Guitar Hero World Tour is going to let players make their own songs, so it only stands to reason that Rock Band 2 will as well, right? Right? Not according to Alex Rigopulos, the CEO and co-founder of Rock Band developer Harmonix.

Speaking to CNN, Rigopulos states that his company "wanted to do [song creation] right." He adds that Harmonix is "taking a radically different approach" to player-created tracks – presumably he means from the way Guitar Hero World Tour dev Neversoft is handling it – and will "take more time to do it." So, Rock Band 3 with a song creator it is then, right? Right?

Activision announced this morning that Guitar Hero: On Tour is booking gigs all over and has sold 300,000 units in its first week. The publisher states that GH:OT is the company's best launch on the DS by a factor of eight; not only that, but it's also one of the top five best-selling launches "in the company's history."

Activision's Mike Griffith -- who's probably still high from his $1.5 million bonus -- is excited about GH:OT's "breakthrough peripheral" bringing the Guitar Hero experience to the potential 41 million DS owners in NA and Europe. All we know is we'll have entered a strange new world if we start seeing people playing this game on public transportation.

A second partial Rock Band 2 setlist, supposedly culled from a playtest, popped up on the ScoreHero Forum recently, only to be removed and its author disciplined by a moderator. Lucky for you, a Joystiq tipster (thank you!) slipped a crumpled note into our back pocket with the same list:

• "Man in the Box" - Alice in Chains
• "We Got The Beat" - The Go Go
• "American Woman" - The Guess Who? (or Lenny Kravitz)
• "White Wedding" - Billy Idol
• "Aqua Lung" - Jethro Tull
• "Bad Reputation" - Joan Jett
• "One Step Closer" - Linkin Park
• "Peace Sells" - Megadeth
• "You Oughta Know" - Alanis Morissette
• "Testify" - Rage Against The Machine
• "Spoonman" - Soundgarden

These 11 songs join the nine that were shown in a possible screen grab earlier this week, forming what could be roughly a quarter of the 80 or so master recordings to be featured on the Rock Band expansion sequel disc. Be sure to stretch it out and drink your fluids because the new "Endless Setlist" is shaping up to be a doozie.

Alright, this is getting ridiculous. Activision has yet to respond to our requests for clarification, and anecdotal reports continue to contradict our finding that the Rock Band Stratocaster does not work with Guitar Hero: Aerosmith on the Xbox 360. If you'll consult our guitar compatibility matrix, you'll find that incompatibility is par for the course, so we left it at that. But conflicting reports keep coming in.

Our original tipster, who works for a rather large gaming magazine, tested all manner of guitars with Guitar Hero: Aerosmith but, alas, he was on an XDK – the Xbox 360 debug kit (and no, the above is not Photoshopped, it's a direct screen grab). Perhaps something, however unlikely, has changed from the reviewable code to the final retail code? Even then, we've gotten tips as recently as this morning claiming the Rock Band guitar does not work with the retail release of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith. Frankly, we can't keep track anymore so we'll do the next best thing: power of the masses.

A segment on G4's X-Play might have revealed some of the tracks of the upcoming Rock Band 2. The above screen capture (via Score Hero) shows 11 tracks. Two are DLC from the first Rock Band (note the different icon). The other 9:

• "Panic Attack" - Dream Theater (or Finger Eleven)
• "Chop Suey" - System of a Down
• "Give It Away" - Red Hot Chili Peppers
• "Everlong" - Foo Fighters
• "Kids in America" - Kim Wilde
• "Ace of Spades" - Motorhead
• "Hello There" - Cheap Trick
• "Any Way You Want It" - Journey
• "Pinball Wizard" - The Who

The screen shot is unconfirmed, although if true we are very happy to see the Music Store interface integrated into the navigation menu. It's interesting to note that "Everlong" has also been confirmed for Guitar Hero World Tour. Also, "Pinball Wizard" is coming to Rock Band 1 as DLC, is this indicative of song overlap? Update: Our imagination must have been running wild, as Pinball Wizard is not part of the Best of The Who DLC.

[Via X3F]

In celebration of this week's Fourth of July holiday, Activision plans to serenade Guitar Hero III players with in-your-face patriotism and ambiguous homo-eroticism -- that's right, the "Top Gun Anthem" will be available as a free download on July 3rd. The film's instrumental theme, obtainable from both Xbox Live and PlayStation Network, is sure send your fingers up and down your instrument as you dream of being Val Kilmer's wingman. No, Tom Cruise's wingman!

