A wealth of rhythm game news emerged out of Activision today, as the publisher detailed the first downloadable track packs coming to the just-released DJ Hero along with a rundown of the various tunes hitting Guitar Hero 5 across the next month.

Guitar Hero 5 Downloadable Content
November 5 - Band Hero Song Imports ($5 / 400 MS Points)
• 61 of 65 Tracks, Requires Band Hero
November 12 - Lenny Kravitz Track Pack... Read more

With just over two weeks to go until Band Hero hits North American store shelves, publisher Activision has listed all of the songs in the family-friendly rhythm game.

The company also touched on downloadable content support, writing that "fans can play almost all of their previously purchased Guitar Hero downloadable content," as well as detailed the cost of bringing Band Hero songs into Guitar Hero 5 and vice versa.

PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii Tracks

1. 3 Doors Down - "When I'm Gone"
2. The Airborne Toxic Event - "Gasoline"
3. The All American Rejects - "Dirty Little Secret"... Read more

If playing through a Taylor Swift single sounds exciting, you'll be thrilled to know that a Band Hero demo is now available on Xbox 360.

The 534MB download packs three tunes ("Paralyzer" by Finger Eleven, "Picture to Burn" by Taylor Swift, "Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina and the Waves) and lets players act as singer, guitarist, bassist or drummer, depending on their stock of plastic instruments.

It joins the recent Guitar Hero 5 demo that also features three tunes: "A-Punk" by Vampire Weekend, "Kryptonite" by 3 Doors Down, and "The Rock Show" by Blink-182. Both demos are currently limited to Gold members--Guitar Hero 5's should be available to everyone else tomorrow (Oct. 16), with Band Hero's following in a week (Oct. 22).

Band Hero hits PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii and Nintendo DS on November 3. Guitar Hero 5 hit all of those platforms, except Nintendo DS, in September.

With September drawing to a close, Activision has unveiled the five downloadable track packs that will be coming to Guitar Hero 5 across the month of October, including a contribution from the legendary liquid-flinging costumed rockers Gwar.

Per usual, each pack will be available on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii for $5.50 (440 MS Points / 550 Wii Points), with individual tunes at $2 (160 MS Points / 200 Wii Points).

In addition, a ten select songs will be available to Xbox Live Gold members until October 5 at 120 Microsoft Points ($1.50) each instead of the usual 160 MS Points ($2).

Queens Of The Stone Age Track Pack - October 1
• "Mexicola"
• "Avon"
• "How to Handle a Rope"
Billy Squier Track Pack - October 8
• "The Stroke"
• "Everybody Wants You"... Read more

Guitar Hero players that want to import their songs from Smash Hits into Guitar Hero 5 can now do so on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii. Only 21 of Smash Hits' 48 tracks are importable. A fee of 160 Microsoft Points ($2) will be charged for the service. The full list of importable songs follows:... Read more

Musician Courtney Love has launched a strongly worded and rather vulgar campaign against the use of her deceased husband's likeness in Guitar Hero 5, claiming that she is "going to sue the shit out of [Activision]" over Kurt Cobain's in-game appearance.

A digital rendition of the Nirvana frontman performs "Smells Like Teen Spirit" during the game's career mode, after which players can use his likeness to perform any in-game song (such as "Play That Funky Music") in any capacity (drums, guitar, vocals).

Love says she "never signed [off] on the avatar" and adds "I think Kurt would despise this game alone let alone this avatar." Activision previously told Rolling Stone that it had gotten approval from Love, Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl and Primary Wave Publishing to use two Nirvana tunes and Cobain's likeness in the game.

"Courtney supplied us with photos and videos and knew exactly... Read more

Following yesterday's launch of Guitar Hero 5, publisher Activision has provided a handy schedule of all the downloadable tunes coming to the game across the next month, including ditties from Street Sweeper Social Club, The Faint and Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

As with Guitar Hero World Tour, each song will be available to PlayStation 3, Wii and Xbox 360 owners for 160 MS Points ($2) a pop, with bundles offering some slight savings.

In addition, the company laid out the 21 tunes that owners of Guitar Hero Smash Hits will be able to bring into Guitar Hero 5 later this month for an unknown cost... Read more

Though Activision is allowing users to import songs from Guitar Hero World Tour into Guitar Hero 5, the feature currently only extends to 35 of World Tour's 86 tracks.

As reported by USA Today, the 35 songs will cost users 250 Microsoft Points ($3.50) to import. By comparison, Rock Band 2 users are able to export 55 of Rock Band's 58 songs for the cost of $5.

Activision told an indignant Destructoid that the list of World Tour imports will be expanded in the future as more songs are ported.

Click through for the current list of the 35 importable World Tour songs:... Read more

Publisher Activision today announced the first dedicated downloadable content for Guitar Hero 5 in the form of five live Rolling Stones tracks due two days after the game hits.

Coming September 3, The Rolling Stones Live Track Pack will bundle all five songs for $9 (720 MS Points), with each tune also available individually at $2 (160 MS Points):

• "Prodigal Son (Live 1969)"
• "You Gotta Move (Live 1969)"
• "Under My Thumb (Live 1969)"... Read more

The importing of songs from past Guitar Hero games into Guitar Hero 5 will not be similar to the Rock Band 2 importation, Activision has revealed.

