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Once someone finally succeeds with making a GH like game using a real guitar, that really works as a game, I'll be back on board.

You can get on board now Not cheap though.

Hmmm....

Like this?

http://www.rockband.com/songs (2,566 songs and counting)

That's why I'm actually excited about the Rock Band Squier guitar coming out. Rock Band 3 and that thing should go a long way toward your (and my) desire. It'll be interesting to see how long; hopefully it won't turn out to be a letdown.

I received my package yesterday and it had everything mentioned in the article plus balloons, streamers, and a few more goodies. Sounds like their package wasn't complete.

The way we're going to do it is I'll install a temp copy of 7 on my laptop, show a few things I know, and then let my guests play with it. We're also hosting a BBQ, playing some GH, RB, Wii Sports, and just plain chilling out.

I'm still undecided on whether to raffle off the single goodies (e.g. playing cards) or do some kind of trivia game: what kind of car was BG driving when he got hauled for the infamous mugshot?

After everyone's gone home I'll simply put my production hard drive back in the laptop and start using with my copy of Windows 7 Ultimate. :)

All in all, it should be a good time just getting together and hanging out.

Make it easier for users to upload their own songs.

You mean like this?

Like I said, I don't have a problem with a simple delay. If Microsoft has the best system for developing content, and/or Harmonix got the best deal with them, fine, give them a limited(!) period of exclusivity. But here's what I have a problem with:

Tracks for the Rock Band Network will be made available later in the fall on the Xbox 360® video game entertainment system from Microsoft. Stand out tracks will follow on the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system and Wii(TM) console. (press release)

I believe the community you were referring to is other song creators, not the public at large, and the wiki page's mention of peer review would tend to reinforce that. It seems reasonable to me that songs that are effectively in beta testing aren't publicly available. Rereading the press release with the peer review in mind, it's possible that by "stand out tracks" they meant "tracks that passed review", but that's not clearly spelled out in the press release, and the other platforms aren't mentioned at all on the wiki.

Like I said, I don't have a problem with a simple delay. If Microsoft has the best system for developing content, and/or Harmonix got the best deal with them, fine, give them a limited(!) period of exclusivity. But here's what I have a problem with:

Tracks for the Rock Band Network will be made available later in the fall on the Xbox 360® video game entertainment system from Microsoft. Stand out tracks will follow on the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system and Wii(TM) console. (press release)

I believe the community you were referring to is other song creators, not the public at large, and the wiki page's mention of peer review would tend to reinforce that. It seems reasonable to me that songs that are effectively in beta testing aren't publicly available. Rereading the press release with the peer review in mind, it's possible that by "stand out tracks" they meant "tracks that passed review", but that's not clearly spelled out in the press release, and the other platforms aren't mentioned at all on the wiki.

Comparing the summary, article, and official site:

Summary and article: prices range from 50 cents to $3 per song
Official site: Final pricing has yet to be determined

Summary: Artists get 30% after MTV and MS take their cut
Article: Artists get 30% of each sale
Official site: Artists get "a cut" of each sale

Where did the figures in the article and summary come from?

Using a real kit together with one of the above adapters will be much better than the ION, but also much more expensive, of course..

Two entry-level kits worth looking at is the Roland TD-3 and the Yamaha DTXplorer. When it comes to real drumming I don't think the ION with the Alesis Drum Module is anywhere near these kits, but I've never actually tried the ION, so you might wanna apply some sodium chloride at this point.

Take a look at this thread for some discussion on using the ION as a real kit: http://www.rockband.com/forums/showthread.php?t=91581 As you'll see, the people in this thread are mostly negative towards buying the ION if you've got real drumming ambitions.

I have not yet tried other pads (a dual trigger snare is my next planned upgrade once I get some more money), though reports from the Rock Band forums tell me that some work and others do not. The thread with most of the information in one place is this one:

http://www.rockband.com/forums/showthread.php?t=81867

I tend to disagree with their "work slightly" conclusion on the CY-8's, though, as I have three that work better than the Alesis cymbals that come with the kit.

If you're really serious about drumming in Guitar Hero or Rock Band 1 or 2, you should consider buying a proper electronic kit (any kit with MIDI out) together with a MIDI adapter.

Here are two choices of adapters:
http://www.rockband.com/users/sethmeisterg/gallery
http://www.bytearts.com/midi/index.htm

You get two free Disturbed songs with a pre-order of their latest CD from BestBuy.com. Limited (why not just include a code with all CDs?) and only 2 of the 3 songs are included, but at least it's something.

If I had my own copy of Rock Band, I'd be inclined to set up my electronic practice kit to work as a controller:

http://www.rockband.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20420

Well, first of all, modules in Drupal are code plugins. The stuff you move from one side of the page to another is a "block". :-)

Drupal is great for getting something out quickly, but yes, for any serious site you are going to be using numerous "contrib" modules (the add-on systems you mention). Drupal's architecture is built around letting add-on modules do the powerful stuff, while core is an engine to enable them to do powerful stuff.

For instance, if you're building a complex site without the CCK and Views modules, you're missing 2/3 of what Drupal has to offer. You can build sites that look and function nothing like "normal Drupal" without touching core code if you know where to "bend" it, and there are a large number of places where Drupal is designed to bend. No, you can't crank out the NYTimes web site in a weekend, but you can't do that with any CMS, and any CMS vendor that claims they can is lying to you. :-)

A small sampling of Drupal sites launched in the last year or two:

http://www.imamuseum.org/
http://artsci.wustl.edu/
http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections
http://www.motogp.com/
http://gigaom.com/
http://donna.be/
http://www.fastcompany.com/
http://www.flipkowlier.be/
http://popsci.com/
http://rockband.com/

And several dozen from SonyBMG Music, such as:
http://www.pinkspage.com/
http://www.avrillavigne.com/
http://jenniferlopez.com/
http://britney.com/

You can do very non-Drupaly sites with Drupal if you learn to embrace contrib modules. :-)

(Disclaimer: I worked on several of the sites listed above.)

Is interactivity not the major difference? With a computer you can learn how to ski,skydive,sculpt and sing.

Not wanting to get all web 2.0 on your ass, but the fact that the internet is becoming a less passive experience by the day, is one reason I remain optimistic about its educational role.

For the 360 version, this program will allow you to hook up to your PC and jam out free-form:

http://www.rockband.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14053

I wonder if everyone realizes Harmonix outsourced the development of Guitar Hero III to free up time for them to create Rock Band.

I'll buy the one being made by Harmonix and not the junk Sony is foisting off on us.

http://www.harmonixmusic.com/
Rock Band is the real deal, folks. Harmonix, MTV, and EA games - it's going to be edgy, fun, and loud as hell. Just what we want.

http://www.rockband.com/ - online play, three parts, all the goodies - it's like they stuffed a Karaoke game, Guitar Hero, and a rhythm/bass game all into one. And they have a massive forum set up for people to give feedback and suggest songs.

DDR-Hero III is going to be a joke - old songs, poor execution - typical half-baked effort. Plus, I don't like how Sony gave Harmonix the shaft after making the hottest game of the year, no less.