Rock Band Vs. Guitar Hero

When Harmonix was developing the first Guitar Hero in 2005, it worried that a product based around guitars and rock-star dreams might appeal to only a small niche audience. "We all loved rock, but it seemed like pop, R&B and hip-hop were dominating the charts," says Rigopulos. "We were wondering: Has there been such a substantial cultural shift that the experience we're trying to conjure in this game isn't relevant anymore to the mainstream audience?"

But the game connected with the masses, including many kids too young to remember when music superstars were likely to be actual guitar heroes. And real-life rock stars love the game, which has become a tour-bus staple. "It's fucking brilliant," says Velvet Revolver guitarist Slash, who found himself "addicted" to Guitar Hero II after trying it on a tour -- and now appears in GH III as a playable character. "It's actually harder to play for guitar players, because it doesn't really react like a guitar. You'd think you'd be better at it, but you're not."

Putting original music into the games required getting hold of the multitrack masters -- which in some cases proved impossible. With the masters to Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols lost, Riley managed to persuade the Pistols to return to the studio for the first time in decades to re-record classics, including "Anarchy in the U.K.," for GH III. "It was a crazy idea that worked," he says. GH III relies more on celebrity firepower than Rock Band: Riley recruited Slash and Tom Morello to appear in the game and to record new playable pieces of music.

Harmonix's founders, meanwhile, see Rock Band as the culmination of their original mission, which they began pursuing in the computer-music group at the MIT Media Lab: using technology to help nonmusicians experience the pleasures of making music. And they imagine a future where fans will expect new music to be released in playable form. "The way you listen and interact with music has evolved over time," says Egozy. "It was LPs, then CDs, then music videos, then the iPod and iTunes. The next wave of that is a platform like Rock Band. It's a launching point for how we see the future of music evolving."