The Guitar Hero 5 official website launched today and alongside it came a release date, more confirmed artists, and an interesting scavenger hunt-style fan contest.

Upping the ante even further is Activision’s continued goal and with a tracklist including unnamed cuts from the following acts, the publisher looks to be doing just that.

The Rolling Stones
The White Stripes
Kings of Leon
Tom Petty
Bob Dylan
Johnny Cash
Santana
Vampire Weekend
Beastie Boys
Coldplay
Duran Duran
Gorillaz
Jimmy Eat World
Muse
The Raconteurs

As for the planned release date, Guitar Hero 5 will be sliding its way to retail September 1, 2009, an entire week before The Beatles: Rock Band. Ouch, how does that taste Rock Band? Can’t imagine it’s good.

Finally, Guitar Hero fans are invited to take to the Internet highway, TV, blog sites, and various other media channels in search of clues at Activision’s discretion regarding the full artist lineup for GH5. Example: today’s clue is “which band/artist is listed in either the Gamespot or Yahoo! Music article?”

If you know the answer, you have to sell your soul to Activision and register with the site, but hey, if you happen to win, you’ll receive five tickets to five concerts of your choice in the closest major metropolitan area by which you live. And for the rest of us, the contest wraps up in five days, so keen music detectives will know the final artist lineup for the title by week’s end. Cool, but it’s nothing compared to the specific tunes, especially if Activision throws a curveball and includes Jimmy Eat World’s “Hear you Me.”

Prepare for total plastic guitar mayhem this September as both Guitar Hero 5 and The Beatles: Rock Band hit shelves a mere eight days apart. War anyone?

Guitar Hero 5

Eddie Makuch is Blast's Director of Video Game News. Reach him at Makuch.E@BlastMagazine.com.