Rock Band (Wii)
© 2007 Harmonix Music Systems, Inc.
The Wii edition of Rock Band, which shipped June 23, 2008 features a white set of drums and wireless guitar controllers. As with the other editions, just one guitar ships with the kit. If you want to add a bass or second guitar part, you'll need to purchase a second guitar. The core gameplay is the same, and there are no motion-related controls, as you might expect from a Wii version. The drum set must be hard wired to the powered USB expander that plugs into the Wii. Also, we should note that this version of Rock Band is not compatible with the version of Guitar Hero for Wii. With Rock Band Wii the guitars transmit signals (each requires three AAA batteries) to a dongle (a small receiver) that plugs into Wii's USB expander. The gameplay is pretty much identical to the other versions, although five additional songs have been added to the library (Roxanne, Dirty Little Secret, Don't Look Back in Anger, Rockaway Beach and Rome). More information can be found at www.rockband.com.
$1703, Wii*
Teaches: cooperative learning, timing, rock music, timing, temporal relations, fine motor skills, pitch, rhythm
CTR Rating: 92.5%