Rumors about a new installment in the band-specific Guitar Hero franchise have been floating around for a few weeks, with the German ratings board having a listing, which was removed that very same day. Today we're back again, but this time with a more prominent source, a new listing by retailers Gamestop and EBGames, putting Guitar Hero: Van Halen on the map for July 28, 2009.

Showing their appreciation and support to those serving in the military, Activision is partnering with the United Service Organizations (USO) to bring entertainment to the troops this holiday season. Each copy of Call of Duty: Word at War sold sends $10 to the USO, and Activision will also donate more than $100,000 worth of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock merchandise.

Guitar Hero: World Tour will feature guitar, vocals, drums, the ability to create your own songs (and upload them on GHTunes), four-player on/offline co-op, and an eight-player battle of the bands multiplayer mode (4vs4).

Guitar Hero fans will channel their inner rock god, experience new features and content including a new multiplayer action-inspired battle mode, grueling boss battles, unlockable content and authentic rock venues. In case you missed last week's 11 bonus track Best Buy offer, you will be able to download the entire album on Sept. 12. which will also include two exclusive renditions of “Suicide & Redemption” with extended solos by James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett.

Guitar Hero fans will channel their inner rock god, experience new features and content including a new multiplayer action-inspired battle mode, grueling boss battles, unlockable content and authentic rock venues. For a limited time only, fans who pre-order Metallica's new Death Magnetic album over at Best Buy will be able to download no less than 11 bonus tracks for Guitar Hero III.

Guitar Hero: World Tour will feature vocals, drums, the ability to create your own songs (and upload them on GHTunes), 4 player on/offline co-op, and an 8 player battle of the bands multiplayer mode (4vs4). Activision revealed the Wii-exclusive Mii Freestyle mode, plus a host of European-specific tracks to be featured on-disc in all versions of the game.

Guitar Hero fans will channel their inner rock god, experience new features and content including a new multiplayer action-inspired battle mode, grueling boss battles, unlockable content and authentic rock venues. A few weeks back Roadrunner Records revealed three more DragonForce tracks (including the debut of the Heroes of Our Time single from its upcoming album) were coming to GH III, which Activision confirmed will be available on Aug. 21, 2008.

Aspyr has released a new patch for its PC port of Guitar Hero III, updating any earlier version to v1.31, but does not affect gameplay in any way, only resolves an Emulator Detected error that appears on some machines after applying the previous patch.

Guitar Hero fans will channel their inner rock god, experience new features and content including a new multiplayer action-inspired battle mode, grueling boss battles, unlockable content and authentic rock venues. The pack will include Flyleaf's Tina, Carcinogen Crush from hardcore-punk turned goth band, AFI, as well as a remix of Marilyn Manson’s Putting Holes In Happiness by Nick Zinner from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

Guitar Hero fans will channel their inner rock god, experience new features and content including a new multiplayer action-inspired battle mode, grueling boss battles, unlockable content and authentic rock venues. In case today's Virtuoso Track Pack doesn't make your fingers bleed yet, DragonForce's record label Roadrunner revealed that three more tracks (Heroes of Our Time, Operation Ground and Pound, Revolution Deathsquad) are coming on Aug. 21, 2008.

Guitar Hero fans will channel their inner rock god, experience new features and content including a new multiplayer action-inspired battle mode, grueling boss battles, unlockable content and authentic rock venues. On July 24 the Guitar Virtuoso Track Pack continues the rock experience with 3 fresh master tracks set to storm living rooms from Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and Buckethead.

At its E3 briefing Nintendo unveiled the previously announced enhancement for its Wiimote controller, as well as new installments in the Wii Sports franchise, the next Guitar Hero, Animal Crossings, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, and Wii Music.

Activision's next installment in the GH franchise will feature vocals, drums, the ability to create your own songs (and upload them on GHTunes), 4 player on/offline co-op, and an 8 player battle of the bands multiplayer mode (4vs4).

Apart from the Motorhead track pack released earlier today Activision will be rolling out a total of five new track packs for GH III. Available on June 12th, Isle of Wight pack will includes Kasabian’s master recording of Shoot the Runner, a live rendition of The Sex Pistols' Problems, and Kaiser Chief’s I Predict a Riot.

Activision has rolled out three new track for GH III. For 500 Microsoft points, fans will now be able to shred to (We are) The Road Crew, Stay Clean and Motörhead performed by Motörhead.

Fire up the fret board, crank the amp to 11 and get ready to rock this way with Guitar Hero: Aerosmith. Play through Aerosmith's career, bands they performed with, venues they played.

On May 17th, 13 year-old Grapevine native Daniel Johnson beat the Guinness World Record for high score on a single song for Guitar Hero III, by scoring 890,971 points while playing “Through the Fire and Flames” by Dragonforce at the Expert Level on his first attempt, 10,000 points more than the previous record.

As promised Activision announced the next installment in the GH franchise, Guitar Hero: World Tour for the PS2, Wii, PS3 and X360. Now with vocals, drums, the ability to create your own songs (and upload them on GHTunes), 4 player on/offline co-op, and an 8 player battle of the bands multiplayer mode (4vs4).

The 'Rock the Lake' Guitar Hero III tournament will offer more than $20,000 in cash and prizes to participants including a $10,000 grand prize for the tournament winner. Registration for the one-day tournament is free with a limit of 2,500 competitors.

Aspyr has released a new patch for its PC port of Guitar Hero III, which will update any earlier version to v1.3, optimizing performance, support for additional gfx cards, a battery and wifi meter for laptops.

At the Give It A Name Festival in London two gamers took to the main stage to play Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock in front of over 9,600 fans. The previous record was set at the Download Festival, Donington, in 2007, when the game was played in front of 3,000 people.

Known for their live performances and unique blend of rock music styles, British trio Muse is returning to Guitar Hero for an encore performance with next week's release of a three track downloadable song pack for Activision’s Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.

Activision has partnered with the Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation to host a Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock charity challenge benefiting seriously ill children and their families, where it will donate $1 for each participant who registers to play in the event, and $100 for every 1,000 points scored by the challenge’s highest individual score.

Activision has partnered with Def Leppard to bring an epic three-song track pack to Guitar Hero III that will give fans an exclusive opportunity to sample the band's upcoming radio single "Nine Lives," five days before their upcoming studio album Songs from the Sparkle Lounge releases on April, 29, 2008.

Sony has rolled out new PlayStation Store content, starting with Capcom's Rocketmen: Axis of Evil ($9.99), fl0w ($7.99) and Ape Escape: On the Loose ($14.99). Guitar Hero III: Modern Metal Track Pack (Avenged Sevenfold's Almost Easy, Thrice's The Arsonist, and Deftones' Hole in the earth, $6.25), Grateful Dead six-song pack (Casey Jones, Sugar Magnolia, Truckin, Franklin’s Tower, I Need A Miracle, and China Cat Sunflower, $1.99/$9.99). Apart from that, there was also a bunch of game/movie trailers and PS3 themes.