PINK!!!!

Pink for the weekend!

Guitar Hero

My good friend received both an XBOX 360 and Rock Band for Christmas last year. We had gone over a few times to play and he even brought it up to our house once for us to 'rock out'.

I really enjoyed the game. It was fun to play such enjoyable songs and it allows up to four people to play during a single jam session.

I, however, did not have an XBOX 360, so Rock Band was out of the picture for me. So, my wife purchased Guitar Hero III for our Wii system. And we were immediately hooked. It was actually pretty difficult when we first started, but since then I have pretty much mastered the Easy difficulty and completed the Medium difficulty. But, that is where I draw the line. The next difficulty up is pretty much impossible for me so far.

I was excited to see that Guitar Hero was releasing an Aerosmith themed disc, which comes out this Sunday.

Rock Band, however, was announced for the Wii system and released last Sunday. When it was announced, my wife and I were pretty excited - that is until I started reading what the game would include, or that is NOT include.

The game was being dumbed down for the Wii release, and would more resemble the PS2 game then that of the PS3 or XBOX 360. Gone was the create-a-character, the world tour mode and other various modes that made the game great - including downloadable content.

So, we reluctantly marked the release date on our calendar, but were unsure if we were going to purchase the game.

Guitar Hero, however, made my choice very easy. About a month ago, Guitar Hero announced it's next release entitled Guitar Hero: World Tour. Unlike previous releases that only included the guitar, World Tour would more closely resemble Rock Band with a guitar kit and a microphone. Not only that, but everything that Rock Band thought it couldn't include on the Wii - World Tour includes. So, come October we will be rocking out with the new Guitar Hero.

Rock Band made a huge mistake here. Instead of finding ways around the problems that could occur for the missing pieces - they just decided not to include it, and gave an inferior product. Guitar Hero, however, took the time to figure things out and may have cornered the market for rock games on the Wii system because of it.

The original Guitar Hero game for Wii that we purchased came with a guitar, and the Aerosmith one we are getting Sunday also comes with a guitar. When World Tour arrives, we will get the kit with the guitar, drum kit and microphone. It will be our last 'bundle' purchase, as we will have three guitars, a drum kit and microphone - then we will just have to purchase new games.

I am pretty excited about the new releases. Hopefully the Aerosmith version can hold me over until World Tour comes out.

Finding out the songs that will be included in each game is pretty exciting as well. I never thought I would be so into a music concept game - but I am hooked.

Top 10: Bands

I guess you could say I was a little behind when it came to truly getting into music. Growing up I was brought up with my dad's '50's music and my mother's Elton John and John Denver records. I even was given her old 45 records (the one's with one song on either side) and played them a lot.

When I reached high school, I was still listening to bands I had grown up with - and was actually often made fun of for it. What high school boy out there was listening to Boyz II Men before a high school basketball game? Um, that would be me.

Anyway, my musical preferences have since blossomed and I have put together a list of my Top 10 Favorite Bands. These are my favorite bands (not solo artists), so of course yours will differ. So without further adieu her they are in reverse order:

10) Green Day
Band Members: Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, Tre Cool.

Studio Albums: 39/Smooth, Kerplunk, Dookie, Insomniac, Nimrod, Warning, American Idiot.

Fav. Songs: When I Come Around, Brain Stew, Warning, Nice Guys Finish Last, Redundant, Minority, Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Wake Me Up When September Ends, Jesus of Suburbia.

9) Vertical Horizon
Band Members: Matt Scannell, Keith Kane and Sean Hurley

Studio Albums: There and Back Again, Running on Ice, Live Stages, Everything You Want. Go, Go 2.0.

Fav. Songs: We Are, Everything You Want, You're A God, I'm Still Here, Forever, Echo, BEst I Ever Had, Shackled.

8) Aerosmith
Band Members: Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Brad Whitford, Tom Hamilton and Joey Kramer

Studio Albums: Aerosmith, Get Your Wings, Toys in the Attic, Rocks, Draw the Line, Night in the Ruts, Rock in a Hard Place, Done with Mirrors, Permanent Vacation, Pump, Get a Grip, Nine Lives, Just Push Play, Honkin' on Bobo.

