For joy! Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock for the Mac from Aspyr Media started shipping today, and marks the first time this particular franchise is available for, uh, playing on Macintoshes. And just in time for the holidays!

Long a runaway hit with nearly every platform except the Mac, it’s basically the Dance Dance Revolution model as interpreted for musicians, where you play lead guitar for a rock band and hit notes of famous rock songs in the right sequence, pretending you’re playing guitar. You play in concerts or head-to-head with legends of rock like Slash. It’s complicated to explain - you’d need to see it being played to appreciate it. Believe me, it’s more fun than jumping around on a vinyl mat, let me tell you. Even South Park devoted a whole episode to the phenomenon several weeks ago.

Already released for Windows earlier, the Mac version of GH3:LoR ships on a new hybrid Mac-PC disc (make sure you’re buying the right kind now), and comes with a scaled-down USB guitar-shaped controller called the X-Plorer. The song selections are even more fun than the previous two versions, and there are even boss battles now.

GH3:LoR for the Mac and the PC sells for US$79.99.