The Best Buy near me had a full band setup for Guitar Hero World Tour, though they had Guitar Hero: Aerosmith in the tray (FAIL!).  So while I didn't get to see the game in action, I did take a few minutes to pound on the drums and guitars.

RedOctane has always done the guitar controller properly, and the GHWT guitar is no different.  It still has the removable neck, but the overall guitar feels even better and more solid than even the Les Paul, which I hold up as being having the best build quality of any widely available plastic guitar to-date (wonky removable neck notwithstanding).  Though the look is obviously very different, the overall "feel" of the thing is like a beefed up Les Paul, in terms of the fret buttons, strummer, and solid build quality.  I didn't know what to expect from the feel of the touchpad, but it's recessed into the neck a tiny bit, and feels very smooth and quick.  I thought there'd be a glossy finish, which would look like crap and get sticky after hours of greasy fingers all over it, but it's more akin to the touchpad material that you'd see on a laptop.  The Star Power activation button and PS3 control knob were very welcome changes.  All in all, this guitar is pretty kick ass!

I only banged on the drums a bit, and they were very different than RB's kit.  First, the sticks were real sticks.  They felt pretty heavy compared to the RB kit.  The pads are EXTREMELY quiet, but they also have this weird mushy soft feeling to them.  I have no idea what that'll do for bounceback, but it certainly helped in the noise department.  The cymbals would take some time to get used to, but they too were very quiet.  I did have trouble with hitting off of the sides of the pads and smacking the frame, which make a hell of a lot of noise, but that'd get fixed with playtime.  All in all, the drums are as solid as you'd expect from RedOctane.  They're also really heavy, so good luck to people carting around their GHWT kit to friends' houses.

Hopefully I'll get some playtime with the actual game this week, but I won't have much beyond impressions; I'm still not planning on buying the game.