Guitar Hero: Aerosmith

Talk about an unlikely hero. The creation of Guitar Hero was first inspired by the love that the Japanese had for music games. Electronics entertainment company RedOctane was making guitar peripherals for Japanese game Guitar Freaks and approached developer Harmonix in 2005 to create something similar. And the rest is rock 'n' roll history. The game was an instant hit and has spawned numerous sequels, selling 1.5 million copies to date. If this is your first time having a go at the game, it's not a big deal if you have no musical talent whatsoever. Essentially, you have a miniature guitar controller with five colored fret buttons and a strum bar. On your TV screen, you will see colored circles moving downwards as the song is played. Simply jab the corresponding fret colored button with your left hand and hit the strum bar with your right to "strike" the note. Doing this in succession, in sync with the beat, rakes in the points. Things get complicated when you have to tap double frets, switch between colored frets and sometimes, when the circle comes in rapid fire, you have to move your fingers really fast. Whoever claims they have great hand-eye- coordination should give this game a shot. The latest, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, is basically a stand-alone expansion to Guitar Hero III: Rock Of Legends, which was the best-selling game in North America last year. So while you won't need Guitar Hero III to play the Aerosmith version, what is disappointing is that outfits, guitars and other extras obtained from it cannot be carried forward to this game. The continued success of the franchise is a significant step forward for publishers Activision and RedOctane, as it signifies the popularity of a game that was initially shunned by the music labels. When the first Guitar Hero was launched, none of the recording labels wanted to license music rights to what was seen as a silly guitar game. Today, the game is instrumental in helping bands sell their music. One week after Guitar Hero III was launched, all of the songs in the game saw a sales boost of 250 per cent throughout its traditional retail and online channels. Now, not only do bands want their songs to be featured in Guitar Hero III, they want to appear as avatars in the game and to "cut their own album" in the Guitar Hero world. A former Guns N' Roses guitarist made such a special appearance in Guitar Hero III and Guitar Hero: Metallica, based on the iconic heavy metal band, is next on the set list. In real life, musicians are taking to the game. The game requires you to be very coordinated to keep up with the beats. But when you're strumming a guitar, it should be more relaxing, compared to what you've seen of the game.