"I read the news today, oh boy..."

Life's in an uproar and it's sometimes hard to get up early to workout. The good thing is playing on some of the higher levels on hard and some of the lower levels on expert gives you nearly as good a workout as rocking out.

Heard some recent news about the upcoming Guitar Hero titles.

Several hours ago Nintendic reported more specific tracklist information for the Wii on Guitar Hero: Aerosmith. Among others, it includes Lenny Kravitz, The Clash, The Black Crowes, and Run-D.M.C. Personally, I can't wait to play "Dream On".

There's been more info out on Guitar Hero: World Tour in the last few days, too. I'm not sure who first reported this, but I saw on Games Are Fun, that the full set will set you back $190 (or $170 for PS2). They also price just the game ($60 or $50) and the game plus guitar ($100). It's out on October 27 - is that old news?

Also saw a video of Tony Hawk playing the new set with Paula Abdul there to judge (weird - article here). Anyway, I don't know if that's the new guitar, but it doesn't seem to be much different except for the directional pad in the corner. Not sure what the "secret new functionality" is. We'll see.

Don't Stand So Close To Me

Arrrgh.

A couple more days missing my workout. Start back tomorrow.

Have you seen the trailers for Guitar Hero: World Tour at GuitarHero.com? Go to the site, click on "Media" or "View the Trailer" and click on the second trailer to see Stuart Copeland (The Police) and Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers) play the new drum set. (Skip the first trailer with a bunch of dorky kids playing "battle of the bands".)

Also spin around the 3D image of the drums at the bottom of the screen.

And I haven't had a chance to talk about that Game Informer article, but it mentioned a completely new guitar shipping with GHIV (they're not releasing yet what the differences are). And looking at the shadows on the site, is that something lower on the neck? I imagine it'll be different that the double set of frets on Rock Band.

After Midnight

Or maybe it only feels after midnight...it's a bit before.

A good day 0ff - played a lot of Guitar Hero today. I was able to get my workout in every day this weekend, too. I didn't post yesterday, but I played. I've been eating a bit better, so let's hope it starts showing up on the scale...

Get Into the Groove

It's good to get back into the groove. Jumped into my set today like I never left.

Sometimes it seems like it takes forever to get past a certain point in the game - then it's easy for a while. As I mentioned earlier, I made it through the first level on expert (Guitar Hero II). It's taken me a while to do that - it seems like it took forever to get through "Mother" and "Woman". But then I tackled level 2 today, and made it through all 5 songs on the first try. Just barely, but I still made it through. I haven't gone to the 3rd level, yet, but was surprised that I was able to get through the entire second level so quickly. The same thing happened on hard - it took me a while to get through level 1, but when I was finally able to do it, it's like a switch was turned on and I was suddenly able to play at that level.

Maybe more practice on expert will help me finish the last two levels on hard.

Looks Like We Made It

Finally made it to level 2 on Expert tonight (Guitar Hero II). The practice mode in GHII sure does help...

Still halfway through level 7 on hard. Don't know if I'll ever get past "Psychobilly Freakout".

Home Sweet Home

Sorry for the hiatus, but I've been on holiday (actually a business trip) to London without my PS2, my Guitar Hero, or my trusty ax. But I'm home now (severely jet-lagged) and plan to get back in the swing of things tomorrow.

Plus, I read the GHIV Game Informer article, so if you haven't read it, I'll be talking about that.

"Saturday, in the park..."

What do ya know? I got up early on a Saturday and worked out. Which is good, because the day was filled with much running around, and I wouldn't have been able to fill it in otherwise.

I'm So Tired

Got up on time this morning.

Worked out.

It's all good.

Gotta get to bed.

I Feel Good

There's just something about that feeling of getting in a good solid workout. Now just to keep it up. And I think I've actually been losing a few pounds. I haven't jumped on the scale in a week or two, but my clothes are fitting a little better.

"The journey of a thousand miles..." You know the rest.

"I woke up this mornin' with the sundown shinin' in..."

I've been so tired in the morning lately...I had a decent workout today, but it wasn't long enough. I've got to get to work early tomorrow, so I'll try to get up earlier and get the full set in.

My brother gets Game Informer, so I'll have to get a copy from him and read the Guitar Hero IV article...

Getting Better

On two fronts...

Got back into the workout this morning. Don't need to be taking so many days off. Don't need to be going to bed so late. What's a rocker to do? Anyway, it felt good to get back into the swing.

In Guitar Hero IV news, it looks like the next installment is going to give some direct competition to Rock Band. Game Informer's new issue apparently has the scoop, and the next Guitar Hero will feature drums, as well as including a character creation system, more downloadable songs, and a music-creation tool. This article at IGN has little more if you're interested.

