heroes

Little Guitar Heroine rocks the latest craze

It looks like the little 7-year-old girl in this video can kick some serious booty on Guitar Hero. She may not be the only tyke around who can rock the music game (see this 5 year old and this 8 year old go at it), but still, it's damn cute watching her work that heavy metal with such speed and intense determination.

This video recently bubbled up on MySpace, where it has, of course generated hundreds of comments that alternately slam the girl for missing notes or spending time playing video games in the first place and praise her … Read more

HD DVD: Format of choice for geek TV?

Are you a dork? Do you love TV? If the answer to both those questions is yes, you'll probably want to select HD DVD as your next- generation format of choice, because there are some seriously exciting sci-fi TV shows hitting the format in the next few months.

We already know that Heroes is on the way to HD DVD, which is tremendously exciting for fans of the show who haven't been able to catch it on its BBC HD outing. We're also aware of the impending arrival of Star Trek: The Original Series, series one, which … Read more

Guitar Hero-DS Lite mashup is just a dream

As we were just saying, this guitar thing is getting out of hand. It's one thing for companies to go nuts trying to capitalize on the craze, but some fans are going even further on their own.

Case in point: One overly enthused gamer has come up with a conceptual combo of Guitar Hero and Nintendo's DS Lite. As SlashGear points out, the dimensions of a real guitar controller would make such a product difficult to impossible, but that's not the point. The issue is one of overload, people. When we said, "Get a grip," … Read more

E3 2007: Guitar Hero III

The game responsible for getting more non-gamers playing (except perhaps Wii Sports and Madden) is Guitar Hero, an addictive mix of rock-and-roll karaoke and Simon Says. The concept is simple, strap on a vaguely guitar-shaped plastic controller, and press the brightly colored buttons in time to music note that float down the screen. That catch is that you're playing along with B and C-list classic rock tunes, and the better you play, the more songs you unlock.

Already a hit on the PS2 and Xbox 360, publisher Activision has to really come up with some new features to get … Read more

Guitar Wars: Gibson vs. Fender

Let the riffs--and the rivalry--begin. Not to be outdone by the Fender Stratocaster made for Harmonix's upcoming Rock Band, the latest in the Guitar Hero series will feature controllers modeled after Gibson guitars.

For Activision's Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, a Kramer model will reportedly be released for the Wii and Xbox 360 while the famed Les Paul will be available for the PlayStation 3. And in case you get tired of their look, Ubergizmo says the guitars have removable faceplates. (We know how moody musicians can be.) No matter which model you choose, we suspect it'… Read more

CNET Live - Episode 13 - Show Notes

Big thanks to The Guitar Zeros who rocked the house today with their Xbox controller powered musical prowess.

Watch the show on CNET TV.

Things we Crave

Iconic computer innards as art

Outdoor lighting that sounds good

Insider Secrets

Spencer wrote Maynyrd writes to cnetlive at cnet.com - "I am looking for a tip or trick to use my music as ringtone. I got the drivers, the USB cable, and the memory card, and actually uploaded my songs on to the memory card in my phone. But I cannot, figure out how to use them as my ringer. … Read more

Get ready to rock this week on CNET Live!

On this week's CNET Live, there will be an extra special musical guest...The Guitar Zeros! Based in San Francisco, The Guitar Zeros is a band inspired by the hit game, Guitar Hero. The catch is, these guys have modded the game controllers to mimic a real guitar. Tom Merritt is going to have a jam session with the video game rockstars, and see how their technology works.

Last week, Brian turned the tables--he asked the audience a question. Every time he smacked his mouse on the table, his PC went buggy. Don't worry, Brian has been enrolled … Read more

'Rock Band' hits high note with Stratocaster

It's hard to imagine anything that could be more popular than Guitar Hero, but this could be what tips the scales: a guitar controller modeled after the legendary Fender Stratocaster.

Rock Band--the upcoming Harmonix release that will add bass, drums and vocals to the whole guitar game genre--will feature a licensed Stratocaster controller that, for our money, looks close enough to the real thing. "Like other Guitar Hero controllers, it has colored buttons on the neck and features a pickup selector and three volume knobs like a true Strat does," CrunchGear reports.

This restores at least part … Read more

'Guitar Hero III' setlist takes shape

A partial track list for the long-awaited third installment of Guitar Hero was released by Activision today.

As usual, the 11-song list offers a nice blend of time-tested rock anthems by the Rolling Stones, Fog Hat, and Alice Cooper, as well as new classics by the likes of the Beastie Boys, Weezer, and Smashing Pumpkins.

In keeping with the inclusion of a Spinal Tap song in Guitar Hero II, the new game will include a song by Tenacious D.

Notable is the fact that seven of the songs on the list are original recordings. In previous versions of Guitar Hero, … Read more

Tech that rocks: meet the real guitar heroes

Some rockin' San Francisco geeks have taken Guitar Hero, and heroically programmed the system to produce live, concert-ready music. With due humility the quartet calls themselves "The Guitar Zeros." Take a listen, we think they're at least a seven on a scale of one to ten.

As programmers, these guys are definitely a ten.