I, like many if not most of you have been anxiously awaiting the release of rock band since its announcement. The sheer ambition, production value, development talent, and concept of this game gives it the potential and almost certainty to be one of the greatest gaming experiences of this generation.. but there are 2 details which concern me. Details that hold this game back from being everything that this fabulous game could be. I have one major one and one minor. Ill start with the minor.

1. DLC. Its likely that the downloadable content will be on the steep side. If we think prices for guitar hero downloadable content are harsh, logically, Rockbands downloadable goods should hit our wallets just as hard if not harder or much harder. The majority of guitar hero II downloadable content was simply recycled tracks from GH1. The cost of porting these tracks over was likely minimal but we were still asked for 500 points for 3 songs. Well now with rock band the downloadable content will be brand new and notecharts will need to be made for 4 different instruments (including vocals). This I assume will cost a hell of a lot more for them and therefore.. a hell of a lot more for us.. or it will at least cost enough that we wont be hi-fiving eachother over all the great brand new cheap DLC coming down the rockband pipe. Of course it wont be priced so high that no one will buy it.. but itll probably hit that sweet spot where we will think its too damn expensive but tons of people are gonna buy it anyway just like they did with guitar hero 2.

2. Major: Difficulty. From the song selection so far and all the gameplay videos I have seen, I cant say that im especially convinced that the songs of rock band are going to provide enough of a challenge particularly in the Lead and Bass guitar aspects of the game. The songs seem to be too slow and there aint enough solo action going on. This, I believe is due to the fact that this game has taken softer rock music to appeal to a broader market as opposed to guitar hero.

For instance the sound garden song they picked was Black hole sun.. when Jesus christ pose was sitting right next to it.. but was ignored and left there.. with a puzzled look on its face.

Now here is a small list of songs I would like to see in this game instead of orange crush by rem, creep by radio head,and maps by the yeah yeah yeahs. Not that those bands arent good in their own way.. but they just seem a bit inadequate. Instead I would have liked the game to have a few more intense songs. They were going in the right direction with their metallica tunes (enter sandman, one) though.

Anyway here they are. (excuse me for thinking my personal musical preference should apply to everyone who is looking forward to this game.)

Show me how to live by Audioslave (there are a bunch of other Audioslave tunes that would be great for this game as well)
Girlfreind by the darkness (players should have fun trying to duplicate his voice)
Guerrila radio by Rage against the machine
stockholm syndrome by muse
Man in the box by Alice in chains
Brianstorm by the arctic monkeys
I choose by the offspring
Trashed and scattered by avenged sevenfold (I am aware of the apparent "douchiness" of this band but there is a reason they are up here.. their guitar note chart would provide a nice challenge)
Power trip by Monster magnet
The pot by tool
Runnin down a dream by Tom petty (could be a bit boring for the drummer though)
Dr feelgood by Motley crue
Just because by Janes addiction
You could be mine by guns and roses
and just for fun.. Jesus built my hotrod by Ministry

These are just personal picks of mine. Im sure you all have your own.. but I feel like the gameplay experience would be greatly enhanced if more songs like this were included. songs with compelling Guitar note charts comparative to the skill needed in the guitar hero series and at the same time fun energetic vocals throughout.

It just seems like they based their song selection on the recognizability and fan base of the bands and not the appropriateness of the songs. At least thats the feeling I get.

Perhaps Im wrong about these two concerns. I would love nothing more than for you dtoiders to come on and tell me what an idiot I have been for jumping to conclusions and not examining the situation enough because at least it'd put my worries to rest.