Prior to the inevitable Guitar Hero IV, Activision will be offering up an Aerosmith-inspired installment of the rock rhythm series, giving rock aficionados all across the globe the chance to perform as Joe Perry, Tom Hamilton, and Tom Whitford, with the other Toxic Twin, Steven Tyler, and drummer Joey Kramer playing their respective roles right alongside them. Courtesy of IGN, we’ve piled up a containerful of new information on the game, including details on downloadable content.

In spite of what you may bill the game as, be it a bare-bones spin-off or a pointless expansion of some sort, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith will in fact be a full-fledged standalone game. Yes, it will use the same graphics engine and the likes as Guitar Hero III, but will feature enough of its own content to stand on its own two proverbial feet. In addition to a plethora of Aerosmith tracks, dating back to the 70’s, the game will also sport a good share of non-Aerosmith songs. Here’s an example of how the venues will be structured:

Nipmuc High

• Dream Police - Cheap Trick
• All the Young Dudes (cover) - Mott the Hoople
• Make It - Aerosmith
• Uncle Salty - Aerosmith
• Draw the Line - Aerosmith

Max’s Kansas City

• I Hate Myself for Loving You - Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
• All Day and All of the Night (Cover) - The Kinks
• No Surprize - Aerosmith
• Sweet Emotion - Aerosmith
• Movin’ Out – Aerosmith

As hardcore fans know, Nipmuc High was where the band performed their first gig and Max’s Kansas City is the bar where the guys signed their first contract. Memorable events such as these will stretch out through the entirety of the game, coupled with occasional songs by the bands which Aerosmith have either performed with or been inspired by at some point throughout their long career. Aerosmith fans will be happy to know that only a couple of the 40 or so featured songs will be covers. Moreover, the band even re-recorded some of the tracks, though it’s not known which.

Unlike Guitar Hero III, the Aerosmith edition will pit you against only one boss (unknown for the time being). Another thing that hardcore Guitar Hero players will notice is that the co-op career mode is missing, however you will still be able to play and unlock songs cooperatively in the normal career. For those who were unable to endure the pain in the last stages of Guitar Hero III, Neversoft will be toning down the difficulty slightly to make the game more accessible.

As for the multiplayer, all the online modes found in Guitar Hero III will be making a comeback, except for the PS2 version which has never featured online play anyway. Shockingly, unlike its siblings, Aerosmith won’t have post-release downloadable content, nor will it be compatible with any of the Guitar Hero III downloadable tracks.

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is set for a June release on the PS3, PS2, Xbox 360, and Wii.