As some of you may have realized, I'm a royally big dork. Which means I went out and got Guitar Hero 3 immediately yesterday when it hit stores. Although, don't confuse me with the NERDS (see picture) who master each and every track on the expert level of the Guitar-toting video game and actually BUY GUITAR CASES for the controller. I just like being able to rip through "Freebird" and Black Sabbath tunes like I'm a rockstar by pummeling on a guitar with 6 color coded buttons, when in reality I have no talent on a real guitar whatsoever. It's the next best thing and almost satisfies that buried hidden desire of mine to be Keith Richards.

But now that I have the 3rd installment in the series, I'm a tad let down. Of course, I haven't had much time to let it grow on me yet, but the pace of it is a little different, which makes sense since it's been taken over by the guys who made all the Tony Hawk video games. And the music just doesn't seem as ridiculously ripping as the first 2 were. Sure, the tunes are good and certainly varied across a wide spectrum of tastes, but there isn't anything that's made me want to play through OVER AND OVER AND OVER the way The Stooges' classic "Search And Destroy" did on Guitar Hero 2. Although finding Weezer on the set list made me kinda happy, and battling it out one on one with Tom Morello and Slash was pretty rocktastic too.

But regardless of whether the gameplay is good or not, Guitar Hero seems to be the only thing the music business has going for it, doesn't it? And it's more the video game business than the music biz, obviously. Any band NOT wanting to have a song included in a guitar hero setlist is just stupid. I guarantee the game has renewed interest in some bands that were beginning to sink into the sad abyss of yesteryear rock nostalgia. Like, The Straycats, for instance. It's genius, really. Marketing genius, this guitar hero. So good or not, I'm gonna keep shelling out to play more tunes on my guitar. Errr guitar controller that is.

But how much longer till we get some Zeppelin and Beatles on these dang games?? They're starting to pop on iTunes, why not on these silly video games, man?