In November 2005, a music video game developed by Harmonix (a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based video game development company), called Guitar Hero was released on the PlayStation 2 (PS2), a console manufactured by Sony Corporation.

Throughout the years, Guitar Hero became a franchise consisting of five games until now, the series managing to sell 23 million units so far, turning a $1 billion profit since 2005.

Last year alone, when „Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock” hit the market, featuring added drums and karaoke-like singing, the video game brought revenue of over $530 million.

Also in November, but in 2007, another game developed by Harmonix Music Systems was released on both the PlayStation 3 (PS3) and on Microsoft’s Xbox 360, followed by its launch on the PS 2 in December that same year and on Nintendo’s Wii console in June, 2008: Rock Band. Since it was first introduced, the music video game has sold four million units and has entailed revenue amounting to $600 million.

In 2008, gamers all around the world are summoned to rock again, with Guitar Hero World Tour slated for release on Sunday and Rock Band 2 already on the market.

Although the games are priced approximately the same, $60 for the latter and an estimated $50-60 for the former, they are both trying to entice players into choosing one over the other. Consequently, the new Guitar hero version now allows two teams of four players each to battle online in what is called „Battle of the Bands” and also enables gamers to record and post their instrumental mixes on the Web.

As for Rock Band 2, it too offers daily and weekly „Battle of the Band” online duels and has added a feature that teaches users how to play drums. Still, the crowd-pleaser has to be the „no fail” mode, which ensures that even if a team-member drags behind with his or her jamming skills, this would not translate as the downfall of the band.

So gamers, rock on!