Rock Band 2

A week ago, Rock Band meant nothing more to me than the fact that our older granddaughter was getting it as a Christmas present from our son for her Nintendo Wii. I'd heard it was "fun," but that and a humor piece I'd read at Salon.com entitled "How Rock Band saved my marriage" was the extent of my knowledge.

I was in Wal-Mart on Wednesday night, Christmas Eve, shortly before they closed for the holiday, and saw that they were selling Guitar Hero World Tour and Rock Band 2 for the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 (my platform; primarily for Blu-Ray movies, though, not games) for $109, a significant savings from their regular $189.99 price (apparently to price-match Toys "R" Us). I thought, "Well, why not? If I don't like what I see in my granddaughter's game after she opens it, I can always return it unopened." I had my son check Amazon.com for user reviews, and it seemed that Rock Band 2 was rated better than Guitar Hero World Tour, so even though I could have bought both and returned one, I went with Rock Band 2. A later at-home search on the Internet seemed to confirm that Rock Band 2 was the better choice for us - plus, if I liked it, it would be the same game our grandkids were getting, so they could play it at their house and ours with no relearning needed.

Well.... Curiosity or anticipation got the better of us that night (that, plus the glowing reviews I'd read), and we opened it up, assembled the guitar and drum set (a very minor procedure), plugged in their wireless dongles, inserted the disc, started up the game, and...

Wow!

We had a blast that night playing... and playing... and playing the game. In fact, after finding out that the Wii version of Rock Band 2 had just been released on December 18, we convinced our granddaughter the next day to hold off on opening her game until I could find and exchange it for Rock Band 2 (which was said by everyone to be an improvement, both in minor and major ways, from Rock Band). After a bit of a hassle, I was able to accomplish that mission on Friday, December 26.

The kids and family were at the house all day on Christmas, and the hit of the day was Rock Band 2. Our youngest granddaughter, age 5, was doing her part on drums and vocals, and surprisingly well for someone who had never played the game, nor seen it before. The grandkids were over again the next day, and... you guessed it, more Rock Band 2!

I can see why it's such a popular party game. Unlike a lot of video games, you are not simply absorbed in and by the game, but are also interacting and visiting with your band members as well as the others in the room, especially if you trade off instruments among yourselves. It's a great social activity.

It's of course mostly, if not entirely, rock 'n' roll, and the lyrics of some of the songs are on occasion not what I like hearing or saying, or having young kids hear or say, so there are some things that some parents might or should be concerned about. But I think those are very minor compared to the sheer fun of the game.

I'd read or heard that Rock Band 2 was one of the hottest-selling games for Christmas this year. Now I understand why.

Rock on, dude!

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FYI, here are the "cheat codes" for Rock Band 2:

PS3 http://www.cheatcc.com/ps3/rockband2cheatscodes.html

Xbox 360 http://www.cheatcc.com/xbox360/rockband2cheatscodes.html

Nintendo Wii http://www.cheatcc.com/wii/rockband2cheatscodes.html

Also:

Rock Band Feature: Harmonix's Top Tips For Drummers

Equipping Your First Fake Plastic Rock Band

Five Accessories to Improve Your Rock Band Experience