My favorite review of Rock Band so far

When Guitar Hero or Rock Band come up in conversation, I always feel a little like Stan's dad in this recent episode of South Park (fast forward to 0:45 if you're in a hurry).

I feel a little better since yesterday, when Sleater-Kinney guitarist Carrie Brownstein published her review of Rock Band in Slate, in which she compares playing Rock Band with playing in a rock band. It's a fun read, so I won't summarize it here, but the following quote pretty much nails it for me: "And, really, if you are going to play the game with a group of friends for more than a night, shouldn't you just form a real band? There is something sad about the thought of four teenagers getting Rock Band for Christmas and spending all of their after-school time pretending to know how to play."

And before you accuse me of sounding like an 80-year-old, yes, I've tried Guitar Hero and can see how it might be addictive. The drums in Rock Band also seem appealing, although I haven't seen that game in action yet.

[juddrizzo]

I agree - mostly. However, this is just the first steps. Hopefully, in the future, the games will get so close to playing a real instrument, that you could use it to learn how to really play and read music. ... That would be awesome.

I have been playing guitar for 28 years but That, I would buy. Gladly.