As you may have already read by now, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is under development and expected to be released this summer. If you're worried that Aerosmith might bastardize the game renowned for bastardizing so many of our favorite songs, you can take solace in the fact that Aerosmith has been here before.

In 1994, the video game Revolution X was released, transporting gamers to the near future, when a corporate alliance known as the New Order Nation (NON) has taken over the United States government and, for some reason, placed a nationwide ban on television, music and video games. Also, NON has kidnapped Aerosmith, and it's your job to rescue the "Bad Boys from Boston." Having declared war on youth culture, it's only natural that NON holds hostage a band that had peaked about two decades earlier.

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith has a plot based more in reality. Basically, you play the band's songs in chronological order, reliving Aerosmith's illustrious career along with cartoonish versions of Steven Tyler and Joe Perry.

(An aside: the Wikipedia entry for Guitar Hero: Aerosmith specifically mentions the fact that the game does not focus at all on the notorious "internal strife within the band." Honestly, though, what game would you rather play: the one where you stumble through "Dude (Looks Like a Lady)" a few dozen times and unlock Aerosmith's rhythm guitarist, or the one where you bicker over creative control, do copious amounts of hard drugs, call everyone else a sellout, and then hit on all their girlfriends? How is nobody on this yet? Game developers: get to work.)

Anyway, while there are bands that were inspired in some way by video games (like the Ataris) and even a genre of music known as Nintendocore, only a few artists have attempted to parlay their musical vigor into the virtual world. Let us examine some of the most notable.

Revolution X

Somewhat paradoxically, the game is supposed to be a "dystopian vision of 1996," but it also features a world in which all the members of Aerosmith have been kidnapped. Game developer Midway and I apparently have very different definitions of the word "dystopian." Also, you have a gun, but throwing CDs at your enemies does far more damage for some reason.

Shaq Fu

Shaquille O'Neal is inarguably one of the best centers in NBA history, but his name will always be marred by taking part in two of the saddest trends to befall athletes of the past few decades: licensed crossover video games and embarrassing music careers. Though O'Neal probably isn't the worst culprit when it comes to the musical endeavors (Deion Sanders, your legacy is safe), Shaq Fu is widely considered one of the worst fighting games ever made.

Michael Jackson's Moonwalker

It should be hard to pick the funniest part of a game that includes a drug dealer named Mr. Big armed with a giant laser on the moon and a feature that allows the King of Pop to destroy his enemies with high energy dance routines. In reality, it's no contest: Jackson's main objective throughout the game is to rescue kidnapped children. That sound you just heard was every late night talk show host in the country collectively having a brain aneurysm.

50 Cent: Bulletproof

I know it's a real stretch to believe a story about 50 Cent going around looking for vengeance against the hitmen that tried to murder him, but if you can suspend your disbelief just enough, you can see this game for what it really is: pure garbage. Oh, and 50 claims it's educational, because by showing what gang life is really like, the game might act a deterrent. Because, you know, so many people seem to miss the association between "gangs" and "violence."

KISS: Psycho Circus - The Nightmare Child

I know what you're thinking: "Since when did KISS take part in commercial ventures that seemed to champion financial gain over any sort of artistic merit?" Perhaps a better question would be: "How many KISS fans owned a Sega Dreamcast?"

Def Jam Vendetta

Arguably the most successful title on this list, both financially and critically, the Def Jam Vendetta wrestling franchise has released four titles featuring dozens of different hip-hop artists. Honestly, the only complaint I can really offer is the fact it uses basically the same fighting engine as WCW vs. nWo: World Tour (as well as practically every other game ever developed by AKI). To date, World Tour has the highest "how much I played it in junior high to how much I actually enjoyed it" ratio.

Journey

At any given time in this country, there's a cover band somewhere playing "Don't Stop Believin'." The same artistic geniuses responsible for that barroom anthem turned their creativity toward the arcade in 1983 (and, obviously, spent an equal amount of imagination on the title). Journey, at one point, was apparently fully intent on cornering the market on "things only drunk people would enjoy."

Omikron: The Nomad Soul

Maybe a bit of a reach, but David Bowie had a couple of cameos in this sci-fi adventure game and input on the game's story and design. What isn't a reach is the fact that something David Bowie-related takes place in a futuristic city on the planet of Phaenon.