Aspyr Media on Tuesday announced that it is shipping Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock for the Macintosh. The game is now on store shelves and costs $79.99. It comes on hybrid disc for Mac and Windows and includes one “X-Plorer” guitar controller.
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock is the latest installment of the hugely popular music game in which you assume the role of the lead guitarist of an up-and-coming rock band. You must hit the right notes at the right time to please the audience, garner promotions from equipment makers, and attract the attention of managers, agents and promoters. You’ll play bigger and bigger venues and you’ll also have to go up against some of the “legends of rock” like Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello and Guns ‘n’ Roses axeman Slash as you battle for supremacy.
The Macintosh version trails the PC release, also developed by Aspyr, by just a few weeks — Aspyr began shipping Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock for Windows in early November. This marks the first time the game franchise has been available for either Mac OS X or Windows. The Mac version has been included in new hybrid boxes now shipping to retailers from Aspyr, so please check the box contents before you purchase the game to make sure you have the right version. Only the Mac and PC versions are bundled together — versions for video game consoles are published separately, by a different company altogether.
The X-Plorer guitar controller is a USB-based game controller that looks like a scaled-down guitar. Five colored buttons rest on its neck, along with a strum bar and whammy bar on the body. Using the combination of buttons, you strum along in time with the colored notes that appear on the screen. Do it successfully and your Guitar Hero persona will play the melody of dozens of well-known rock and roll hits — everything from classic rock like “Barracuda” by Heart to punk rock anthems like “Anarchy In the UK” by the Sex Pistols, to alternative hits from Weezer and The Smashing Pumpkins.
New to Guitar Hero III is a multiplayer action inspired “battle” mode and boss battles. You’ll also get access to unlockable content. The game is rated “T” for Teen by the ESRB.
Mac system requirements call for Mac OS X v10.4.10 or later (including Leopard), Intel Core 2 Duo 2GHz or faster, 1GB RAM, 5.1GB hard disk space, ATI Radeon X1600 or Nvidia GeForce 7300 or better 3D graphics with 128MB VRAM or more, DVD-ROM.