I was mildly upset when my Gibson Les Paul controller broke. It had been on the fritz for months, but it was still clinging to life just enough so that I could continue to play my favorite musical rhythm games. However, a week or so ago it completely stopped working (I can’t use the green button, meaning I can’t even make a menu selection, let alone play a song) so I decided to head on over to eBay and get a new one.

Now I find out that, if a new Xbox marketing survey is to be believed, I am about to accept delivery on a product which will be obsolete in the very near future. According to the latest info on Guitar Hero: World Tour, the new guitar that comes bundled with the game will feature a "touch-sensitive neck slide" for all your shredding needs. So far, in all the news we’ve heard about this game, there has been no word about abandoning the buttons in favor of a new format, so this slide is likely to either be an additional piece of the guitar used for different kinds of notes, or something that you can whip out and wail on during solos ala Rock Band’s higher fret buttons. In either case, if this new guitar becomes mandatory for playing the game, you can bet I’m going to be fuming at the prospect of paying for yet another plastic guitar-shaped controller.

In slightly less teeth-grinding news, the press release has leaked the names of some of the artists and bands featured in the game, and the list is shaping up quite nicely. Among the featured acts are Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, Foo Fighters, Smashing Pumpkins, Korn, System of a Down, Ozzy Osbourne, Interpol, and Muse with "dozens more" slated to be announced as we get closer to launch.

We are hoping to have more info on the latest full-fledged entry into the Guitar Hero franchise at next month’s E3, so keep it right here for our full coverage of gaming’s biggest spectacle.