This is a micro-review because I haven’t gotten too far into Rock Band (the new mega-game from the makers of Guitar Hero I and II).  What I can say right now:

• It seems Easy and Medium are MUCH MUCH easier than Guitar Hero II or III.
• You have to be a lot more precise with your strums.
• Drums are farkin’ hard.  But I’m not even close to a good drummer.
• Vocals are fun.
• The box is HUGE.  No, really… huge.
• The songs are almost all original artists (same with GH3).
• I don’t like the feel of the Strat controller.  The fret buttons click, the strum bar doesn’t.  This is the opposite of a GH controller.
• The “effects” using the 5-way on the Strat is novel, but kind of gimmicky.
• Drums are hard.
• Overall, the whole package is very well executed.  I need to see it on my HDTV at home (I’m at my inlaws for Thanksgiving right now) to really test out the graphics.
• Rush rules, there’s a Coheed & Cambria track on there too… and of course, Enter Sandman.
• The damn guitar should be wireless.  The 360 has built in wireless, there is NO reason they couldn’t have used it on a $170 package.

Overall, I’m not saying it’s as good as GH3… yet.  The guitar part of GH3 is much more exciting (some of the guitar parts are boring in Rock Band), but the full-band thing is great fun with friends/family.  It’s a solid effort from a solid developer and I’m reserving my judgement until I get into it a bit more.