Free copy of Guitar Hero: Van Halen

Guitar Hero: Van Halen, the latest in a growing line of band-themed music-games from Activision, will be yours free of charge with the purchase of the newest core Guitar Hero installment due out this September.

Through September Activision will give away a copy of Guitar Hero: Van Halen to each and every consumer who buys a copy of Guitar Hero 5. A pre-order of Guitar Hero 5 will get you your Guitar Hero: Van Halen on September 1, 2009 (Guitar Hero 5's release date). Non Pre-orderers need to look for specially marked packages of Guitar Hero 5 that contain a mail-in coupon for their free Guitar Hero: Van Halen.

Full details and, of course, the obligatory pre-order link are available at the following site:

guitarhero.com/vanhalengameoffer

Guitar Hero

Guitar Hero is a highly interactive video game series published by RedOctane and Activision for people of all ages. It challenges your reaction time as well as physical ability and even your stamina. The game has won numerous awards for its gameplay, creativity, and more; and is an absolute must have for any music enthusiast or professional air-guitarist!

The game is played using a guitar shaped controller (3/4th's the size of a real guitar) The controller features five colored buttons, a strum bar, and a whammy bar. Like Dance Dance Revolution, the player must must play scrolling notes to complete a song.

Guitar Hero, the player must use the guitar to play the scrolling notes the corresponding fret button on the guitar neck and simultaneously pressing the strum bar. The notes are synchronized to the general rhythm/beat of the song, and your success is dependent on your ability to time and strum the bar with one hand while pressing the correct buttons with the other!

The series has used a range of both licensed and independent rock music tracks from the 1960s to the present, several of which are master tracks from the bands.

The Guitar Hero franchise has become a cultural phenomenon, making many appearances in popular culture. The series' titles have become extremely popular as party games. The series has sold millions of games, earning over $1 billion.

The series was developed by Harmonix Music Systems from 2005 to 2007 before development duties of the series were transferred to Neversoft, whose first effort, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock was released in October 2007.

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock is a music video game developed by Neversoft (for the console versions) and Aspyr Media (for computer versions) and published by Activision and RedOctane. It is the third full installment in the Guitar Hero series (and the fourth title overall).

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock was first released for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, Wii, PC, and Mac platforms in late 2007. Due to the acquisition of RedOctane by Activision, Harmonix Music Systems is no longer involved in developing titles in the Guitar Hero series; instead, they developed the competing Rock Band.

As with the previous Guitar Hero games, the player uses a guitar-shaped controller to simulate the playing of varying genres of rock music by playing notes as they scroll in-time with the music. Gameplay from the previous installments of the series has remained mainly intact, with the most notable addition being a new cooperative career mode.

The game features over 60 total songs, many of which, in contrast to previous games, are master tracks. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock is available both individually and in bundles packaged with wireless controllers. Previous Guitar Hero controllers are compatible with this title.

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock is the first game in the series to feature online play, in addition to existing game modes.

Furthermore, the game includes Tom Morello (of Rage Against the Machine/Audioslave) and Slash (of Guns N' Roses/Slash's Snakepit/Velvet Revolver) as in-game characters. The Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC versions also include Bret Michaels (Poison).

Select Button Tips

On some Guitar Hero guitars, the placement of the "Select" button is not ideal. This is important, because the "Select" button is used to activate Star Power as an alternative to tilting the guitar vertically. With bad placement, the "Select" button can be accidentally hit by your hand while strumming and Star Power can activate when you don't want it to. Even worse, when you are blistering through a solo and need Star Power help, trying to hit the button but not finding quickly enough due to bad placement is a nightmare!

To solve this, a good idea is to glue a few quarters or nickels to your select button. This way, you won't hit it accidentally while playing, and at the same time, you won't have trouble finding it quickly when you need to.

- If you are a lefty, the best guitar to purchase is the Nyko Wireless Guitar. Although all guitars will work for lefty's, the Nyko's shape was specifically designed to be most comfortable for those 10 percent of people who are southpaws, especially when sitting down and placing the guitar on your legs.

Guitar Hero Society