Rock Band 2 is set to be released this Sunday! (For the Xbox 360, at least.) As usual, ARSON News will be there to review it. In the meantime, here's a list of the top ten features you can look forward to.

So, once again the Penny Arcade Expo is this weekend. For those of you who don't know, the event also known as PaX is "the  largest  gaming  festival  in  North  America  representing  tabletop,  console  and PC  gaming." This year it's being held at The Washington State Convention and Trade Center, which is why I mention this. If you're a fan of games and live near Seattle, it's worth the $30 admission for a day. Among other things, we're hoping to get some info on Left For Dead and the new Rock Band games (Guitar Hero, too). There's also going to be a screening of Nerdcore rising as well as performances by Freezepop, Jonathan Coulton, and Freezepop. If you go, be sure to say "Hi" to me (Tyler), I'll be there getting the latest news for ARSON. If you're not going, subscribe to our feed; we'll be liveblogging the whole thing here.

In these times, Guitar Hero is no longer “just a game” — it’s a way of life. Okay, maybe not that much. But it’s definitely gotten to the point where you can ask any person on the street about the game, and nine out of ten times they’ll know exactly what you’re talking about and be able to play on at least medium. This guide will show you how to go from “that guy who was playing on easy”, to “that crazy guy who FC’d Through the Fire and Flames on expert”.

The first thing everyone notices about Rock Band is the fact that it is more or less a copy of the widely revered Guitar Hero. The second thing the notice is that it has two more instruments: drums and vocals. To all the ignoramuses out there who said "What the hell, they're stealing Red Octane's idea!" You all deserve to be fed to Swedish mountain goats because the guys who made Rock Band are THE SAME GUYS who made GH1 and GH2. Let me explain: After Guitar Hero 2 was made, the developers, Red Octane and Harmonix, split up. Red Octane went on to make Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock (disappointing), and Harmonix went on to make Rock Band. And their "idea" isn't actually theirs: there have been several games before Guitar Hero which attempted to accomplish what the GH series did. But enough about that. I'm going to point out everything Harmonix did right and wrong in Rock Band.