Activision is now printing their own money it would seem. Guitar Hero Greatest Hits has gotten a name change to Guitar Hero Smash Hits.

"Featuring 48 master tracks from Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero II, Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s and Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, Guitar Hero Smash Hits includes some of the most famous Guitar Hero songs playable with guitar only for the first time as a full band."

So basically they’ve taken content which you already own and instead of giving you a way to import it into the newer version of the game so you can play it as a whole band, they’re selling you an entirely new game. What a great idea! It’s like paying twice for the same stuff and, wait, that’s a terrible idea from the gamer’s perspective. So what’s happening basically is that gamers are paying for Activision’s shortsightedness. It truly is like printing money with the Guitar Hero logo on it sometimes.

So why not make the tracks available for the newer versions of the game instead of creating an entirely new game? Well I can see that there might have been some licensing issues. The songs were probably originally licensed for a guitar-only game. Now they need to pay the music industry more money for full band capabilities. That’s one possibility, and it’s a logical assumption considering that the music industry was up in arms about not being paid enough for the music. The music that the artists create, that Activision used and that the recording labels....labeled.

So maybe it’s not Activision’s fault. I’ve contacted them to get some information about their approach to the matter. I’ve nabbed the game’s box shots and here are a few select screens that have been released.

GDN will update you on what Activision says in regards to Guitar Hero Smash Hits DLC, importing and more...just as soon as we hear back from them.