14 DAY TRIAL // Guitar Hero: World Tour is aiming to get more star power so that it can outrank Rock Band 2 when the music simulation rivals are launched later this the year. Now, Smashing Pumpkins are getting ready to offer their new single, called G.L.O.W., together with 2 other tracks, as part of a downloadable pack, in October just after the game is released.
Billy Corgan, who writes the songs for Smashing Pumpkins and plays lead guitar, will make an appearance in the game performing the track Today. Apparently, he is also an unlockable character in Guitar Hero World Tour. As part of the DLC pack you will also get the hits 1979 and The Everlasting Gaze as playable tracks.
It's not the first time that bands have released singles via music games. Alternative rockers Coldplay have released songs via Guitar Hero III, saying that the new medium is important for their fans while heavy metal band Def Leppard decided to release a new single via the game. In response, Rock Band has managed to get Mötley Crüe on board and they launched a song exclusively for the game, which was downloaded 47,000 times in its first week of availability, meaning that more people got the track for the game than downloaded it on iTunes.
The ties between music games and the music industry are getting tighter and tighter. Aerosmith got a game for Activision and Metallica is going to feature in a new game called Guitar Hero: Metallica which is set to be launched in 2009. Recently, music companies like Time Warner have been saying that they will seek more revenue from licensing deals with Harmonix and Activision.
Activision says that Guitar Hero: World Tour will arrive for platforms like the PlayStation 2, the PlayStation 3, the Nintendo Wii and the Xbox 360 in North America on October 27, 2008.