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.

Yesterday Activision gave us an update on their Guitar Hero Encore: Rock the 80s game playlist, and now they're kind enough to give us an update on Guitar Hero III. Here's the songs they confirmed will be in Guitar Hero III when it releases this Fall:

• ORIGINAL RECORDINGS:
• "Cult of Personality" by Living Colour
• "Paint It Black" by the Rolling Stones
• "Cherub Rock" by Smashing Pumpkins
• "Sabotage" by Beastie Boys
• "The Metal" by Tenacious D
• "My Name Is Jonas" by Weezer
• "Knights of Cydonia" by Muse
• COVER SONGS:
• "Rock And Roll All Nite" as made famous by Kiss
• "School's Out" as made famous by Alice Cooper
• "Slow Ride" as made famous by Foghat
• "Barracuda" as made famous by Heart

"Knights of Cydonia" here I come. Activision also confirmed that Guitar Hero III will introduce two new wireless controllers -- a Gibson Les Paul guitar controller for the 360, PS3, and Wii, and a Gibson Kramer guitar controller for the PS2. Neversoft is also working on an online multiplayer battle mode that includes what some are calling "boss battles." With more songs and features than ever before, this series just keeps getting better and better. Which song are you looking forward to rocking out on the most?

Neversoft has announced it's hard at work on its next Tony Hawk game that will come out later this year for PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PS2, and DS. With the title of Tony Hawk: Proving Ground, it sounds like a stab at Electronic Arts' Skate game, proving that there's only enough room for Tony Hawk skater games on store shelves. Neversoft is boasting that T.H.P.G. will give players more freedom for character defining and course customization than ever before, which sounds like the same half-kept promises we got for Tony Hawk Underground. The only truly new things Neversoft has mentioned are terrain altering and skating from single player to multiplayer seamlessly. The video capturing and level editor and all the other good stuff will be there too, but this doesn't seem like a Skate killer yet.

T.H.U.G. was the last Tony Hawk game I ever bought, and I think I stuck around for the series updates a lot longer than most people. For now I think I'll approach skating games the same way I approach football and other sports games -- buying just one or two at the birth of a new generation of consoles, and then waiting several years to see how far things have come.

During an hour long Activision conference yesterday, CEO Mike Griffith mentioned that Guitar Hero would be coming to the Wii eventually:

The key difference in our strategy versus the prior cycle, is that in addition to full support on Sony and Microsoft platforms, we will aggressively target the Nintendo platforms consistent with our multi-platform strategy and Nintendo’s expected growth. In fiscal 2008, we will double our offerings on the DS and the Wii, including Spider-Man, Shrek, Transformers, and Guitar Hero.

Could be an error in his speech, but I don't see why Guitar Hero wouldn't spread further. With Neversoft now responsible for the series it's just a matter of time before they're able to pump out a new Guitar Hero (or villain) title across all consoles each year. I'm still waiting for Ocarina Hero dammit.

First MTV bought Harmonix, then the series was given to Neversoft. But the percussion plot has thickened. GameSpot discovered that we can expect much more than just a Guitar Hero 3 game. Actually, we might not even get another Guitar Hero game, the US Patent and Trademark Office Web site shows that Activision is applying for the rights to the video game names "Guitar Villain" and "Drum Villain." The trademark applications were filed on November 29th and December 1st last year, and are very specific too, stating that "they are intended to cover computer game software in a variety of forms, including downloadable games, games sold together with controllers, arcade games, and games sold with electronic toy guitars." It even mentions leaderboards for high scores - this is awesome!

Although nothing is guaranteed, and GameSpot notes that after Activision acquired RedOctane last year, they also filed for trademarks on Keyboard Hero, Drum Hero, and Band Hero, so don't get too excited. I don't see why they wouldn't push this series as far as it can go though, there's plenty of demand for more Guitar Hero games, and as long as they don't actually release a $600 Band Hero game that ships to your house in two days by semi-truck, then I'm all for the Tony Hawk styled murdering of the series with yearly installments until we're sick of it.

I think the biggest part of this announcement is actually the part about arcade games. Activision has to realize that Dance Dance Revolution arcade games have reached a high level of fame - why not offer a new music arcade game that costs 1000 times more than an Xbox 360 game to make, but gains its price back in quarters in just months? It would be bold, the arcade business hasn't been booming for a long time, but I can see a lot of people willing to play Guitar Hero Arcades. Can you imagine if they could convince schools to put them in choir rooms? Even I draw the line at playing DDR in public, but not many people hesitate to pick up a Guitar Hero controller at a Best Buy booth. I really hope Activision and Neversoft run far with the series.

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.

What's the only video game studio on Earth where you could break an arm at work? Neversoft, the creators of the Tony Hawk skateboarding series. Not only will you get to see what the studio looks like in this video, but you'll also get plenty of glimpses at how they put together their most recent game - Tony Hawk's Project 8, where they completely rebuilt the game from scratch. You'll see several half pipes in their studio - one just for motion capping the animations in their new game. There's the typical dude with 3D wireframes on his monitor while he makes shapes with his hands during an interview, but they actually showed some interesting audio studio clips. I had no idea some of the grinding and manual sound effects came from some guy rubbing a broomstick handle over a piece of plywood. Looks like a pretty cool studio, I can't imagine 3D modeling a level while Tony Hawk is doing 1080's ten feet away from me. They must have a lot of fun.