GD: Understandably, Nintendo has an interest in seeing Guitar Hero World Tour do well. Can you tell us about any of the collaborations that you and Nintendo have been working on?

KB: Nintendo is a great partner to work with. Guitar Hero World Tour is requiring a lot of work on both the hardware and software side, so Nintendo's been working closely with both RedOctane and Vicarious Visions to make it a great title for the Wii platform.

GD: Vicarious Visions is riding high on the upcoming releases Guitar Hero: On Tour for the DS and Guitar Hero: Aerosmith for the Wii. What have the designers learned to do better in creating games for the two current Nintendo platforms?

We're really excited about Guitar Hero: On Tour and Guitar Hero: Aerosmith. Vicarious Visions is really focused on delivering a great Guitar Hero experience on Nintendo platforms, while Neversoft does amazing things on PS3 & 360. Guitar Hero III was the first Guitar Hero game on Wii. It was also VV's first music rhythm game. We learned a lot on that project and it's allowed our designers to improve the gameplay and the technology in nearly every aspect of the game.

GD: Will all the controllers still feature slots where players need to insert the Wii Remote?

KB: Yes. The guitars and drums are completely wireless and use Nintendo's standard of the Wii remote. The microphone however is wired and plugs into the USB slot on the Wii (that's also Nintendo's recommended approach for microphone). So any USB microphone should work.

GD: If you already own GHIII for Wii, will those players be able to use their guitars with the new game?

KB: Absolutely! Wii players who own the Les Paul guitars from either GHIII or Guitar Hero: Aerosmith will be able to use them on Guitar Hero World Tour!

GD: Given the more family-friendly focus of the Wii platform, are you creating any specific Wii-based features in the game that encourage families to play?

KB: The Wii is definitely a platform that appeals to a wide variety of people. A big part of Guitar Hero's success has come from its accessibility and broad appeal. In a way, it inherently overlaps with the Wii audience and their interests. Having said that, we are working on some Wii specific features that I can't quite talk about just yet.

GD: As such, my toddler loves music, loves to try to play GHIII on the Xbox 360 but doesn't really know most of the songs in the game. It might be nice to see songs from kid-centric artists like the Jonas Brothers or someone of that ilk.

KB:Guitar Hero World Tour, like its console predecessors will likely be a Teen rated game. We've kept the same sort of focus on the song selection as previous console releases, but this game does feature a huge, diverse assortment of music that will most definitely appeal to the broad Wii audience. Guitar Hero: On Tour, our Guitar Hero title for the Nintendo DS available in stores this Sunday, 6/22, was designed as an E-10+ rated title and features some songs which were included specifically to appeal to younger gamers. Guitar Hero World Tour for Wii will feature downloadable songs, so there might be opportunities to have songs that appeal to the younger Wii fans down the line.

GD: Thanks Karthik, we can't wait to play Guitar Hero: World Tour on our Wii.