Guitar Hero 5 and Band Hero, a family-oriented version of the game with a soundtrack of Top 40 songs, will be joined by DJ Hero, which will use a new controller shaped like a record turntable.
I've tried out a few of these gun-like controllers in my time, from the silly (just a controller shaped like a gun) to the awesome (pico-projector built-in), and of course everyone loves the Redneck Techie and his Game Gun.
Previous entries in the series, produced by Harmonix and MTV Games, have allowed players to jam to popular songs on plastic controllers shaped like musical instruments.
These games use controllers shaped like guitars, drums and microphones to let players step into the shoes of their favourite bands.
Both games use controllers shaped like musical instruments: Guitar Hero III is played with a miniature plastic version of a Gibson Les Paul with buttons where the strings would be, while Rock Band uses a toy Fender Stratocaster, a faux drum set and a microphone.
In a way, the trend is a throwback to Nintendo's early days when late-'80s gamers held controllers shaped like pistols and meager processing power meant trying to hook kids with cool gizmos.
This is consistent with the view that controllers shape the strategy formation approach in a slow, bottom-up process that takes several years.
It is the third major console release in the Rock Band music video game series, in which players can simulate the playing of rock music by using controllers shaped like musical instruments.
Last week we heard about the SupaBoy, a sweet Ben hack-esque hack of a Super Nintendo console into a SNES controller shape.
In a demonstration at its media briefing here at E3, the game industry's top North American convention, Sony engineers controlled action on a screen by waving and twisting a wireless controller that, like the Wii controller, is shaped vaguely like a television remote control.
