MTV has gotten Dusty Welch, head of publishing at RedOctane, to talk about his company’s leading franchise’s future. RedOctane, as many of you know, is the publisher for the Guitar Hero franchise.

In interviews, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime has theorized about the potential for “Guitar Hero” on the Nintendo Wii. Was Welch interested? “The obvious answer would be yes we’re interested, and how could you say no to Reggie?,” he wrote before reiterating that the only confirmed product to discuss is “Guitar Hero II” for the Xbox 360. “With the transition onto the next-gen platform, it only makes sense for us to explore all the great opportunities available.”

But speaking hypothetically, could the Wii remote benefit the franchise? “Guitar Hero has always been about being the lead guitarist of a rock band,” Welch said. “We don’t see that changing anytime in the near future with a controller outside of a guitar-based shape, though what works best on one console might not work on the other, so it’s an item we would really have to research and test in depth before moving forward with anything.

In Japan, where the Nintendo DS is the dominant video game machine and developers make talking cookbooks and dictionaries for it, one product called “M-06″ turns the device into a guitar. Players strum the lower screen using the system’s buttons as the fret-board. (Videos of the transformation can be seen here.) So it’s possible — though still hard to picture — to play “Guitar Hero” on the DS or PlayStation Portable. When asked about the chances, Welch said: “We don’t want to speculate at this point, though we can definitely say we are exploring every option there is, as we have an incredible fanbase which still has tons of room for expansion. The mobile and handheld market is continuing to boom, and the opportunity for growth remains incredibly strong, though whether or not this market is a truly viable option for ‘Guitar Hero’ remains to be seen.”

MTV