The game allows users to create new songs through the "Music Studio" mode, which can then be uploaded and shared through a service known as "GHTunes".

If the Rock Meter drops too low, the song ends prematurely, with the virtual audience booing the band off stage.

[6] Successfully completing a song garners a three to five-star rating based on the accumulated score, and rewards such as in-game money that can be used to buy new guitars and outfits for characters.

The vocal track requires the player to match the pitch of the notes in a manner similar to Karaoke Revolution to be successful.

[12] Both single players and bands can play a setlist of up to six songs in Quickplay mode, still earning in-game money rewards for their performances.

Activision had formed partnerships with several instrument equipment manufactures to be featured in the game, including Ampeg, Audio-Technica, EMG Pickups, Ernie Ball, Evans Drumheads, Guitar Center, Krank Amplification, Mackie, Marshall, Orange County Drum & Percussion, Pork Pie Percussion, Regal Tip, Sabian, Vox and Zildjian.

Such playable artists include Hayley Williams of Paramore,[15] Jimi Hendrix,[16] Ozzy Osbourne,[17] Zakk Wylde,[17] the Smashing Pumpkins' frontman Billy Corgan,[18][19] Sting,[citation needed] Ted Nugent,[20] and Travis Barker.

[21] New venues in the game include virtual recreations of real arenas, such as Ozzfest, Amoeba Music, Live Nation's House of Blues, Sunset Strip and the San Francisco Giants' stadium, AT&T Park.

[7][24] Guitar tracks feature notes connected by a semi-transparent purple line, (except for the Wii and PlayStation 2 version, in which semi-transparent gems replace this purple line) called "Slider Gems"; the player can play these notes by sliding their fingers up and down the touch pad or by tapping the fret buttons without strumming.

[7] Activision stated during their E3 2008 press conference that Xbox 360 users would be able to use the existing Rock Band instrument controllers as well as other third party controllers in Guitar Hero World Tour;[29] Rock Band instruments for the PlayStation 3 are not guaranteed to work in World Tour, though Sony is attempting to help make these units compatible.

[36] Activision's CEO Bobby Kotick and early previews of the game revealed that Guitar Hero IV would branch out into other instruments and vocals.

[24] The drum instrument controller was designed to be more realistic, with input from Chad Smith (of Red Hot Chili Peppers), Stewart Copeland (of The Police) and Travis Barker (of Blink-182), all of whom requested the elevated cymbal pads.

[40] Bright noted that they had support for "epic drum solos", in which the band animation would focus on the drummer, but removed this feature from the game's final release due to its complexity.

[39] The custom song creation feature was inspired by the current "hacking environment" that has arisen from the first two Guitar Hero games, where players would create new tracks and share them with others.

[28] A PC version of Guitar Hero World Tour was confirmed by Intel on February 27, 2009[43] and displayed at CeBIT on March 3–8, 2009 in Hannover, Germany.

Activision created a series of television advertisements directed by Brett Ratner based on the famous scene from Risky Business where Tom Cruise dances to Bob Seger's "Old Time Rock and Roll" in a shirt and underwear, each featuring a different set of celebrities lip synching to the lyrics while using the new instrument controllers.

A YouTube viral video entitled "Bike Hero" showed what appeared to be a teenager riding a bike along a route marked with symbols similar in appearance to the in-game note tracks with LED lights on the handlebars blinking in time to the notes to the song "Prisoner of Society" by The Living End.

The video was later determined to be the work of a viral marketing company Droga5 in cooperation with Activision to promote the Guitar Hero games.

[55] Project director Brian Bright claims that they have "a pretty even split between the '80s, '90s, and classic rock" with a "good amount of emerging bands".

[56] Guitar Hero World Tour allows players to create their own songs through the "Music Studio" and share them with others through the Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, and Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection internet capabilities.

[57] Players can create the tracks for lead, rhythm, and bass guitars and for drums, selecting from a number of different sounds and kits for each instrument.

[60] Eurogamer reported that a crew at Activision was able to successfully create a "perfectly respectable cover" version of the first verse of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana.

[7] Most existing downloadable content for Guitar Hero III is not playable in World Tour, due to the lack of having tracks for all four instruments for the latter game.

[60] Activision has also stated that they are considering a monthly subscription service to deliver downloadable content to users for future games.

[68] Guitar Hero World Tour has received generally positive reviews from critics, many making comparisons between it and the Rock Band series.

"[90] IGN's review was lukewarm, noting that "A number of things it tries to accomplish were already done better in Rock Band", but stated that the game would be a good "stepping point" for the next iteration of the series.

[80][84] The note charts and the game's difficulty curve were found to be significantly easier than the more punishing ones in Guitar Hero III.

However, critics found that the setlist contains very few standout hits, and that the inclusion of a number of foreign-language and difficult-to-recognize songs weakened the overall list.

[85] However, reviewers noted that the use of the real-life celebrities against the cartoon-like visuals, along with the emphasis on the band and not individual players, made their presence "anachronistic".

[83][86] IGN noted that most of the credit for the Wii version is due to Vicarious Visions, as that "the only real aspects that hold the game back from being truly amazing overall are - oddly enough - the ones implemented by Neversoft's core design".