With Harmonix now owned by MTV and working on Rock Band, it was up to Neversoft to completely rebuild Guitar Hero for the third game. Luckily they didn't change much, but their adjustments are easy to notice. IGN got a chance to play the game at its current stage in development, and the first thing they noticed was that they sucked. A lot. Neversoft changed the timing sequence and they were strumming the notes at the wrong time for the first few games they played, although they said it didn't take long to readjust your movements. Furthermore, Neversoft also said they're still tweaking the timing issues.

IGN posted these gameplay videos and then pulled them down for some reason, but Arrogantics quickly managed to upload the "My Name is Jonas" video above and the "Slow Ride" video here. It's easy to see that the Star Power meter has changed, and that they've added a numerical note counter to the score interface to help players more. How do you like the changes so far? For the complete list of announced Guitar Hero 3 songs so far, check here.

Last week a release date was announced for the Xbox 360 version of Guitar Hero, and it was even rumored that an 80s songs expansion might be a possibility. Well here's where it all began, RedOctane has been keeping a secret from us all. Harmonix will not be developing the Guitar Hero series any longer. Instead, the Tony Hawk developer Neversoft will be the ones in charge. Unless the Neversoft Website was hacked, there's no denying it, you can see the new section for the game on Neversoft's homepage. Looks like they're hiring too if any of you are ready to break into the game industry.

This shift of power seems natural, but not altogether necessary. Neversoft could definitely benefit the series greatly, but Guitar Hero II was the fifth best selling game of 2006, so who says it needs the help? RedOctane still hasn't commented along with the rest of the silent, devious developers. Hopefully this means we'll get that 80s edition expansion as well as several other additions. They'd be foolish to not take advantage of Xbox 360's download capabilities.

It's a good thing MTV recently bought the Guitar Hero II developers or they'd be in big trouble, like pregnant Brittney Spears big trouble. An advertisement on the MTV website showed actuallists of songs below gameplay of some portions of the video, which they quickly blurred when they noticed how retarded they had been, but it was too late. Fans screenshotted and deciphered their way to an almost complete listing of the songs on the next Guitar Hero game. I blame Carson Daly. Although it's speculative,here's the complete list they came up with:

Strutter - Kiss
Mother - Danzig
Monkey Wrench - Foo Fighters
Shout At The Devil - Motley Crue
Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You Tonight - Spinal Tap
Heart Shaped Box - Nirvana
Message In A Bottle - Police
Woman - ?Wolfmother?
You Really Got Me - Van Halan (Kinks)
Carry On Wayward Son - Kansas
Surrender - Cheap Trick
Them Bones - Alice in Chains
Search and Destroy - ?The Stooges?
Tatooed Love Boys - The Pretenders
War Pigs - Sabbath
Cherry Pie - Warrant
Who Was In My Room Last Night - Butthole Surfers
Girlfriend - ?Darkness, maybe Mathew Sweet?
Can’t You Hear Me Knocking - Rolling Stones
Sweet Child of Mine - Guns N’ Roses
Killing In The Name - Rage Against The Machine
John The Fisherman - Primus
Freya - Sword*
Bad Reputation - ?Thin Lizzy, maybe Joan Jett?
Jessica - Allman Brothers
Crazy On You - Heart
Trippin On A Hole In A Paper Heart - Stone Temple Pilots
Rock This Town - Stray Cays
Last Child - Aerosmith
Stop - ?Janes Addiction?
Madhouse - Antrhax
Hangar 18 - Megadeath
Laid to Rest - Lamb of God
Misirlou - Dick Dale
Beast and the Harlet - Avenged Sevenfold
Freebird - Lynrd Skynrd
YYZ - Rush.
Psychobilly Freakout - Rev. Horton Heat