Rock Band Stratocaster Guitar Replica Revealed

A marketing email bulletin sent out by retailer GameStop has provided the first public photographs of the licensed Fender Stratocaster guitar peripheral that will be used to control the guitar and bass parts in Harmonix Music Systems' upcoming cooperative rhythm game Rock Band. GameStop currently lists the wireless device with a price tag of $79.99. The guitar appears to be constructed to a higher level of detail and realism than the licensed Gibson SG replica used in Harmonix's prior games in the Guitar Hero series. Fret buttons are now painted the same color as the fretboard, with color coding appearing on the top edges, allowing the player to easily see each button's color while keeping the outward appearance of the guitar more natural. Notably, a duplicate set of five fret buttons has been added higher up on the neck for the purpose of ripping wicked solos. Also new is a five-way tone selector, mimicking the pickup selector on a real Stratocaster, which applies a variety of in-game sound filters to the notes being played. Harmonix's Rock Band will be published by Electronic Arts this fall for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, with a Wii version also known to be in the works. Along with the guitar peripheral, drum and microphone peripherals will be available.