New 'Guitar Hero' game to focus on Aerosmith

February 15, 2008 Activision, publisher of the popular Guitar Hero series of video games which simulate the playing of rock music, has unveiled the next title in the franchise: Guitar Hero: Aerosmith.

The game, which will focus entirely on the top-selling American rock band Aerosmith, is set to be released this June. The soundtrack will be composed of songs performed by Aerosmith or otherwise related to the band. Venues featured in the game will highlight different points in the band's career.

"The premise is that it's going to cover the 30-plus years of the band, from high school all the way through the rock superstardom of today," said Kai Huang, head of RedOctane, a subsidiary of Activision.

Developers even held motion-capture sessions with members of the band so they can appear in-game.

"We've put a lot of ideas into the game so that fans can have fun interacting with our music, getting inside our body of work and learning about the band's history," said Aerosmith guitarist, Joe Perry.

Perry also commented on the effect he hopes the game will have on the music business. "On a larger scale, it's cool for us to be pioneers helping to rebuild the music industry through a format like video games. It's great for rock since the record companies are struggling to make sense of how things are changing. Fans want to get and experience music in new formats--and there are going to be some of them who will play the game, then pick up the guitar for real and start bands. It's what's happening now, and it's only going to build more momentum in the future. It's a massive change for the music business."

The game will be released for Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Wii, and Playstation 2. It has not yet been rated by the ESRB.