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As everyone knows by now, Rock Band Video game is out and taking the nation by storm. At least for those who have been able to get their hands on the game thus far. Well, the question that everyone has been dying to have answered follows. Rock Band Video game vs guitar Hero ... who wins?

MTV's Boston-based Harmonix thrilled players of the music/rhythm genre when they first came out with their guitar Hero game. It was so unlike anything that was then available. It was so popular that there have been two subsequent versions, with the latest version just released as guitar Hero 3.

Well, Harmonix has now gone and outdone themselves with their latest creation, Rock Band the game. Developers wanted to not just come up with another game: they wanted to come up with a way for people to actually play music ... and boy, did they!

guitar Hero originally came with only a guitar player option, but a slew of tracks to play. It has taken this third version for guitar Hero developers to finally get around to offering a drum kit. Something that already comes standard with every Rock Band game. Rock Band does another "one upper" by not only including the guitar; it also comes with a microphone kit.

If you were to do a side by side comparison, there are special features each of these games offer. guitar Hero may offer more songs to shred with the guitar right now (a bit over seventy titles at last count), but Rock Band will be adding new tracks every week. Rock Band also has a better quality soundtrack than guitar Hero and even though Rock Band video game costs a bit more, it just blows the door off guitar Hero in overall capabilities. Its multi-player feature looks to be a bit more challenging (and fun) than guitar Hero's battle mode which pits a player against just the computer. There is also a Tour Mode for Rock Band being set up to run online that guitar Hero just can't compare with.

There was an actual "Cyber Battle of the Bands" held between both these games at this year's EA gaming convention. The final conclusion, after a four song play-off was that guitar Hero 3 was hard put just playing catch up to the newest contender on the video gaming block: Rock Band won, hands down!

The ultimate "Battle of the Bands" will actually be played out in the retail arena. With the upcoming holidays, it should be interesting to see if Rock Band continues to outdo guitar Hero.