Guitar Hero: Greatest Hits Becomes Smash, Gets Dated and Detailed

Music games are becoming more important with each passing day as the companies behind them get even more money from the DLC tracks that they offer, from the instrument sales and, of course, from the sales of the actual games.

But this doesn't mean that older titles can't also generate a profit, as proven by Activision, which teased us a few weeks ago with the fact that it would release Guitar Hero: Greatest Hits, a compilation of popular songs from all of the older GH titles.

Now, the company has just announced that the game will be dubbed Guitar Hero: Smash Hits and is set to offer 48 master tracks that have been released for the original GH and all of its other sequels and follow-ups. The new tracks aren't just a re-release, as they will be compatible with full band play, for both the vocal and drums, options that have been introduced only in the World Tour version.

The company has also revealed that the title will appear on June 16 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2 and Wii. It will also feature eight new venues, including concert arenas set in the Amazon and the polar ice caps of the Grand Canyon, for some truly on-the-edge rocking. Here are the tracks that have been announced for this game thus far:

Guitar Hero
"Killer Queen" - Queen
"I Love Rock 'n Roll" - Joan Jett and The Blackhearts
"Bark at the Moon" - Ozzy Osbourne 

Guitar Hero II
"Them Bones" - Alice in Chains
"Killing in the Name" - Rage Against The Machine
"Message in a Bottle" - The Police
"Carry on Wayward Son" - Kansas
"Free Bird" - Lynyrd Skynyrd 

Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s
"I Wanna Rock" - Twisted Sister
"Nothin but a Good Time" - Poison 

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
"Barracuda" - Heart
"Through the Fire and Flames" – DragonForce

All in all, a pretty solid lineup that will surely make a lot of people spend their money on this new game. Don't forget that it will be a standalone release, acting like a full game, as the songs aren't transferable between various GH releases.