Following EA/Harmonix/MTV’s impressive Guitar Hero II spoiler news this morning, it’s good to know that Activision and Red Octane are still looking to innovate with the new GH2 on 360 (out this Friday) with some add-on effects pedals set to grace the game at some unspecified point in the future, according to the game’s US guidebook (pictured here, courtesy of Joystiq).

SPOnG spotted this unused port at the base of the 360’s X-Plorer gee-tar controller when we first clapped eyes on the game late last year and we have quizzed numerous PR reps about it since – so it’s good to hear that our initial suspicions were correct and that we’ll be wah-wah’ing away till our hearts are content sometime soon.

What is not clear is whether or not the effects pedal will work with the current version of the game or is perhaps set to be featured in future iterations.

We spoke with a Red Octane PR rep this morning, who couldn’t confirm release dates for any future peripherals or add-ons for the game. Interestingly, the effects pedal information is only included in the US version of Guitar Hero II 360.

Of course, SPOnG will update you on this as soon as we get the lowdown.

So, while the EA/Harmonix/MTV rock-triumvirate looks like they have the music industry all tied up, do we think there is a future for Activision/Red Octane’s Guitar Hero series?

Will Neversoft – the new devs for the next planned version of Guitar Hero – focus on deepening the ‘realism’ of the air-guitar experience instead of concentrating on online-jamming to the original versions of rock classics, which seems to be EA/Harmonix/MTV's plan?

In fact, putting it in those terms, will Neversoft even bother with Guitar Hero 3?