With Courtney Love, the wife of deceased rocker Kurt Cobain threatening to sue over the singer's playable character role in 5, the publisher has today hit back - claiming they have all the rights needed for Cobain to appear in the game.

"Guitar Hero secured the necessary licensing rights from the Cobain estate in a written agreement signed by Courtney Love to use Kurt Cobain's likeness as a fully playable character in Guitar Hero 5," reads word from Activision to blog Kotaku.

Love spoke on earlier this week of her plans to "sue the s**t" out of Activision over the firm's use of Cobain - a statement which seems at odds with Activision's position.

It seems likely that this isn't going to go away anytime soon. We'll keep you posted.

By Luke Guttridge