Yesterday Matt Bellamy and Muse became the latest rock act to cash in from the release a downloadable EP via the cultural video game phenomenon that is Guitar Hero. The three-pack includes Supermassive Blackhole, Exo-Politics and Stockholm Syndrome. The game phenomenon, at least for the millions of formerly frustrated air guitarists, represents one of the greatest music inventions of all time.

Since it's release in late 2005 Guitar Hero has sold 14 million copies in North America alone earning over a $1 billion.

Guitar Hero allows video gamers to "play along" to their favorite rock tracks using a plastic guitar-shaped console allowing them to live out their rock guitar-god fantasies without having to build up painful calluses on their fingers from having to learn how to play the real thing.

The game has provided a surprise windfall for many bands, like the Foo Fighters, No Doubt and Def Leppard that have their music featured in the videos and in a time when musicians are finding it difficult to sell their music due to online P2P piracy and file-sharing, revenues have all but dwindled as royalties vanished like the fog from a cheap dry ice machine.

The game has also increased the amount exposure for bands, as the number of downloads and views rocket from user generated content videos. Muse had already released Knights of Cydonia on Guitar Hero III and a YouTube video depicting an axe-weilding maniac rocking-out on expert level has had 1.5 million views alone!

Session musicians have enjoyed the success of the games too, once maligned to the back pages of the CD liner notes now they can take center stage as their riffs are enacted by fans around the globe.

Another unexpected benefit of the games success has been the huge increase in the number of youngsters signing up for guitar lessons, one major problem could be that once they find out how hard it is to play on a real guitar they may decide to revert to the video game version!