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Let’s pretend like that whole Sammy Hagar thing never happened.

Guitar Hero: Van Halen, coming out December 22, will cover the band’s first six records, ignoring the eleven-year period when the band was fronted by Sammy Hagar. That means the only post-1984 Van Halen output to make the game will be that of Wolfgang Van Halen, son of Eddie, who now fills the vacant bass slot once occupied by Michael Anthony.

It’s no real tragedy. The band’s material with Hagar doesn’t pack quite the same kick as their older cuts. But the omission reflects one of the difficulties of creating a music game around a band that’s still active: Bad blood can prevent your game from being definitive.

Guitar Hero: Metallica, which bowed earlier this year, featured music from the band’s entire catalog, but glossed over the existence of bass players Cliff Burton and Jason Newstead, both major contributors to the Metallica legacy.

At the time, producer Alan Flores told MTV that the band wanted to keep the feelings of its current bass player in mind. “They didn’t want to make Rob Trujillo feel like he wasn’t as important a part of the band as he is,” he said.

Despite the omissions, Guitar Hero: Metallica melted faces on the strength of the material. Guitar Hero: Van Halen could enjoy the same luck, mining tunes from six great records. Check the Guitar Hero: Van Halen setlist to see if your favorites made the cut.

But the absence of Michael Anthony will have an impact — if not in sales, than at least in customer satisfaction. And there’s got to be somebody out there who liked Gary Cherone.

See Also:

• Rumor: 8 Guitar Hero Games Planned for 2009
• Activision CEO: Labels Should Owe Guitar Hero, Not Reverse …
• Metallica Gets Own Guitar Hero Title
• First Screen Of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith
• McCain Offends Van Halen, Sucks at Music
• Play Asteroids Clone as David Lee Roth

Yet another crazy music game fire sale from RedOctane today: For $49.99 on PS2, $59.99 on Wii or $69.99 on PS3 or 360, you can pick up a two-pack of Guitar Hero: Metallica and Guitar Hero: Smash Hits.

As an added bonus, you’ll also get a free Guitar Hero World Tour shirt. Now, you should by no means wear this in public, but if you need to work on your car or play the Super Sloppy Double Dare home game, it’s a nice perk.

Pick up Metallica/Smash Hits Guitar Hero bundle for cheap originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 08 Jul 2009 18:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft’s nifty wireless microphones that were packed in with Lips just got a whole lot more useful, supporting Guitar Hero Metallica and soon Rock Band 2.

Tethering a music game singing virtuoso to a console is a sad, sad thing, especially since the cords are never long enough to allow for the sort of microphone acrobatics perfected by The Who’s Roger Daltrey. The wireless microphones from Lips for the Xbox 360 solved this issue, but up until now only supported Lips, which is a game you play secretly, while no one is watching.

Now those wireless mics are a great deal more useful. Microsoft has officially announced that Guitar Hero Metallica supports the wireless singsticks, and a title update this summer will add the functionality to Rock Band 2 as well. Singers rejoice! Now if only Guitar Hero World Tour would get in on the act. *eyes Activision*

In celebration of the microphones being compatible with other games, Microsoft has also released a list of the April song additions for Lips, just in case people would rather just stick with their game instead. Check out the full song list below!

Available April 3:

Wish You Were Here – Incubus

Sugar, We’re Goin Down – Fall Out Boy

Bad Moon Rising – Creedence Clearwater Revival

Available April 10:

Ne-Yo Song Pack – Closer, So Sick, and Hate That I Love You by Rihanna feat. Ne-Yo

Coldplay Song Pack – Speed Of Sound, The Scientist, and In My Place

Looking Out My Back Door – Creedence Clearwater Revival

Closer – Ne-Yo

So Sick – Ne-Yo

Available April 17:

Creedence Clearwater Revival Song Pack – Looking Out My Back Door, Bad Moon Rising and Who’ll Stop the Rain

Kryptonite – 3 Doors Down

All My Life – K-Ci & Jo Jo

Sing – Travis

Available April 27:

Love Today – Mika

Ocean Avenue – Yellowcard

Linger – The Cranberries

It’s a pretty light list of releases again this week. If anything, Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust holds my interests because I am a giant pervert and that game was made for perverts like me. Too bad the graphics look ridiculous.

What’s looking sw33t to you this week, Dtoiders? Check out the full list of releases and videos for some of the games after the jump. 

