5 Reasons why Rock Band will hold its own against Guitar Hero: World Tour

Since I bought Rock Band today, I've been looking with interest at the reaction to the unveiling of Guitar Hero's answer to it. On the face of it, it looks like the new Guitar Hero is an attempt to finish what Rock Band started, almost in the same way that Rock Band itself was a natural progression on from Guitar Hero. Indeed, I believe that the new Guitar Hero may have plenty going for it - particularly that drum kit. However, I don't think it's game over for Rock Band by any stretch. Here's why:

1) Rock Band has a big head start
This is significant not just because the people who already shelled out for a Rock Band kit are unlikely to want to do so all over again - let alone where to put all this stuff. It's also important because Rock Band has also had time to release some fine, fine downloadable tracks which Guitar Hero has to work hard to catch up to.

2) The Rock Band franchise is less obnoxious
Not everyone is totally into the RAWK!! posturing and attitude of the Guitar Hero games, and Rock Band has some of this too. However, its cleaner interface, and general toned-down-ness in this respect comes off as more mature and will likely appeal to people with a wider range of tastes.

3) Not everyone cares about the drums
I care about the drums, but not everyone does and when you take those out of the equation, the peripherals aren't really that different at all.

4) Even those who do care about the drums aren't definitely going to base a purchasing decision on that.
If I had free choice of drum set, there's no doubt I'd pick the Guitar Hero ones over Rock Band. But given that they only work with their respective games, I'm afraid that the general feel of the game and the songs it provides are far, far more important to me and for a while at least (see 1) the outlook seems brighter for Rock Band. I'm sure others will agree.

5) The games will naturally develop distinct audiences
I believe that Guitar Hero will become the franchise that appeals to the big rhythm game enthusiasts, while Rock Band will manage to reach across several audiences. Imagine that Guitar Hero is a PSP and Rock Band a DS. Sure, the PSP is flashier and has some really cool features which are impossible on the DS - and it has big appeal for serious gamers. However the DS is the popular choice for providing simple variety, and delivering more consistently good content.

I hope both games do well in their own right and then again it might not play out the way I predict at all but hey - at least I can enjoy playing Doolittle by Pixies, however it turns out!