Guitar Hero Creators Form Rock Band

Harmonix and MTV team up with EA on a music game that goes way beyond guitars.

Music games are all the rage these days. Want proof? Look no further than the Guitar Hero series by Harmonix.

Guitar Hero II is out soon for Xbox 360

The latest instalment, out last year on PlayStation 2 and this month on Xbox 360, sold well over a million copies, even with its higher price thanks to the inclusion of the guitar controller. Guitar Hero developer Harmonix has since been swallowed up by MTV and the two are now working with EA on a new music game for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Where Guitar Hero was mainly concerned with bass, rhythm and lead guitars, Harmonix's new game, Rock Band, will complete the line-up, letting you play drums or sing along over a microphone. All told Harmonix is planning on releasing four different instrument controllers.

Geography won't matter in Rock Band. You'll be able to get together with the rest of your band no matter where in the world they are to play online, EA's David DeMartini told USA Today.

Music is, naturally, at the heart of rhythm games and it's an area in Rock Band where the backing of big-hitters such as EA and MTV is helping. Rock Band will feature original recordings by artists rather than the cover versions most of the previous games in the genre have had to resort to.

None of the players has confirmed any of the bands that are on the card but Harmonix's Alex Rigopulos told USA Today that the game would be covering "a great breadth, from metal to classic rock to Southern rock to everything in between." EA said in a statement that it has signed deals with factions of all five of the major record labels.

Rigopulos calls Rock Band his team's "most ambitious project to date". The game is due on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 this Christmas.

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo