Guitar Hero World Tour introduces Battle of the Bands

Guitar Hero World Tour allows eight players to join online and challenge each other band-to-band to determine who is the best of the best.

Activision, Inc. has unveiled the Guitar Hero World Tour, the latest installment from its video game franchise, will transform music gaming by marrying Guitar Hero's exhilarating guitar gameplay, with a cooperative band experience that combines the most advanced wireless instruments with revolutionary new online and offline gameplay modes.

Guitar Hero will feature a slick newly redesigned guitar, a genuine electronic drum kit and a microphone, as well as an innovative Music Studio music creator that lets players compose, record, edit and share their own rock and roll anthems, along with online Band Career and 8-player "Battle of the Bands."

The Guitar Hero World Tour is comprised entirely of master recordings from classic and modern rock bands such as Halen, Linkin Park, The Eagles, Sublime and others.

"Guitar Hero has set the standard for music-based gaming and with Guitar Hero World Tour and the game's groundbreaking Music Studio, we are once again delivering unprecedented innovation that has the potential to revolutionize consumer generated music, much in the same way that video sharing hubs have driven user generated video," said Dusty Welch, Head of Publishing for RedOctane.

In addition to a newly designed more responsive guitar controller and microphone, Guitar Hero World Tour will deliver the most realistic drum experience ever in a video game with an authentic electronic drum kit. Featuring three drum pads, two raised cymbals and a bass kick pedal, the drum controller combines larger and quieter, velocity-sensitive drum heads with soft rubber construction to deliver authentic bounce back and is easy to set up, move, break down and store.

In the Band modes, up to four players can jam together, online or off, as they progress through the game, and in 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.

The game's innovative new Music Studio lets players express their musical creativity by giving them access to a full complement of tools to create digital music from scratch, using all of the instruments, and then play their compositions in the game.

Music creators will also be able to share their recordings with their friends online through GHTunes where other gamers can download their unique compositions and play them.

Guitar Hero World Tour is being developed by Neversoft Entertainment for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 (PS3). The Wii version is being developed by Vicarious Visions.