Guitar Hero III Confirmed Online, Coming To Wii, DS

Representatives from Red Octane have confirmed that the latest in its best-selling Guitar Hero franchise will be focused on online play and downloadable tracks, as well as hit every major platform -- including the Wii and Nintendo DS. Speaking to the consumer press at an event in London, RedOctane founder and president Kai Huang said that Neversoft would be working to bring the features to Guitar Hero III, the latest in the franchise expected to be released for Xbox 360, PS3, Nintendo Wii, and the PS2 by the end of the year. In an interview with consumer site GameSpot, Huang also confirmed earlier suspicions regarding a handheld version of the game, saying the company was "looking at a DS version, for early next year." This follows last September's report of Activision chairman and CEO Robert Kotick making the announcement during his keynote speech at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia XV Conference that Guitar Hero will be released "on every significant new format." The game was also recently announced to be in development for mobile phones by San Francisco mobile developer Hands-On Mobile. Huang added in speaking to GameSpot that new Guitar Hero developers Neversoft would be "focusing on online play, of course, and that includes both co-op and competitive modes. We're looking at more downloadable content, and more music, because we know that's one of the things the fans want--as soon as they finish playing Guitar Hero, they want more music." Huang also told IGN that for the Wii version of the new game, while RedOctane was "really excited about the Wii game because there are so many options for the Wii remote," players would still "play the game with a guitar peripheral and it will be similar to a guitar you've seen in the past." On former Guitar Hero developer Harmonix's recently announced Rock Band, now positioned as an MTV- and Electronic Arts-backed competitor to the Guitar Hero franchise, with additional drumming and vocal features, as well as full online play, Huang confessed to GameSpot, "I was very excited to hear about Harmonix and EA working on the game Rock Band. I think Guitar Hero was really the first big game that defined the music rhythm genre... So we're excited that Harmonix is working on it. They're a fantastic developer, we've had a great relationship working with them in the past, and we know that they're going to do a great job with the game."