Activision was really not kidding when it said that it was planning to release as many as 11 new Guitar Hero branded games in the following year. If you count them, there are four coming until the end of 2008. We'll have Guitar Hero World Tour and Guitar Hero: Aerosmith out for home console at the end of November, while the Nintendo DS is getting both Guitar Hero: On Tour and Guitar Hero: On Tour Decades.

Still, Mike Griffth, the president of Activision Publishing, still believes that “the consumer still has an insatiable appetite for more”. Let's not forget that Activision has already filled applications related to trademarks like Dance Hero, DJ Hero, Guitar Villain and Drum Villain. Some of these games might never make it to the market, as the trademark of a name does not guarantee that development has started, but still that's a lot of Hero games that might become reality. At least, Rock Band is only launching sequels at the moment and no spin offs seem to be planned.

And the US Patent and Trademark Office is likely to be busy with more trademark requests coming from Activision. This week, Guitar Hero Modern Hits is the most recent name to come up. The application is related to "computer game software and related instruction manual sold together as a unit", “interactive video game programs”, “downloadable computer game software" and "video game controllers”, not to mention”interactive video game comprised of a cartridge or DVD sold as a unit with a video game controller”.

Guitar Hero World Tour will be launched for the Xbox 360, the PlayStation 3, the PlayStation 2 and the Nintendo Wii. Its direct competitor, Rock Band 2, is already out in North America. The games are expected to be among the best sellers of the Christmas sales period.