I’ve been rocking out a lot on Rock Band 2 over the last three months, and I image that many of you have been doing the same. Unfortunately if your primary console is a PS2 or a Wii, you’ve been stuck with the original Rock Band or a Guitar Hero title to satisfy your inner rocker. Well the wait is almost over, as Harmonix has finally given us a solid release date for those two consoles.

This Thursday, December 18th, you’ll be able to pick up Rock Band 2 for either the Wii or PS2. Wii owners will finally have the opportunity to download new tracks and store them on an SD card. Sorry PS2 owners, but despite the fact that you installed a hard drive for Final Fantasy XI, you’re still not getting any DLC. The peripherals for the PS2 version have already been for sale, so here’s the breakdown of what will be available on Thursday.

• Special Edition Bundle (Wii) – $189.99
• Standalone Software (Wii) – $49.99
• Standalone Drums (Wii) – $89.99
• Standalone Guitar (Wii) – $69.99
• Standalone Software (PS2) – $49.99

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I haven’t kept track of just how many tracks I have for Rock Band, but you can that between the original disc tracks, the AC/DC expansion and the load of DLC I’ve bought, there’s a lot there. While I haven’t gone through and counted my own songs, I can tell you that as of this Tuesday there will be over 500 total tracks available for the game. To push the total over the 500 mark, we’ve got a collection of 13 songs from No Doubt. “The Singles 1992-2003″ is comprised of the bands best hits from Tragic Kingdom, Return of Saturn and Rock Steady. Read on for the full track listing.

1.”Just a Girl”
2.”It’s My Life”
3.”Hey Baby”
4.”Bathwater”
5.”Sunday Morning”
6.”Hella Good”
7.”Underneath It All”
8.”Excuse Me Mr.”
9.”Running”
10.”Spiderwebs”
11.”Simple Kind of Life”
12.“Don’t Speak”
13.“Ex-Girlfriend”

There are plenty of good tracks here to justify the $19.99 price, or if you like, just pick and choose your favorites for $1.99 each. I’m sure that female rockers everywhere will be happy to see an influx of songs that are sang by someone of the same gender.

Peak has crafted what I humbly believe is the best guitar controller available. Over the last week I have enjoyed playing with Peak’s Obsidian Starpex Guitar controller for the PS3/PS2. The awesome people at Peak have taken a wooden guitar body and inlaied the electronic components into the guitar. This, much like the Rock Band Ion Drum Kit will set you back a few bucks, but is a worthwhile investment if you’re really into RB/GH and you’re a PS3 owner like myself. Read on for the full review.

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Just yesterday we were talking about the bonus DLC from Rock Band 2 being delayed. Well apparently “a couple of days” actually meant “tomorrow” since people started getting their emails already. Check your inbox, grab your 25-digit code and start downloading your 540MB worth of tracks.

I don’t know how many times I’ve heard people complain about the tracks contained within, but I honestly don’t see what the big deal is. I’d never heard of most of the bonus tracks from any of the Guitar Hero games, or the original Rock Band. I didn’t buy the games for extra songs, I bought them for the main set list, anything else is a bonus, thus they are called bonus tracks. These are just a thank-you from Harmonix for purchasing a new copy of the game, instead of grabbing it used. Now get to downloading already!

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Those of you that haven’t splurged a week’s paycheck on DLC for Rock Band might be interested in hearing that Harmonix is releasing a second Track Pack disc. This time, rather than only giving it to those less-fortunate consoles that don’t have online stores, they’re making it available to the 360 and PS3 as well.

I think it’s safe to say that the AC/DC expansion pretty much set the bar for how Harmonix is going to release new disc-based content. Rock Band Track Pack Vol. 2 will work identically for both the 360 and PS3. You can pop the disc in and play through the tracks as a standalone title, or you can download them to your hard drive and just pop in one of your Rock Band discs and play that way. I can only assume that they will again be using a code to initiate the download, since that will encourage people to buy the discs new, rather than used. As for the PS2 and Wii, it sounds as though it will work just the same as the original Track Pack.

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Remember those 20 bonus downloadable tracks that came with Rock Band 2? Well, yesterday was supposed to be the big day, the one where you could actually get these songs. Unfortunately, there has been an “unexpected delay” according to Harmonix. Don’t worry though, Sean Baptiste has assured us that they are working their butts off, and we should have more info within a few days. Unfortunately, PS3 owners may be waiting longer than Xbox 360 rockers.

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I tend to take the rocking of plastic instruments a bit too seriously at times, but it’s something I enjoy. One of the issues I run into with my guitar controllers is of where to place them when they aren’t in use. I generally keep at least one of them leaned up against my entertainment center, however, that’s not the most ideal situation. I’ve had the opportunity to check out this ezStand from ezGear, which is exactly what I’ve been needing.

The ezStand is quite simply a smaller version of a regular guitar stand. I do actually own a real guitar, so I took a picture of the my real guitar stand next to the one from ezGear. In most respects, they are very similar. There really isn’t much to this product, though it’s worth noting that the neck is height adjustable, and the entire unit is constructed of a light but durable metal, similar to my larger stand.

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Today marks the release of Rock Band’s first true expansion, dubbed AC/DC Live: Rock Band Track Pack. This collection of music is entirely comprised from the band’s Live at Donnington show. This includes 18 live tracks, which adds up to over 100 minutes of gameplay (more if you decide to play through on different instruments). I’ve spent the last several days rocking out with the expansion, so it’s time I shared my experiences with you. Hit the jump for my full review of the game.

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If I stop to think about some of the most influential musicians and bands in the history of Rock, The Beatles are certainly high on the list. Unfortunately the British musicians have been slow to license their music in the digital age. I believe they are one of only 3 bands in the entire world that don’t have their work for sale on iTunes. Despite their apparent fear of modern music distribution, they have decided to allow Harmonix to develop their own music game.

One would be quick to think that this was a Rock Band title, however, this is not the case. It is apparently a completely unique game, though it does draw on the Rock Band platform in some ways. Very little is known about the project at this point, though we do have a few tidbits. One, it will follow the Beatles career from their first album all the way up to their last release. It will also feature a lot of “visual imagery”, though specifics weren’t mention. One good piece of news is that it will be compatible with current Rock Band instruments.

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It looks like today could be a groundbreaking day for music fans. It seems that Apple Corps and MTV have called a press conference tomorrow for a major announcement. Now just what could those two giants be announcing?

Let me see if I can put the pieces together for you. Apple Corps holds the rights to all of the music from The Beatles. MTV owns Harmonix, which makes Rock Band. There was word in the past the Apple Corps was talking to both Activision and Harmonix about getting their music into one of the major rhythm games, so I think it’s pretty obvious what’s going down tomorrow. The big question is whether they’ll have a special Track Pack expansion for The Beatles, or if they’ll just release regular old DLC.

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