Those of you patiently waiting for that song from that video with that girl from Clueless in it, or that song from that movie about those working-class guys who blow up an asteroid to wind up in the Rock Band Store may want to sit down for this news: Outside of Rock Band's "Train Kept a Rollin," Aerosmith's entire catalogue of rock and/or roll hits will be exclusive to Guitar Hero. Newsweek got confirmation from an Aerosmith publicist and Activision PR that the band's songs would be locked down for "an unspecified period of time." Is this the beginning of the licensed song wars? Our Magic 8-Ball says, "Probably."

Though we were briefly distracted by mention of some other bands set to feature in Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, Activision has reminded us that the rhythmography will, in fact, include Aerosmith tunes. Gamespot reports that of the 40-plus songs in the game, 60 percent will be devoted to the increasingly decrepit crooners.

Ah, but age is just a number and fans aren't likely to care when they start pressing plastic in rhythm to these confirmed numbers:

• "Make It"
• "Uncle Salty"
• "Draw the Line"
• "No Surprize"
• "Sweet Emotion"

Expect further songs to be revealed at an excruciatingly slow pace as the game's June release walks this way.

Each week Jeff Engel and Geoff Brooks contribute Counting Rupees, a column on the business behind gaming:

When Guitar Hero 3 launched last year it was an immediate success, selling out at a fairly quick pace throughout the holiday season. Following just behind it was Rock Band, selling very well, but not nearly as quickly as Guitar Hero. So far, all versions of Guitar Hero III have sold about 9.1M copies, versus just roughly 1.5M for Rock Band. Of course, part of the discrepancy lies in the fact that Rock Band launched on two platforms while Guitar Hero 3 launched on four, but that is about to be remedied with Harmonix's recent announcement of Rock Band for Wii. While Rock Band was a more ambitious game and representative of an evolution of the music game, it did seem like Activision may have made the right choice in buying the Guitar Hero publisher (and thus the Guitar Hero brand), but not the developer. With so much brand awareness already built into Guitar Hero, was there any way that Harmonix could possibly top the original creation that it no longer owned the rights to?

You may not be crazy about the music, but you have to admit the concept of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is kind of cool: A band's story, almost a documentary, retold as a game. Game Informer's got the scoop this month on the steps Neversoft is taking to complete the experience (recreating the high school where they played their first show, mo-capping the band) and we actually found ourselves being interested in the project since the first time we heard of it.

Sweetening the pot is the inclusion of artists who've intersected with Aerosmith, which GI says includes Mott the Hoople's "All the Young Dudes", The Kinks with "All Day and All Night," Joan Jett's "Hate Myself for Loving You" and Cheap Trick with "Dream Police." It's all very concerning but it's the inclusion of that awesome Mott the Hoople track that really has us worried. Are we going to have to [gulp] buy this game?

Logic would dictate that if you're buying a game called Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, the disc would be chock full of fail Aerosmith songs. But an ad from a Best Buy circular sent to us by an eagle-eyed reader and a recent USA Today story hint that Steven Tyler and Co. may not be the only ones populating the disc.

As you can sort of see, the ad promises Aerosmith and "all their favorite bands." And this article from USA Today says that the game will feature "opening acts." Interestingly, though that online version makes no mention of it, a version of the story on Aerosmith's official fan club site hints that Run DMC might be one of those guests. Any of you Aerosmith fans have guesses as to who else might be on the roster?

[Thanks, Ian]

While you might think a game titled Guitar Hero: Aerosmith would have you playing, you know, guitars, a Best Buy advertisement for the latest mistake chapter in the rhythm game franchise claims you'll be able to play as all of the "famous rock legends" in "America's greatest rock and roll band" -- including the drummer, Joey Kramer, and band's own lady-lookin'-dude, Steven Tyler, using a drum peripheral and microphone peripheral (complete with flamboyantly colored scarf, we assume).

If true, we wonder if Activision would release their own controllers for the game, or count on backwards compatibility with the Rock Band peripherals (fat chance, considering the near feud between Harmonix and Activision over Rock Band's guitar compatibility issues). Not that it matters to us -- the only devices we'd use to interact with a rhythm game featuring songs by Aerosmith are a clay pigeon launcher and our trusty pump-action shotgun.

[Thanks, Waffle Slayer.]

In an announcement that may just usurp the throne from Electronic Arts as the king of milking franchises, Activision has announced plans for a new Guitar Hero title, casting aside the franchise's reputation for offering a wide breadth of rocking tracks in favor of highlighting a single band -- Aerosmith. The news echoes comments made by guitarist Joe Perry last year regarding the series' next installment, at which time he said that the next Guitar Hero game would be dedicated to the band's music.

The announcement comes following Activision's promise earlier this month to return to the well this year, with the newly announced Guitar Hero: Aerosmith currently expected to ship to retail in June with Neversoft handling the game for the Xbox 360 and PS3, and Vicarious Visions taking care of development on the Wii. Details remain nonexistent concerning what tracks we can expect to make the cut, with guitarist Joe Perry commenting only that the title is "based on the diversity of the Aerosmith catalog." With a game dedicated to one -- and only one -- band, we have to assume that whatever songs do find their way onto the disc, they'll be master tracks (they better be).

And if June seems to far off for those of you hugging your Steven Tyler doll while staring at the Pump tour poster on the wall, Activision has announced plans to release the band's 1973 power ballad 'Dream On' as a download for the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of GHIII (Sorry Wii owners, but you knew what you were getting into). The song will be free from February 16-18, so get it while it's hot!

Now that we've had a taste of mixing the peanut butter of drumming and vocals with the chocolate of guitar and bass, it's hard for us not to wish exciting news about Guitar Hero would replace the words "guitar" and "hero" with "rock" and "band." The newest nugget from EGM's Quatermann is a perfect example. In the latest issue of the magazine, the rumor monger hints that a standalone sequel to Guitar Hero is in the works based around the music of Irish rockers U2.

Now, don't get us wrong, we'll be excited to channel our inner The Edge, but who doesn't want to be Bono? Or, to a far lesser extent, Larry Mullen Jr.? ... Oh, before we forget, we should mention that our Rock Band/Guitar Hero news juxtaposition law doesn't apply to whatever assault of depression Aerosmith's crafting. Guitar Hero can keep that. -- Or jettison it into blackest space. Either way.