I don't know if your still reading this, but I'll try to explain to the best of my abilities...

Rock band was the first to start the "Band Games" and in my opinion they have the better band set... As the duckman stated, the drums for guitar hero seem to not work as good as the rock band drums and I believe it is more organize and has more of a song selection...

That being said, I also enjoy Guitar hero more than rock band for a couple of reasons too... As the name applies, the game has been very good with you play the guitar, even the guitars they use are more sturdy and better to use (in my opinion) than the rock band guitars... Another upside is that for the world tour, it allows you to make your own beats and music, and it works quite well...

Overall, it depends how you like to play... If you have friends, I perfer rock band, but if you are going solo or have one friend, I'd go with guitar hero...

http://www.videosift.com/video/Guitar-Hero-with-Real-Guitars

this

Thanks, ant. Not sure who made it, but my friend Joey sent it to me making fun of me for having morning sickness.

In reply to this comment by ant:
Nice avatar image. LOL.

In reply to this comment by UsesProzac:
DFT, wouldn't it, though??

At least it helps give people a more inherent rhythm with practice. It's painful watching someone with no inner metronome start out on these games.

Guitar Hero 3 and World Tour are Guitar Hero in name only, the original developers of Guitar Hero 1 and 2 (Harmonix) are responsible for the Rock Band games (which is why Guitar Hero is catching up).

Technically the games are roughly equivalent. Unless you plan on buying both, your choice should be based on which group you want curating your music gaming experience: Mega-publisher Activision (they have the money for big names and exclusives), or the Genre originators Harmonix (good musical taste, surprisingly enjoyable singles from independent bands made up of Harmonix employees, warm fuzzy's for supporting the OG's). Take a look at what tracks are already available as downloadable content (DLC) for both games.

Actually, Guitar Hero 4 - World Tour has a bug with the drum set right now. Being a musician myself, I prefer Rock Band 1&2 over any iteration of Guitar Hero. And yes I own them both.

Take up real guitar or real drums. It's old skool FTW. Guitar Hero was ok back in like 2004, and Rock Band is just giving your money away.

I disagree with a bunch of the stuff he brings up. So new prince of persia is a very forgiving game, lots of games are pretty forgiving, you fall off a platform you get to try to jump on the platforms again. the GTA series is obnoxious when it comes to retrying failed missions especially if they are located across the map. But there are alot of games out there that are very accessible, little big planet for example simple platforming and you can pick how challenging the platforming level will be. I would say the most alienating thing about videogames is the perception of people who play video games and the wii has done a good job, but the arguement that its the difficulty of games that is keeping videogames out on the doorstep is too shallow. Videogame difficulty initially stems from the arcades where the games where built to be hard so you would die and had to spend more money on them, then the home console games where ports of the arcade games or used the model of those games.

I think it falls to the social function, the people who dont play videogames I am speculating here but in my experience they tend to be more extroverted and the single player aspect of many videogames is what is unappealing. Then if they do try with other friends it has nothing to do with the game being hard but just other people being much better at it. Guitar hero is really fun if you play with people who are at the same level as you, a group of people all playing it for the first time its a great thing, but if you sit down and the other people just kick your ass or vice versa it is boring. This applies to other things as well if you are good at a sport its alright to play with people who are new to it but its not that enjoyable and you wont continue to play nearly as much as you would with people who give you a challenge.

So I submit that it is the us the gamers and our social actions picking on noobs that is keeping videogames from catching on, the difficulty of the game itself doesn't matter, look at a 2 player game of street fighter. one player loses now seconds after KO they are back up for another round and get to play again, but if the person playing not only keeps beating them but likes to gloat and lord it over them then odds are they will stop playing.

I believe it falls on the douchebag gamers who harass and yell at noobs to chill out and not the difficulty of single player games.

This was my favorite song from Guitar Hero 2.

OMFG, the guitar hero bit is pure brilliance. I call *shortfilms

I want to see it do Guitar Hero!

WHERE IS MY COUNTER-STRIKE??? WTF NOOOBLOL OMGWTF ROFL!!?11!@!one1!

Anyway, God of War is also referenced against Guitar Hero. Halo, Sim City, Mechwarrior, Doom, too.

In the 80s they didnt need guitar hero...or stylists *beg

Deus Ex song ruled. It should be in Guitar Hero World Tour?

This thing about bands having to perform live to make money while everyone downloads the music for free...
I just don't see it as being sustainable and clearly pre-recorded music sales aren't chump change. Clearly some of the bigger bands are and will continue to be big draws but that doesn't mean everyone can supplement their CD sales in the same way.

The impact of music videogames on sales of recorded music is very interesting. Kotaku cites a Gamasutra report in which it's stated that Aerosmith have earned more from their Guitar Hero spin-off Guitar Hero:Aerosmith than from any single one of the fourteen albums they have released to date.

Interesting article;
http://kotaku.com/5098945/you-cant-hum-a-video-game

It's funny that digital downloads onto consoles with heaps of DRM *is* acceptable by lots of gamers.

Hi, my name is Arvid, and I live in Oslo, Norway. I have just finished a degree in physics from the University of Oslo, but I can't seem to let go of the student life just yet. I enjoy sifts that mess with my head, such as these.

I discovered VideoSift because Fedquip kept referring to it on his old AOL blog. I lurked here for over a year before finally signing up this autumn. For a norwegian, I have an almost unhealthy interest in american politics, and I deeply regret the decline and death of http://newsbloggers.aol.com.

On my freetime I am a musician. I have played the Euphonium since I was eight, but have in recent years switched mostly to Trombone. I mostly play and listen to jazz, first and foremost in a Big Band. I was a member of a now dead 30's swing band, and I am soon starting a new band to play some more modern jazz. I sing in a choir as well. My muscial heroes are among others Bach and Bartok, Carla Bley and Steve Swallow, Pink Floyd and Steely Dan.

I read both fantasy and classics, and my favourite authors are Kurt Vonnegut jr., George R. R. Martin, Tolkien, Dostoyevski and Gert Nygårdshaug. My username is a witness to my geeky past, as it is the Sindarin translation of my real name.

I catch onto minor hobbies sporadically as well. I used to game a lot, but this has cooled off lately. I was an avid Guitar Hero player, and got to be pretty good. I have been into sailing. I have been into fencing. I enjoy walking and skiing in the majestic norwegian mountainscape. In the summer I play with the Diabolo. My latest fad is Origami, which I used to do when I was a teenager and have just now picked up again. I have also been an extra in some norwegian music videos and minor film productions. I am the emo-looking guy playing accordion in this video.

I follow both norwegian and international politics with interest, and I have a blog in norwegian about politics and science which I update very sporadically.

Oh, and I am the older brother of Haldaug, who has a higher integrity as a sifter than me. That is why I have higher ranking than him, even though he has been a member longer than me. So go to his pqueue if you want to find some musical/thoughtful/absurd gems.

edit: Forgot to mention my favourite beverage, Brakspear Oxford Gold organic ale. Try it out.