Xbox Live 360.com. Games and Games.

Guitar Hero 3, Legends of Rock Cheats:

Hyperspeed
O, B, O, Y, O, B, O, Y

Performance Mode
RY, RB, RO, RB, RY, GB, RY, RB

Precision Mode
GR, GR, GR, RY, RY, RB, RB, YB, YO, YO, GR, GR, GR, RY, RY, RB, RB, YB, YO, YO

Unlock All
YO, RB, RO, GB, RY, YO, RY, RB, GY, GY, YB, YB, YO, YO, YB, Y, R, RY, R, Y, O

Rock Band is arriving in stores on November 20. Along with a guitar, mic, and drum kit, the $169.99 package includes 58 songs (45 licensed tracks, and 13 more that are unlockable). For months, Harmonix/MTV/EA has teased us with pieces of the track list. Today, we finally have the complete list of licensed tracks. Keep in mind that each week following the release of Rock Band, new downloadable songs will be made available. Among the DLC is the entire Who's Album "Who's Next," Metallica's "One," and eighteen songs by The Grateful Dead.

1960s

• Rolling Stones "Gimme Shelter"

1970s

• Aerosmith "Train Kept a Rollin'"*
• The Who "Won't Get Fooled Again"
• Boston "Foreplay/Long Time"
• Mountain "Mississippi Queen" (cover)
• The Police "Next to You"
• David Bowie "Suffragette City"
• Black Sabbath "Paranoid" (cover)
• Blue Oyster Cult "Don't Fear the Reaper"
• The Ramones "Blitzkrieg Bop"
• Deep Purple "Highway Star"
• KISS "Detroit Rock City"
• Molly Hatchet "Flirtin' With Disaster"
• The Outlaws "Green Grass & High Tides" (cover)
• Sweet "Ballroom Blitz" (cover)

1980s

• Rush "Tom Sawyer"*
• Bon Jovi "Wanted Dead or Alive"
• The Clash "Should I Stay or Should I Go"
• Faith No More "Epic"
• Pixies "Wave of Mutilation"
• R.E.M. "Orange Crush"
• Iron Maiden "Run to the Hills" (cover)

1990s

• Foo Fighters "Learn to Fly"
• Metallica "Enter Sandman"
• Nirvana "In Bloom"
• Stone Temple Pilots "Vasoline"
• Weezer "Say It Ain't So"
• Smashing Pumpkins "Cherub Rock"
• Radiohead "Creep"
• Beastie Boys "Sabotage"
• Hole "Celebrity Skin"
• Garbage "I Think I'm Paranoid"
• Soundgarden "Black Hole Sun"

2000s

• The Hives "Main Offender"
• Queens of the Stone Age "Go With the Flow"
• The Strokes "Reptilia"
• Jet "Are You Gonna Be My Girl"
• OK Go "Here It Goes Again"
• Nine Inch Nails "The Hand That Feeds"
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs "Maps"
• Red Hot Chili Peppers "Dani California"
• Coheed & Cambria "Welcome Home"
• Fallout Boy "Dead on Arrival"
• The Killers "When You Were Young"
• New Pornographers "Electric Version"

Unlockable Tracks

• Bang Camaro "Pleasure (Pleasure)"
• Twelve more yet to be revealed

Other parts of the blog-o-sphere are reporting some issues with the bundling of Guitar Hero III with wired guitars. I'd like to address a different problem that I've had, along with a number of others according to forum posts.

I'd like to preface by saying I really do enjoy the Guitar Hero series (although I have to admit my wife is better at the games than I am), and I've bought 4 games with 4 guitars to date (2 on PS2 an 2 on 360). However, after the issues with the X-Plorer, I'm surprised there was not more quality control with the wireless Les Paul.

I picked up my copy (360 version with wireless guitar) at GameStop at midnight and went home to play. Now, I'm not terrible at the game, and I was having some real problems once I hit tiers 4 and 5 on medium. I assumed I was tired, and went to bed. The next morning, both my wife and I started playing, and once I was able to watch the game more closely, I found that the red and yellow buttons were not registering being pressed. After disassembling and re-assembling the guitar, the problem continued. I tried blowing on the contacts a la NES cartridges circa 1988. While the responsiveness improved, it was still only in the 70-80% range. I exchanged it for a new guitar, which seems to be working in a 95% or higher error range, which is far more acceptable (though still less than ideal on a game that requires such accuracy).

The issue almost certainly stems from the detachable neck's contact system, which is truly unfortunate since the removable neck was generally a good idea. I hope that Red Octane will resolve this issue sooner rather than later. The button problem seems to be appearing on many message boards, so I don't believe my problem is an isolated one.

On an unrelated note, it seems there's some sort of error in the track "One" on medium between the 85 and 90% mark. I at first thought it was the guitar, but having seen the same error with both myself and my wife with both the X-Plorer and Les Paul, I think there's something not working correctly in the track. And it's limited to the Medium difficulty. If anyone else notices this issue, please let me know, but I will acknowledge that I might be wrong on this track error.

