The Guitar Hero World Tour Mobile game is now available for handsets running on Google's Android open-source software platform, including HTC's T-Mobile G1 phone.

The game from games and applications developer Hands-On Mobile Inc. and Activision Publishing Inc. is now available on all major U.S. mobile phone platforms and has exceeded 500,000 downloads since its launch in Nov. 2008. Guitar Hero World Tour Mobile for Android has enhanced graphics and features, including use of the accelerometer for "star power," making it faster and easier for users to enable.

"Making our best-selling content available for users on new platforms is critical to Hands-On Mobile's overall strategy," said David McCaman, senior director of marketing for Hands-On Mobile, San Francisco, CA. "We were thrilled to begin developing for the Android platform and wanted to have the best product possible available for launch when the Android Market began allowing for paid applications.

"Android devices offered us a chance to enhance the Guitar Hero mobile experience by utilizing rich graphics, mp3-quality songs, smart use of the accelerometer for ?star power' and the ability to save songs on an SD card," he said. "In addition, bringing cross-network multiplayer battles and online community features to the game allowed us to provide more value and longevity for the user's purchase.

"By creating a Guitar Hero Android experience, we knew we would have a winner, and the results have been extremely positive."

The target demographic is younger mobile consumers, gender-neutral and mobile savvy, who like to use their device to stay connected and engaged with friends.

"Guitar Hero is a cultural phenomenon that has touched almost everyone. The gameplay is casual and easy to learn and everyone loves music," Mr. McCaman said. "We typically see both men and women downloading and playing, with a slight male skew, and the majority of users are 13-24 years of age."

The Guitar Hero Mobile franchise titles, consisting of Guitar Hero III Mobile, Guitar Hero III: Backstage Pass and Guitar Hero World Tour Mobile, are available on almost every mobile platform.

"The franchise as a whole has seen tremendous levels of downloads and titles typically become top-sellers where launched," Mr. McCaman said. "We are seeing record levels of downloads on feature phones, BlackBerry and Windows Mobile devices and are already seeing these results on Android."

All songs are in MP3 format and are automatically saved on the device's SD card, allowing quicker access to playable songs and more time to rock on drums or guitar.

Guitar Hero World Tour Mobile is the sequel to the popular Guitar Hero III Mobile.

Comprised of real-time multiplayer capabilities, players have the opportunity to battle head-to-head against others throughout the country, regardless of their mobile carrier.

Guitar Hero World Tour Mobile features 15 songs available at launch. New bonus songs will be added monthly and will also be available for multiplayer game play.

Players can take their Guitar Hero experience beyond the phone and create profiles, download new songs and track player rankings through the game's Web companion at http://www.guitarheromobile.com/worldtour.

More than 20,000 multiplayer drum and guitar battles are played daily, with more than half of those resulting in a rematch.

The Guitar Hero Mobile franchise has passed 4 million game downloads worldwide and more than 100 million songs have been downloaded to date.

Headquartered in Santa Monica, CA, Activision Publishing is a developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment and leisure products.

Activision Publishing maintains operations in the U.S., Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Spain, the Netherlands, Australia, Japan and South Korea.

Hands-On Mobile is a mobile technology company, game and app developer and publisher of mobile entertainment.

Its portfolio consists of Guitar Hero Mobile and World Poker Tour Texas Hold 'Em games and the Astrology Zone Premier and Sprint's NFL Mobile Live applications.

Hands-On offers global distribution of entertainment brands and content from partners including Activision, Billboard, CBS, NBA, NBC Universal and World Poker Tour.

Using its proprietary mobile development platform, Hands-On provides mobile applications to companies worldwide.

Skyrocketing mobile game development costs have prevented free-to-consumer ad-supported games from becoming commonplace.

"Across all platforms the game is sold as a pay-per-download and is not currently ad-supported," Mr. McCaman said. "The amount of licensed music, connected multiplayer features and overall development that went into these titles makes a pay-to-download model critical for success.

"Ad-supported models are seeing growth in the iPhone space and will become more commonplace as open app store marketplaces emerge," he said. "Currently, with the carrier storefronts accounting for the lion's share of revenue, the ad-supported model hasn't broken ground."

The popularity of mobile games is driving consumer usage of mobile commerce.

"Micro-transactions in gaming are relatively new, especially in mobile," Mr. McCaman said. "Having the ability to extend a gaming experience, socialize it and customize it while discovering incremental revenue through the process is exciting for a publisher.

"We currently support additional paid song downloads for Guitar Hero and see in the future the ability to monetize additional features like gifting, avatar items, increased customization, unlocking and sharing, etcetera," he said.

"As connected games become the norm for mobile gaming experiences, these additional opportunities for micro-transactions will differentiate content and earn it share of mind."