"Activision Publishing, Inc.’s (Nasdaq: ATVI) Guitar Hero World Tour Complete Band Game bundles for the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system will ship to retail outlets nationwide on Friday, November 14, 2008.    The PlayStation 2 band game launch follows the successful U.S. release on October 26, 2008 of band bundles for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system and the Wii home video game system from Nintendo. 

“The Guitar Hero World Tour band game is clearly a must have item this holiday season with launch quantities for the next-generation console bundles virtually sold out across the retail channel after only the first week,” said Mike Griffith, President and CEO, Activision Publishing.  “As expected, our initial launch quantities were limited due to early supply constraints and launching the PlayStation 2 sku a week later than last year, but we will be steadily replenishing the supply throughout the quarter.”

Transforming music gaming by expanding Guitar Hero’s signature guitar gameplay into a cooperative band experience, Guitar Hero World Tour for the PlayStation 2 combines state-of-the-art wireless controllers in new gameplay modes.  Gamers will be able to choose whether they want to shred, drum and wail with the Complete Band Game, perfect their strumming with the Complete Guitar Game or pick up and play with the stand-alone game disc using any previous Guitar Hero guitar controllers.

Guitar Hero World Tour is the most complete music game to-date with over 85 on-disc tracks from music legends such as The Eagles, Van Halen, Metallica, Michael Jackson and The Doors and featuring in-game appearances by world famous artists like Ozzy Osbourne, Billy Corgan and Travis Barker.  Up to four players can jam together as they progress through the game in Band modes, and in single-player Career Mode, players can jam on any of the instruments in-game utilizing the controllers in branching venue progression enabling them to rock out in the order of their choice.

For the next-gen consoles, Guitar Hero World Tour features an innovative new Music Studio that lets players express their musical creativity by giving them access to a full complement of tools to create digital music from scratch.   Utilizing the game’s redesigned touch-sensitive guitar controller and an authentic drum kit, virtuosos can create compositions and share them with the entire Guitar Hero community through GHTunes where other gamers from around the world will be able to download and play their original tracks.  To date, more than 35,000 user-generated songs have been posted on GHTunes.

Guitar Hero World Tour is currently available for the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system and was developed by Budcat. 

The Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and the PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system, developed by Neversoft, and the Wii home video game system from Nintendo, developed by Vicarious Visions, are also available in stores nationwide. The game is rated “T” for Teen by the ESRB.  For more information on Guitar Hero World Tour, please visit worldtour.guitarhero.com."