Guitar Hero DS announced, fret peripheral revealed

Details of Guitar Hero: On Tour, the long-expected DS version of the ever-popular rawktastic rhythm-action title have finally been released by publisher Activision.

Forget the 20 or so licensed songs from the likes of Nirvana and No Doubt – by far the most exciting thing is the fret-like peripheral that comes bundled with it, which attaches to the back of the DS and transforms it into a guitar. It also comes with a slot-out plectrum for you to strum on the touchscreen. You can check out how the whole thing fits together on the game's website.

Multiplayer options include the ability to use power-ups that fire off faulty pyrotechnics on a rival's DS, who must then extinguish them by blowing on the microphone or risk seeing their highly styled hair catch on fire (not necessarily – that's more a reference for Michael Jackson fans).

Or you can send screaming fans onto an adversary's screen, who then must sign autographs on their touchscreen to get rid of them. It's a neat idea, which reminds us of Zendoku's similarly thought-out power-ups (which send objects onto an opponent's screen who then must quickly rub them out in order to keep playing).

The game's out this summer (June/July) and it all sounds and looks awesome, and you can see it action and read about it in more detail here.