@madskillz: Don't know about vocals. How does it work? And about drums I think it's the same idea taken from GH. Just adjusted a little bit for a new instrument but nothing revolutionary.

Ninlenbox: I never had a game make me cry. Maybe you have some emotional issues to deal with. If you don't like the game sell it on Craigslist or something and move on. That way it is not a complete loss for you.

Its fun if you and a group of your friends are drinking and you have someone good on the mic.

The drums are not as easy as I thought they would be. One of the girls playing with us did prove that you can be good with them. To me the timing on the drums seemed off, but that fact that someone else could play them almost perfectly means that I was the problem not the drums.

madskillz: "You can actually learn drumming from playing this game"
I don't agree with that, except it may help you with rhythm.

 The words scroll at the top of the screen and you have to hit the highs and lows. It doesn't actually know if you are saying the correct words.

The idea of the drums is very similar, but playing them is quite different.

One thing we all thought should be added to the game is the ability to make your own song and play it. 

@ Kamil

Hi ... basically, you have to be in the right pitch and tone. What I find funny is ... you don't have to sing the words - I sang 'Watermelon' through a few songs - and still aced it. I was in a few choirs back in the day ...

But the drums, while Harmonix did take that idea from GH, is new and pretty sweet. And lastly, Harmonix was the folks who created GH, so they just perfected it.

Have you taken it for a spin yet? (RB) If not, I would highly recommend it ... 

That's definitely open to debate. If you can ace the harder levels drumming, you do realize it won't be a stretch to think learning real drumming wouldn't be hard.

I know some drummers and I am going to ask them if they think you can learn drumming from RB. It's not like Donkey Konga, but they are real drums, real drumsticks ... so ... 

I'd agree that RB can teach you some drumming fundamentals, esp figuring out how to get 3 of your limbs doing different beats at once.

My wife used to play drums and loves the RB kit. She is also quite good with it, so drumming skills definitly directly translate. There is no question that the drum is much closer to "playing for real" than the guitar is. Which isn't hard, since the guitar controller really doesn't work anything like a real guitar.

Madskillz: Have you tried singing on Hard or expert yet? It looks like (at least to us) that it does force you to match the phonics at that level.

I got away with humming on medium, but not on Hard.

You know, not yet, but I'll have to for my review. I know I have some lungs, but I *should* see if the fools at Harmonix agree with my assessment.

What level was your wife playing the drums at?

I think word of mouth is the best thing for Rock Band. The rumor is .. it's sold out so folks are snapping it up ... I know a mom who bought RB and didn't even own a 360! Now, she said she'd buy one ... 360, because she's got RB in a shed ...

 I will have to say that playing the game for the first time is kind of a bummer.  It starts off with only a few songs unlocked and the process of unlocking them is repetative as you play through the venues.  While we played a moan of "Not this song again!" would often be cryed out in unison.

Also, the hardware quality is lacking.  I bought a package with a few friends for an XBox 360, a friend bought it for a PS3, and another friend bought it for another XBox 360.  All three of our packages aquired the downstrum problem!  Imagine, you have an overwhelming desire to rock, but your thirst must go unquenched as your damn guitar can't downstrum!  "Curse you oh mighty gods of rock.  Your mockery knows no bounds!"  Sure, I can try to master the up-pluck, but I've trained for years with the downstrum.  Luckily the fix posted on Kotaku worked perfectly.  Aside from the guitar, our mic also seemed to have malfunctioned.  After a half hour of plugging and unplugging, reseting and restarting, and head scratching and butt scratching, we desided to try plugging the mic into the computer.  Alas, no hardware detected.  Foiled again.

We'll probably try purchasing a new usb mic and pray that it works rather than returning the unit.  And that's just it!  That should speak volumes.  After all these trials and trivilations, it is still so worth it.  The game is fantastic!  I've loved Guitar Hero since it's launch.  I found my way to a store at 7:00 in the morning for Guitar Hero 2's launch so that I could play it before work, but I picked up Rock Band at midnight so I could rock all night!  I haven't even done so much as glance towards Guitar Hero 3. My love has gone to a new mistress and she does it four different ways.

... but I digress.  The game has issues.  I'd recommend playing through and unlocking the songs.  That way you and your friends have more of a variety.

 As for the original post, I think it's launch was a huge success given the circumstances.  It was a $170.00 game.  Most people have no idea what it is and the commercials do a horrid job of explaining the game.  In that regard, it should be compared to the original Guitar Hero.  It'll have legs similar to Guitar Hero, but it won't come close to the sales of Guitar Hero.

$170* 110,000 = $18.7 Million dollars

It's not bad, also I think most of us are expecting RB to keep selling beyond the holidays.

No, it is a flop. This is supposed to compete with GH. The price is the biggest problem, doesn't excuse it being a flop.

Comparing this to the 1st week of GH is ludicrous:

1. That number doesn't matter, they are competing with GH now not in the past.
2. GH has filled the rythm game genre and doesn't allow RB room to grow much.
3. The price of the full bundle is not low enough to sell well.
4. I bought RB today so that's -1 sales from last week :)