Activision has announced a whole slew of new Hero games, both Guitar and other. For starters, they’ve finally confirmed what everyone has known for months. Guitar Hero Van Halen is in the works, and will be released some time later this year. When asked for a comment regarding which era of Van Halen music would be the center of attention, Activisions Senior Vice President of Global Brand Management said “Oh this is definitely Van Halen, not Van Hagar.” That’s good to hear.

Also coming at no surprise, Guitar Hero 5 is also in the works for this year. Few features have been revealed, but the game will allow players to drop in and out of songs or switch instruments or difficulty at any time.

But wait, there’s more! Activision also announced two brand new non-Guitar Hero games.

Band Hero will be a family friendly take on Guitar Hero, with an E 10+ rating and a set list of Top 40 hits. It sounds like Band Hero will be easier than the Guitar Hero games and will be Activision’s response to LEGO Rock Band.

Finally, DJ Hero has finally been announced. The controller pictured above will be used to create custom mixes of existing songs across a variety of genres, such as R&B and electronica. It will be interesting to see where this one goes.

Joystiq