New Zealand’s eblack Mason Maddox has defended his title as the best in Asia by taking out the gold medal at the World Cyber Games Asian Championship in Singapore this past weekend.

Mason "massi4h" Maddox won gold competing on the Xbox 360 game, Guitar Hero: World Tour, beating competitors from countries such as Korea and Singapore and winning SGD$1000 in prize money.

“To be named the best player in the tournament once again is fantastic – especially as we were competing in Asia where professional gaming leagues have operated for years. Mason has done New Zealand proud. This is New Zealand’s 2nd gold medal for video gaming, and bodes well for 2009,” says World Cyber Games New Zealand Strategic Partner, xLAN’s Susan Baikie.

The top 140 gamers from 14 countries in Asia Pacific competed at the World Cyber Games (WCG) Asian Championship on video game titles such as Guitar Hero World Tour (Xbox 360) and FIFA 2009 (PC).

The eblacks will go on to compete at the New Zealand World Cyber Games National Final in Auckland this weekend. For more information, check out the official site.

Legendary multi-platinum recording artists The Eagles, Nirvana and The Smashing Pumpkins, all featured in the on-disc set list of Guitar Hero World Tour, are returning in December with exclusive downloadable content for the game.

Additionally, fans will be in for a treat just in time for Christmas with three free Reggae Rock tracks from Pepper, Slightly Stoopid and Expendables.

The Smashing Pumpkins return to Guitar Hero World Tour, tomorrow December 5th, with a three-song track pack featuring the recently released single "G.L.O.W.," "1979" and "Everlasting Gaze."

 

Activision have released thirteen new screenshots for the upcoming Guitar Hero World Tour.

The latest instalment in the music/rhythm video game franchise, Guitar Hero World Tour transforms music gaming by expanding Guitar Hero’s signature guitar gameplay into a cooperative band experience that combines wireless instruments with new online and offline gameplay modes including online Band Career and 8-player “Battle of the Bands,” which allows two full bands to compete head-to-head online for the first time ever.

The game features a newly redesigned guitar, an electronic drum kit and a microphone, as well as a Music Studio music creator that lets players compose, record, edit and share their own rock ‘n’ roll anthems.

Guitar Hero fans will have a unique opportunity to unleash their inner rockstar as they come together and kick out some jams with exclusive re-records by MC5's Wayne Kramer, Motorhead and The Sex Pistols in Activision's Guitar Hero World Tour, due for release November 13th this year.

Just shy of the 40th anniversary of the seminal performance in October 1968 when "Kick Out the Jams" was originally recorded, founder and lead guitarist Wayne Kramer went back into the recording studio with original producer Bruce Botnick to re-record the track exclusively for Guitar Hero World Tour. Featuring the vocals recorded by Rob Tyner in 1968, Wayne Kramer was joined by friends Jerry Cantrell of Alice and Chains and Gilby Clark formerly of Guns 'N' Roses - at The Woodshed Recorder, studio of composer and ex-Oingo Boingo keyboardist Richard Gibbs - to update and modernize the sound without taking away from the original visceral garage sound that made MC5 famous and helped start the Punk Rock revolution.

Last year when they re-recorded "Anarchy in the U.K." as a Guitar Hero exclusive, fellow Punk Rock band The Sex Pistols - with original members John Lydon on vocals, guitarist Steve Jones, drummer Paul Cook and producer Chris Thomas - also re-recorded "Pretty Vacant" utilizing the original analog sound board (circa 1969) that was built for George Martin at Air Studios, London, England in order to maintain the classic sound. Further extending the immense depth of the Guitar Hero World Tour set list is world renowned recording artist Motorhead who returned to the studio to re-record their smash hit "Overkill," which had originally appeared on their 1979 album, Overkill.

 

In many ways, it can actually be a huge advantage to enter a market slightly later than your competition.

It's so much easier to make a successful product when you can pull apart something someone else has done and make it better. Doubly so if you actually made it in the first place. Confused?

Well, Red Octane and Harmonix first teamed up back in 2005 to release the original Guitar Hero. This was of course wildly successful, however the duo split up a year later when Red Octane was snapped up by Activision and Harmonix got acquired by MTV.

We have two new videos from Activision showcasing the upcoming Guitar Hero World Tour, currently scheduled for a New Zealand release on November 13th this year.

The latest instalment in the best-selling music/rhythm video game franchise, Guitar Hero World Tour transforms music gaming by expanding Guitar Hero’s signature guitar gameplay into a cooperative band experience that combines the most advanced wireless instruments with new revolutionary online and offline gameplay modes including online Band Career and 8-player “Battle of the Bands,” which allows two full bands to compete head-to-head online for the first time ever.

The game features a slick newly redesigned guitar, an authentic electronic drum kit and a microphone, as well as an innovative Music Studio music creator that lets players compose, record, edit and share their own rock ‘n’ roll anthems.