Strung Out

Since "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" evolved into an addictive pop-culture phenomenon, game makers are now shoving a new batch of "Guitar Hero" titles at us. They're nearly perfectly crafted, but when they fall short, they fall way short.

The most astonishing development is "Guitar Hero: On Tour." You pop the little game into your hand-held DS. It comes with a four-note guitar fret that you snap onto your DS. And then you can play "Guitar Hero" as a portable game in bed, on the plane or secretly at your desk while your boss thinks you're typing TPS reports.

This is almost the most innovative idea to hit the hand-held gaming market in a few years. But that's a big "almost." The problem with "On Tour" is, every time I play it, my left pinky and ring finger go numb. And my left wrist begins to hurt while I'm destroying the game's expert levels.

Oh, how frustrating is that? All I want to do is play Nirvana's "Breed," OK Go's "Do What You Want," the Stray Cats' "Stray Cat Strut" and 23 other songs on easy to expert settings. And I'm even a better guitarist than usual on the DS's "Hero," because there are only four button-notes to mash (instead of the usual five), one for each available finger.

But this numbing business is annoying, so I keep turning instead to the new music games for TV consoles.

"Rock Band" now has come to the Wii, and I can highly recommend it if you're lucky enough to A) find a Nintendo Wii to buy for $250 (they're still hard to come by), and B) have $170 to drop on the full kit, which comes with a wireless guitar, wired microphone and wired drum set.

If you've played "Rock Band" before, the Wii version won't surprise you. It's the same thing. You get 40-plus songs. The game figures out if you're playing the right notes on all three instruments. And when you can't beat Iron Maiden's "Run to the Hills" on the hardest setting, you'll want to smash everything against a wall.

Then there's "Guitar Hero: Aerosmith," which seems best-suited to hard-core fans of either Aerosmith or "Guitar Hero." I don't love or hate Aerosmith. Therefore, playing the band's "Make It" and "Draw the Line" inspire only shrugs from me. What that means is, I can't get into the groove, and I mess up a few notes out of musical boredom.

What I've found with "Guitar Hero" is I really have to like a song for it to pump my adrenaline so I can pay full attention, and play 100 percent of a song correctly.

But here's the huge bright side. It is super cool that "Guitar Hero" is branching off into "Aerosmith"-like fan favorites. The moment I get to play a "Hero" game dedicated to Nirvana, or Prince, or Liz Phair, or Stone Temple Pilots, or Depeche Mode, or Nine Inch Nails, or Led Zeppelin -- that's the day I'll go into a dazed and confused "Guitar Hero" seclusion until the world ends with purple rain falling from a heart-shaped box.

("Guitar Hero: Aerosmith" retails for $60 for PS 3 and Xbox 360; $50 for Wii, PS 2 -- Plays fun, although it seems best-suited for "Hero" fanatics and fans of the band. Easy to challenging, depending on settings you choose. Rated "T" for lyrics, mild suggestive themes. Three and one-half stars out of four.)

("Guitar Hero: On Tour" retails for $50 for DS -- Plays fun, though it cramps my wrist and makes my pinky and ring finger go numb. Looks good. Easy to challenging, depending on settings you choose. Rated "E 10+" for lyrics. Two and one-half stars.)

("Rock Band" retails for $170 for Wii, Xbox 360 and PS 3 -- Plays very fun. Looks good. Easy to very challenging. Rated "T" for lyrics, mild suggestive themes. Four stars.)