Guitar Hero rocks out soundtrack

Though it won't be time to "drop the hammer," show the "horns," or smash the fender into the stage until this fall, publisher Red Octane released a partial list of songs that will be included in the upcoming rhythm game Guitar Hero. The game is currently being developed for the PlayStation 2 by Harmonix Music, the company behind the rhythm games Amplitude and Frequency.

Guitar Hero, which will come packaged with a special guitar-shaped controller, challenges wannabe rock stars to thrash to some of rock's most classic tunes. Like in dancing rhythm games, a sequencer will show gamers which frets to play and when to strum. The better the score, the more the cyber-crowd will rock out and the closer gamers will come to being a legend.

The songs in the game aren't the actual songs but rather covers made specifically for the game itself. A partial list of the songs is below (Artist/Song Title):

-- Red Hot Chili Peppers - Higher Ground
-- Boston - More Than a Feeling
-- Megadeth - Symphony of Destruction
-- The Donnas - Take it Off
-- Jimi Hendrix - Spanish Castle Magic
-- ZZ Top - Sharp Dressed Man
-- Black Sabbath - Iron Man
-- White Zombie - Thunderkiss 65
-- Queens of the Stone Age - No One Knows
-- David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust
-- The Ramones - I Wanna Be Sedated
-- Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out
-- Deep Purple - Smoke on the Water
-- Cream - Crossroads
-- Sum 41 - Fat Lip

For more information on Guitar Hero, which stage-dived off with GameSpot's award for Best Puzzle/Rhythm Game of E3 2005, check out the previous coverage. To see the game in action, check out last week's edition of GameSpot's weekly show, On the Spot.