In news that is odd, but still means you no harm, New York City declared September 26th as Guitar Hero Day. Oh those crazy New Yorkers. To celebrate the official announcement fans throughout the city will take to the streets with plastic guitars in tow. Naïve starving artists who just moved to the city are going to think this is some new fangled musical instrument, and within two months there will be self indulgent one-act plays in Union Square featuring the toy guitars. This really makes me want to move back, just so I can see a homeless man playing a Guitar Hero guitar for nickels.

The reason for the hoopla is the upcoming release of the game, and to prove that there are other games receiving unnecessary levels of hype besides Halo 3. Also, if you’re around town this week Digital Life is happening at the Javits Center where fans can play Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock for the first time. The game is honestly the first true sequel to the original title. GHII, let’s not live in a world of denial, was the same game with new songs. Neversoft has added in boss battles and online multiplayer to the experience this time around.

Guitar Hero III is being published by Red Octane and is expected to ship on October 28th. The chances of you being bludgeoned to death by a plastic guitar drops dramatically as you leave NYC, so you’ll be missing out on the full experience. But you can’t get everything from your games.