Guitar Hero III "perverts" song, says musician

American singer-songwriter Charlie Daniels has complained that Activision and RedOctane "violate the very essence" of one of his songs in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.

Daniels is the author of "The Devil Went Down to Georgia", for which the player takes on the devil himself in a Guitar Hero III face-off, and the fact the devil "very often wins" has upset Daniels immensely.

Apparently the song is "supposed to be a lighthearted novelty about a fiddling contest between a country boy and the devil and the devil always loses".

"I want any of you parents out there whose children have this game to know that I did not grant these people my permission to pervert my song and am disgusted with the result," Daniels wrote on his website.

Daniels apparently lost the rights to the song a while back, and had nothing to do with its inclusion of the game, admitting he doesn't know if he has any "legal resource".

"I would never grant permission for some company to create a video game version of a song I wrote in which the devil wins a contest and I'm sorely disappointed with the company who owns the copyright for not policing the situation," he wrote.

"As it is they have allowed these people to violate the very essence of the song."

He also had a message for parents: "This game looks innocent enough but if you have a child who is playing it, take the time to sit with him or her while they're playing along and take a serious look at the images on the screen."

We also have a message for parents: neither you or your child will get past Knights of Cydonia on Hard, so you might want to pick up Guitar Hero II at the same time.

We asked Activision for comment but haven't heard back yet.