droolicious : guitar controllers

Logitech Wireless Axe: the Next-Best Thing to Having Real Strings?

Aaron Burgess — Thu, 14 May 2009 13:30:00 GMT

Sure, you could get a real guitar for the price of this $199.99 Logitech Wireless Guitar Controller, but if you don't actually play a real guitar, well, why lower your standards?

Officially licensed for Guitar Hero, the PlayStation 2- and 3-ready controller features solid-body construction, a real wooden neck, a rosewood fingerboard, and metal frets and peg handles, along with a touch-sensitive neck slider and Star Power button that let you rip through all those Metallica solos. It's got a 30-foot wireless range, too, so you and the fam can really make the living room your stage.

Unleash your inner rock god, you big nerd, at Logitech.

Grow Your Hair, Mount Your WarBeast: It's Rock Band Time

Aaron Burgess — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 19:00:00 GMT

Bring your family room one fretboard closer to Rock Band Valhalla with DreamGear's WarBeast wireless PS2 ands PS3 guitar.

With a design straight out of the metalhead-exalted B.C. Rich catalog, the full-sized axe features a removable faceplate, an extended whammy bar, a dedicated "Star Power" button, and custom detailing on its neck and inlays. It's also compatible with Guitar Hero and Rock Revolution games, as well as with pretty much anything covered in skulls.

$99.99 from Amazon.

Aly & AJ's Axes Keep Guitar Hero and Rock Band Where the Girls Are

Aaron Burgess — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:04:00 GMT

Most Rock Band and Guitar Hero instruments are either blandly gender-neutral or totally dude-centric -- not so with these new axes from PDP, "co-designed" by teen pop sensations Aly & AJ for the huge, if not always well-represented, majority of girl gamers.

Available for PS2 and Wii, both guitars feature the same whammy bars, colored fret buttons and selector controls you'll find on most guitar controllers. The big difference is in the design: Aly's guitar (bottom), stamped with a heart-and-crossbones print, is the more traditional of the two, while AJ's heart-shaped guitar (top) features an oversized heart-shaped body and a zebra-style print.

$69.99 from PDP. [Via Popgadget]

'Rock Band' Inches Closer to Real Band: Peak Products Wood Controllers

Aaron Burgess — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 18:04:00 GMT

You know, my first guitar (a crappy Japanese Fender knock-off, in case you're wondering) didn't look or perform anywhere nearly as sweet(ly) as these Starpex Obsidian fake axes from Peak Products, but then again, I grew up before Rock Band and Guitar Hero existed to make everyone worthy of a star-quality axe.

Available now, with even fancier colors (namely "Dead Rose" and "Black Sunburst") surfacing around Halloween, these full-sized, lacquered-wood guitar controllers for PS2 and PS3 will cost you more than the base Rock Band or Guitar Hero software itself, but at the rate at which fake-guitar heroism seems to be surpassing real shredding ability, $179.99 actually seems like a pretty good deal.

Fill up your gig bag at Peak Products' website.