This week marked the debut of a second contender in the full-band-simulator genre. It's hard to find a review for Guitar Hero: World Tour that utters Rock Band less than a half dozen times. Comparatively, the 87 mean score for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions are 5 points lower than Rock Band 2's average. Of course, for the European gamers and PS2 / Wii owners worldwide who still don't have Rock Band 2, you're not left with much choice.

• 1UP (A-): "Maybe if I squeeze my Rock Band and Guitar Hero together and leave them overnight in the same case, I can come back the next morning to find that they made an über-game that combines the best of both. But until then, Guitar Hero delivers exactly the things I want out of a rhythm game: great peripherals and fun-to-play music. It's not perfect, but I have a great time whenever I turn it on -- and that's what's most important."
• EuroGamer (90/100): "Were Rock Band 2 on the market today, the decision would be more difficult, as the gap between instrument quality would be reduced and the software battle would go in Rock Band 2's favour. But it isn't on the market, we don't know when it will be, and its new guitars and drums aren't so wildly different or superior to justify waiting. And by the time it is available, Harmonix may discover that the tables have turned, and that Rock Band 2 is competing for money "As spent happily on" this instead."
• Official Xbox Magazine (85/100): "World Tour is a big leap in content and polish over last year's game, but we're disappointed by a few unsatisfying creative calls. The extended song endings aren't always enhancements, the unlockable gear doesn't match the effort put forth to earn it, and we prefer Rock Band 2's looser career-unlock structure. Most of all, Rock Band 2 simply feels more musical and organic; we get the suspicion that some World Tour songs had notes added to their charts simply to make them trickier, and not because the music suggested it."
• IGN (79/100): "Guitar Hero World Tour is a fun title, to be sure, but it's also a disappointment in a lot of respects. A number of things it tries to accomplish were already done better in Rock Band, which you might figure would have provided a simple blueprint to be followed and expanded upon, but that's not the case. The music creation tools are a great idea in theory, but the end result isn't as robust as I would have hoped it would be, both in terms of abilities as well as the songs that come out the other end."

Ready to "beat it" with fire-lit butterfly wings? (Note to self: That came out wrong.) The latest issue of Stuff Magazine (via Guitar Hero Community) has a Guitar Hero World Tour preview, which lists nine confirmed tracks and five more confirmed artists. Although we already knew a few of those songs, five of them are new, including The Doors' "Light My Fire," Smashing Pumpkins' "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" and -- yes, really -- Michael Jackson's "Beat It."

Additionally, two of the listed artists with "unknown" track contributions already have confirmed songs (Foo Fighters' "Everlong" and Van Halen's "Hot for Teacher"). Newcomers include Muse, Beastie Boys and Nirvana. We've compiled a list of confirmed GHWT tracks after the break.

We hope you weren't excited by the supposed Guitar Hero World Tour set list that was 'leaked' yesterday. Activision and Red Octane have made it known that the list, which included artists like Tool and The Doors, is a fake. A representative informed Game Informer (see what we did there?) that while some of the songs on the list will make it into the game, namely Van Halen's "Hot for Teacher," the majority of the list is "wishful thinking and pure speculation."

But hey, we know it will have "Hot for Teacher," right? That counts for something. Now all we have to do is get Activision to confirm the rest of the set list ... one song at a time.

[Via Joystiq]

That Xbox marketing survey just keeps on giving: a slide on Guitar Hero 4 presents a $180 pricetag for now-gen consoles, $170 for PS2 including all instruments. Just the software? They're asking $60 for 360 and PS3 versions, and $50 for their lower-def cousins. A handful of artists are also name-dropped – Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, Foo Fighters, Smashing Pumpkins, Korn, System of a Down, Ozzy Osbourne, Interpol, Muse ... "and dozens more" – but what we're really interested in is this bit about an "all new wireless guitar controller with the first-ever touch-sensitive neck slide." We snuck a peek at the brandless guitar in the game's trailer and, though touch-sensiitive reads to us like "no buttons" – a claim that's as worrisome as it is intriguing – it certainly appears to have buttons in the pic above. So maybe just something below the buttons then, y'know, for solos and whatnot?

