Rock Band 3: Official Release Date

The third Rock Band release will hit shelves in the USA on October 26th, 2010 for the PS3, Xbox 360, the Wii, and the DS.

There are some major upgrades this time, not just revamped equipment and new songs like the last release.

If you haven’t heard (where have you been?) the new instrument will be the classic 80’s style Key-tar. Yes, that’s right.. one of those keyboards you strap around you like a guitar to rock out on.

If that’s not interesting enough, then you’ll be blown away by the pro-mode guitar. There are two options for playing on pro-mode.

You can get the 102 button Fender Mustang Pro guitar.. yes, I said 102 buttons. Basically, there is a button for every finger position on a real guitar. And you thought adding that fifth button was tough on expert huh? It also has six nylon strings for strumming, so no more strum bar. The Mustang Pro will cost around $150.

Alternatively, there is the real Fender Squier guitar that plugs into the console and tracks your finger movement while you play. Not only that, but you can actually plug it into an amp, and hear what you’re playing while you’re playing the game, since you’ll essentially be playing actual cords of the songs. It doesn’t have an official price tag yet, but it should be somewhere between $200 and $300.

I don’t know about you, but I’m excited about this. I’ve always wanted to learn how to play guitar, so why not throw down a little extra and get one that also works as a game controller?

The game itself will be the typical $59.99 for the major consoles, and $29.99 for the DS version.