The Download Blog

When you've got a game as compelling and competitive as Guitar Hero World Tour, you get it on as many platforms as you can as fast as you can, including the mobile phone. On Thursday, the mobile version of Guitar Hero World Tour became available on AT&T phones. We got to try it out.

On the PlayStation, Wii, and Xbox, this fourth Guitar Hero installment counters Rock Band's drum and vocal tracks, which themselves had one-upped Guitar Hero's original stringed instrument. Vocals aren't practical for the mobile version--which still rocks, by the way--but a drum track is. Activision and game-maker Hands-On Mobile have introduced a drum choice for every song.

There's a lot more news here--the updated game, which has a new look and two fresh game-playing features (can you say "battle mode"?). There are also technical details that could make a difference to how the game looks and sounds on your individual phone. Finally, there's all the practical stuff about when your carrier will stock the game and how much it'll cost you. Let's take one at a time.

Note the new purple drum line you have to think about while you play.

(Credit: Hands-On Mobile)

Gameplay

Anyone who has played Guitar Hero III Mobile (video review) will feel right at home with Guitar Hero World Tour Mobile, which begins with fifteen new songs for guitar and drums, and which uses the phone's keypad buttons instead of guitar frets. When it comes to customization, you drummers out there are an afterthought--guitarists can choose their instrument, but not you. Also, when you're playing drums, the bottom row of keys (7, 8, 9) stand in for the kick-drum, which is represented in the game by a horizontal purple line that floats at you along with the notes. I played several songs in the drummer's mode, where the kick-drum line helped keep the game interesting.

Also new to the mobile game is the multiplayer battle mode, where Hands-On Mobile has created a good way to pair you up with similar players all over the world. You'll be matched by skill level and by phone type (more on this below.) You'll divvy up picking a song and the instrument, and will have to use your star power strategically (called battle power in this mode) to keep your opponent from scoring. After playing, it'll be easy to track your score from the accompanying Web site (launching Friday). This is neat, but what if you want to play your friend? You should be able to duke it out with personal pals as well as with perfect strangers.

Got a few minutes to kill? Sure, you could flip through your tunes, but when the same songs get old, and when you tire of your headphones winding from your ears like some extraterrestrial umbilical cord, check out the worlds of communication, learning, and game-playing applications to discover beyond the beats. Or, dare we say, while listening to them. Check out your burgeoning options for cell phone entertainment in the slide show.

(Credit: Hands-On Mobile)

Article updated 2/29/08 to correct headquarters location.

We were stoked when Hands-On Mobile, a San Francisco mobile games company, announced Guitar Hero III Mobile for Verizon. On Friday, AT&T brings the portable version of the wildly popular console game to J2ME phones.

The game is expected to launch on 30 handsets today, including Motorola V3 RAZR and Sony Ericcson 810, with more handsets joining the fray. The staggered launch means there's no guaranteeing that your handset will be supported when the game goes live today, but Hands-On Mobile suggests that eager phone gamers check back with AT&T throughout the day and Saturday.

(Credit: Hands-On Mobile)

There's good reason to make haste. Guitar Hero III Mobile dethroned Tetris in mobile gaming on Verizon, a miraculous feat, by offering three popular songs per month taken straight from Activision's console game. Users who subscribe by March 1 will receive the standard start-up song package and also the month's playlist, including Lynyrd Skynyrd's 'Freebird', Black Sabbath's 'War Pigs', and Iggy Pop's 'Search and Destroy'. Dilly-dalliers who subscribe after March 1 will have to wait for April to get any bonus song releases.

Membership on AT&T-supported phones has other benefits, too. The Java platform has allowed for certain upgrades to the BREW version of the game currently out on Verizon phones. The graphics are slightly larger and clearer, and Hands-On Mobile has added a haptic dimension to a missed note: the phone vibrates in response to butter fingers.

In another welcome change, songs will now live on AT&T phones, saving users from having to download them anew. Sorry, Verizon users, you shouldn't expect any alterations to your version yet.

What the J2ME platform gains in graphical quality, it loses, slightly, in audio power. Songs on Guitar Hero III Mobile for Verizon play MP3s; while AT&T's version streams out MIDI.

Be sure to catch Guitar Hero III Mobile in action in this video, taken on a Verizon phone.

Note: Article updated on 4/17/08 with new carrier information.

Guitar Hero Mobile (review) is now widely available on many U.S. carriers and cell phone platforms, though at the time of this taping, it was only offered on Verizon. Cozy up with the cell phone interface and keypad frets in the First Look video below, and don't miss experiencing the thrill of star power and the burning shame of getting booed off the stage.

UPDATED! See below for additional comments after hours and hours of more playing time.

Addicts of Activision's Guitar Hero console game will no longer be confined to fretting their faux guitar in the living room, game room, or basement. Soon they'll be able to play from their mobile phone.

Thanks to Hands-On Mobile, a mobile games company from San Diego, I got to test my rhythm-matching mettle with Guitar Hero Mobile on a slick LG VX9400.

The first thing you'll notice about Guitar Hero Mobile is how familiar it feels; just like the console game's little cousin ought. Being able to seamlessly hop into the popular rock-star universe is no coincidence. Hands-On Mobile worked closely with Activision to import songs, graphics, characters, and gameplay from Guitar Hero editions II and III. Players of the mobile version choose from two characters, Axel Steel or Judy Nails, and at first have a nonchoice of a Les Paul guitar. Stellar guitar skills unlock three Gibsons, vetted by Gibson itself.... Read more

Cell phones weren't the only items giving off heat on the CTIA conference showroom floor this week. There was also the sizzling of a virtual mobile world, a preview of Guitar Hero Mobile, and really neat motion-sensor games.

Take a look at what was new and interesting in the latest video.