The Guitar Hero saga began in November 2005 when game developer Harmonix released the first game in the series, the original Guitar Hero, for the Playstation 2 game system.  Harmonix had previously been known for developing games that allowed players to perform music using the Playstation 2's DualShock controller.  Guitar Hero differed from such previous music games because it was packaged with an actual guitar peripheral that allowed the player to perform songs using five different colored fret buttons, a strum bar, and even a 'whammy' bar.  The guitar peripheral was originally modeled after the black Gibson SG guitar. 

Upon release, Guitar Hero was extremely acclaimed and received several awards for the innovative interactivity and for the game's soundtrack, which included 47 rock songs. 

When Guitar Hero 2 was released the next year for PS2, the popularity of the game jumped dramatically.  The game made several improvements to it's predecessor, including multiplayer gameplay and a 64 song library. 

Guitar Hero 2 was released on the Xbox 360 system in April of 2007, featuring an additional 10 songs and an exclusive red Gibson X-Plorer guitar. 

Guitar Hero 3 was released for all systems in later 2007.  The game featured a record of over 70 playable songs, not including downloadable content thanks to the internet connection provided by the next generation systems.  A new feature introduced in Guitar Hero 3 was the idea of 'Battles', and actual 'bosses' that the player has to face.  These bosses were staples in rock history such as Slash and Tom Morello. 

More recently, some GH spin-offs have been created such as On Tour for the DS, Guitar Hero from the mobile phone, and Rock The 80's.

Guitar Hero 4 is also now in production.  To help 'battle' the competition of Rock Band, GH4 will not only feature the guitar peripheral, but a drum set and microphone as well.  The game is rumored to be called 'World Tour', and its planned release date is late 2008. 

 

Fret Facts

Guitar Hero has sold approximately 1.5 million copies to date. Guitar Hero 2 became the fifth best selling game for PS2 in 2006. Guitar Hero 3 has made over $1 billion in sales in 2007.

Guitar Hero: On Tour

Last Updated: May 23, 2008
By: Travis Valentine and Adam Army
Pwners of the 1337verse