Activision to launch Guitar Hero app for iPhone

Santa Monica-based Activision, the business behind the popular computer game Guitar Hero, will launch DJ Hero on October 30, a game which features DJ decks as the controller.

It will also launch Band Hero next month, a singing game which will feature 20 artists with top 10 singles, including Robbie Williams, Taylor Swift and Janet Jackson.

Guitar Hero chief executive Dan Rosensweig, the former chief operating officer of Yahoo!, will this week be meeting with music groups including EMI to discuss future collaborations with artists. EMI has been keen to create a Pink Floyd edition of Guitar Hero or Rock Band, as it has done with The Beatles.

Guitar Hero's management are talking to artists including Robbie Williams and Damon Albarn's Gorillaz to write and record tracks exclusively for its video games.

"We haven't helped launch a new artist yet and I think that's part of our future," Telegraph reported, citing Rosensweig as saying.

According to Rosensweig, more people are playing its consoles online and digital expansion is key to its growth plan.

"The biggest expansion is going to be digital. Guitar Hero 5 has had more than 20m songs played online since the launch of it,"  Rosensweig added. "That's one song every seven seconds."

Rosensweig said he would be keen to use the online capability of his games to launch an e-commerce feature, where band merchandise such as T-shirts could be purchased as you play. He also wants to expand the events side of the business and has a vision for a Guitar Hero festival, featuring the game's artists.

Former Yahoo! Executive as he was,  Rosensweig plans to use his technology contacts to expand the brand further.