I'm generally skeptical about music games that require special controllers, since it's generally hard to justify buying peripherals for the sake of one game. Sure, some things never go out of style, like Dance, Dance Revolution pads, but then there's the Donkey Konga Bongo set that provides a few hours of entertainment before being shoved into a closet to collect dust with nothing but a bunch of red palm jokes in its wake. Getting a few fake guitars for the sake of Guitar Hero is a little more worthwhile, since it's such an easy to pick up party game that anyone can play for hours on end. But a Guitar Hero III bundle is only $40 more than the game by itself. Not exactly cheap, but doable, since the games have great song selections and those who bought guitars for the other Guitar Heroes can reuse them. But I was especially skeptical about Rock Band, a game that promises the total rock music experience for about $160. Nevermind the fact that Rock Band guitars don't work with Guitar Hero III and vice versa. I love music games as much as the next guy, but shelling out that much money for one game (a casual one at that) and a box full of fake instruments is a little extreme. Then I was invited to Harmonix to check out Rock Band for myself, and it completely changed my perspective.

Growing up, I wanted to take up drums, because there's no better way to relieve stress than to hit things with wooden sticks. As things turned out, I never got the chance to take up lessons. That's why the drum kit stood out for me in particular. I later learned that the drum simulator was very true to life and that a person could potentially learn how to play the instrument through practicing the game. I had to try it to believe it, but it was true. Even on easy mode, I was getting a rudimentary crash course on playing the drums. Getting to hit the drum pads in rhythm was easy enough to pick up, but using the foot pedal ruined my concentration, and it was as though my arms didn't know how to work in synch with my legs. The developers then told me that playing in hard mode for a song was pretty much the same as playing the actual drum part in real-life, and my mind reeled. We could be looking forward to an entire generation of drummers thanks to one video game.

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