two of the biggest artists in the field - Jay-Z and Eminem. With these two pioneers of music lending their talents to the development of the game and providing exclusive music and special edition premium controllers for the game it is shaping up to be a good release, don't worry if you are a hardened rock god through, there will be element where the DJ (on his decks) and the Guitarist (on his GH axe!) can join forces to make sweet, sweet music together! Lets hope they also reveal the ability to add live drums into the DJ mix too!

Here is a small expert form the Red Octane Blog

DJ Hero immerses fans into DJ culture and a sea of music as they take turns with their friends, scratching songs, playing along to the hottest tracks and ruling the party. The game’s innovative turntable controller was created exclusively for the game and features familiar DJ tools including a fully-rotating turntable, sample buttons, effects dial and crossfader. Players master various DJ techniques as they play along to visual cues for scratching, blending, crossfading and sampling, and can also add their own creative spark by choosing to add a variety of effects, samples and scratches. Social expression is heightened with euphoric multiplayer gameplay where two DJs can battle competitively or have a player join in to emcee over any track in the game using any USB compatible microphone. Additionally, gamers can rock together as DJ Hero features DJ-guitar exclusive mixes played with a turntable controller and Guitar Hero(R) guitar controller.

With Activisions previous form of encouraging user generated music to be shared with others this really could be a way of making good music at home without too much trouble or technical knowledge! Who knows maybe  in a few years time they'll be topping the charts!

What do you think? Is this a good move for Activision and will it see genuine good content from players or is it just another gimmicky attempt at expanding the franchise?

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Nintendo Wii Dj Hero Game Turntable Bundle Kit    US $49.99

Playstation 3 Ps3 Dj Hero Game Turntable Bundle Kit    US $31.99

Dj Hero Game And Table Xbox 360    US $65.00

Ps3 Playstation3 Dj Hero Game Turntable Bundle Kit Mint    US $34.99

Nintendo Wii Dj Hero Game Turntable Bundle Kit Mint    US $32.99

Xbox 360 Dj Hero Turntable Controller And Game    US $25.00

Xbox 360 Dj Hero Game Turntable Bundle Kit Mint    US $27.99

Dj Hero W Game And Turntable For Playstation 3    US $41.00

Dj Hero Renegade Bundle Video Game Ps3    US $79.99

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Red Octane have got a new product soon to be availiable from their online shop and it is called - Guitar Hero Drum Kit Deluxe Midi Tuning Kit! Catchy name eh?!

Could it be that now we expected to pay to have the drums set up correctly? I think it was a good move to bring out the drum tuning kit following the raft of complaints about non responsive drum pads but to now offer to sell us the same functionality? Should it not be included free as standard if they accept people have the need for such an item? What Do you think?

Red Octane have been good to us too with $10 coming off the Guitar Hero Metallica games and bundles and a free T shirt with extra microphones being purchased through the site, not to forget that they still have their voucher code running for 10% off until 19th June!

Just one thing then Red Octane - when you going to start worldwide shipping so the rest of the world can play too?

The next Guitar Hero game on the horizon is going to be Guitar Hero 5, which was first announced last week in a statement from Activision. The new game is getting ready to drop in Autumn this year, and will feature new ways of playing the game as well as the expected all new setlist. The news come from a recent interview with the Washington post, where Brian Bright (Project Director) revealed the games first details.

Songs Announced:

Tom Petty - Running Down A Dream

The White Stripes - Blue Orchid

Rolling Stones - Sympathy For The Devil

Bob Dylan - All Along The Watchtower

Santana - No One To Depend On

Vampire Weekend - A-Punk

Johnny Cash - Ring Of Fire

Kings Of Leon - Sex On Fire

Stevie Wonder - Superstition (where the guitar is going to be playing the notes of Stevie Wonders Clavinet Keyboard!)

Iron Maiden - Unknown Song

The White Stripes - Unknown Song

Also it seems some gameplay modes are going to be more suited at parties with the ability for all four members of the band to pick which ever instrument they like (even all playing guitar / drums at the same time), leave or join the song individually without interrupting the gameplay for others (great when you need to get another drink mid-song!) and change difficulty mid song too. Another new game mode mentioned was the Competitive Fest mode where players compete against each other at home (up to 4 players) or online (up to 8 players) for the highest score, presumably this would all be on the same instruments too, so good if you have a competitive group of friends to play with.

We can't wait to see what else it has to offer!

3 Drummers at the same time? You'd better have a big lounge!

Red Octane have got a nice little voucher code for Fathers Day (June 21st, but you knew that anyway right?!)  giving you 10% off your final bill at the store with free shipping on orders over $99. All you have to do to claim your 10% off is head over to the Red Octane Store now, pick your goodies then add the discount code DADSNGRADS. This offer is only valid until 19th June so don't delay!

Activision have now announced special bundle deals on GH:M, not the free second bass pedal many were hoping for,

not a copy of the amazing album,

or extra downloads for the game,

no not even the free T shirts some 3rd party resellers are offering!

No the official Activision bundle deals is... a faceplate. Not that faceplates aren't nice of course but come on, is that all?

