Best price in stock? Seems like they're all around the $70 spot.

That's the retail price. Best Buy had it for $59.95 about 3 or 4 weeks ago.

Got this game plus the Red SG controller for Christmas. The family had a blast playing, including my dad who hasn't played a video game in a LONG time.

I didn't have a memory card with me at my parents house so we just left it on all the 25th. I played through easy getting 5 stars on almost everything first time, then futzed around with medium a bit. I then tried out hard and expert on the first batch of songs and realized that it really does get hard quickly. I was able to do 3 stars first try on the two expert songs i tried, but it was late and we turned it off.

We got home today and I'm on the 5th batch of medium where i'm starting to top out at 4 stars the first time through. I was surprised at how difficult the medium could get and I'm thinking I may have to actually start practicing when I reach this batch on hard.

My biggest asset from playing guitar for so many years is that my pinky is the same strength as the my other fingers so I don't have any problem using it, plus I'm used to alternate picking (the down up rhythm) which my wife can't seem to get the hang of. I also just read the tip about keeping the lower strings pressed down when fretting higher notes and I think that is going to make some of these songs a lot easier.

I think this is quickly becoming my favorite PS2 game of all time.

poker night turned into guitar hero night last night! as soon as the first person went out of the first game, GH was removed from its packaging for the first time, and it was an immediate hit! wasn't long before 8 of us were gathered around the tv, all taking turns at different songs.. LOTS of fun..

any word about possible sequels? there's a good amount of songs on there, but i can see them getting old eventually..

ive seen people on other forums talking about a sequel like its a done deal, so its possible they've been privy to some information we havent seen. hopefully the Christmas sales are good...I had a devil of a time finding one yesterday here in Detroit. all the local BBs were sold out, had to stoop to getting one at Gamespot, where they were hoarding like 10 copies. havent played it yet, just bought it based on the word of mouth from people on various forums. Im hosting a new years party so that was a big factor in the decision...if everyone is playing GH they wont be destroying my house!

my roommate just cobbled together his new computer last night, but I have a feeling I might be able to wrangle him away from eq2 once I break out the GH.

Considering that I've seen Guitar Hero on a bunch of "Best of 05" lists, including mentions in Entertainment Weekly, I think a sequel is all but assured.

I really want to get an extra guitar to try out the multiplayer...might have to pick up the red version

Is anyone actually playing the two player version? That's quite the investment. If so, any sort of comments or feedback?

I haven't played it myself, but I've read comments from people who have. From what I've heard, it's pretty good, but there is room for improvement. The biggest downfall is that the two players are just playing the same piece as in the single player mode, just back and forth (and sometimes in unison). There aren't any complimenting melodies or any rythm/lead splits or anything along those lines. Another complaint I've seen mentioned a lot is that both players have to play on the same difficulty, which can lead to one player having too much trouble or being too bored, depending on their skill.

Also, you can play the game with a regular controller, so it is possible to check out the two-player mode just to see if you'd like to invest in the second guitar.

my sis brought this game to my folks house to play and I had fun w/ it. I'm going to be picking it up soon.

Good reply, xVladX. I like the "use the standard controller" idea.

I kind of liked playing the 2 player. It's close to ... Switch 625 from Def Leppard, where you alternate riffs and play rhythm to the same song like Steve Clark and Pete Willis Phil Collen did. Very much a call and response.

Yeah, there's a lot of that in the two player. My main complaint is that you can't change the difficulty for one player to even up the challenge a bit (although increasing the difficulty gives you more notes which = a higher score so it doesn't work that way either). When my wife and I play on easy or medium, I just don't use the guitar hero power.

It would be cool if they did some Maiden or Priest style harmony leads, but alas they don't. It's the exact same song you play solo, just with the parts split equally between the two guitars. It is a lot of fun though with people who never played before. I only wish we could have gotten my mom to play as that would have been hysterical.

Just beat the game on medium and even managed a 5 star on Frankenstein. I did have to play Cowboys from Hell twice because I got a 3 star the first time. Only managed a 4 star the second time. Personally I think that song is easier to play on an actual guitar than this controller. I don't even want to know what it's like on Hard and Expert. Occasionally I've found myself not picking a note but hammering on like the actual guitarist does in the actual song... it would be cool if Harmonix could work something like that into a sequel as well cause not every note should be picked.

Also, I'm not sure if you're joking about his firing, but Clark and Willis played on that track. Collen didn't join the band until '82.

Well, I liked Phil a lot better than Pete. I know that Pete left right after High 'n Dry, but I will always remember Phil and Steve onstage doing Switch 625 during the Pyromania tour opening for Billy Squier.

Very cool memory. High 'n Dry is my favorite Lep album and the Heartbreak-Switch combo is definitely the highlight of that disc.

Uh, hammer-ons and pull-offs are in the game (even says as much on the back of the box). Check out the 3rd tutorial.

Crap. Guess I should do that

I did realize something was up in the solo of Crossroads today on hard. I realized I hadn't picked a passage, but it gave me credit for it anyway. Thanks for the tip!

One thing to keep in mind that the tutorial (or the manual) doesn't mention: hammer-on and pull-off notes look different from regular notes. Regular notes have a little black circle around the white part, while the HOPO notes are missing that. It's a bit tough to see at first, especially on Star Power notes, but you get used to it pretty fast.

Does anyone else suck at this game, or is just me? I did fine on easy, and got through most of those the first day, and failed out on "No One Knows" and "Crossroads" a couple of times. Then it took me a few days to beat medium, and now I'm on hard and the only way I can get through most songs is to use my star power just to stay alive, and not for points.

Just wondering if I have horrible coordination, or if you guys are just good.

It's just a matter of practice, I imagine. I just recently got the game, myself, and while my experience with Frequency and Amplitude make it so that I can read the note patterns, my hands and brain aren't cooperating enough for me to actually pull the stuff off. I tried a couple hard songs, and when you factor shifting hand positions into the mix, it gets even more tricky.

I imagine that there'll be a point where things just "click", but I haven't hit it yet. Still having fun, though.

Yeah...I've been playing for about 2 weeks or so....

and like someone said earlier in this thread, you just end up doing it without knowing how you did it.

I've passed 25/30 of the songs on expert....but to learn to shift my hand back and forth took some getting use to.

I'm awesome at Guitar Hero...until the moment I think "I'm doing awesome!" Then it nose-dives into the toilet.

Just gotta keep practicing...that's a good tip about the HOPO notes - I'll have to look for that the next time through.

Do you guys consider a song passed with three *s? Do you shoot for more? Do you care if you get less? (Is less than *** passing? I've never scored that low, but I just started on expert)

I will only accept a 4...and often go back to try for a 5. But I at least want a 4.

I'll settle for 3 stars the first time through and continue on, and come back to it later. Once you progress to the next difficulty level, going back and playing on easier levels is a joke, and makes getting those 4 & 5 stars a lot easier.

I consider passing just...passing the damn song.

But I do have 5 stars on about 25/30 on hard

and on expert the majority of the 28 I've passed are 4 stars....