WOW song coming to GHIII

As Activision and Blizzard prepare to merge, we get the first sign of what executives likes to call 'synergy' between their businesses: a World of Warcraft-themed song distributed as a free downloadable on Guitar Hero III.

(That's if you don't count The Bard, an April fool so good it's worth repeating here.)

The song is I Am Murloc, a tongue-in-cheek heavy-metal paean to the lowliest and most ridiculous of WOW's monsters, the Murloc fish-men. It will be available for the 360 and PS3 versions of GHIII from today, to mark this weekend's Blizzard World Wide Invitational event in Paris.

It's written and performed by Level 70 Elite Tauren Chieftain, the Blizzard house band formed from the company's executives and talent, including president Mike Morhaime on bass and colourful art director Samwise Didier on vocals.

I Am Murloc joins the Halo and God of War themes as a free Guitar Hero III download, while Rock Band owners can enjoy Still Alive, Portal's memorable closing ballad.

World of Warcraft and Guitar Hero have taken over the gaming world between them in the last four years; the former has 10 million players and takes tens of millions of dollars in subscriptions every month, while the latter has sold nearly 20 million copies and earned a billion dollars for Activision in the US alone.

Soon they will be owned by the same company. A sobering thought, but console yourself with the idea that it might mean the Bard happens after all.