With the series a success beyond belief, Activision has officially announced that the PS2 edition of Guitar Hero has finally gone gold and is in full production. Guitar Hero Encore: Rock the 80s is the third installment in the franchise and fans are expecting the same great success.

Activision already secured all rights to have original songs and original artists used in the game. Guitar Hero: Rock the 80s is a PS2 exclusive and has an official release date of July 24, but many fans will be disappointed to hear the bad news. This is Harmonix's last Guitar Hero title, as it is now working on Rock Band. Future Guitar Hero titles, including GHIII for all major platforms, is in development by Neversoft, creators of the famous Tony Hawk series.

Along with this announcement Activision also released the final song list that will be included in Guitar Hero: Rock the 80’s and are as follows:

Newly announced tracks:

"Caught in a Mosh" (as made famous by Anthrax)
"Balls to the Wall" (as made famous by Accept)
"Electric Eye" (by Judas Priest)
"Los Angeles" (as made famous by X)
"Police Truck" (as made famous by Dead Kennedys)
"We Got the Beat" (as made famous by The Go Go's)
"(I Think I'm) Turning Japanese" (as made famous by Vapors)
"Seventeen" (as made famous by Winger)
"Because, it's Midnite" (by Limozeen)

Previously announced tracks:

"Hold On Loosely" (as made famous by .38 Special)
"No One Like You" (as made famous by Scorpions)
"Only a Lad" (as made famous by Oingo Boingo)
"Ballroom Blitz" (as made famous by Krokus)
"The Warrior" (by Scandal)
"What I Like About You" (as made famous by The Romantics)
"Wrath Child" (as made famous by Iron Maiden)
"I Wanna Rock" (by Twisted Sister)
"I Ran" (by Flock of Seagulls)
"Round and Round" (as made famous by Ratt)
"Metal Health" (as made famous by Quiet Riot)
"Holy Diver" (as made famous by Dio)
"Heat Of The Moment" (as made famous by Asia)
"Radar Love" (as made famous by White Lion)
"18 and Life" (as made famous by Skid Row)
"Bathroom Wall" (as made famous by Faster Pussycat)
"Lonely is the Night" (as made famous by Billy Squier)
"Nothing But a Good Time" (as made famous by Poison)
"Play With Me" (as made famous by Extreme)
"Shaken" (as made famous by Eddie Money)
"Synchronicity II" (as made famous by The Police)

With this game finally hitting shelves we may be seeing more info about Guitar Hero III soon.