Amongst our yearning for an AU release of Rock Band, this little gem Guitar Hero 4, now known as Guitar Hero: World Tour, has been getting ready to rock an roll.

The details are slowly filtering out from Activision HQ, but this is what we know so far:

- 4 bands have been confirmed for the game: Van Halen, Linkin Park, The Eagles and Sublime. Lenny Kravitz’s Are You Gunna Go My Way was also used in a promo trailer

- There is the ability to create custom songs using an in-game sequencing tool

- There will be a ‘create-a-rocker’ feature to create and customise your own character

- There will be a Band Career mode, similar to what’s now available in Rock Band

- Plus all of the existing features in Guitar Hero 3

How does it stack up versus Rock Band? Well, the drum kits look more sturdy, and look to be based on an existing range of electronic drums.

And most importantly for us Antipodeans, this one is much more likely to have an official Southern Hemisphere Spring 2008 release broader than North America. At US$189 for the full kit (which would be about AU$220 for the game, kit, guitar, and microphone, going on the current exchange rate), it’s looking like a pretty sweet deal.

Check out more at gizmodo.com, engadget.com