X360: Guitar Hero: Metallica, Deer Hunter Tournament, ARMA II, Troll & Armor, Dungeon Hero, Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust

PS3: Guitar Hero: Metallica, Troll & Armor, CellFactor: Psychokinetic Wars, Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust

Wii:  Guitar Hero: Metallica, Don King Boxing, Last Flight, CID The Dummy, Burger Island, Lawn Games, Sudoku Ball Detective, Super PickUps, Ocean Commander, Totally Spies! Totally Party, Cradle of Rome, Monster Pals, Pipe Mania, Vacation Sports, Offshore Tycoon, Major Minor’s Majestic March, Dance Dance Revolution: Disney Grooves Bundle

PC: World of Battles, Train Simulator 2009: World Builder Edition, CID The Dummy, Troll & Armor, Conquest! Medieval Realms, Pro Evolution Soccer 2009, Sudoku Ball Detective, The Humans, Age of Pirates 2: City of Abandoned Ships, 7.62 mm, Dawn of Fantasy, ARMA II, Dungeon Hero, Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust

PSP: Air Conflicts: Aces of World War II, CID The Dummy,

DS: Don King Boxing, Tokyo Beat Down, Sudoku Ball Detective, SpongeBob SquarePants Frantic Fry Cook, Jake Power: Policeman, DinoPets, Chicken Hunter: Jewel of Darkness, Sarah: Keeper of the Unicorn, Paint by DS, Hot n Cold, Our House, Empire Deluxe, Matchstick Puzzle, The Humans, Gardening Mama

PS2: CID The Dummy

Released 03/29:

Guitar Hero: Metallica, (X360, PS3, Wii)

Releasing 03/30:

Deer Hunter Tournament (X360)

Releasing 03/31:

Don King Boxing (Wii, DS)

Tokyo Beat Down (DS)

Duke Nukem Trilogy (PSP, DS)

Releasing 03/31:

Major Minor’s Majestic March (Wii)

Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust (X360, PS3, PC)

Dance Dance Revolution: Disney Grooves Bundle  (Wii)

Metallica frontman James Hetfield continues the payday publicity blitz in an interview with Rolling Stone that comes straight out of the celebrity endorsement playbook for music games.

There seems to be a formula to these interviews: 1) Genuflect to rhythm games as a whole, citing at least one quality that inspires music appreciation. 2) Tell people how you, a world-class musician, suck atrociously at playing the instrument controllers. 3) Mention the oldest-school game you can think of when someone asks you what you grew up playing, even if you haven’t touched a console in years and won’t ever again once your game finally releases.

How does Hetfield do? Well:

1) “I think Guitar Hero is a great gateway drug to real music. If you’ve got the music bug, nothing’s gonna stop you. It’s your destiny to express your gift.”

Check!

2) “The initial thought was, ‘This is gonna be so easy.’ And then I picked it up and tried doing it. And it was like [makes plunking sound]. ‘Are you kidding me? You guys suck! You’re supposed to follow me!’ I gotta be on with the lines. And Metallica’s not as on with the lines as some other bands. Especially having Lars as a drummer [Laughs].”

A little overboard there, but still satisfactory.

3) [Q: What's the first video game you fell in love with?] “My buddy had Pong. We were obsessed with it. That was it, man.”

And … check! Awesome job, James Hetfield!

Metallica’s James Hetfield Calls “Guitar Hero” a “Gateway Drug”: Inside the Band’s New Game [Rolling Stone]

Not sure why you’d really need this, what with the game’s title doing most of the selling (or turning away) on its own, but whatever. There’s a demo for Guitar Hero: Metallica on Xbox Live.

It clocks in at around 1GB and, sadly, is (at this stage, at least) for Gold subscribers only.

Imagine if Guitar Hero: World Tour featured a song selection consisting mostly of songs by Metallica, contained trivia about Metallica and let you play as video game-ified likenesses of Metallica. That is Guitar Hero: Metallica. Is it fun? Sure. Is it for non-fans? Eh, maybe. Is there anything remotely new about it apart from the fact that it’s totally, completely, fully and thoroughly Metallica? Yes.

In a move to make the game more party-friendly than GHWT from the get-go, Neversoft has thoughtfully unlocked every song on the disc in Quick Play mode; playing through career mode is mainly about unlocking items and the overall Metallica “experience.” Which, as we found, starts out by having you play a couple of songs by the metal legends then becoming so inspired that you start your own band (who you play the games non-Metallica songs as).

Continue reading Joystiq impressions: Guitar Hero: Metallica

Joystiq impressions: Guitar Hero: Metallica originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 13 Mar 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett calls Guitar Hero: Metallica calls the game collaboration a “no brainer” and a “match made in heaven.” We know Hammett has played the real guitar, but Guitar Hero?

Once, he has played Guitar Hero once. The reason for this is that he was once “addicted to video games.” Hammett adds, “At one point I had to say ‘enough.’” So that’s what he said.

He has seen other people play it, though, giving him the confidence to state, “I’m pretty knowledgeable about it.” I once saw brain surgery on the Discovery Channel, and now, I’m pretty knowledgeable about that. Not that Guitar Hero is brain surgery. It’s not.

T3 Exclusive: Kirk Hammett talks Guitar Hero Metallica [T3]

Yeah, you knew the members of Metallica did some motion-capture work for Guitar Hero: Metallica, but did you know they did it while performing every song from the game “live”?

So why didn’t they just film them, save themselves a few months of animation work?

Probably as a courtesy. Digital James Hetfield is far spunkier (and youthful!) than real James Hetfield.