The Smashing Pumpkins, one of rock's defining and most acclaimed bands who've sold over 30 million albums, is coming to Activision Publishing, Inc.’s (Nasdaq: ATVI) Guitar Hero® World Tour in a ground-breaking way as the band will debut their new single “G.L.O.W.” exclusively in the game. This marks the first time a band has recorded a new song exclusively for the franchise which will be released afterwards, giving Guitar Hero fans exclusive access to Smashing Pumpkins music before anyone else. The new track, bundled with two other rocking Smashing Pumpkins hits, “1979” and “The Everlasting Gaze,” will be available post-launch of the game as a three-song downloaded content pack.

Additionally, on-disc with the release of Guitar Hero World Tour this fall, The Smashing Pumpkins’ singer, songwriter and lead guitarist Billy Corgan will appear as an in-game character and will bring with him “Today,” the band’s smash hit from their pivotal and four-times platinum 1993 album Siamese Dream. “Today” is one of the band’s many hits that have defined the alternative music era and continue to resonate on modern rock radio, influencing a whole new generation. Players will be able to experience the unique alternative rocker’s likeness in-game as he sings and shreds on guitar, or play as the revered rock star throughout their vocal and axe careers.

Guitar Hero World Tour will transform music gaming by marrying Guitar Hero’s exhilarating guitar gameplay, with a cooperative band experience that combines the most advanced wireless instruments with revolutionary new online and offline gameplay modes. The game will feature a slick newly redesigned guitar, a genuine electronic drum kit and a microphone, as well as an innovative Music Studio music creator that lets players compose, record, edit and share their own rock and roll anthems, along with online Band Career and 8-player “Battle of the Bands.”

Delivering the largest on-disc set list in a music-rhythm game to-date, Guitar Hero World Tour is comprised entirely of master recordings from some of the greatest classic and modern rock bands of all-time including Van Halen, Linkin Park, The Eagles, Sublime and many more. Additionally, the game will offer significantly more localized downloadable music than ever before on all of the next-generation consoles. Budding rock stars will also be given creative license to fully customize everything from their characters’ appearance and instruments to their band’s logo and album covers.

In addition to a newly designed more responsive guitar controller and microphone, Guitar Hero World Tour will deliver the most realistic drum experience ever in a video game with an authentic electronic drum kit. Featuring three drum pads, two raised cymbals and a bass kick pedal, the drum controller combines larger and quieter, velocity-sensitive drum heads with soft rubber construction to deliver authentic bounce back and is easy to set up, move, break down and store.

Guitar Hero World Tour is cranking it to 11 by featuring several of the most influential instrument and equipment brands in the music industry. Gamers can score in-game sponsorships and gear from Ampeg, Audio-Technica, EMG Pickups, Ernie Ball, Evans Drumheads, Guitar Center, Krank Amplification, Mackie, Marshall, Orange County Drum & Percussion, Pork Pie Percussion, Regal Tip, Sabian cymbals, Vox and Zildjian drumsticks.

In addition to featuring products, the game lets virtual bands play on the same stage as many of their favorite musicians with digital re-creations of Amoeba Music, Live Nation’s House of Blues® Sunset Strip and San Francisco’s AT&T Park.

Activision announced the Mii Freestyle gameplay mode for the Wii version of Guitar Hero World Tour, which invites Wii gamers to use their Mii avatars to create in-game music and learn how to play the game in an easy and fun way. Players can learn to play riffs to some classic songs or freestyle to their own creations using the guitar controller or utilize the Wii remote and Nunchuk as air drums. In addition, the company revealed a host of European-specific tracks which will be available on-disc in Guitar Hero World Tour when the game ships this fall, including such rock anthems as:

• Anouk - "Good God" (Netherlands)
• Beatsteaks - "Hail to the Freaks" (Germany)
• Hush Puppies - "You're Gonna Say Yeah" (France)
• Kent - "Vinternoll 2" (Sweden)
• Lost Prophets - "Rooftops" (UK)
• Negramaro - "Nuvole E Lenzuola" (Italy)
• Oasis - "Some Might Say" (UK)
• Radio Futura - "Escuela de Calor" (Spain)
• Stuck in the Sound - "Toy Boy" (France)
• The Enemy - "Aggro" (UK)
• Tokio Hotel - "Monsoon" (Germany)

Previously confirmed track/band list :

• Airbourne - Too Much Too Young...
• Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Weapon of Choice
• Bob Seger - Hollywood Nights
• Dinosaur Jr. - Feel The pain
• Silversun Pickups - Lazy Eye
• Survivor - Eye of the Tiger
• Black Label Society - Stillborn
• Metallica - "Trapped Under Ice
• System of a Down - B.Y.O.B.
• Blink 182 - Dammit - Blink 182
• Linkin Park - What I've Done
• Paramore - Misery Business - Paramore
• The Doors - Love Me Two Times
• The Eagles - Hotel California
• Sublime - Santeria
• Billy Idol - Rebel Yell
• Foo Fighters - Everlong
• Van Halen - Hot for Teacher
• At the Drive-In - One Armed Scissor
• Jimi Hendrix - Purple Haze (Live)
• Jimi Hendrix - The Wind Cries Mary
• Steve Miller Band - The Joker
• Interpol - Obstacle 1
• The Doors - Light My Fire
• Beat It - Michael Jackson
• Linkin Park - In The End
• Lenny Kravitz - Are You Gonna Go My Way
• Smashing Pumpkins - Bullet with Butterfly Wings
• Ozzy Osbourne - Crazy Train
• Ozzy Osbourne - Mr. Crowley

Guitar Hero World Tour delivers more ways to play than ever before. Virtual musicians can live out their rock and roll fantasies by playing either a single instrument, or any combination of instruments, in addition to the full band experience. In addition to all of the online gameplay modes from Guitar Hero® III: Legends of Rock, Guitar Hero World Tour introduces Battle of the Bands mode which allows eight players to join online and challenge each other band-to-band to determine who is the best of the best. In the Band modes, up to four players can jam together, online or off, as they progress through the game, and in single-player Career Mode, players can jam on any of the instruments in branching venue progression enabling them to rock out in the order of their choice.

The game’s innovative new Music Studio lets players express their musical creativity by giving them access to a full compliment of tools to create digital music from scratch, utilizing all of the instruments, and then play their compositions in the game. Music creators will also be able to share their recordings with their friends online through GHTunes where other gamers can download their unique compositions and play them.