Well, now what? After finding plenty of conflicting information as to whether or not the Rock Band Stratocaster works on the Xbox 360 version of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith (including a direct capture of it not working) we decided to ask you directly in the hopes we could arrive at some sort of answer. Instead, we've got this: 4.7% say it works while 5.6% say it doesn't (89.7% just wanted to play along at home).

Now, considering how unscientific this methodology is, we're pretty sure our margin of error is in excess of 5%. Even if we were to consider the information accurate, we're still at a deadlock. Activision isn't talking (really, we've asked for a comment several times), so we're going to go with this: there are multiple versions of the Rock Band Stratocaster and some will work with Guitar Hero: Aerosmith and some won't. Really, that's the best we can come up with. Of course, this would be a whole lot easier if Activision would just agree to play nicely.

Alright, this is getting ridiculous. Activision has yet to respond to our requests for clarification, and anecdotal reports continue to contradict our finding that the Rock Band Stratocaster does not work with Guitar Hero: Aerosmith on the Xbox 360. If you'll consult our guitar compatibility matrix, you'll find that incompatibility is par for the course, so we left it at that. But conflicting reports keep coming in.

Our original tipster, who works for a rather large gaming magazine, tested all manner of guitars with Guitar Hero: Aerosmith but, alas, he was on an XDK – the Xbox 360 debug kit (and no, the above is not Photoshopped, it's a direct screen grab). Perhaps something, however unlikely, has changed from the reviewable code to the final retail code? Even then, we've gotten tips as recently as this morning claiming the Rock Band guitar does not work with the retail release of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith. Frankly, we can't keep track anymore so we'll do the next best thing: power of the masses.

Think of it this way: Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is like Neversoft's version of former Guitar Hero-dev Harmonix's Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s. Old man Activision wants Guitar Hero twice a year, but there's only so much one dev team can do when they're hard at work on their own follow-up featuring a full band lineup.

So, the same ... just remove the whole part about the dev team getting bought and releasing that follow-up through Activision's biggest competitor – oh, and the whole part about it being 2007 – and you've got an idea of where critics are putting GH:A on the fake-instrument rhythm game pantheon. Like Aerosmith? You probably already bought it. Don't like Aerosmith? Move along.

• IGN (76/100): "Even if the formula is a bit stale by now, that doesn't make Guitar Hero: Aerosmith a bad game. In fact, if you're a huge fan of the band, of the Guitar Hero franchise, or haven't yet seen what all of the fuss is over the music rhythm phenomenon, this release will please and then some. However, if you've been following the franchise since the beginning, you'll probably wonder if this game is really necessary."
  
• GameDaily (70/100): "Aerosmith junkies will love Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, thanks to its impressive song list and extra content. Everyone else, however, should rent it. It's a pleasant diversion, providing single-player and multiplayer enjoyment for would-be strummers, but with missing songs and the same old gameplay, it doesn't have enough sweet emotion to justify its $59.99 price."
  
• GameSpot (70/100): "If you like Aerosmith, you'll like this game. If you don't like Aerosmith, you will not like this game. Even dedicated fans of the group may have trouble rationalizing paying full price for just 41 songs, but while GH: Aerosmith is a little short on content, it's plenty of fun."
  

The Activision peripheral tantrum continues, with the mega-publisher still refusing to allow Rock Band guitar peripherals to operate on its Guitar Hero games, including this week's Guitar Hero: Aerosmith. Despite reports to the contrary on a couple forums, when our friendly tipster attempted to use a Rock Band guitar on the Xbox 360 version of GH: Aerosmith he was greeted with the following error: "An unsupported guitar peripheral has been detected. Connect either a Guitar Hero guitar or Xbox 360 controller and press START to continue."

Considering the Rock Band guitar never worked on any of the three new-gen consoles' releases of Guitar Hero 3 (check our guitar compatibility matrix), we're going to assume the same lack of functionality is present in not only the Xbox 360 release, but the PlayStation 3 and Wii releases of GH: Aerosmith as well. Let us know if you've tried it on either of those consoles.

[Big thanks, Dan A.]

