Guitar Hero World Tour Band Kit

Looking at that big box in the video game store, you may be wondering what is included when you buy the Guitar Hero World Tour band kit. Just about every other video game comes in the same-sized case as a DVD movie, so why would you want to spend nearly four times as much money to buy the full band kit for this popular rhythm game?

Just as you experienced with Rock Band last year, the key appeal to the Guitar Hero World Tour band kit is that you can fully simulate the experience of playing in a real musical band.

Even though World Tour is still a Guitar Hero game, there's more to rocking out on this latest title than just the guitar. Get ready for full musical immersion.

As can be expected, one of the major components to the full band kit is the wireless guitar controller. Unlike some earlier games that may have come bundled with a wired guitar, all versions of Guitar Hero World Tour (aside from the retail version that contains just the game itself) comes bundled with a wireless guitar.

In addition to the full proliferation of wireless technology, some other changes were implemented in the guitar. With the Guitar Hero World Tour band kit, the wireless guitar is about 25% larger than before, more closely approaching the size of a real guitar. The select/back button has also been relocated to where the guitar's bridge would be, making it easier to activate star power.

The other most notable change is the inclusion of a touch-sensitive strip along the neck of the guitar. Located in between the regular fret buttons and the body of the guitar, this touch-sensitive strip can be used for the "slider gems" portions of songs. Players can simply tap the touch strip without strumming for these portions.

Following in the wireless trend of the guitar, the drum set included with the Guitar Hero World Tour band kit is also wireless. Pictured above, the drum set contains six different points of input during gameplay. While the Rock Band drum set has four pads and one bass pedal, the Guitar Hero World Tour drum set has three pads, two cymbals, and one bass pedal.

The three pads and two cymbals are velocity sensitive, much like the pads on the Rock Band 2 drums. This means that the music game can recognize if a player is hitting the pad harder or softer, translating this into the relative volume of the sound produced in the game.

It is also notable that the drum set, including the bass pedal, has a series of grippy pads on the legs. This prevents the set from slipping or sliding during gameplay.

While the drum set and guitar are wireless in the Guitar Hero World Tour band kit, the microphone is not. The included microphone uses a standard USB connection, much like the microphone found in singing games like Karaoke Revolution and Boogie. The microphone, manufactured by computer accessory company Logitech, is largely identical to the version found with the original Rock Band.

Naturally, the full band kit for Guitar Hero World Tour includes the game disc itself. If you prefer to buy the game on its own, it can typically be found for $50 to $60. The full band kit, depending on your video game console of choice, can be purchased for around $200.

With the previous generation of music games, many enthusiasts complained that the instruments could not work across these two popular franchises. Owners of the Xbox 360 did not run into this problem, but people who were playing Rock Band and Guitar Hero on the PlayStation 3 and the Nintendo Wii ran into a problem: The Guitar Hero guitar would not work in Rock Band and vice versa.

Addressing this concern, the instruments included in the Guitar Hero World Tour band kit and the Rock Band 2 band kit are largely compatible with one another. There are still some issues being worked out for the PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii, but the Xbox 360 versions appear to be fully compatible.

In this way, frugal-minded gamers (as well as those with limited living room space) will be glad to hear that it is not necessary to purchase two full sets of instruments to enjoy both Guitar Hero World Tour and Rock Band 2. The same appears to be true with Konami's Rock Revolution rhythm game as well.

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