Activision: Guitar Hero 5 to Support World Tour, Smash Hits Imports

With competing product Rock Band 2 allowing the importing of Rock Band 1 on-disc songs, Activision now says that Guitar Hero 5 will follow suit with similar track importation functionality.

"It's something we've wanted to do for a while now," said Activision head of music licensing Tim Riley to IGN. "They are separate licenses, so we need to go back and re-license previous content. So, songs from World Tour, songs from the download space, songs from Smash Hits that will technically work in Guitar Hero 5 and Band Hero had to be renegotiated."

As with Rock Band, the importation will cost a small fee. Activision also says that 152 of the 158 Guitar Hero World Tour downloadable tracks will automatically work in Guitar Hero 5.

"We didn't want to do it for a couple songs," added Riley. "We wanted to do it for a couple hundred songs. So we have a lot cleared and we're in the process of clearing a lot more."

Thanks Masem!