Rock Band

The original Rock Band, released by Harmonix in 2007, was designed to be played with plastic replicas of a guitar, a drum set, and a microphone. Up to four players can play together, with one on lead guitar, one on bass, one on drums, and one on vocals. The game was groundbreaking for combining these four roles into one cohesive band experience.

Generally, the original 2007 wireless instruments do not work on modern consoles like the PlayStation 4 or Xbox One because they rely on proprietary USB dongles. The PlayStation 3 wireless receivers are not natively compatible with the newer hardware. To play modern iterations like Rock Band 4, players usually need to purchase newer instruments or use specific MIDI adapters.

The core game disc for the first Rock Band features 58 licensed tracks spanning various decades of rock music. It includes iconic hits from bands like The Who, Metallica, and Radiohead. Players could also purchase hundreds of additional songs as downloadable DLC from the in-game store.

Rock Band was developed by Harmonix Music Systems, the same studio famous for creating the original Guitar Hero games. When they split from Activision and partnered with MTV Games, they created Rock Band as the ultimate evolution of the music game genre. The game was published by Electronic Arts in late 2007.