Bloggers in the video game realm know they've truly "made it" when Jack Thompson personally responds to a post. While I haven't been able to verify the identity 100%, the responses I received are generally consistent with Mr. Thompson's form, so I thought I would take this opportunity to respond to them, but without the name calling Mr. Thompson feels necessary to include.

jackthompson said...

Dennis McCauley got it wrong, of course and as usual. The FTC reg pertains to use of a credit card to verify a parent's identity, not a minor's age. Go read what he links to at the FTC on his site, and you'll find you're wrong.

It is a violation of bank card agreements to use credit cards as age verifiers, and obviously so since kids as young as 12 have credit cards and since junior can "borrow" dad's card. Pretty simple stuff, really, if your brain has not been fried by games.

The last time I sued Best Buy in this regard, they caved and settled and agreed not to sell M games to kids. They are in breach of the agreement, as well as violating Florida's anti-fraud statute. It's a shame you all don't know what you're talking about. Jack Thompson

October 25, 2007 5:35 PM

jackthompson said...

Actually, it is up to the government to decided these things, just as it is up to society to stop 7-11 from selling beer to 12 year olds. Duh. That's why we have a deceptive trade practice law in every state in the union. It's called democracy, gamer nerds. Deal with it. And grow up.

October 25, 2007 5:38 PM

It is so difficult to select a place to begin. I suppose I will start from the bottom, where you make the broad statement that it is up to the government to decide "these things." What you have stated is a philosophy on governance, not a fact. In your mind, the government should be free to control the hearts and the minds of the people as they so choose. In reality, our democratic republic has taken a small segment of the choices people can make and placed restrictions upon them. Alcohol, tobacco, and pornography are all among the things with restricted sales to minors. Movies, music, and video games are not. As I have pointed out repeatedly, there is no content beyond the level of the Saw movies in even the Manhunt games. If you had taken the time to experience them, you would know this to be the case. Therefore, if your basic supposition is that the government should add violent media to the category with alcohol, tobacco, and pornography, then so be it. But there is a logical fallacy in attacking content in only one medium when the same content exists in another medium which is equally accessible to the people you claim to be trying to protect.

Also, contrary to what you seem to believe, there are in fact people who do not agree with you on a philosophical level. In fact, there are even people who vote for the same candidates you do who do not agree with your basic ideology that the government should have unlimited control to censor content. Moreover, there are many people who believe the government is not some grand babysitter or pseudo-parent who should be making decisions for people. In fact, it has been argued that the usurption of personal responsibility by "progressive" government programs has been a key cause of the downward trend of society, tracing back to unnecessary government coddling in the New Deal.

That being said, your view is in such the substantial minority that it cannot be allowed to prevail. Tyranny of the minority cannot be tolerated (and if you're not familiar with the concept, I suggest you brush up on your Federalist Papers). In fact, your very position that violence is "obscenity" is fallacious under the Burger test for "obscenity":

The basic guidelines for the trier of fact must be: (a) whether 'the average person, applying contemporary community standards' would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest, (b) whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law; and (c) whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.

Emphasis added to the key element, the prurient interest. There is no sexual arousal associated with violence for the average person.

This brings us to the error in your "for the children" argument. If your goal were to simply keep these games out of the hands of minors unless their parents decided otherwise, I doubt seriously you would face much opposition. No one opposes movie theaters or Wal-Mart for policies of this sort. The difficult aspect is that your goals go well beyond "the children" to keep this content out of the hands of adults, whom are more than capable of making their own decisions, to the point that you eventually want to run many, if not all, game manufacturers out of business. (I'm still unclear if you would start to target less objectionable content, say Smash Bros. Melee, if you succeeded against the most extreme outlying targets.) Anyone who has monitored your commentary knows that you would just assume punish parents who buy T or M games for children under 13 and 17 respectively as you would prevent the kids from playing the games. Ultimately, that is the parent's decision, not yours, to make.

Speaking to your credit card reference, children under 18 cannot acquire credit cards on their own. I will grant you that Dennis's reference is not exactly on point, but the concept is essentially the same. Anyone under 18 with a credit card has been granted said card by someone of legal age, likely a parent or guardian. In that case, the person who has the card has given implied consent that the card be used, and thusly implied consent to purchase the M rated game. Ultimately, the account holder is still in control, and to dictate otherwise would mean that you are preventing people who are 18 from easily purchasing games from online retailers.

You also mention "junior can 'borrow' dad's card." If Junior has asked for permission, then the parent has granted permission to play the game. If Junior has not asked permission, then Junior has more to worry about than the content of the game as he's already committed fraud and identity theft.

Your comment about Best Buy "caving" really has little to do with the present situation. Large companies often choose to settle disputes to discontinue wasting time on what amount to nothing more than meritless nuisances. It it often cheaper and quicker than proceeding with legal action.

Finally, I do take some personal offense to the implication that games have "fried my brain." I've been gaming for nearly two decades, but I also have an undergraduate and two graduate degrees. If you continue to assume that you'll never encounter anyone on the opposite side of the debate with an an ounce of intelligence, you'll continue to have your simplistic responses outdone by intelligent gamers. Eventually, sensationalists in the media will tire of your particular issue, and you will be relegated to a historical footnote.

