Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock is coming to Windows PCs and Macs, but will it carry the great console experience the series is known for? Aspyr Media, publisher of the upcoming game's PC and Mac editions, doesn't think the experience will completely be created, yet the folks responsible are hard at work in making the best port possible. Producer Jay Gordon told ShackNews a few details on what's shaping up to be a faithful port.

Both versions of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock will support any USB Guitar Hero guitar controllers but not wireless ones, said Gordon. There shouldn't be much worry though, because Guitar Hero III on those platforms will only come bundled with a white Gibson Xplorer USB guitar.

Other control options will be available for those who prefer to strum with their keyboards. According to Gordon:

[...] The game will use the keyboard (CAPS LOCK, A, S, D, F) as fret buttons, left mouse button to strum down, right mouse button to strum up and the third button to activate star power. Shaking the mouse side-to-side will serve as your whammy bar.

If that's not convenient enough, players can configure their own control schemes. There's no confirmation for downloadable content at the moment, but we reckon it'll also be easier on a PC or Mac. Aspiring rock stars from either platforms can compete against each other, which is a huge plus. Other than that, the Guitar Hero III port will stay true to the original's console versions.

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock will appear on Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, and Wii this October 29. Gordon couldn't nail a release date, but stated they're aiming for a simultaneous release. We'll catch that date when it comes, so watch this space.

Buy: [Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (PS3)]
Buy: [Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Xbox 360)]
Buy: [Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Wii)]

The official soundtrack of PlayStation Portable title Dead Head Fred is now available for purchase over at Apple's iTunes store for those who want to bring the game's rather sublime atmosphere and feel wherever they go.

The music was provided by music studio Rednote Audio and Lakeshore Records. For those who have yet to try out Dead Head Fred, its music is a combination of jazz, ambient, rock fusion with a little bit of southern guitar tunes.

The soundtrack itself was written and produced by video game composers Rod Abernethy and Jason Graves with runtime clocking around 40 minutes. Vicious Cycle Software Senior Sound Designer Mark Reis said:

Working with Rod and Jason is always a joy and their contribution to Dead Head Fred added flavor and depth that complemented the sound design and voice acting. The edgy soundtrack is a perfect accompaniment to the twisted noir world of Dead Head Fred.

If you've been following  NES.app revisions, then you might like to know that there's another minor revision to the Nintendo Entertainment System emulator for your iPhone. Improved compatibility from version 1.2.0 has just been backed by improvements to speed and sound synchronization, as well as a patched-up scanline processing.

Of course, the program is still a work in progress, and coder nervegas has other issues to sort through in the application, including the broken PPU scrolling code in the InfoNES Core. The developer, together with nightwatch, bwhitman, and dshadow, has revamped the core in other aspects, however.

The download has been provided below for version 1.2.1, although we'd like to remind interested readers to read through the bundled documentation before using the application.

Download: NES.app v1.2.1

Just in case you're having the same problem as Paynegwynn, whose WoW won't run its video recording feature properly on his Mac for some reason, then here's an explanation.

It turns out that there's some conflict between the video recording feature and a GPU bug. The folks at Blizzard have noted this already and it turns out that they've actually already disabled the option to record videos. Here is Blizz poster Tigerclaw's full explanation:

At present there is a bug in the driver software for that GPU which inhibits our video recording feature (in fact can lead to a crash) - so we disabled it for now on that hardware. However, once an updated driver is released for that machine which addresses that issue, we can post instructions on how to re-enable video recording on that configuration. It's not ideal but this is the best we can do given the bug that we ran into.

Though the solution implemented (meaning the disabling of the recording function) is rather off-putting, it really is the best thing they could do, given that the problem is hardware-based.

IGN reports that an official PC and Mac version of Activision and Red Octane's Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii) is currently being readied by Aspyr Media for release this fall.

The PC and Mac version of the latest installment in the popular rhythm game series is being developed and published exclusively by Aspyr Media. Gamers can expect the same gameplay and content found in the game's console versions.

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock for the PC and Mac will come with more than 70 songs, unlockable content and a head-to-head multiplayer mode. The game will also include an online multiplayer mode so gamers can battle it out riff for riff against other PC and Mac gamers.

System requirements as well as peripheral support details have yet to be revealed. The X-plorer guitar controller for Guitar Hero II's Xbox 360 version is already Windows XP and Vista compatible, though, so those who have that game probably won't have to buy another controller. Stay tuned for more news.

Thanks to a deal with TransGaming Inc., CCP games has announced that it will be bringing EVE Online to Mac and Linux platforms later this year. The game joins a growing list of titles available for the Mac platform.

"EVE Online has always ranked highly with our Linux users and there is significant demand for it among other platforms, including the rapidly growing Mac base," said Vikas Gupta, CEO of TransGaming Technologies.

