There was a time when I loved the Guitar Hero series. Like, obsessively so. In a pre-Rock Band world, with Harmonix working with Activision, Guitar Hero was where it was at. I played Guitar Hero and GH2 constantly on the PS2, working my way up the difficulties, and when I bought a 360, I played through GH2 all over again. For me, Guitar Hero 3 was when things really took a nosedive, and it wasn't just because Harmonix had moved on to make Rock Band. The whole "Legends of Rock" thing, the boss battles, it just felt kind of wrong. Last year, it seemed like the series might be getting back on track with Guitar Hero 5, which was the best full-band GH game to date. This year, however, Activision is going in a different direction, with Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock.

Guided by the voice of Gene Simmons from KISS, players will journey from famed rock club CBGBs to "the molten lava fields of rock treachery". As you can see in the trailer above, the classic Guitar Hero characters will be undergoing a transformation of sorts, because I guess that makes them more rock and roll. The press release also noted the first songs off the setlist, as follows:

• AFI - "Dancing Through Sunday"
• Avenged Sevenfold - "Bat Country"
• Black Sabbath - "Children Of The Grave"
• Buzzcocks - "What Do I Get?"
• Children Of Bodom - "If You Want Peace... Prepare For War"
• The Cure - "Fascination Street"
• Def Leppard - "Pour Some Sugar On Me (Live)"
• Dethklok - "Bloodlines"
• DragonForce - "Fury of the Storm"
• Drowning Pool - "Bodies"
• Foo Fighters - "No Way Back"
• Foreigner - "Feels Like The First Time"
• Jane's Addiction - "Been Caught Stealing"
• KISS - "Love Gun"
• Megadeth - "Sudden Death"
• Metallica & Ozzy Osbourne - "Paranoid (Live)"
• Muse - "Uprising"
• My Chemical Romance - "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)"
• Queen - "Bohemian Rhapsody"
• Rammstein - "Waidmanns Heil"
• The Rolling Stones - "Stray Cat Blues"
• Silversun Pickups - "There's No Secrets This Year"
• Slayer - "Chemical Warfare"
• ZZ Top - "Sharp Dressed Man (Live)"

Admittedly, there are some good tunes listed there, particularly "Bohemian Rhapsody", which has long been missing from music games. I was a bit disturbed when I reached the end of the list and found "Sharp Dressed Man", a song that was already in the first Guitar Hero game. Sure, this is a live master version, but really? Have we run out of songs already, in only five years? If it was DLC I'd be totally fine with it, but I take issue with putting a song on a Guitar Hero disc already available on disc in another game.

My first instinct is to dismiss Warriors of Rock as kind of dumb. Firstly, it reminds me too much of GHIII, and secondly, it sounds a lot like the game that Activision (allegedly) wanted to make Brutal Legend into. The fact that Activision fired a lot of staffers at developer Neversoft earlier in the year also makes me wary of anything to come out of that studio. Of course, I've been wrong before, and it could happen again. No date was listed in the press release, but I think we can all assume fall or winter 2010 is a safe bet. If you want to read more about what Gene Simmons has to say, the full press release is below.

SANTA MONICA, Calif., June 4, 2010 /PRNewswire via COMTEX News Network/ -- This fall, living room legends and their friends will join together and embark on an epic rock journey to save rock n' roll with Activision Publishing, Inc.'s (Nasdaq: ATVI) Guitar Hero(R): Warriors of Rock. The latest installment in the world's most popular music game series, Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, will once again redefine music gaming with an all-new, story-driven Quest Mode, a completely redesigned rock-inspired guitar controller, the biggest on-disc selection of rock music ever in a Guitar Hero(R) game and Quickplay+, which invites challenge-starved fanatics to test their rock skills in any of the on-disc or over 500 songs in the Guitar Hero Music Library.