I'm certain many of you, the readers, have seen the latest Jack Thompson coverage on Game Politics found here and here. Dennis was quick to point out the FTC provision about credit card ownership being adequate proof of age for online transactions, and the FoxNews contributor was quick to play the free speech card. However, there's an elephant in the room I'd like to address.

Everything Mr. Thompson has said about games applies to movies on DVD.

Anyone with a credit card can go to Amazon.com and pick up Saw I, II, or III (unrated, meaning the more violent cut than the theatrical one) just as easily as you can order Manhunt 2. The same applies to Best Buy, Circuit City, or whatever other entertainment online store you'd like to site. To the same ends, in-store id checks are equally lacking on these (and other) movie titles. While I haven't played Manhunt 2, I can only imagine the graphic content is probably on par with the Saw series, which is exceptionally brutal if you haven't seen the movies. Given that the research on the impact of media is mixed, and that movies have been found to affect young people like games by some studies, why ignore the movie industry?

There can only be a few answers:
1. Mr. Thompson is afraid of the people in the movie industry, as they would likely be viewed as "more powerful" than the game industry.
2. Mr. Thompson is giving undue weight to the unproven link between interactivity and a heightened impact.
3. Mr. Thompson has an unhealthy fixation on and unequivocal bias toward games, which cannot easily be explained.
4. Mr. Thompson's logic is flawed, for some other unexplained reason, so that he either ignores or actually favors violent movies. (Perhaps he is a Saw fan.)

The simple point being: If you would like to go on a crusade against the media, go on a crusade against the media, not one medium.

Ultimately, the decision should still be left to the parents, and the tools are in place for the parents to make those decisions. It is not up to the government, or Mr. Thompson, to make those decisions for society, parents who are failing to perform their duties as parents, or parents who are actively monitoring their child's media consumption. And if anyone is to be held responsible, it should be the inadequate parents, not the game manufacturers, game retailers, or game raters. I can only hope that the news media will tire of this issue soon, or that the American people will begin to realize that playing the "For the Children" card has reached a point where it should be accompanied by automatic scrutiny, as it is rarely actually being used to help the children anymore.

Microsoft has finally posted the long promised "Revised" Game Content Usage Rules. They are available here. Now that they are available, what has changed? The short answer is "Not much."

1. The "reverse engineering" rule was re-written to clarify "not normally permitted by the game." As such, things like the Halo 3 Forge or the Halo CE included editors seem to be acceptable.

2. One of the most notable changes is the specific reference to film festivals. You are allowed to enter film festivals, even those with prizes, with machinima. However, this seems like a fine line as there is also a specific note as to contests. Generally, the difference seems to be securing Microsoft's permission for the use.

3. The music/soundtrack/sound effect issue is more resolved, and for Halo fans, Halo 3 is specifically noted as having a usable soundtrack for machinima. This, as I noted in previous articles, falls about in the manner you would expect. The soundtracks are often licensed, and it's more noticeable in some games (i.e. PGR where the tracks are named) than in others. Microsoft seems committed to making notice of this on a game by game basis on the Xbox.com site/forums, which seems like a more reasonable course of action than an outright ban.

4. The phrase "You'll know it when you see it." appears a lot. On the plus side, this leaves a lot of room for interpretation. On the negative side, this leaves a lot of room for interpretation. I suppose we'll find out more as this is enforced, both as to the content and as to "Microsoft approval" on contests.

5. The backstory/lost chapters rule has changed significantly. You are now allowed to tell any story, but if your story contains elements from the game's story arc or surrounding content, then you're providing Microsoft a license to use that content. This is actually a fairly good solution to a real problem, even if it seems as though the machinimist is losing the rights to their "story." There have been many cases (mostly in the film and literary arenas) where someone writes a story, then without knowing, someone else writes a related story. Or, a writer sends a script in, the script is returned and the film company makes a similar movie. This often results in a lawsuit. What Microsoft is trying to avoid is the instance where they already have a story planned, and then one or more machinimists create something similar, Microsoft releases their content and the machinimist sues for infringement. If you want to work in Microsoft's universes, you have to accept that Microsoft may use a similar story, and you're giving up recourse if that happens. On the other hand, if you create something totally original, you've given up nothing.

6. You can let other people build on your work, but it's governed by the same rules as your work. Basically, it's a trickle down license.

7. They actually provide a contact email for people interested in getting a commercial license or for film fesitval sponsors who want approval. The address is gamevids*at*microsoft.com.

All in all, while the changes are not unexpected or dramatic, they are all positive and address many of the concerns of the machinima community.

Related Stories:
Past Microsoft Machinima Rule Coverage
Blizzard Machinima Rule

I do apologize for the shortage of content as of late on Law of the Game. My time has been largely consumed by client projects and the development of a new website for The Vernon Law Group. I will certainly have a post directing you to the new site once it is public. In the mean time, though, it appears there will be another week or two of 1-2 posts per week instead of my more usual 3-5 posts per week. Thank you.