Guitar Hero II for the 360

The time to rock is here! After so much waiting, Guitar Hero 2 for the Xbox 360 is finally available here. It's interesting that the local distributor New Era brought in the game from Australia. The box says that it is the PAL version but it seems like the disc can be played on the local NTSC version of the console. There's even the OFLC (Ozzie's version of the ESRB) rating on the box. Anyway, this region coding thingy is really confusing and everyone should do what the PS3 is doing, which is have region-free titles for all.

Back to GH2. This is what I dreamt of playing for so long. Since I didn't get the PS2 version, I'm so stoke that there's one for the 360. I spent last night playing Nirvana's Heart-Shaped Box, and even my wife got into the game. She even did better than me in the scores! This shows the accessibility factor of the game and is highly, highly recommended. I only wish that I can get another controller on the cheap so that I can play co-op, as the game allows different parts in the co-op play, i.e. one playing lead and the other either rhythm or bass.

Another thing on the wish list is the number and price of the downloadable tracks. I hope there will be more tracks from GH1 that is made available. I really would like to rock out to the riffs of Deep Purple's Smoke on the Water and Cream's Crossroads. These are available on the 1st Guitar Hero but are not available as downloadable tracks. Also, the pricing for the current downloadable tracks is on the steep side. 500 MS Points for 3 tracks works out to be about $3.70 per track. Considering that you can get 47 tunes just by getting the original game, it seems rather expensive. We can only wait to see if Harmonix will revise the price or offer some bulk discount in the future.

Meanwhile, I'm gonna strap on the X-plorer guitar and rock on!