Rock Bank vs. Guitar Hero - which is better?

Thinking about getting one of these for the kids for Christmas, but I know nothing about them.

However, I have seen the South Park episdoe dealing with the craze surrounding these games. And I agree with the point the episode made - kids who love the game probably wouldn't show interest in getting lessons to play a real guitar (or some other instrument).

OTOH, perhaps the video game is a gateway to developing interest in learning to play the real thing.

Anyway, is there any real difference between Rock Band and Guitar Hero?

Oh, and if this will keep the thread in the RR a few extra minutes:

Only leftist, socialism-loving Euro trash vegetarians love Rock Band!

TO PRESS START WITH YOU!

TLDR

Red Room > Press Start

If you are looking at the newest versions then both Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero: World Tour will be equally good. If you are hoping to get him interested in actually making music then I would suggest Guitar Hero: World Tour, as it will include a feature to allow you to program in your own songs and share them online with other users.

without having played the new guitar hero with multiple instruments, Rock Band Owns.

My oldest (12) plays the cello and guitar - she sticks to the drums on rock band. If anything, she's been more interested in music since playing around with the game.

My friends and I have had more fun with Rock Band.

Both great games though.

Wait for Guitar Hero World Tour to come out before making a decision- it boasts some new and better features than Rock Band while at the same time delivering a comptetitive game with the addition of vocals and drums.

If your kid plays videogames primarily by themselves, then the full band games may not be for them- especially considering the dent to your wallet.

Frankly I do not like the guitar peripheral on GH. I don't like the way the buttons feel. The guitar peripheral for Rock Band is much better. The buttons are flush with the neck and feel better on the figures.

I'm the reverse, I like the more obvious buttons on the Guitar Hero controller and things feel strange on the Rock Band controller.

the standard rock band guitar also has the smaller buttons for those tricky solos.

Watch the South Park episode "Guitar Queero" before purchasing one of these games

I'd go with Rock Band 2, personally, mainly because of the vast heap of downloadable tracks already available for it, and weekly additions. Instruments can be used on both games though, so it's as much about the quality of them as the games, since the setlists are quite similar. I haven't tried the new instruments though... stuck with RB1 instruments for now

I have GH3 right now, that's it. I don't like Rock Band because I can't figure out how to play the damn set(I'm a drummer!).

I'm going to wait for a demo to show up somewhere and see what GH:WT is like though.

But for you, I would say that both are about equal-however, GH has a more customizable set list.

Err, regarding rock band drums... it's kind of just how you'd expect having played GH3... you hit the corresponding drum when the little icon goes over the bar at the bottom.

In case you hadn't worked it out, the big long bar is the bass pedal.

I totally agree, plus the strum sticks on Rock Band Guitars... Guitar Hero is far better for guitar but it's nice to have the drums with Rock Band. I think the best is gonna be the new guitar hero that comes with drums and a good guitar.

Rock Band 2 has a cool little drum trainer feature that I like. I actually got a real drum set after playing RB1 and it's cool to have some exercises to go through.

You won't be able to do the song creation stuff though.

What? Song creation requires the GH instruments?

[edit] - Just checked, Rock Band instruments work with GHWT creation tools.

I'm glad that GH:WT is finally compatible with the RB2 instruments. It may prompt me to get GH:WT after all.

GH:WT hasn't been getting great reviews and I am really hating the aesthetic (especially the purple bar for the kick). I think I will pass on this one.

If you take a bunch of pebbles to the Rock Bank, will they give you a slate of granite for them?

Going to a press event tomorrow for Harmonix (Rock Band devs), so thought I might as well ask in here if anyone wanted me to ask/say/request to them?

Someone must have a burning question beyond 'when is <insert artist here> coming to rock band'.