At Microsofts E3 2007 press conference, Peter Moore (Xbox Vice President), played the guitar and hit the start button over and over again, pausing the game. And after a while it was „Game over“ for him, since he missed the accords one time too often.

The day after, at Electronic Arts' press conference, the pros took the stage: The internal band of Guitar Hero inventor Harmonix, who were responsible for most of the songs in Guitar Hero 1 and 2. Mainly due to licensing reasons and also because certain songs were too hard to play and missed enjoyable guitar solos.

Contrary to Activision and Red Octan, who will focus on just the guitar again for Guitar Hero 3, Rock Band will feature four „instruments“: bass guitar, lead guitar, percussion and vocals. We suspect, that the game will be sold with a microphone and a guitar, while latter can be used as lead and bass. We presume, that the percussions won't be in the pack as well. The guitar as well as the drum track are symbolized by a vertical banner, containing colored marks, moving from the back to the front. The player has to to press or keep the right buttons pressed, in the right order and with the appropriate timing. Vocals will, just like in SingStar, be shown at the top of the screen and players have to hit the right tone and duration. What they sing, doesn't matter.

Rock Band will, as it's common for EA, make use of numerous licenses. The 70s contribute songs like Mississippi Queen (Mountain), the 80s Wanted Dead or Alive (Bon Jovi), the 90s In Bloom by Nirvana and such. And more recent titles will include Main Offender by The Hives. There'll also be downloadable albums, like by The Who (Who’s Next). Even Metallica, who already contribute a song to the boxed version, will licence major parts of their works.