If you have found better deals near you please share them with us by leaving a comment below

Thanks to the DJ Hero tweet (oh yes 'tweet' is a proper word now!) we have got these first glimpse pictures of the controllers for the upcoming DJ Hero and they look pretty cool.

I would guess looking at the pictures that the finished item may look something like this

Possible DJ Hero Setup

The big question is going to be do you get to 'scratch' the turntable? I think (and hope!) that will be the case, and so controlling the game may well be a case of using the 'scratch' action of the turntable along with a combination of buttons to produce different scratch sounds which may come down on a highway like Guitar Hero, but then I imagine there will be the need to beat-match two tracks and fade them in (are we gonna get cool one eared DJ headphones too?)

That would give you the basic gameplay of starting on a track, scratching it up Mix Master Mike style, beatmatching and fading into a new track, scratching it up again and so on.

Remember all this conjecture is based on the two photos above, this is only my idea if you have a better one (or better still you are a whistle-blower working for Red Octane!) then tell us all about it.

Remember - subscribe to our RSS feeds to get the latest news on all things Hero - Guitar OR DJ!

So now we have it the full and final setlist for the next big Guitar Hero launch - Guitar Hero Smash Hits due in stores 16th June 2009

The final tracks to be revealed today were from Guitar Hero: Rock the 80's and they are:

From GH:80's

• Anthrax - Caught In A Mosh
• Extreme - Play With Me
• Judas Priest - Electric Eye
• Poison - Nothing But A Good Time
• Ratt - Round And Round
• Twisted Sister - I Wanna Rock
  

And they will be added to the already announced tracks from Guitar Heroes 1, 2 & 3, which are:

From GH:1

• Blue Oyster Cult - Godzilla
• Boston - More Than A Feeling
• Deep Purple - Smoke On The Water
• Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out
• Helmet - Unsung (live)
• Incubus - Stellar
• Joan Jett & The Blackhearts - I Love Rock N' Roll
• Ozzy Osbourne - Bark At The Moon
• Pantera - Cowboys From Hell (Live)
• Queen - Killer Queen
• Queens Of The Stone Age - No One Knows
• The Donnas - Take It Off
• The Exies - Hey You
• White Zombie - Thunder Kiss '65

From GH:2

• Alice In Chains -Them Bones
• Avenged Sevenfold - Beast And The Harlot
• Danzig - Mother
• Foo Fighters - Monkey Wrench
• Iron Maiden - The Trooper
• Jane's Addiction -Stop!
• Kansas - Carry On Wayward Son
• Lamb Of God - Laid To Rest
• Lynyrd Skynyrd - Free Bird
• Motley Crue - Shout At The Devil
• Nirvana - Heart Shaped Box
• Rage Against The Machine - Killing In The Name
• Reverend Horton Heat - Psychobilly Freakout
• Rush - YYZ
• Stone Temple Pilots - Trippin' On A Hole In A Paper Heart
• The Police -Message In A Bottle
• The Sword - Freya
• Warrant - Cherry Pie
• Wolfmother - Woman

From GH:3

• AFI - Miss Murder
• Dragonforce -Through The Fire And The Flames (check out a vid of this legendary song here)
• Heart - Barracuda
• Kiss - Rock And Roll All Nite
• Living Colour - Cult Of Personality
• Pat Benatar - Hit Me With Your Best Shot
• Priestess -Lay Down
• Slayer - Raining Blood

Meaning we should be in for one hell of a game! Don't forget to vote to decide which five of your favourite tracks from the list above make it into the free demo Activision will drop before the full game (oh yes possibly a chance to get your grubby hands on some of the best tracks early and free! We love it)

You're probably here because  you're pretty good at fixing things or like to have a go yourself.  With Guitar Hero, the accessories are now cheap enough second hand to be able to get another guitar or drumset to have an experiment with. We at GHR know a thing or two about consoles and have several rigs in place to test our kit. With Wii, Xbox, Playstation and DS now supporting GH, there's no reason not to get a cheap console and have more than one setup. That way, if something goes wrong with your repair, you can take more time to fix it if you need to or even compare the dead one with the working one.

If you're not worried about looks, there are plenty of abused and dropped consoles out there which still work. Here's a selection of the consoles currently available by auction which are completely broken, slightly damaged or just in need of a quick fix:

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Xbox 360 Console Broken As Is Freezes Cheap Hdmi Works    US $30.00

Broken Xbox 360 Console As Is W Bad Drive Hdmi    US $20.50

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Broken Elite X Box 360 Console Only Dont Read    US $65.00

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Wii Rvl 001 Game System Console Broken    US $11.01

Broken Elite X Box 360 Console Only Hdmi E 74    US $65.00

Broken Elite X Box 360 Console Only Hdmi No Power    US $65.00

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For the repair, I'd suggest you Google the problem and see if there are known fixes in place to make it an easier repair. For example, Googling "red ring of death" currently returns 1.9 million pages so it's pretty sure that this fix is not undocumented for the Xbox

Good luck and drop us a line if this helps you get a bargain that was a simple fix.