Just shy of the 40th anniversary of the seminal performance in October 1968 when “Kick Out the Jams” was originally recorded, founder and lead guitarist Wayne Kramer went back into the recording studio with original producer Bruce Botnick to re-record the track exclusively for Guitar Hero World Tour. Featuring the vocals recorded by Rob Tyner in 1968, Wayne Kramer was joined by friends Jerry Cantrell of Alice and Chains and Gilby Clark formerly of Guns ‘N’ Roses – at The Woodshed Recorder, studio of composer and ex-Oingo Boingo keyboardist Richard Gibbs – to update and modernize the sound without taking away from the original visceral garage sound that made MC5 famous and helped start the Punk Rock revolution.

Last year when they re-recorded “Anarchy in the U.K.” as a Guitar Hero exclusive, fellow Punk Rock band The Sex Pistols – with original members John Lydon on vocals, guitarist Steve Jones, drummer Paul Cook and producer Chris Thomas – also re-recorded “Pretty Vacant” utilizing the original analog sound board (circa 1969) that was built for George Martin at Air Studios, London, England in order to maintain the classic sound. Further extending the immense depth of the Guitar Hero World Tour set list is world renowned recording artist Motörhead who returned to the studio to re-record their smash hit “Overkill,” which had originally appeared on their 1979 album, Overkill.

“We set out to deliver a soundtrack for Guitar Hero that envelopes as many genres, styles and artists as possible without limiting scope,” said Tim Riley, Vice President of Music Affairs for Activision Blizzard. “When highly respected artists such as MC5’s Wayne Kramer, Motörhead and The Sex Pistols are willing to go back into the recording studio to re-record their music exclusively for the game, the fans win by getting a unique experience of old yet new legendary sounds.”

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
• MC5 - Kick Out the Jams
• Motörhead - Overkill
• The Smashing Pumpkins - Today
• The Sex Pistols - Pretty Vacant

Confirmed DLCs

• The Smashing Pumpkins - 1979
• The Smashing Pumpkins - The Everlasting Gaze
• The Smashing Pumpkins - G.L.O.W.

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.