Running on the powerful Guitar Hero engine that has been expanded and refined, coupled with the return of the critically-acclaimed and fan favorite features like Party Play's jump in/jump out gameplay, a host of Competitive modes and the ability to play any combination of guitar, bass, drums and vocals, Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock offers the complete interactive and connected experience bringing friends and foes to the stage in the ultimate rock music adventure.

"Guitar Hero has set the standard for music based gaming and with Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock's all-new Quest Mode, robust and authentic set list, over-the-top challenges and rock-inspired new hardware, we are once again bringing the soul and energy of rock n' roll to fans around the world," said David Haddad, Chief Operating Officer, Guitar Hero.

In Quest Mode, using any combination of instruments, players will embark on a larger-than-life, epic rock journey from the stage of CBGBs, the infamous punk-rock club in New York City, to the molten lava fields of rock treachery as eight Guitar Hero characters transform into rock warriors that must join together to use their unique, game-changing powers to help the Demi-God of Rock take down "The Beast" and save rock n' roll.

"The world is a boring place. Come with me, and enter a world populated of Demi-Gods and Beasts. Transform from an everyday person and become the savior of rock and roll," said Gene Simmons of KISS. "It was an honor and privilege to narrate Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, even more so, to voice the Demi God. From the God of Thunder to the Demi-God, how cool is that..."

Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock breathes new life into gamers' current Guitar Hero music libraries providing literally hundreds of hours of replayability with the introduction of Quickplay+, which features 13 totally unique gameplay challenges for every on-disc track as well as most downloadable and importable songs from Guitar Hero(R) World Tour forward. Gamers will complete challenges such as Band Streak, High Score and Power Challenge, which allows players to choose any two warrior powers they have unlocked to try and earn ridiculously high scores, to rank up and unlock more rewards and content than ever before. All-new Challenge Leaderboards have been created in order to capture the outrageous scores that are capable with Quickplay+.

Delivering the largest on-disc rock music set list to-date, Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock features more than 90 tracks that include guitar shredding hits from bands such as Black Sabbath, Megadeth and Slipknot and larger than life anthems from Queen, Muse and KISS. Additionally, Dave Mustaine of Megadeth wrote and recorded "Sudden Death," an original track for the game, which was inspired by Quest Mode's storyline. Along with original songs, the set list also includes special re-records by famous artists and tracks from bands that are making their music video game debut. The first songs off of Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock's set list to be revealed are:

AFI - "Dancing Through Sunday"
Avenged Sevenfold - "Bat Country"
Black Sabbath - "Children Of The Grave"
Buzzcocks - "What Do I Get?"
Children Of Bodom - "If You Want Peace... Prepare For War"
The Cure - "Fascination Street"
Def Leppard - "Pour Some Sugar On Me (Live)"
Dethklok - "Bloodlines"
DragonForce - "Fury of the Storm"
Drowning Pool - "Bodies"
Foo Fighters - "No Way Back"
Foreigner - "Feels Like The First Time"
Jane's Addiction - "Been Caught Stealing"
KISS - "Love Gun"
Megadeth - "Sudden Death"
Metallica & Ozzy Osbourne - "Paranoid (Live)"
Muse - "Uprising"
My Chemical Romance - "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)"
Queen - "Bohemian Rhapsody"
Rammstein - "Waidmanns Heil"
The Rolling Stones - "Stray Cat Blues"
Silversun Pickups - "There's No Secrets This Year"
Slayer - "Chemical Warfare"
ZZ Top - "Sharp Dressed Man (Live)"
To maximize players' shredability, Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock delivers the next evolution in finger-fretting with an all-new, show-stopping guitar controller that was inspired and born from the game's unique art style and specifically made for shredding.

Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock is being developed by Neversoft Entertainment for the Xbox 360(R) video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and the PlayStation(R)3 computer entertainment system and by Vicarious Visions for the Wii(TM) system from Nintendo. The game is rated "T" (Teen - Lyrics, Mild Fantasy Violence and Mild Suggestive Themes) for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The Wii version is not yet rated by the ESRB. For more information about Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, please visit GuitarHero.com.