Gamertell

Activision is supporting the success of Guitar Hero III with new downloadable content on Xbox Live. Song packs by epic seventies bands went live yesterday (January 24, 2008) and are available for the cost of 500 Microsoft points, or $6.25 (US).

“Peace of Mind,” “Juke Box Hero,” and “Any Way You Want It” by Boston, Foreigner, and Journey (respectively) are the most recent additions to the Guitar Hero III downloadable roster. The list now contains nineteen items with cover songs by the Foo Fighters and Velvet Revolver. 

The additions come after a very successful showing for Guitar Hero III, recently reported to have garnered over 1 billion in North American Sales. Even though competitor Rock Band supports drums, microphone peripherals and 53 downloadable items (including the ability to select individual songs instead of buying all three) - and is massively more fun to play in this writer’s opinion - people are still buying Guitar Hero III.

Now I’m not saying Guitar Hero III is a bad game, but I never thought the song lineup was impressive to begin with, especially not when compared to the bad-ass-ery that is Rock Band. It’s like Guitar Hero III is suddenly realizing “Hey, we completely forgot about the seventies. What’s wrong with us?” and now they’re trying to catch up.

Boston’s “Foreplay/ Long Time” is already in Rock Band, as is Rush’s “Tom Sawyer.” It’s also hard to argue that all the bells and whistles they tossed into Guitar Hero III really make the game better. They certainly make it harder, but in a gimmicky way, I think.

Once again, the chaps over at Penny Arcade said it first and best. I’ll leave the jokes to them from now on.

Read [Xbox] Also Read [Kotaku]