Guitar Hero II's landing on Xbox 360 came with great fanfare, but it wasn't an entirely smooth ride. Microsoft wasn't too keen on sharing their proprietary wireless technology with RedOctane and the game ended up shipping with a wired axe. Everybody in their right mind knows that you can rock harder without a wire holding you down. Public outcry and internal dealings eventually did the trick and RedOctane has become the first 3rd Party to be given permission to make a wireless controller for Xbox 360. We recently made the trip to go see and toy around with the first prototype. It isn't functional yet, but we can already see that it's a step above the current Xbox 360 controller.

The new Les Paul shape and controller layout will be largely the same for the PS3 release, though we only got to see the 360 version. Whether it will be sold as part of a bundle with Guitar Hero III, separately, or both is still to be determined. The pricing and release date, too, have not yet been nailed down. We do have some details to share that are solid.

First of all, the wireless Xbox 360 controller will work with Guitar Hero II. The wired controller, if you have one already, will work with Guitar Hero III. Don't worry about being forced to double dip.

The buttons have been changed from what we saw on the 360 controller to closer match the original PS2 layout. The round "knob" buttons for the start and back/select buttons are back so that people who prefer to use the back/select button to activate star power can once again do so. The more prominent start button also allows for players to pause the game more readily.