Activision today unveiled Guitar Hero World Tour, a new game in the GH franchise that is taking aim directly at MTV Games’ Rock Band by including support for a drum kit and microphone. The game will take it one step further, as well, shipping with a Music Studio that lets players create, record, edit and share their own songs.
Just for good measure, Guitar Hero World Tour will also support an online Band Career and eight-player Battle of the Bands mode.
The new drum kit and mic are the biggest news, considering the game is still called Guitar Hero. Activision has designed a new wireless guitar specifically for the game, as well as a wireless microphone, but the company has clearly focused on the drums, as Guitar Hero World Tour’s electronic drum kit will feature three drum pads, two raised cymbals and a bass kick pedal. Activision says its new Guitar Hero drum controller “combines larger and quieter, velocity-sensitive drum heads with soft rubber construction to deliver authentic bounce back.” The game publisher also indicated they’re focusing on easy setup and break down for mobile bands.
The licensed songs in Guitar Hero World Tour are comprised entirely of master recordings from bands such as Van Halen, Linkin Park, The Eagles and Sublime. In other words, it spans generations of music. Activision also plans to offer more localized downloadable music — and on all three next-generation consoles (PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii).
With regard to the music, however, the biggest news is clearly the new Music Studio, which will let players use a full music-editing suite of tools to create digital music from scratch — utilizing all of the instruments, no less — and then play their compositions in the game.
Would-be composers can also share their recordings online through GHTunes, where other gamers can download their unique compositions and then play them for themselves.
Guitar Hero World Tour will include all of the online gameplay modes from Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, as well as a new Battle of the Bands mode that lets eight players join online and challenge each other band-to-band. In the Band modes, up to four players can jam together online or offline as they progress through the game.
In the single-player Career Mode, players can jam on any of the instruments in branching venue progression enabling them to rock out in the order of their choice.
DailyGame will have much more on Guitar Hero World Tour as information and artwork becomes available.