Sad But True

Yup - 2 days in a row missing my workout. Going to bed early tonight so I can get up in the morning and not make missing it a habit.

Everybody's Working for the Weekend

I'm going to have to figure this weekend thing out...no time today. It was Mother's Day, I had to mow the lawn, and on top of it all, we went to Zaxby's after church tonight. Have you seen their menu? Even the salads are artery-hardening.

Get up early tomorrow...

We Are Family

I think from now on, my Saturday workouts are going to be improvised jam sessions with my daughter.

It's too hard to get up early on Saturday and try to work out before everyone else gets up, so I find myself trying to fit it in during the day. This way we can still be spending "family time".

Talking in Your Sleep

Got up early for work this morning (before 5 am), and still got in some good workout time. But now I'm about to fall over.

See you tomorrow...

"Lost myself in a familiar song..."

Ha! Boston's "More Than a Feeling" is playing on WTAK. I can almost see the notes coming down the screen and feel the buttons under my fingers.

Hey - followed by "Freebird"! (Have to turn that up!) It's almost like having Guitar Hero I and II in the car with me.

Great workout this morning. I'm trying to develop some of my moves into actual exercises. I'll keep you posted on how that works out. I'd like to try to post some video at some point. Maybe I'll be able to squeeze some time in this weekend.

Back in the Saddle

I think I'll stick with the workout I talked about Sunday. The songs are a bit slower, but I can get into them more. Plus, all the songs are on level 1 and 2, so when I can play the faster speed on hard, and when really rock out, I don't get booed. Now I have to update my set list.

Guitar Hero Full Throttle Frozen Blast Slurpee

I took a day off today. I thought I'd give myself a rest, especially since I was really tired this morning. So I'll pick it up again tomorrow.

In more upsetting news, there's another cool thing I won't be able to try. 7-Eleven has a Guitar Hero Full Throttle Frozen Blast Slurpee. Unfortunately, there's not a 7-Eleven within 200 miles of here, as far as I can tell. But you can go to Slurpee.com, get a buy-one-get-one free coupon, drink one for me and tell me how it is.

Teach Your Children

Did a short workout today, but played with Julianna (she's 6, remember), so that was pretty interesting. We started with "I Love Rock 'N Roll", but the multiplayer mode on Guitar Hero stinks, so we switched to Guitar Hero II and played "Woman" (Wolfmother) and "Cherry Pie" (Warrant) [her choices - I'm thinking there's some horrible punishment in store for me for that].

We paused for a little while to get some work done, and then when I wanted to go back and play some more, but she wanted to play another game. Since I really wanted play more Guitar Hero, I tried convince her to go back to that.

She said, "I don't want to, my arms are too tired from rocking out."

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith News

If you've read the April issue of Game Informer you know there's a pretty good article about the upcoming Guitar Hero Aerosmith. It throws out a few of the songs that will make it (including "Sweet Emotion", "Kings and Queens", "Movin' Out"), the format (each level is introduced by a 2-song opener by another band, followed by 2 Aerosmith songs, as well as an encore), and some of the opening bands (including the Kinks singing "All Day and All of the Night" and Joan Jett singing "I Hate Myself for Loving You").

And it looks like Neversoft really upped the ante as far as the game itself, spending a lot of time on graphics and animation. It'll be interesting to see changes in the gameplay itself. Apparently they're changing the boss battles, but that's something I haven't gotten much into yet. I started a co-op career with my daughter on Guitar Hero III, but I've spent most of my time in Guitar Hero I and II.

Here's the second Aerosmith trailer. Just posted a few days ago.

Smoke on the Water

I found the fifth song for my set. I'm keeping my first three, adding "Iron Man", and finishing with "Smoke on the Water".

Though I may be better off switching those last two.

Sorry I missed posting yesterday. I worked out yesterday morning, but when we got home late last night I was too tired and went straight to bed.

Riders on the Storm

Well, Comcast internet is down again, I assume because of the storms, but I'll post this from my phone.



Lost another pound! Woohoo! I need to rethink this if it keeps moving this slow, but I think it's going to pick up. Part of it is that balance between speed and difficulty. I really think I need to pick the right songs. I have to pay too close attention to "Ace of Spades" and "Crossroads" or I get booed off stage. But I can really jam to "Iron Man", and still make it through the entire song (I'm still playing everything on hard). This morning, I mixed it up and sandwiched "Iron Man" between a pair of "I Love Rock 'N Roll" and it seemed to work out pretty good.

Relax

I wanted to give my muscles a bit of a break, so while I still played this morning, I backed off a bit and took it easy.

Didn't have time to play a full set anyway.