...we salute you!

Are you a rocker? Do you rock out? Or perhaps you don't quite rock hard enough.

Whatever the case, there's very few among us who could ever rock enough. For those times you don't want to get the whole band together or those times you realize you don't play an instrument there's Guitar Hero.

As I've mentioned, I'm a sucker for unusual video game controllers, and they don't get more unusual than what you'll find in the Guitar Hero box. This 75% size Gibson SG has 5 brightly colored buttons along the neck, a flap-like strum sensor, a whammy bar and an internal sensor to determine what position the guitar is being held in (which is an accurate measure of how hard one is actually rocking). The guitar is manufactured by Red Octane, famous for high quality Dance Dance Revolution pads. The software for this hardware was developed by Harmonix, the good people behind Karaoke Revolution. Gameplay is similar to the two Revolutions, but get this: you play a guitar!

Of course, a music game is only as good as the songs it contains. With Guitar Hero you can rock out to such hits as:

Smoke On The Water - Deep Purple
Spanish Castle Magic - Jimi Hendrix
Ziggy Stardust - David Bowie
Killer Queen - Queen
Take Me Out - Franz Ferdinand
Higher Ground - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Thunder Kiss 65 - White Zombie
Godzilla - Blue Öyster Cult
Ace Of Spades - Motörhead
and
Iron Man - Black Sabbath

And many more! How many more? Try thirty seven! Gameplay is fantastic: it feels just like you're playing guitar rocking out. This game is incredible fun. I can't wait to get a second controller for two player rock offs (the game can technically be played with a standard PS2 controller, but seriously...)

If you're just getting ready to rock, almost prepared to rock or fully and completly committed to rock, please please play some Guitar Hero, the rhythm game that doesn't require singing or dancing.

Edit: The guitar can also be hooked up to your PC for freeform rockage. Also Penny Arcade got to "play with" the prototype.