"We're definitely going to have a large amount of unlockable content in regards to new songs, guitars, and other items," RedOctane's Bryan Lam says. "While there will be more opportunities to earn cash, there will also be more ways to spend it."

The most drastic gameplay addition so far, however, is the multiplayer battle mode. Instead of simply competing for points, two players will earn power ups by completing Star Power riffs. Now when you tip the guitar controller vertically it'll send a nasty temporary attack over to your competitor rather than initiating Star Power. Examples include adding double the amount of notes, forcing left-handed play, boosting the difficulty up a notch, shaking the in-game fretboard while making the notes blink on and off, and stealing the other player's power up. You can also make the other player bust a "string" or their whammy bar, forcing them to furiously tap on a note or waggle the whammy bar to reactivate the note stream, respectively. This is also how single-player boss battles will play out against several real life guitar players. Though RedOctane won't say who exactly will appear in the game, looking over the announced track list gets us thinking - Keith Richards, Billy Corgan, Jack Black - this could really get out of control.

This time around the guitar controllers will be wireless across all platforms. "It'll be the first ever first-party approved wireless accessory from both Microsoft and Sony," Lam says. "It's what all of the fans have wanted for a while now, and we're really excited to provide it to them."