Activision and RedOctane have stepped up the guitar controller game, adding an all new set of hardware features to the plastic axe that ships with Guitar Hero World Tour No longer are you limited to just five colored buttons and a whammy bar, as the new Guitar Hero proprietary peripheral adds a new touch-sensitive slider on the neck, a new bridge button near the strum bar and a built-in accelerometer. Not only can they all be used during regular gameplay—oh, and your old Guitar Hero III guitar controllers will still work—but they all add a little something to Guitar Hero World Tour's new music creation mode.
Hit the jump for close-ups and a quick explanation of each new feature.
The Slider: The new guitar controller's coolest feature lets players muck with sustained notes with finger slides up and down the slider strip area. It can also be used to tap out notes like a virtual Eddie Van Halen for those note heavy Dragonforce moments. In Guitar Hero World Tour's music editor, the slider acts as an arpeggiator, playing rapid-fire notes with in the Music Studio mode's various arpeggio styles.
The Knob: It's a knob. And it's definitely the least exciting new aspect of the updated guitar controller. Hey, it looks cool. Let's talk about The Accelerometer instead. That little piece of hardware can be used to adjust the pitch of your notes in the game's music editor, doing double duty as the device that sense you want to engage Star Power mode. But if you like to keep things level...
The Bridge: See that "Star Power" line of text on the new bridge button? Yeah, that's how you'll activate Star Power, should you not feel like erecting your axe with a quick thrust. In the game's music editor, it'll let you add palm-muted notes to your tracks for a little variety. Cool.