Activision just announced that Guitar Hero 5 will be coming to the Xbox, PlayStation 3, and Wii in Fall of 2009. There will also be a version for the PS2, developed by Budcat. This new Guitar Hero has some bangin' new features that separate it from the herd, including the awesome new ability to customize what instruments play in your rock band. Personally, I'm looking forward to doing a four-microphone choir version of Tom Sawyer.

Guitar Hero 5 will also have new gaming modes, including Party Play and RockFest. Activision says they want fans to be able to "tailor the Guitar Hero experience to match their personal style and interests." Which probably means that we'll have a lot more control over how the game measures our success this time around.

This new game features a set list composed of songs from 85 different bands. Kings of Leon, The Rolling Stones, the White Stripes, Santana, Vampire Weekend, Tom Petty, Johnny Cash, and Bob Dylan will all have songs in Guitar Hero 5. In addition, Activision promises that more than 25 artists will be making their video game debut with this edition of Guitar Hero.

Giving players more options looks like the focus of this new Guitar Hero. Party Play will let players jump in and out of games "seamlessly." Rockfest will be a "comprehensive competitive experience" with head-to-head competition modes available for both online and offline duels. Another new feature are the Band Moments, which is where the whole band gets a point boost for nailing certain note streams or playing through songs in a specific way.

It sounds like Activision has gone out of their way to make Guitar Hero 5 different from their previous entrants to the market. This Fall, we'll know if it's different enough to give Guitar Hero the edge over Rock Band once and for all.