Of course, pricing information is always subject to change (read: let's wait to see what Rock Band 2 costs) and this survey doesn't include the game's "World Tour" subtitle so we're not entirely sold on the veracity of this information. Again, all eyes towards E3 where all will be revealed (we assume).

Activision made Guitar Hero: Rock Band Edition World Tour official today, confirming the details leaked from the current issue of Game Informer. World Tour will feature an all-master track cast, filled with previously named acts like Van Halen, Linkin Park, and The Eagles, plus today's confirmation of Sublime and "many more." The announcement also highlights the "Music Studio" mode (create-a-song), which allows players to "compose, record, edit and share music," and the 8-player "Battle of the Bands" mode.

World Tour will also feature so-called "new state of the art wireless instruments" (as sorta seen yesterday), meaning mom won't trip over the coil of wires when she walks in front of the TV and totally destroys the rock mojo; and the still curious, but ambitious sounding promise to add "significantly more localized downloadable music than ever before on all of the next-generation consoles." Yep, that includes the Wii version (developed by Vicarious Visions). Activision confirms that World Tour will be the "first game ever in the Guitar Hero franchise to allow in-game downloadable content on Wii" -- just make sure your SD card is inserted.

We'd like to extend a thanks to reader John M, who heeded our call for a new Guitar Hero IV image. Who better to replace Skeletor with than The Most Powerful Man in the Universe himself. Check out our highlights for today:

Joystiquery
Joystiq interview: GameTrailers EIC sets record straight on GRID controversy

News
Viva Piñata, Scene It? sequels revealed by Microsoft
Banjo-Kazooie 3 screens flood the net
'Lips' and 'Ninja Blade' also revealed, speculate away!
New games this week: We Ski edition?
WiiWare live, no Virtual Console update this week
Rockstar's Houser talks EA takeover
OMGS4: Guns of the Patriots gets its first 10
This Wednesday: Assault Heroes 2 shoots everything on XBLA
Pitfall Wii-vived for 'The Big Adventure'
GTA IV has 40% attach rate with new Xbox 360s, says Microsoft
GameTrailers compares PS3 GRID to 'PS3' GRID
Burnout 'Bogart' update barrels back to Live
Metal Gear Solid 4's Kojima explains PS3 comments
GameStop GTA IV data: 360 easily outsells PS3, not per console though
LucasArts planning demo for The Force Unleashed
See first screens of Skate It on Wii and DS
Agetec shows kid-friendly PS2 love in Falling Stars

Rumors & Speculation
Strong Bad could eventually check mail on Xbox Live, PSN
Pachter predicts PS3 beat Xbox 360 in April
Rumor: Microsoft's 'Lips' is an Xbox accessory
Rumor: Game Informer talks Guitar Hero IV's drums, create-a-track mode
Rumor: Sega publishing Platinum Games ... games

Culture & Community
Miyamoto: 'America has always been better at creating unique products'
For the Horde! BlizzCon 2008 invades Anaheim Oct. 10-11
NYC game development community slowly growing

Here we go again. Every month, someone gets an early copy of a gaming magazine, posts the highlights in a forum post, and we run it as a rumor until we can confirm its veracity. And again, we can't confirm this information, but a Neo GAF poster has claimed to already receive a copy of the latest Game Informer, the cover story being Guitar Hero IV.

Here's the alleged information. Guitar Hero IV features the requisite Rock Band features: drums, vocals, bass, guitar and create-a-rocker. Additionally (and most interestingly), there will be the option to create your own song tracks. Although vocals are excluded, all other tracks can be made and uploaded to GH Tunes for sharing and rating. We're not sure how this will apply to songs not in the game, given copyright concerns, but color us intrigued.

All songs will reportedly be master tracks, and four bands have been confirmed: Van Halen, Eagles, Linking Park and Van Halen. Is this the "significant leap" mentioned by Activision last week? Until we can obtain a copy to verify, consider this a rumor.

Activision is planning to innovate the Guitar Hero franchise. In a conference call yesterday, Publishing CEO Mike Griffith said, "For the holiday, we will provide a significant leap forward in innovation for Guitar Hero worldwide, on all platforms." That includes PlayStation 3, PS2, Xbox 360, Wii and DS. Griffith also said that more information will be provided "in the coming weeks."

