Aerosmith Virtually Rocks Out

While Aerosmith might not have any dates on the books for the coming months, this summer the band will be rocking out in living rooms around the world following the recent release of the video game "Guitar Hero: Aerosmith."

The game is the first of the Activision Inc. franchise to focus on a single band as "Guitar Hero" and rival "Rock Band" previously featured tracks from artists like The Rolling Stones, Radiohead, Weezer, KISS and Nirvana.

"Guitar Hero: Aerosmith" lets the gamer play as animated members of the band true to members’ likenesses and signature stage moves, thanks to the band participating in motion-capture sessions, according to the Wall Street Journal. The game also includes songs from bands that have influenced Aerosmith, including The Clash and The Kinks.

The WSJ noted that a version of "Guitar Hero" starring Metallica is expected to be released within the next year and people familiar with the matter say Van Halen could get their own game as well. There’s also increasing noise that The Beatles, which have yet to release their catalog digitally, are also in discussions, according to the Financial Times.

"Guitar Hero," which was introduced in 2005, lets fans pound out the riffs by hitting colored buttons on a guitar-shaped plastic controller when the coordinating notes appear on their TV screen.

Last year, "Guitar Hero" sold more than 10.8 million copies and racked up $820 million in sales, a record for a single game property, according to industry tracker NPG Group.

Viacom’s MTV Networks, maker of "Rock Band," which includes drums, bass and a microphone in addition to the plastic mini guitar, sold more than 1.1 million copies of its game.

The first "Guitar Hero" releases included covers of famous songs by bands that sound almost true to the real deal, but the later versions of "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" include master recordings in exchange for artist royalties on sales of the games.

Aerosmith manager Irving Azoff told the Wall Street Journal that video game deals can be "much more lucrative than anything you can do in the record business."

Azoff said clients including Van Halen, Eagles, Steely Dan and Guns N’ Roses "all have deals of varying types in the works" with the games.

The paper noted that bands can receive millions of dollars up front plus a generous royalty on sales. A person close to Aerosmith reportedly said the band expects to make more money from the game than from any of its studio albums.

Video games can also provide a nice bump to traditional music sales. After "Guitar Hero 3" was released in fall 2007, which included Aerosmith’s tune "Same Old Song and Dance," sales of the track shot up 130 percent by the following week, according to Activision.