"The songs that make the whole w..." nah, let's not go there...

Another interesting part of the game is the ability for players to play online with others and starting a ‘career’ as a band together. Other modes include Co-op, Solo Tour for those who wish to use only one instrument, Head-to-Head (with guitarist vs. guitarist etc) and a Practice mode. Those who really want to live the band life will be able to customize their avatar and band logo.

But really, it all comes down to the music. A result of the fact that the game features more than one instrument; songs have not been specifically chosen with one particular instrument in mind. Fortunately that leaves plenty of suitable songs to chose from; Enter the Sandman by Metallica, Won’t Get Fooled Again by The Who, Learn to Fly by Foo Fighters and Don’t Fear The Reaper by Blue Oyster Cult (hence the cowbell) have all been confirmed. Other songs by The Ramones, The Hives, David Bowie and Queens of the Stone Age have also been announced and a grand total of 40 songs are planned to ship with the game.

When you are done with your first batch of songs, you can simply go online and download full albums from artists like Metallica straight into your game. Hopefully this will mean at least one new album every week as fresh content will keep this game going for a long time. The first album available for download will be Who’s Next by The Who but so far there is no word on pricing.

Chink?

In fact, pricing could be the only real chink in the armor of Rock Band. The bundle with all the peripherals included will be yours for a whopping 200 dollars. The game’s controller is not as good as those from the Guitar Hero games (an offshoot of the breakup between guitar peripheral maker Red Octane and Harmonix), though it has been said that you will be able to use the Guitar Hero controller for Rock Band, hopefully rectifying this problem.

Rock Band will be released in the fall 2007 on both the PS3 and Xbox 360. When asked if there will be a Wii version, Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopulas said “Absolutely” so expect that version to be officially announced soon too. With the promise of new weekly downloadable content and online jam sessions, this game is sure to be one of 2007’s best.