GH5 is "a massive leap" for Wii games

Vicarious Visions reckons its Wii version of Guitar Hero 5 represents "a massive leap" for music games on the console, and has been thoroughly re-built since the launch of GHWT last year.

One fancy new feature is Wii and DS cross-play. Vicarious Visions boss Karthik Bala told IGN the handheld can control a Stage Show and create videos, and that there will be Roadie Battles too, although no details on the latter are offered.

Online has been spruced up, and saves Friend Codes to an address book to prevent them being input every session. Online still caters for eight rockers, but now supports this across eight Wii consoles rather than two machines with four players apiece.

Karthik suggests Wii DLC will return, and boasts that GH5 requires zero blocks of Wii system memory.

Visually, GH5 has graphics "that are now really pushing the GPU", as well as better lighting, animation, sound and menus. "We've really put a lot of effort into polish and refinement. Some things were easy to do, others required ripping out major chunks of the game and reworking it," said Karthik.

GHTunes has also had a "major facelift", as has Mii Freestyle, where songs can be saved and shared via WiiConnect24.

And with exactly the same amount of content as Guitar Hero 5 on PS3 and Xbox 360, Karthik believes the game is "a massive leap from what you've seen in any music game on Wii before".

Guitar Hero 5 launches on 18th September for Wii.