In a recent article on IGN.com Tim Riley, The Head of Music Licensing at Activision expressed that the PS3, 360 and Wii version of Guitar Hero 5 will be the first in the series to enable forward compatibility; Meaning that both Guitar Hero Wold Tour and Smash Hits songs will be playable on Guitar Hero 5. The current set lists on said titles will be importable at a fee that has yet to be announced. Currently 152 out of the 158 Guitar Hero Guitar Hero World Tour Downloadable tracks will automatically be playable with Guitar Hero 5. All of the songs that you import to Guitar Hero 5 will be upgraded to work with some of the new features that will be in GH5 such as Band Moments and Vocal Star Power.

Tim Riley was asked about the licensing at Activision and he had this to say:

“It’s something we’ve wanted to do for a while now. They are separate licenses, so we need to go back and re-license previous content. So, songs from World Tour, songs from the download space, songs from Smash Hits that will technically work in Guitar Hero 5 and Band Hero had to be renegotiated…We didn’t want to do it for a couple songs. We wanted to do it for a couple hundred songs. So we have a lot cleared and we’re in the process of clearing a lot more.”

Tim was asked if the forward compatibility would work from here on out and he replied by saying:
“I wish there was an easy answer, but that’s the idea.”

This is great news for fans of the Guitar Hero series, no more disc swapping to play your favorite songs such as, “Hot for Teacher” without ever leaving your couch!. You know who you are!