Last night, my workplace held a Christmas party at a hotel in Anaheim, CA. After eating dinner and spending a few hours at a table with my coworkers, I left the party early to pick-up Rock Band for the Xbox 360 at Best Buy. I originally intended to purchase Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, however, I was unable to find a bundled copy at several stores.

Rock Band unsurprisingly turned out to be an excellent music-based game. Developed by Harmonix, the developers behind the Guitar Hero series, Rock Band feels like what Guitar Hero III would have been if they continued the series. The game plays similarly to the first two Guitar Hero games; however, two new instruments are now supported: drums and microphone for singing. Additional changes include separate boards onscreen to display notes for each player, and completely customizable characters (hair, skin, eye color, shirt, pants, boots, etc.) I highly recommend the game to any fans of the Guitar Hero or Karaoke in general.

Currently, I am playing as the lead guitar and my wife, Heidi, is alternating between the drummer and singer. As we progress through the game we will likely start playing online on Xbox Live.