Fav. Songs: Dream On, Rag Doll, Pink, Just Push Play, Crazy, Crying, Don't Wanna Miss A Thing, Sweet Emotion, Walk This Way, Same Old Song and Dance, Dude (Looks Like a Lady), Angel, Janie's Got a Gun, Livin' On the Edge, Jaded.

7) Maroon 5
Band Members: Adam Levine, James Valentine, Jesse Carmichael, Mickey Madden and Matt Flynn

Studio Albums: Songs About Jane, It Won't Be Soon Before Long.

Fav. Songs: Harder to Breathe, This Love, Sunday Morning, She Will Be Loved, Makes Me Wonder, Won't Go Home Without You, Wake Up Call.

6) Graham Colton Band
Band Members: Graham Colton, Jordan Elder, John Lancaster, Ryan Tallent

Studio Albums: Drive.

Fav. Songs: Cigarette, First Week, Killing Me, Don't Give Up On Me.

5) Rascal Flatts
Band Members: Gary LeVox, Jay DeMarcus, Joe Don Rooney

Studio Albums: Rascal Flatts, Melt, Feels Like Today, Me and My Gang, Still Feels Good.

Fav. Songs: Prayin' for Daylight, I Melt, Mayberry, Love You Out Loud, Me and My Gang, Bless the Broken Road, Feels Like Today, My Wish, Stand, What Hurts the Most, Take Me There, Winning at a Losing Game.

4) The Clarks
Band Members: Scott Blasey, Robert James, Greg Joseph and Dave Minarik

Studio Albums: I'll Tell You What Man, The Clarks, Love Gone Sour Suspicious and Bad Debt, Someday Maybe, Let It Go, Another Happy Ending, Fast Moving Cars.

Fav. Songs: Cigarette, Mercury, Hey You, Boys Like, On Saturday, Maybe, Hell On Wheels, Shimmy Low, Happy, Blue, Let it Go, Snowman, Born Too Late, Butterflies & Airplanes, Penny on the Floor.

3) Guster
Band Members: Adam Gardner, Ryan Miller, Brian Rosenworcel and Joe Pisapia

Studio Albums: Parachute, Goldfly, Lost and Gone Forever, Keep It Together, Ganging Up on the Sun.

Fav. Songs: Demons, What You Wish For, Happier, Either Way, Barrel of a Gun, Airport Song, Careful, Amsterdam, Keep It Together, Come Downstairs and Say Hello, Long Way Down, Satellite, C'mon, Manigest Destiny, One Man Wrecking Maching, G Major.

2) Our Lady Peace
Band Members: Raine Maida, Steve Mazur, Jeremy Taggart and Duncan Coutts

Studio Albums: Naveed, Clumsy, Happiness is not a Fish You Can Catch, Spiritual Machines, Gravity, Healthy in Paranoid Times.

Fav. Songs: Starseed, Clumsy, Carnival, Superman's Dead, One Man Army, 4 a.m., Thief, Is Anybody Home?, Happiness & the Fish, Potato Girl, Right Behind You, In Repair, Life, Are You Sad?, Somewhere Out There, Innocent, Angels/Losing/Sleep, World on a String, Where Are You?.

1) The Tragically Hip
Band Members: Gordon Downie, Rob Baker, Johnny Fay, Gord Sinclair and Paul Langlois

Studio Albums: The Tragically Hip, Up to Here, Road Apples, Fully Completely, Day for Night, Trouble at the Henhouse, Phatom Power, Music at Work, In Violet Light, In Between Evolution, World Container.

Fav. Songs: Emperor Penguin, Pigeon Camera, Poets, Fireworks, Ahead by a Century, Gift Shop, Nautical Disaster, Blow At High Dough, New Orleans is Sinking, Twist My Arm, Long Time Running, Fiddler's Green, Courage, Fully Completely, Wheat Kings, Fifty Mission Cup, At the Hundredth Meridian, Grace, Too, Greasy Jungle, Scared, Bobcaygeon, Music at Work, Lake Fever, The Darkest One, Leave, A Beautiful Thing, In View, Yer Not the Ocean, The Lonely End of the Rink.