Sorry. I don’t see the similarities.

KID TESTED,
ROADIE APPROVED
Serious rocking, even if it’s fake,
requires serious equipment

FOR GUITAR HERO

Peavey AG RiffMaster
PEAVE Y, $399
That plastic ax won’t stand up to heavy-duty
thrashing, so strap on one of these full-size
Guitar Hero controllers built right into the
body of an authentic Peavey guitar. With
basswood bodies and rosewood fretboards,
the guitars also feature licensed Kiss, Ozzy,
Megadeth, and Lynyrd Skynyrd designs.

FOR ROCK BAND

Battle of the Bands

THE ROCK BAND VS. GUITAR HERO ESCALATION REACHES ITS TIPPING POINT

Drum Rocker
ION, $299
For Neil Peart wannabes who can’t abide by
the standard-issue Rock Band ² kit, this pro-
quality version adds a fully adjustable frame
and two cymbal pads. Plus, you can hook it up
to an Alesis drum module and record beats
to sell to the upstart rapper of your choice.

With the two superpowers of music games, Rock Band ² (Harmonix, M TV Games) and Guitar Hero: World Tour (Activision), competing for a spot on your holiday shopping list, we’re seeing an unprecedented arms race of exclusive set lists and tricked-out plastic instruments.

The conflict began last year after a behind-the-scenes split, when Activision acquired RedOctane, the company that made Guitar Hero’s guitars, while M TV bought Harmonix, the developers who actually programmed the game’s software, and tasked them with adding a karaoke-style microphone and drum pads to create Rock Band. That game generated tons of media buzz, but its guitar-only rival, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, actually sold ⁸. ⁵ million more copies, thanks, presumably, to name recognition and a lower price.

This year, Guitar Hero: World Tour ups the ante with its own mic and drum kit, complete with cymbal pads, as well as the ability to create and share original compositions. Rock Band ² makes some modest tweaks, such as ports on the new drum kit to plug in extra cymbal pads later on, and guitars (finally wireless on the Xbox 360 version).

With the two games now more alike than ever— many of the guitars may soon even be usable with both franchises—fans are being forced to choose sides over the most minor remaining battleground: the song lists. Both deliver dueling collections of exclusive tracks

and artists, with nearly ¹⁰⁰ included on the game discs and a handful of new tracks released every few weeks as $¹.⁹⁹ downloads.

Unlike sharing your buddy’s iPod tunes, there’s no hack for making the downloadable songs play across both games, so fans will have to pony up almost ³⁵⁰ if they want to jump from, say, the Replacements to Lenny Kravitz—plus, they’ll have to keep track of which songs are tied to which game. Rock Band 2 pulls out the big guns with a new song from Chinese Democracy, which apparently exists, and the first guitar-game tracks from Bob Dylan (“Tangled Up in Blue”) and AC/DC

(“Let There Be Rock”). Guitar Hero fires back with its own “gets,” including tracks from Jimi Hendrix and the Eagles, while Metallica’s entire new Death Magnetic album will be available for download on the day of the game’s release.

It’s all first-rate fun with loads of A-list talent, but there’s a danger that fans will end up trapped in a Madden-like yearly upgrade cycle, forced into buying a new ⁶⁰ game disc every year when all they really want is a steady stream of new songs that could easily be attained via download; gamers can easily become fatigued or frustrated if they feel pressured to buy new hardware and software every fall. Even though both games are guaranteed to be best-sellers this year, Activision, Harmonix, and MTV Games should note that real-life Cold Warriors had a name for this endless competitive cycle: mutually assured destruction. DAN ACKERMAN

Rock Band Stage Kit
PDP, $100
Ripped straight from the arsenal of your
favorite wedding DJ, this stage kit provides
colored lights and smoke effects, turning
your living room into the hottest nightspot
this side of the local T. G. I. Friday’s.

Rock Band Drum Silencers
PDP, $20
If whacking away at the hard plastic drum
pads is driving your roommate/spouse/
parakeet crazy, these rubber pads dampen
the sound. Or you could just tape mouse
pads to the drums for the same effect. D.A.