Instead, gamers will be downloading the songs Guitar Hero: World Tour and Guitar Hero Smash Hits as if they were DLC.

"Within the Guitar Hero 5 song import menu, gamers will key in their unique ID from the manual of the previous game, pay a small re-licensing fee and then be given access to download the available songs (like DLC) in a big batch," explained an Activision spokesman to Joystiq.

Activision notes that the downloading process allows the Guitar Hero team to recreate the songs with support for Guitar Hero 5 features such as band moments, expert+ drumming and vocal star power.

Activision is offering an unusual preorder bonus with Guitar Hero 5. By buying the game ahead of time at any retailer, customers will also receive Guitar Hero Van Halen for free, and in advance of the title's December release.

The deal will also be offered on specially marked in-store copies of Guitar Hero 5 during the month of September.

Customers must simply visit the official offer page to redeem a code, and allow up to six weeks for delivery of Van Halen.

Guitar Hero 5 is coming on September 1, while Guitar Hero Van Halen will only hit stores on December 22. For a full track list for both games, click through:... Read more

Forty six years ago, he fell in a burning "Ring of Fire." Now, six years after his death, a virtual rendition of Johnny Cash will commemorate that performance in Guitar Hero 5, with the below trailer offering a glimpse of his in-game cameo and sountrack contribution.

Packing 85 on-disc tracks and virtual appearances from rock icons like Shirley Manson and Carlos Santana, Guitar Hero 5 hits PS2, PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii on September 1.

Please install Flash to view this Shackvideo

Shackvideo users can use the HD Stream.

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... Read more

Neversoft continues to put the "game" in the "rhythm game" genre with the "Rockfest" mode in the upcoming Guitar Hero 5.

Rockfest consists of a suite of multiplayer mods that players can apply to a single song, or string together in a playlist to be applied each round. All of the game types involve players earning points through various methods.

For instance, Streakers earns you points for note streaks, Momentum begins everyone at medium difficulty and slowly ramps up, and Do or Die temporarily kicks players out of the song if they miss three notes in any section. It's all explained in the below video:

Please install Flash to view this Shackvideo

Shackvideo users can use the HD Stream.

Xbox 360 rockers will be able to import their Xbox Live avatar as a playable character into Neversoft's rhythm game Guitar Hero 5, publisher Activision has announced today.

The 'Create A Rocker' mode will allow stiff and stuffy avatars to clad themselves in the outrageous garb and trappings fundamental to a life of rock. Guitar Hero's traditional characters will still be available, as well as virtual rock stars including Shirley Manson.

Guitar Hero 5 is slated for a September 1 release on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PS2 and Wii, packing 85 tracks and drop-in, drop-out play with any combination of instruments.

Guitar Hero 5's full track listing is at long last confirmed, as publisher Activision has today announced the final fifteen tracks to feature in Neversoft's rhythm game sequel.

The final batch includes musical offerings from Nirvana, Johnny Cash and Muse:

• 3 Doors Down - "Kryptonite"
• Arctic Monkeys - "Brianstorm"
• Blink-182 - "The Rock Show"
• Dire Straits - "Sultans Of Swing"
• Jimmy Eat World - "Bleed American"
• Johnny Cash - "Ring Of Fire"... Read more

Garbage frontlady Shirley Manson will be one of the star performers featuring as playable characters in Neversoft's rhythm game Guitar Hero 5, it was announced today.

"At the moment it's very hard for rock music to be really heard in mainstream media," said Manson. "Guitar Hero has kept the flag flying, so to speak, and I think rock songs can really seem to stay around... and still have impact on new, younger generations."

Please install Flash to view this Shackvideo

Shackvideo users can use the HD Stream.

The announcement also confirms that Garbage's track 'Only Happy When It Rains'--long rumoured to be one of Guitar Hero 5's 85 songs--will indeed be spreading lovely rock glee when Guitar Hero 5 arrives September 1 on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PS2 and Wii.

Activision today confirmed another batch of songs for Guitar Hero 5, all of which were featured in the unofficial list compiled earlier this month by Joystiq.

The company also put out another trailer, highlighting the new gameplay features in the rhythm game sequel.

Please install Flash to view this Shackvideo

Shackvideo users can use the HD Stream.

For a list of today's confirmed songs, as well as the unofficial complete list, click on through:... Read more

Having a hard time keeping track of all these music games? You're not alone. This Guitar Hero 5 trailer will help a bit, as it succinctly outlines what to expect from Activision's next rhythmic offering.

Guitar Hero 5 hits stores on September 1.

Please install Flash to view this Shackvideo

Shackvideo users can use the HD Stream.

With the September 1 release of Neversoft's multi-instrument music game sequel Guitar Hero 5 nearing, publisher Activision has confirmed a few more of the included songs. As such, we've updated our list of the tunes that have been officially announced or glimpsed.

In addition, Joystiq claims to have pieced together the "complete" 85-song list, though the site also warns that it's still "unofficial." Still, it seems to fit with songs that have been revealed since its publication and the full list of bands, so we've included it below.

First up, our compilation of the various songs that have been officially confirmed:

• A Perfect Circle - "Judith"
• Band Of Horses - "Cigarettes, Wedding Bands"... Read more