Forget Volkswagen, plug Guitar Hero into your car
by Christopher Grant 
{ Oct 24th 2006 at 10:45AM }
Forget that Volkswagen commercial with Slash plugging in his freebie guitar to the car's stereo system to rock out, GNR style ... why not plug in your trusty Guitar Hero controller and live the dream yourself?
Like Alex, who tipped us off to his bitchin' 2003 Mitsubishi Eclipse. Sure, it's got all sorts of stuff under the hood that distinguishes it from the Joystiq station wagon (license plate: STIQ-1), but we're far more interested in what's in the trunk. Decked out with an LCD TV, a PS2, Guitar Hero, and two custom painted Guitar Hero axes -- all rigged up to what appears to be a deafening sound system (Joystiq recommends wearing ear plugs while playing Alex's car) -- Alex has created a serious nerd magnet. Car shows are one thing Alex, but you should pull this thing up to a game convention if you want to see real tech lust.
[Thanks, Alex]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jose @ Oct 24th 2006 10:57AM
Is that a yellow memory card. Oh, how tacky.
dsub @ Oct 24th 2006 11:34AM
I think this is what my car would look like if Xhibit showed up at my front door. Only it would have fold-out gaming chairs as well.
It's too bad with the Volkswagens they give you shit guitars. First Act guitars are literally like the wal-mart brand of guitars.
C. Grant @ Oct 24th 2006 11:44AM
You know what, I was wondering who "First Act" was. Why not a brand with some cachet? And if it's no name, why bother listing the name at all?
Back on topic, did'ya notice I completely avoided all references to "pimping" and "rides"? It was hard.
ill trooper @ Oct 24th 2006 11:57AM
The VW ads are great, this Eclipse looks like a lot of fun, this whole thing is great. A simple life in a simple non-confrontational comments section. Bliss.
EXCEPT TEH 'FIRST AXE' IZ TEH SUXXORS!
Scottie Boy @ Oct 24th 2006 12:27PM
Slash? Dude, get your facts straight. Those VW commercials feature the hilarious Christopher Guest as Nigel Tufnel from the band Spinal Tap.
Nigel Tufnel: The numbers all go to eleven. Look, right across the board, eleven, eleven, eleven and...
Marty DiBergi: Oh, I see. And most amps go up to ten?
Nigel Tufnel: Exactly.
Marty DiBergi: Does that mean it's louder? Is it any louder?
Nigel Tufnel: Well, it's one louder, isn't it? It's not ten. You see, most blokes, you know, will be playing at ten. You're on ten here, all the way up, all the way up, all the way up, you're on ten on your guitar. Where can you go from there? Where?
Marty DiBergi: I don't know.
Nigel Tufnel: Nowhere. Exactly. What we do is, if we need that extra push over the cliff, you know what we do?
Marty DiBergi: Put it up to eleven.
Nigel Tufnel: Eleven. Exactly. One louder.
Marty DiBergi: Why don't you just make ten louder and make ten be the top number and make that a little louder?
Nigel Tufnel: [pause] These go to eleven.
Jose @ Oct 24th 2006 12:36PM
They actually feature, Christopher Guest, John Mayer (pretty sure that's John Mayer, or one of those other shitty emo guitar rockers), and Slash in three separate commercials.
Scottie Boy @ Oct 24th 2006 1:11PM
@Jose
Well, thank you. I was unawares. Only the Guest ones have been playing in my area it seems.
Plus, I really just wanted to quote his whole "These go to eleven" spiel :).
KYDS3K @ Oct 24th 2006 1:27PM
yeah! give out really EXPENSIVE, NICE guitars free with a car! that's good business sense!
=/
it's free. jeez . . . if you care enough to complain about the quality of the guitar you get with it, you should probably have your own (better) guitar anyhow . . .
and, oh yeeeeah, i want that setup in my tC!
Chris Brightwell @ Oct 24th 2006 1:52PM
Oh, come on. At least he could've done the wireless mod while he had those controllers apart.
FSK405K @ Oct 24th 2006 1:58PM
...droool....the only car worth owning. Aside from ones rigged with other consoles, too.
Jose @ Oct 24th 2006 3:39PM
Everyone wants to use that quote Scottie, do your homework ;P
Seraph_X3 @ Oct 25th 2006 1:40AM
Dude, Alex is one of my personal friends. He seriously doesn't have the time to mod the guitars past the paint job since he's so obsessed with that car. You should freaking see that thing! The whole inside is that color scheme, and there are some very tastefully done red lights in there as well, which is a rare sight since most lights on cars are incredibly garish. Alex used to have vertical doors on that Eclipse, but they started to bend off and eventually became unusable so he had to change it back to horizontal doors, which I think looks better anyway. He's put a LOT of money into that thing. I'm waiting for him to swap out the PS2 for his 360 once GHII comes out for that system!
Alex Henderson @ Oct 24th 2006 9:23PM
thanks for the comments i am doing the wireless mod on both the guitars right now but they are color matched the the rest of the car. more pictures of my ride can be found at http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2095032
and by the way that is me in the picture at HIN Pheonix
Don Jose @ Oct 25th 2006 6:33AM
Actually, d sub, C.Grant, and ill trooper, First Act's guitars run the entire gamut of the price/quality spetrum. True, they do sell cheap guitars at the Wal-Mart/Target retail level (and this is most likely the type they include in the VW deal), but they also offer high-end models with a serious level of customization options available, much like Fender, Gibson, et al.
Just a little tip from someone who reads Guitar World as often as he reads Joystiq. ;)