The war between the biggest rhythm/music franchises in the videogaming world continues today, with Activision officially announcing Guitar Hero: World Tour for the Nintendo Wii - the first title on the console to feature in-game downloadable content.

As rumoured earlier on in the year, Guitar Hero: World Tour follows Electronic Arts’ lead with Rock Band, allowing players to jam along to tunes with drums and a microphone, in addition to the guitars.

Activision reveals that the game will deliver the largest on-disc set list of any music-rhythm game to date, including master recordings from the likes of Van Halen, Linkin Park, The Eagles, Sublime, and many more. In addition, localised downloadable content will be made available, as well as the option to fully customise your chosen in-game rock stars - from their appearance, to their album art and sleeves.

As well as everything we’ve come to expect from the Guitar Hero experience (both off and online), Guitar Hero: World will feature the brand new Battle of the Bands mode, which allows eight players to join online and challenge each other band-to-band to determine who is the best of the best. 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. In other words, lots to keep you busy.

If that isn’t enough, there’s the new Music Studio, which allows players access to a plethora of tools to allow them to create digital music compositions from scratch, which they’ll then be able to share online through the GHTunes service.

“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. “With the introduction of our advanced high-quality new wireless instruments, in-depth customization options and advanced online functionality, the game enables music fans and gamers globally to share in the most social and expressive music experience ever.”

Guitar Hero: World Tour is currently scheduled for release this autumn.