RADIO NOWHERE

For ’80s-vintage acts in
search of a little love, video
games are becoming a venue
for debuting new material

Suzanne Vega
Luka’s best pal had little to lose by
experimenting with virtual “live
performances” inside the massively
multiplayer online game Second Life in
2006, generating some headlines but
appealing to few beyond the Wired set.

Not pictured: guitar, hero

Nintendo Wee

Mötley Crüe
Vince Neil and Co. released the title track
from their album Saints of Los Angeles in
April as a 99-cent download for Rock Band
on the Xbox 360 and PS3, becoming the
first band to debut a new single on a
play-along guitar game.

THE NEW PORTABLE VERSION OF GUITAR HERO ISN’T ONLY AS MUCH FUN AS THE

ORIGINAL, IT TRANSFORMS THE LIL’ DS INTO A BIG-LEAGUE GAMING CONSOLE

When they told us we could strap on a plastic guitar and perform “Carry on Wayward Son” on PlayStations, we said they were crazy. When they added a drum kit and karaoke microphone, we said it would never work.

When they said we could host multiplayer guitar jams in the palms of our hands, without even the plastic guitar, we shook our heads in disbelief.

But after playing Guitar Hero: On Tour ( ½), the new portable version of the hit music game, we’re left with one question we never expected to ask: Is the humble $130 Nintendo DS the greatest video game console of all time?

Sure, the PS3 plays Blu-ray movies, and the Xbox 360 has Halo, but they don’t print cold hard cash the way the DS does. There are currently more than 70 million of these fun-size gizmos sitting in backpacks, pocketbooks, and nightstand drawers around the world, versus 18 million Xbox 360s, 24 million Nintendo Wiis, and 12 million PS3s. And compared with DS hits such as Nintendogs ( 18 million), Brain Age ( 13 million), and yes, Pokémon ( 15 million), Halo 3 ’s eight million copies sold doesn’t sound so impressive anymore.

The secret to the DS’s success is simple—it can do nearly anything, with twin screens to show multiple views of the action, a touch-sensitive stylus input for physically

dragging puzzle pieces around, and even a directional pad and buttons for good old-fashioned Super Mario Bros.–style action. To squeeze the fret-bending fun of Guitar Hero into a handheld package requires some pretty serious engineering. The now-ubiquitous plastic guitar controller has been miniaturized into a tiny four-button fretboard that snaps on to the side of the DS. By gripping the portable game machine sideways, like a guitar neck, you can finger the fret buttons, while using the included guitar-pick-shaped stylus to strum on the touch-sensitive screen in time to music notes that float down the second screen.

The set list ranges from hoary FM staples like Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It” to more recent stuff like OK Go’s “Do What You Want,” but its most impressive feature is the game’s Guitar Duel mode, where two players connect their DS systems wirelessly and go head-to-head in a shred-off. Set your opponent’s guitar on fire and he’ll have to put it out by blowing into the DS’s tiny built-in mic. No, seriously.

While the graphics and game play are largely similar to those of the grown-up version, this winds up being a unique experience unto itself—a simulation of a simulation. Still, given the DS’s omnipresence, we wouldn’t be surprised to find someone busking in the subway soon, armed with only a hat for donations and a polar white Nintendo DS. DAN ACKERMAN

Def Leppard
Their Songs From the Sparkle Lounge single
“Nine Lives” was available in April as a
download for Guitar Hero III, a full week
before it popped up on i Tunes.

Metallica
Online music’s original public enemy
number one is rumored to be negotiating
a deal to drop a single from their next
album through Rock Band. If only the
game’s plastic drum kit came with a
double bass pedal. D.A.