Activision, Inc. today announced that Grammy Award-winning guitarist Tom Morello, from Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave and the Nightwatchman, will guest star as a boss character in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, providing guitar heroes the chance to shred with the music icon. Morello was listed as #26 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.”

"Whenever I play Guitar Hero my opponent always kicks my ass on my own riffs. It’s embarrassing,” said Morello. “Now that I’m actually IN the game I hope the digital me will win once in awhile!"

“We are thrilled to have two guitar icons of our generation on board to be bosses in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock,” said Tim Riley, worldwide executive of music. “Both Morello and Slash went into the studio and created mind-blowing original recordings designed to be challenging for even the expert players.”

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock boss battles give fans a chance to compete against legendary guitarists such as Slash and now Tom Morello. Players are required to deplete the boss’ Rock Meter before the boss goes into their Death Drain solo, which always means ‘lights-out.’ After defeating a boss, players unlock that guitarist as a playable character and continue to the encore for the set list, which is a master recording of one of their respective bands’ most well-known tracks. When Morello is defeated, the next performance is “Bulls on Parade,” during which Morello performs on stage alongside the player.

“Bulls on Parade” features one of Morello’s most famous guitar riffs and a highly unusual solo that sounds more like a turntable than a guitar by making use of the toggle switch and rubbing his hand along the strings parallel to the neck of the guitar. Now, fans have the chance to emulate some of Morello’s extremely innovative guitar playing antics.

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, published by RedOctane and developed by Neversoft, is rated T for Teen by the ESRB and will be available starting October 28, 2007.