Fire up the fret board, crank the amp to 11 and get ready to rock this way with Activision, Inc.’s (Nasdaq:ATVI) Guitar Hero®: Aerosmith®, the first game built around the legendary music of America’s Greatest Rock ‘N Roll Band: Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Brad Whitford, Tom Hamilton and Joey Kramer. Slated for release this June, this latest installment from the franchise with the #1 best-selling video game in 2007, puts players in the shoes of Perry (guitar), Whitford (guitar) and Hamilton (bass), as they rock out alongside frontman Tyler and drummer Kramer. Gamers will experience Aerosmith’s GRAMMY® winning career, from their first gig to becoming rock royalty, in a way that no other entertainment vehicle offers.

To celebrate this historic, ground-breaking collaboration, Guitar Hero® III: Legends of Rock fans will have the opportunity to download and jam to Aerosmith’s “Dream On.” The song will be available for free from February 16-18 on Xbox LIVE® Marketplace for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PLAYSTATION®Store for the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system. For more information, please visit www.guitarhero.com.

“Having a game built around Aerosmith has been a huge honor and really a great experience for us,” says Joe Perry. “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.”

Steven Tyler says, “Any band that can go from ‘Don’t Want to Miss A Thing’ (Aerosmith’s #1 smash hit) to the ass-kicking ‘Sweet Emotion’ to the cheekiness of ‘Love in an Elevator,’ to the classic ballad ‘Dream On’ shows why Activision chose us to headline this game based on the diversity of the Aerosmith catalog. Not only is songwriting a bitch, but then it goes and has puppies.”

Perry adds, “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.”

“We are extremely excited that Aerosmith chose to team up with Guitar Hero, bringing one of the world’s all-time best-selling artists together with one of the biggest video game brands, to deliver a new and unique interactive way for our customers to connect with artists and their music,” said Dusty Welch, head of publishing for Activision/RedOctane. “This partnership will give Aerosmith, a band that has sold more than 150 million albums worldwide, a powerful and innovative platform to reach their fans and new audiences.”

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith brings these quintessential rock legends to the interactive realm to create the ultimate gaming experience. As fans progress through their careers in the game, they can rock out to scores of Aerosmith’s greatest hits, as well as songs from celebrated artists that the band has either performed with or has been inspired by in some way. Venues from historical moments during the band’s illustrious career offer the experience of “sweet emotion” and further capture the essence of the band’s rise to fame.

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is being developed by Neversoft Entertainment for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system. The Wii™ version is being developed by Vicarious Visions. The PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system version is being developed by Budcat. The game is not yet rated by the ESRB.

puts players in the shoes of Perry (guitar), Whitford (guitar) and Hamilton (bass)

Aerosmith plugs into 'Guitar Hero' popularity
By Mike Snider, USA TODAY

Two years ago, Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry came home and found his youngest son, Roman, now 16, playing Guitar Hero with friends. "I played it a little bit and said, 'This is fantastic. Does it have any Aerosmith songs on it?' " Perry says. "The first game didn't, and I was hugely (upset)."
Perry may have been playing the blues then, but no more. The first one-band edition of the game, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, is due in June for PlayStation 2 and 3, Xbox 360 and Wii. GH: Aerosmith (about $50) will track the history of the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers, who have sold 100 million-plus albums.

"It's got our whole career, from the first place we ever played as a band, Nipmuc High School (in 1970, about 40 miles from Boston) to the (2001) Super Bowl halftime show," says lead singer Steven Tyler. "It's 30 years of the legend of Aerosmith and where we played to get where we are."

GH: Aerosmith is based on the technology of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, which has sold 6 million copies in its first four months. The $820 million in Guitar Hero sales for 2007 set a U.S. industry record. The GH franchise has sold more than 15.6 million copies worldwide of the games that let you strum and hit note buttons on a guitar-shaped controller as tracks play on-screen.

Aerosmith can be played by one or two players, who start out as Perry and can unlock guitarist Brad Whitford and bass player Tom Hamilton. The entire band did motion-capture sessions so screen images would be realistic. (Beyond Aerosmith, some opening acts will appear in the game, as well as some special guests — think Run-D.M.C.)

"It's a cartoon, but it's got all my movements and Steven's movements," Perry says. "You can tell it's Joey (Kramer) playing the drums."

Aerosmith members took their motion-capture sessions seriously, says Chris Parise, the senior producer on the game for developer Neversoft. "People get a feel for what going to an actual Aerosmith concert is really like," he says. "It is pretty authentic."

Aerosmith seemed destined to connect with Neversoft. As the game developer was fine-tuning Guitar Hero III, company president Joel Jewett was listening to the cover version of Aerosmith's Same Old Song and Dance and said the cover singer "didn't sound like Steven Tyler," said the game's lead designer, Alan Flores. "So we went back to get the original master, and in one day Joe Perry found out about it and was super-excited. He got the masters, and that sort of established the relationship."

About the same time, the game's development team began researching ways to expand the hit franchise. It surveyed Guitar Hero buyers and non-gamers, too, about which musical artists they liked and which ones might they be interested in playing a game about. "Aerosmith was consistently one of the top selected bands not only by (Guitar Hero) owners but also by the mass audience that is not an owner," says Dusty Welch of the game's publisher, RedOctane. Welch spent eight years at Activision before it acquired RedOctane in 2006.

The band had the headliner qualities they were looking for, Welch says: a respected lead guitarist, a charismatic frontman and a multiplatinum, globally appealing playlist.

"Aerosmith has demonstrated this resiliency and relevance that spans many decades," he says.

Aerosmith, which also has a new album in the works, hopes to benefit from the effect Guitar Hero has on music sales. Every Guitar Hero III song tracked by Nielsen SoundScan (62 of 70) saw an increase in digital download sales the week ending Dec. 30, when many who got the game as a gift were playing it.

Downloads of relative newcomer DragonForce's Through the Fire and Flames, selling fewer than 2,000 weekly, rose to more than 10,000 after GH III's release and approached 40,000 the week ending Dec. 30. Aerosmith earned a more modest increase on its Same Old Song and Dance, which rose to 2,041 from 374 copies the previous week.

To boost online sales, iTunes has a Guitar Hero store with collections from the original artists and WaveGroup, the music studio that created the many cover tracks used in the games. (iTunes also has a section devoted to songs in the similar game Rock Band).

Also out: an 11-track Guitar Hero III soundtrack CD.

Video games, Perry says, will "be one of the ways people are going to get their music. Guitar Hero works on so many levels. It break down a lot of barriers."

To promote GH: Aerosmith, the band's first single, 1973's Dream On, will be available for GH III players to download for free via Xbox Live and PlayStation Network. Some day, the band could release new music through the game, Perry says: "It would make sense."

Eventually selling music tracks online, Welch says, "is part of the next evolution."

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/gaming/...tar-hero_N.htm

"It's got our whole career, from the first place we ever played as a band, Nipmuc High School (in 1970, about 40 miles from Boston) to the (2001) Super Bowl halftime show," says lead singer Steven Tyler. "It's 30 years of the legend of Aerosmith and where we played to get where we are."