Guitar Hero Live marks the revival of a loved series of music games that made rock idols out of all of us – or at least, it made us think we are. It is due this autumn on PlayStation 4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and Wii U.

The game has a new controller, interface and perspective. It’s a music game for the streaming crowd and is set to arrive with a good number of licenced tracks to play. The controller has a new design that closely resembles a real guitar. Instead of the brightly coloured buttons, the new fretboard has sensible buttons. When playing, your fingers will make real chord shapes – this is designed to add to the authenticity of the experience. The strum bar and whammy effects remain the same.

Also gone is the cartoony interface. Now you get a first person view of the stage corresponding to the track you’re playing. You get to see the crowd and other band members as you play which is going to seriously add to the immersion.

The exact number of tracks included is not yet know. However, Activision said that the likes of EDM, the Black Keys, Fall Out Boy, Green Day, Ed Sheeran, the War on Drugs, The Killers and Skrillex will all be featured.

In order to address the changing ways we access music, Guitar Hero Live will include access to digital channels which will feature more tracks that you can play along to. Although nothing has yet been said about how many tracks will be on these channels or whether access will be a subscription or part of the purchase price.

With Rock Band 4 due out around the same time, Guitar Hero Live doesn’t have a clear path to success. However the changes to the guitar, the first person interface and the inclusion of those digital channels could be a real game changer. We’ll know for sure later on this year.

Jesmond Darmanin is a technology enthusiast who has his own blog at www.itnewsblog.com.