Guitar Hero 5, DJ Hero & Band Hero release details

We’ve just had confirmation that Activision is looking to trade on the success of its highly lucrative Guitar Hero series of games and welcome three new additions into the fold.

Given that Guitar Hero can now be considered one of Activision’s cash-cows it isn’t surprising to get confirmation of number 5 in the series but we’ve been hearing whispers of a more family orientated game and a DJ focused title for a while now, so to get confirmation of Band Hero and DJ Hero respectively is a fine day indeed.

Guitar Hero 5 will surely offer up more from of the same axe-wielding antics that the previous versions have shown us except that the new one should come with a few improvements, such as being able to fully adjust song, band member, difficulty and instrument options at any time.

Band Hero will be a more family friendly version of the game, rated just E10+, but will still be all about the rocking out, few other details were forthcoming but we did learn that the game will showcase "top-40 hits designed to expand the appeal to a broad family audience who can play together on the guitar, drums, bass and microphone", according to the press release.

Finally, we have DJ Hero. Those of you with a keen sense of deduction – or that didn’t skip the second paragraph – can guess that DJ Hero will come with a slightly different soundtrack than the rest of the series and instead of rock will feature R&B, Motown, and hip-hop hits as well as electronic and dance music.

We’re not sure how well the gameplay is going to translate but Activision is promising that users will be able to create "original mixes of popular songs and music from the world’s most exciting artists and DJs."

All three are scheduled for a Fall 09 release, which means we should be seeing them sometime around September this year.