Guitar Hero II Gets Measly On XLM News

Amongst promises that Guitar Hero II would shape the way for 360 titles on Xbox Live Marketplace, leading the charge in terms of downloadable content, Guitar Hero freaks might have been slightly irked to notice the lack of downloadable content when the game launched last week.

Fortunately, Activision and Red Octane haven't been too shabby with the release of the first packs; although it's probably not as proactive as we'd hope and hardly cause to celebrate a new era for the rhythm/action genre.

Offering a scant selection of tracks from the original Guitar Hero in the shape of three downloadable packs comprising of three songs; both the miniscule offering and comparatively costly charge is a little surprising and disappointing.

Name: Guitar Hero Track Pack 1 Price: 500 Points Tracks: Bark at the Moon as made famous by Ozzy Osbourne, Hey You as made famous by The Exies, Ace of Spades as made famous by Motorhead.

Name: Guitar Hero Track Pack 2 Price: 500 Points Tracks: Killer Queen as made famous by Queen, Take it Off as made famous by The Donnas, Frankenstein as made famous by The Edgar Winter Group.

Name: Guitar Hero Track Pack 3 Price: 500 Points Tracks: Higher Ground as made famous by Red Hot Chili Peppers, Infected as made famous by Bad Religon, Stellar as made famous by Incubus.

Equating to £1.42 per song, we'd hope that Activision would follow the iTunes model in terms of the library depth and cost, to really ensure Guitar Hero II leaps into the next dimension and can begin to establish itself as the ultimate version on Xbox 360. Hopefully the next few months won't consist purely of seven more packs to complete the original Guitar Hero line-up, a cost that could total £42.50 if they followed the same model - you can buy the original and guitar for cheaper then that!

Certainly Sony's Singstar and possibly EA's Rock Band hint towards a greater level of choice to the player, exactly how far Activision will push this whilst also thinking about Guitar Hero III seems a little uncertain - let's hope it's not one pack per month, to bring the original line-up in its entirety, before November comes and Guitar Hero III beckons.