Harmonix originally owned Guitar Hero along with RedOctane. Then RedOctane was bought by Activision and Activision now continues the Guitar Hero series while Harmonix stopped developing Guitar Hero. Harmonix created a new video game called Rock Band. Rock Band had features such as drums and vocals that completely took a lot of attention away from Guitar Hero. Activision created two more additions to the series, Aerosmith and On Tour. On Tour gave support to the popular Nintendo DS which then slightly increased Guitar Hero's popularity again. Finally, Activision added features that they plan to release to their latest addition to the series, Guitar Hero: World Tour.
Guitar Hero: World Tour or GH4, as called by some fans will keep major aspects of the original Guitar Hero series. You can play the career mode like normal. All controls will be the same as the original Guitar Hero with a few add-ons. Multiplayer game play will still be available in the new game. The original guitars are still compatible with World Tour. Unlike Guitar Hero: Legends of Rock, downloadable content will be compatible with all the consoles, including the Nintendo Wii. In addition to online downloadable content, Activision will continue on the idea of online battles.
In addition to what Guitar Hero already has, Activision has planned a lot of new features to keep up with the competition. Guitar Hero has decided on newer instruments. To compete with Rock Band, they added a drum set and a microphone. Unlike the drum set from Rock Band, Activision played around with it. Rock Band has four pads (for the snare drum, tom-tom, hi-hat, and crash cymbal) and a bass drum petal. The drum set intended for Guitar Hero has two cymbal pads, one snare pad, two tom pads, and a bass drum pedal. Unfortunately, unlike like the other aspects of the game, the microphone is not wireless and is connected with a USB connection.
Another add-on to the game is the guitar. Although the older guitars are compatible with World Tour, they are developing a new guitar. The new guitar as seen on IGN features a new touch screen. It will be used to alter the tone of the note. It also plays a big part in music creation which will be mentioned in a bit. The new guitar is relatively larger than the original guitars as seen in Guitar Hero III. The controls are placed differently around the guitar for easier game play. The guitar still plays the part of the rhythm section such as the bass guitar.
Activision has noticed all the hacking that players have been doing to the game to add their own custom songs, they decided it should stop. Activision has the confirmed the idea of custom songs. This feature will be available on all the consoles. Players will also be available to upload their created songs on the internet (with the exception of the Playstation 2 which does not allow uploading) and get their songs rated by other players. The song maker uses a new type of software. It is used to make new and original songs. There was planned to have a Jam Over feature but was taken out. This feature replaces existing songs.
To conclude, Activision is trying to completely remodel the current Guitar Hero to compete with Rock Band. Now, Activision is ready to compete with Harmonix. It is also confirmed that "Guitar Villain", "Drum Villain" and "Keyboard Hero" are trademarked by Activision.
Do you know if they have any plans of adding in a keyboard?