Midnight Guitar Hero III launches this weekend

It's well established in the rock canon that Saturday night's all right for fighting, but Activision thinks it's pretty ideal for waiting as well. Activision announced today that 3,000 stores in the US will be hosting midnight-launch events for the game, which will let Guitar Hero groupies get their hands on the latest installment at 12:01 a.m. Sunday--in other words, late Saturday evening.

As the subtitle implies, Legends of Rock will be the first Guitar Hero game to feature actual musicians in-game, with Guns N' Roses' Slash and Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello appearing in boss battles, and Poison lead singer Bret Michaels also making an appearance. The game also adds a multiplayer battle mode, online play, and more to the established series formula.

An Activision rep was unable to say which chains would be hosting the events, but he did say that at least one Best Buy and several GameStops were among the 3,000 locations in question. Those interested in picking up the game at a witching-hour event should call their local retailers.

This weekend, Guitar Hero III will launch on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, and PlayStation 2. PC and Macintosh versions are due out next month. For more on the game, check out GameSpot's previous coverage.