It has been a long time since I've enjoyed a game as much as I do Rock Band 2. Probably not since Rock Band 1, hehe.

Now, admittedly, I have a music addiction, and will sing almost anywhere if given a chance. I try not to roll the windows down while driving, lest I distract other drivers with the caterwauling. Cell phones cause enough accidents.

Rock Band is the answer for all those who are tired of just singing along to their favorite songs, alone: why not drag along your friends and make them listen to you, and better yet, convince them that they are having FUN doing so?

Made by Harmonix, Rock Band is, at its core, a simple game: match the colored dots on the screen to the corresponding spots on your plastic instrument, while someone tries to sing the vocals.

It is the first four-person karaoke-style game, and one of the best party games ever. The Troll and I went to a Christmas party last night, and they had a Rock Band set. Half the people could not WAIT to play RB, while the other half expressed a reluctant, but growing interest. Soon the place was ROCKING, with a two-songs-per-instrument rule so that everyone could get a turn.

There was a short intermission for a session of the hideous "American Idol" game, which only served to remind me how superior Rock Band really is. Thankfully that came to an end soon enough (due to a limit on singable songs) and we were then back to glorious rocking goodness.

Now, while a little bit of booze helps folks relax, there IS a limit when playing any skill based game... and that limit was passed at about 1am.

Free RB Tip: You may THINK you play better drunk, but just like your misguided notion of being suddenly really good looking and sexah after four margaritas... YOU AIN'T.

Thank the gods above and below that Rock Band 2 introduced the NO-FAIL mode, great for little kids, old people and yeah... those people you hang out with on weekends.

We played again today, online, with Wren and one of her elfinks. Our band, "Ninja Squirrel Monkeys," is making great progress. I really cannot get enough of this game... as long as no one makes me play drums. Luckily Brakk excels at drums, and that makes me a happy bass-playing, howling-more-or-less-on-key Dwarf.

Do yourself and your family a favor and get this game.
The X-Box version, cause that is what all normal people play. You wanna fit in, right? You can't play with US unless you are online with the X-Box, and there are a LOT of "us" out there.

RB recently released the first set of... country tracks for the game. While that does nothing for me, I am pleased for the folks who DO like that sort of thing, like my favorite guitarist, Tyraenna. She does have her vices.

To those die-hards who whine that it's ROCK BAND and not COUNTRY BAND, I say this: if I have to put up with that shrieky, non-musical heavy screaming metal crap on the playlist, you can handle a bit of Brooks and Dunn. Just add more beer.

Yeah, I know, Guitar Hero World Tour is out there. GH, the game that laughed at the mere idea that people would shell out for four instruments, ever. Boy, I bet they feel pretty dumb now.

Rock Band has a huge head start over GHWT now, simply due to the huge library of downloadable tracks they've managed to put together while GH was busy screaming "HOLY CRAP, BUILD A CLONE, BUILD IT NOW BEFORE THE PEONS SPEND ALL THEIR MONEY!"

Too late, guys. With over five hundred extra tracks to choose from, Rock Band is way ahead. With the will to actually allow other people to build cool controllers instead of fording folks to use their internally designed products. One size does NOT fit all.

I loooooove my Fender bass {made by MadCatz), RB beats GH's "use our specific controllers or die, peons" mentality. By a mile.

Brakk adores his Ion Drum kit, and it was a worthy investment for one who uses that as his instrument of choice. It's bigger, cooler, makes less noise and hey... it is a REAL electronic drum kit.

I have asked Santa for one of those MadCatz microphones with all of the X-Box controller buttons built in, so that I don't have to keep track of the regular controller all the time. Santa aaaaalways gets me what I want.

Wren has GHWT so I recently had a chance to try it. Aside from coveting the track "Hey Man Nice Shot" by Filter, I have no urge to pick it up. Not even a small one. Harmonix are the people who created GH1 and 2, and they have left their original franchise in the dust.

Harmonix would have to fall on its face in a drunken stupor for a month and a half in a jail cell in a third world country after getting caught for smuggling drugs and eating small children in order to screw up its market share. Here's hoping their benders don't last that long.

It is the end of 2008, so it's time for me to announce my favorite game of the year. As much as I love EverQuest II, Warhammer Online, EVE Online and Pirates of the Burning Sea... it's ROCK BAND, for the second year in a row. They got me. Bad. Or Good.

;-)#
Brasse

ps. You should guess by now that if you come to visit the Troll and me, you'll be playing this game. This is not negotiable.