Guitar Hero

In more exciting app news, two of the most popular non-iPhone games are coming to the iPhone. Both Guitar Hero and Farmville announced new iPhone apps at today's WWDC conference. Guitar Hero, which costs $3, is available starting today in the App Store and features the same functionality you're used to in the full-sized game, with classic artists like Queen and The Rolling Stones, among others.

The Farmville app, which will be available in late June, is sure to make the popular game even more addicting. All of the social network connectivity will be available through the app, and it will even send you push notifications (!) to alert you when, say, your crops are grown and ready to be harvested. When that happens, you will get a notification on your phone that says "Your carrots are ready!" and you can go to the game and harvest them. Also coming exclusively with the iPhone version of Farmville — a pet Snow Leopard. How appropriate!

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OK, so how many times have you bragged to a group of friends that you beat your all-time high score on Guitar Hero after a monster jam session, only to be blasted for not learning to play a "real" instrument? Yeah, I've been there too, friend. Now you can take your rock prowess from the console and blend it with actual chord knowledge with the You Rock guitar.

This USB controller does so much more than make you feel like a rock god when playing a video game — it's also a MIDI controller, so you can play and record songs on your iPod, MP3 player, or audio recording software, hook up some headphones to play in silence (to the outside world, anyway), and still rock out to Guitar Hero or Rock Band. The You Rock guitar has colored keys so you can strum along with your video game, and real strings so you can take things to the next level at home. Priced at $180, it's the perfect gateway from gaming to real-life rocking.

Although my family usually indulges in a rousing game of Wii bowling during get togethers, after Thanksgiving dinner this year, I decided to break out the Guitar Hero to see if my relatives would be down to rock out. They put in a good effort, but let's just say they weren't into my Metallica expansion pack and complained of headaches after two songs. However, I'm sure they'd know a few tunes from the latest release. Just in time for Christmas, you can add another sick guitar solo to your repertoire as Guitar Hero: Van Halen hits shelves today.

Packed with 25 of the band's greatest hits like "Jump" (everybody knows that song — even my Aunt Erma), you and your friends and family can work off those holiday sweets by shredding it up online, as a group, or in battle as a band. And to get more bang for your buck, this pack combines the best of Van Halen along with 20 songs by other artists like Foreigner, The Clash, Deep Purple, and Lenny Kravitz for a total of a 45 song setlist.

Guitar Hero: Van Halen is available for your PS3, PS2, Wii, and Xbox 360 systems today online or in stores for $56.

This week I caught Samantha Who star Christina Applegate on The Jay Leno Show, and she shared a little geeky secret about herself — she's a recovering Guitar Hero addict! Not only did she admit to using the game to kill time on the set of Samantha Who, but she also got an ocular migraine from "playing too many songs in a row." When Jay asked if her boyfriend (who is a professional guitar player) is impressed with her GH-playing talents, she responded by saying: "It's just pressing buttons, it's not a skill, it's just coordination." Hey, what about beating the game? Now that, my friend, is what I call skill!

You've got Band Hero, DJ Hero, Beatles Rock Band, Rapstar — the list of upcoming video games is a music lover's dream. But with all these new music-focused games, is there still room for the arguable originator, Guitar Hero, set to release its fifth iteration next month?

The new GH will feature a new guitar and the ability to import old Guitar Hero songs, and it will support four players for simultaneous playing.

I tell you, I want every single one of the music games I listed off, but I have a lot of excitement to go around and look forward to my original fave, Guitar Hero. But I guess it could be just nostalgia, you know?

What about you?

Generally, when I'm getting ready to "shred" on Guitar Hero, I just wear something that won't get in the way of using the whammy bar (though one day, I'm going to dress up as Casey Lynch if I can amass that much leather).

Now I may have to throw on this Ryde Guitar Hero Tee ($24).

The tee, which is also available in black and white, is good for rocking inside and showing your love on the street.

And luckily, it's a bit less of a commitment than the Guitar Hero wall decal.

If you were waiting patiently for more details on the latest installment of Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero 5, then let me offer you this peek of the franchise's latest peripheral: the new guitar.

Shiny and pretty, is it not? The main changes are to the slider, which instead of analogue signals, now sends digital signals. Apparently that will lessen "the chance for error and latency," says a Neversoft exec.

Are you looking forward to GH5? I am, and until its release, I'll stick Guitar Hero on the wall.