With my fingers still throbbing from shredding all weekend in Guitar Hero II on Xbox 360, I was more than excited to hear that developer Harmonix had begun working on expanding the series. Harmonix have teamed up with MTV and publishing-giant Electronic Arts to create perhaps one of the most innovative products in the rhythm gaming genre.

Rock Band is very much an extension of the Guitar Hero franchise, instead allowing you to fill in the rest of the band’s roles. It’ll provide gamers with a platform to perform songs from their favorite artists with their friends offline or online as a virtual band using drum, guitar and microphone peripherals. The collaboration of Harmonix, EA, and MTV will lend some new star power and a bigger budget to the new franchise, as Rock Band is set to change the way gamers interact over Xbox Live. Unprecedented deals with many of the largest recording labels in the music industry, spanning many genres of rock, will provide gamers will a large library of music to perform with their friends. Also leading to the inclusion of master recordings from the original bands rather than cover songs.

Some retailers have begun estimating the pricing for the instrument peripherals, each ranging from $39.99 to $59.99. A rep from MTV did mention the game could come packaged with all of the peripherals or separate, but nothing is set in stone. The Horndog band will be interviewing groupies come Holiday 2007.