This morning, one of your Vulture editors took a rare step away from his computer to go see a demo of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, the latest forthcoming iteration of the internationally beloved Guitar Hero video-game series. GH:A is the first version dedicated to a single artist, elegantly retelling the story of Aerosmith's career through the music of Aerosmith (about 60 percent of the playable songs are theirs, the rest are by their favorite bands). Steven Tyler & Co. submitted to an intense motion-capture process to ensure that their digital avatars (see above) look and move exactly as they do onstage, and, after seeing the game on a large-screen high-definition television set, we're pleased to report that their characters look at least as lifelike as the actual members of Aerosmith. As we probably should've expected, the game's awesome. Needless to say, this terrifies us to no end.

A few months ago, we decided to see what all the fuss was about, so we picked up a copy of Guitar Hero III. As a result, our iPod is now full of nothing but Slipknot and DragonForce. Unlike most video games, Guitar Hero's biggest danger isn't a change in one's personal productivity or a desensitization to violence — it's a change in one's listening habits and a desensitization to the discography of Scorpions (whom we now love); something about the flashing lights and repetitive hand-eye-coordination exercises has turned us into involuntary fans of pretty much GH III's entire soundtrack. We like Aerosmith, we suppose; we just haven't thought much about them since 1993. And now, already, we're looking for Get a Grip on Soulseek and trying to dislodge the melody from "Kings and Queens" from our brain. Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is out on June 29, and we'd suggest you enjoy these last remaining days of only half-appreciating Permanent Vacation.