Green Day to star in music game

(AFP PHOTO DDP / POOL / RAINER JENSEN)

American pop-punk trio Green Day are set to star in their own video game following the announcement that Green Day: Rock Band will be released in June this year.

The band, which shot to fame in 1994 with hit singles "Basket Case" and "When I Come Around" from their third album Dookie, have gone on to shift 22.5 million records in the USA, making them one of the world's top 100 selling artists, equal with Jimi Hendrix and just 2.5 million behind Nirvana.

Dookie was the group's first record for Warner Bros subsiduary Reprise Records and, as Warner looks to cross-promote their artists and assets, the news that Green Day are making their way into the popular music game genre will surprise few industry insiders following The Beatles' own Rock Band game and AC/DC's AC/DC Live: Rock Band Track Pack.

Rival music game publisher Activision has also been making headway with band-specific versions of their Guitar Hero games, with Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, Metallica, and Van Halen all coming out in the last three years.