"As EVE takes place within a single-server persistent universe, it's vital that the game is identical in every way across different platforms. This challenge is what makes the partnership with CCP both important and rewarding."

The game is already playable on Linux through the use of TransGaming's Cedega Windows compatibility layer. The new Linux version will have Cedega directly integrated into the game, while EVE Online's Mac version will utilize TransGaming's Cider portability engine.

After numerous and speedy revisions and improvements, nervegas has released v1.0.0 of the iPhone NES emulator. NES.app v1.0.0 has experienced a few tweaks here and there from the previous build and is back on the toolchain v0.20.

For those of you unfamiliar with the NES.app, it's a program that lets your iPhone play NES games. For those of you familiar with the application or simply interested in seeing the changelog from the previous version (RC4), here it is:

• Back to toolchain v0.20
• Fixed PCM wave channel (Zelda sword, Punchout Cheering, etc)
• Fixed buzzing on audio channels 1 & 2
• Fixed game genie entry screen
• Added "PCM Sound" preference to turn off PCM if problems
• Fixed delete swipe to highlight correct table cell
• Replaced reset button for mute button

As always, users are encouraged to see the readme file included in the download before using the program.

Download: NES.app v1.0.0

Fighting a war on a different front, two factions have always been at each other's necks. On one side, we have the superpower called Microsoft, and across the border we have the alliance called Apple. Whichever side you root for doesn't change the fact that they've been delivering top quality games and gadgets for everyone throughout the years.

The Wire has had a chance to talk to Glenda Adams, director of development for Aspyr Games, a company responsible for bringing PC games such as The Sims 2 and Star Wars: Empire at War to the Mac. She talks about the perks and quirks of porting games from one system to another.

While the most difficult thing for making games for the Mac has always been the smaller market, her love and background with the Mac has always prompted her to go for this line compared to any alternatives.

Adams states that the difficulty in converting a PC game to the Mac isn't as hard as people think. The bulk of the work really relies on optimizing, debugging and finishing all the small details to make it compatible for the Mac is what takes up the most time. Especially now that the integration of Intel chips for the Mac has resolved more compatibility issues when converting games.

When asked about the pros of the Mac over the PC gaming-wise, she had this to say:

Installing games on the Mac is always easier than Windows, I think. And because Apple has tighter control over hardware, we have a much better chance to test and optimize our Mac games for all the hardware we support than on the PC. There are so many combinations of motherboards, sound cards, video cards, and peripherals on the PC that it can be a mess for a developer to make sure their game works on most configs.

Well, PC or Mac, it doesn't really matter in the end just as long as they deliver to us more goods to keep the gamer in us happy.

The iPhone NES app from nervegas has really been shaping up the last couple of days. The program has seen a lot of new updates and some minor fixes in the latest version. The iPhone NES emulator allows users to play NES games.

Here's the changelog for the latest version (v1.00_RC2.1) since v0.99.07:

1.00_RC1[nervegas]

• Added auto-install of coreaudiod.plist for on-demand mode
• Added 1-second delay for sound initialization

1.00_RC2[nervegas]

• Added suspend for incoming call, graceful exit for power off
• Removed "Allow Suspend" option, too complicated with sound
• Changed on-demand installer text to be more coherent+restart
• Added Swap A/B Preference
• Tapered off buttons in full screen / landscape mode
• Cleanup of full screen code, fixes for buffer overruns
• Fixed some games not appearing right in full screen
• New icon to experiment with
• Fixed sound looping issues (e.g. Zelda, Faxanadu, etc)

1.00_RC2.1[nervegas]

• Dropped back to old toolchain (new one hosed Zelda 2)
• NOTE: Use vibrate mode to avoid losing sound to Mail/SMS

As always, users are encouraged to look over the Readme file before using the app. Download the latest release of the iPhone NES app below:

Download: NESapp-1.00_RC2.1.tar.gz

The latest version for the NES emulator for the iPhone has been released addressing some bugs and adding some new features. The NES app from developer nervegas allows NES games to be played on the iPhone.

This version (0.99.07) fixed a rare bug that causes the controller to freeze. This was addressed as stated in section v0.99.06, and the fix caused incompatibility with save games from previous builds. Review the changelog for v0.99.07 and v0.99.06 for other changes in the latest update:

0.99.06 [nervegas]

• Fixed rare controller-getting-stuck bug
• NOTE: 0.99.06 is built with the new toolchain, and is not compatible with previous versions' save games.

0.99.07 [nervegas]

• Added alert with instructions when no ROMs are detected
• Added alert for invalid game genie codes; don't save
• Fixed alert sheet presentation / removed gap from bottom
• Added sound manager for sound without killing mediaserverd

As always, users are urged to go over the readme file before using the app. Start whipping Mario's raccoon tail and download the emulator below:

Download: NES.app v0.99.07