Plastic Band - A look at Rock Band 3

For the last five years music games have become a best selling phenomenon in the video game industry, creating fun new gaming experiences as well as inspiring kids to pick up a real instrument. But since the release of the first Guitar Hero game in 2005 and gamers first got a look at a plastic guitar with five colored buttons, music games have been criticized, claiming that they are an aberration of actually playing an instrument as well as convincing gamers they can really play. This may have been true...till now. The newest addition to the music game genre, Rock Band 3 to be released next month, may change some of the skeptics into believers.

The newest Rock Band game includes Pro modes on each of the instruments which is now up to four with the addition of keyboard. Pro mode changes the gameplay to more accurately recreate playing the instruments. The Pro guitar controller has 6 strings and plays like a real guitar, pro drums have three cymbals, and keyboard uses all 25 keys of the keyboard controller. It will also have special training modes to help you learn to play.


This new game experience isn't cheap. The keyboard will be $79.99 and the two versions of the Pro guitar will be $150 and $300.  The cymbals are $39.99 That's assuming you already have a drum set and microphone.  So the full experience of the game may set you back $500 or more.