We wonder if this has anything to do with those recent rumors about Guitar Hero IV going multi-instrumental. Guess we'll find out soon.

If what Activision's Bobby Kotick has stated in the latest issue of Conde Nast Portfolio magazine is true, then "Guitar Hero" could soon become a misnomer for the series. Guitar Hero IV could be branching out to "include a lot of other instruments, [and] vocals". Not a bad idea, except it's been done before.

Judging from Guitar Hero III's low quality controller build and its lackluster downloadable content, we don't really expect Guitar Hero IV to be much of a Rock Band beater. Especially when you consider Harmonix' superior ability to create note charts. Who knows though, maybe Neversoft will feature an instrument not currently available in Rock Band - that's the only real way we can see the franchise becoming relevant again.

We're sorry to doubt the messengers of Rock Gods, but we finally got our own confirmation that Def Leppard has indeed contributed three songs to Guitar Hero IV. While not replaying the full interview, Rockline Radio's website did provide a stream of the bandmates talking specifically about the game.

"We're gonna have like three songs on Guitar Hero IV," said guitarist Phil Collen, before specifying "Photograph," "Animal" and "Rock of Ages." We've gone ahead and embedded the music videos after the break for those who want to rock out in this post.

It seems entirely bizarre to us that we're talking about not only the next Guitar Hero but the Guitar Hero after that - both of which are due out this year. Especially when you consider that the tracklists for the two games probably won't come close to the content available on the Rock Band platform by the time they're both out. Regardless, it seems that after we're done with Guitar Hero: Aerosmith (otherwise known as DLC-on-a-disc) we can look forward to rocking out the legends that are Def Leppard on Guitar Hero IV.

This news was leaked out by the band members during a radio interview and has yet to be confirmed by either Activision or Neversoft. The tracks that will be included are said to be "Photograph", "Animal" and "Rock of Ages". We're excited to see this awesome band's music finally hit rhythm games, but we'd have preferred to see them in Rock Band. If only so we could practice drumming one handed.

We really need some sort of "Shocker!" category for posts like this. A British band called "The Answer" have revealed that their music will be included in the next edition of the Guitar Hero franchise, which will be out before the end of the year. Watch as we remain unsurprised and, to be honest, completely indifferent to the news. Guitar Hero has largely been made irrelevant by Rock Band and we only expect things to get better for the game with the inclusion of over 200 songs coming in the next year.

No doubt Guitar Hero IV will still sell well when it's released at the end of the year, but in the meantime Rock Band will have sold many more million downloadable songs (judging from how quickly it reached the 2.5 million download mark). Activision is keeping tight-lipped about the whole thing, with no official game announcement having come yet. No doubt we'll hear about it during GDC or E3 later this year.

It's amazing where you find video game news these days. Case in point, Eurogamer has picked up on a press release from British rock band The Answer, touting the inclusion of their single "Never Too Late" (video above) in the next Guitar Hero game (which, incidentally and unsurprisingly, is coming out by the end of 2008).

The band was one of 20 picked by Activision at a Guitar Hero listening session put on by Activision at France's MIDEM conference, where over 200 artists vied for a coveted spot in the new game. Answer fan debbywebby has also posted a list of 30 other tracks that are "unconfirmed as of yet" for the game. There's no indication where she got her information, but when has that mattered? Let the rampant speculation begin!

Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry tells Billboard they are working "hand in hand" with the developers of Guitar Hero IV. Guess that seals that deal: Aerosmith songs confirmed for GHIV. Speaking with Billboard, Perry apparently says that the next GH game will be dedicated to the group's music.

Don't expect an official Guitar Hero IV announcement from Activision or Red Octane for a while. We're pretty sure Perry spoke out of turn -- but that's rock n' roll. We know that the plan is to have a Guitar Hero every year, but we don't think they're going to announce GHIV before GHIII is out the the door. Before the band geeks start freaking out, the game is sure to have more than just Aerosmith. We just expect this dedication means plenty of master tracks from Aerosmith -- they better be master tracks!

[Via EvilAvatar]