Well, it's the end of an era. We've had a lot of fun over the last few months making fun of Aerosmith, both for their membership among the ranks of the walking undead and for passing mediocre music on an unsuspecting public for decades. But today we must report that, despite our most acerbic cursing into the blogging darkness, Guitar Hero Aerosmith is, in fact, being released. You win this round, Tyler.

So why are we featuring it? Well, you ever see that scene in Hook where Peter gives Hook the dignity of having his hair back, even though they're mortal enemies? It's sort of like that. ... And yes, the closest contender is Purr Pals on Wii. Little bit of column A, little bit of column B.

Despite most of us having a true distaste for zombie rockers Aerosmith, we've had a long-standing fear that we'd be tricked into buying Guitar Hero Aerosmith by a few non-Aerosmith tracks that we wouldn't be able to live without. Now, after we've seen the full track listing for the game, we're ashamed to admit that we're still on the fence.

We'll admit, the presence of Mott the Hoople and The Clash do make it significantly more tempting, as does the complete absence of "Don't Want to Miss a Thing," but we think about all that Aerosmith and we're right back at square one. Check out the full list after the break and let us know if you feel the same way.

Our favorite part of professional stock car racing (and there are so many to choose from) is how through the magic of branding, cars become meeting places for totally rad, totally American iconography that really has no business being meshed.

Take, for example, the above car, sponsored by Activision's Guitar Hero Aerosmith and ... Target. Finally, America's love for Steven Tyler's seething, Ben-Gay-slathered pseudo-sexuality can be melded with its love of value and flown on one giant fossil fuel-burning flag. God bless you marketing drones, you're the whole reason we're still getting out of bed.

Each week Jeff Engel and Geoff Brooks contribute Counting Rupees, a column on the business behind gaming:
Guitar Hero IV is on its way, and with it are coming individual games themed around Metallica, Aerosmith, and others. This follows the strategy highlighted by Activision CEO Robert Kotick last year, in which the executive promised shareholders to fully "exploit" the company's franchises on an annual basis. The immediate response of gamers was almost exclusively negative, not least because the prospect has connotations of poor quality and high pricing. Although Activision may be the only company to announce its strategy so publicly, it's hardly the only adopting these kinds of tactics. If it irritates gamers so much, why do companies in the industry do this? And is it as bad as it seems?

Here's some news that's sure to strike a sour chord with the legions of Guitar Hero III owners worldwide. We've confirmed with Activision that Guitar Hero: Aerosmith will not allow users to access content for GH3.

It will also be impossible for those who've purchased only Guitar Hero: Aerosmith to access and download tracks currently available for GH3. For those with both games: prepare for disc-swapping. The carry-over of DLC into Guitar Hero: Aerosmith seemed like a real no-brainer; hopefully Neversoft will take Guitar Hero fans' previous purchases into account while nailing down Guitar Hero World Tour and Guitar Hero: Metallica's feature sets.

It's Guitar Hero III ... now with lots more Aerosmith! Seriously though, at Activision's hands-on debut event for the stepping stone to Guitar Hero World Tour, we couldn't help but feel a strong overwhelming sense of déjà vu.

That's probably because, for all intents and purposes, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is GH3 with polygonal likenesses of the legendary rockers, a story mode that follows their rise to fame, lots of their songs, and a few tracks from other bands to sweeten the deal.

While Activision's upcoming Aerosmith-centric flavor of Guitar Hero may still have some of us sitting on the fence, a new partnership between the publisher and 7-Eleven ensures that we can at least enjoy and icy cold Slurpee while considering rocking out to the "bad boys of Boston." Activision and the convenience store chain, along with Coca-Cola and Microsoft have teamed to promote Guitar Hero: Aerosmith by offering 22-ounce Slurpee cups branded in the series' artwork, though bizarrely the above art is not of the upcoming version at all.

Each the cups will include codes on the underside to enter an online contest to win the game, an Xbox 360, or Microsoft Points. According to an official announcement of the promotion, the parties plan on giving away 744 copies of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith and 711,000 Microsoft Points throughout the month of May. In addition, 10 Slurpee drinkers will walk away with a shiny new console and a copy of the game, leaving us pondering the only other question worth asking: Wild Cherry or Classic Cola?

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.

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]