Guitars and Battlestars

Not long until E3 now, the first event being on Monday evening (UK time) and the news keeps coming. First is news of an MMO based on the new Battlestar Galactica. As much as I love both versions of the TV series I just don't see how this will work. Obviously Cylons vs Humans in space battles will be part of it but what else is there that would work as a game? There has just been a cinematic trailer released so far so I don't know anything about game play yet. It's something I'll be keeping an eye on but I'm not instantly excited to play.

Second bit of news worth reporting today is the additional info on the new Rock Band controllers. I already talked about the keyboard but yesterday they released information on the new Pro guitar and what the prices will be like. My first impression of the guitar was "Whoa! that's a lot of buttons!". There are 102 buttons on the neck (six strings at 17 frets) which is a bit daunting. I still have problems with only 5 buttons on some tracks. I think I'll stick to the drums! However they have also announced cymbal expansions for the existing Rock Band drums which is nice. Another issue is the price. The keyboard will be $80 and the guitar will be $150. That sounds bit steep to me and that's only the base model not the full size Fender Stratocaster which is planned for later. This has led to quite a lot of people saying if you're interested in learning the guitar that much then for that price you may as well buy a real one, which is a good point. I suppose at least the Stratocaster is planned to do both. Oh and is it not time for a dedicated left-handed model?