For most games out there, it's relatively easy for a dedicated player to obtain all the best weapons, armor, magic spells, etc. Usually after about a month or two, maybe less, you'll find guides sprouting up online from people who've search every nook and cranny, done every quest, fought every monster to get the best end-game items. However, for the game I'm referring to, it's not about the weapon you get, it's the weapon you use. That weapon of choice; the axe.

I'm talking about Guitar Hero, naturally. On November 1st of 2005, the first Guitar Hero was released to the public from the development team Harmonix. For those of you who've been living under a rock for the past few years, Guitar Hero is a rhythm-base game where your controller is a guitar and your objective is to strum the correct notes at the correct time, as they pass by on the screen. Guitar Hero received respectable recognition for how creative and unique its concept was. It let people become the rock star they've always dreamed of being. Soon it drew an enthusiastic following of players, who committed themselves to mastering the songs in the game and getting higher and higher scores.

The following November Harmonix released their sequel, Guitar Hero II. Improving upon some game mechanics from the first game, and with an entire set list of 64 new songs for players to indulge in, Guitar Hero II became immensely popular within the gaming community. Fan websites dedicated solely for the Guitar Hero game began to pop up around the internet. Additionally, people began to figure out note charts that indicated optimal ways to maximize player's scores. However, one website stood out from the rest. ScoreHero.com allowed users to create profiles, and record player's statistics online. With this feature came enormous competition between players. Gradually, after many months of work from all over the globe, songs were being full combo'd, meaning 100% of the notes were perfectly hit throughout the entire song without any mistakes. Well over a year after Guitar Hero II's launch, there has been a few songs that have remained at 99%. However one song, in particular, towers over all the rest in difficulty. "Jordan", by Buckethead, has remained only 99% combo'd... until now.

Yesterday evening a young man from Livingston, NY, named Garry Bathrick, also known as "HellAshes" on ScoreHero's website, did what seemed to be an impossible task for the past year. Being a participant of the ScoreHero community as well, I'm thrilled to announce Gary's incredible feat of acquiring 100% on "Jordan" on the Expert level. Out of nearly 150,000 users on ScoreHero, he's the first to accomplish this after many months of practice. For some, this may not seem like a huge deal, but for those of us who've played Guitar Hero, and have developed a respect for the top players in the gaming community, this is a remarkable and satisfying fulfillment of a goal no one thought attainable half a year ago. With the beast of Guitar Hero II finally slain, our eyes look to the future as players of the Guitar Hero communities set new goals for the recent release of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. Once again, a well-earned cheers and congratulations to HellAshes!

Here is the direct link to the YouTube video of his accomplishment.