We didn't have to wait long to find out what tracks would be replacing Who's Next album DLC in Rock Band. The Who Official Band Website has published a press release revealing the 12 song "Best of" collection, featuring 3 songs from Who's Next (Baba O'Riley, Going Mobile and Behind Blue Eyes). All the tracks are presented in their master recordings.

The Best of The Who Rock Band Edition (1600 MS points / $20) -- All songs are also sold individually (160 MS Points / $2)

• "Amazing Journey"
• "Baba O'Riley"
• "Behind Blue Eyes"
• "Eminence Front"
• "Going Mobile"
• "Leaving Here"
• "My Generation" (LIVE)
• "Real Good Looking Boy"
• "Sea & Sand"
• "Summertime Blues" (LIVE)
• "Who Are You"
• "Young Man Blues" (LIVE)

Videos of the songs can be found after the break. The Best of The Who is expected the week of July 15.

While IGN simply reports that Rock Band 2 is "set to ship for Xbox 360 this September and PS3 later in the year," the AP says it will be "available for Sony's PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 2 as well as Nintendo's Wii later in the year." While the two at least agree about the "later in the year" detail, neither answer our biggest question about this arrangement: Is this presumably brief period of Xbox 360-exclusivity a business arrangement – as it was for Rock Band in Europe earlier this year – or simply a development reality?

Sure we've got other questions – like will the PS2 and Wii releases be similar to the watered-down experiences currently available – but with Guitar Hero IV coming out for Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii, and PC in late October, details on the nature of the timed exclusive seem paramount. We've asked the hard-rocking folks at Harmonix to let us in on the nature of the arrangement.

Buried on the 11th paragraph on a story about Rock Band 2, The Associated Press reports this morning that 12 tracks from The Who "ranging from 'My Generation' to 'Who Are You' will release for Rock Band on July 15." Neither of those tracks are from the long-awaited album Who's Next, but at least this is something, right?

Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopulos confirms the rumors that Who's Next's release has been delayed due to missing master tracks. He said The Who's Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey helped get a best-of soundtrack together of what could be found. The songs will be $2 a piece or sold as a pack for $20. We've sent a request to Harmonix for more information and we'll update as soon as we finish putting this brick in the wall ... oops, wrong band.

[Thanks lv99squall]

One of gaming's worst-kept secrets is now official: Rock Band 2 is coming. IGN has the scoop and an interview with lead designer Dan Teasdale, who reveals that all the current and future DLC will be compatible with both versions of Rock Band, as well as the same instrument controllers.

While details were scarce, Teasdale said to expect improvements for band and character customization as well as the navigation system and Band World Tour. Citing the current issues with random set lists, Teasdale said, "Nobody wants to play Green Grass and High Tides in their first random set list." Visually, the few images seen show the game has changed very little from its predecessor (and yes, it turns out the box art from a leaked survey was accurate).

As for what songs to expect, Teasdale said, "we've also secured what I can easily say is the best set list I've ever seen in a music game." He provided no examples, although we wonder if The Beatles fall onto that list. Rock Band 2 is set to debut at E3 next month.

Next week's selection of Rock Band DLC is brought to you by this summer's Crüefest, so tracks are all offered at a price of $1 a piece. There's also a song called "Promised Land," which will be free and comes from the upcoming movie The Rocker, starring Dwight from The Office. HMXSean also hints that there should be some "news-type-stuff" being announced on Monday -- what (or who) could it be?*

Crüefest Pack (240 MS points / $3)

• "Down At The Whisky" - Mötley Crüe (80 MS Points / $1)
• "Time is Running Out" - Papa Roach (80 MS Points / $1)
• "Who's Going Home With You Tonight" - Trapt (80 MS Points / $1)

• "Promised Land" - Vesuvius (Free)

Videos for these songs can be found after the break. The tracks will be available for download next Tuesday and Thursday for Xbox 360 and PS3, respectively.

*Honestly, we have no idea what it is. We're just joshin' about the Who's Next thing because it's just gotten so ridiculous at this point.

As much as we love our friends at MTV Multiplayer, we'd like to request that they not get exclusive trailers anymore. Why? Well, like all MTV videos, the above Samba de Amigo trailer isn't viewable in the UK or Canada. Maybe we're just naive, but we think seeing crazy trailers for Wii games is an inalienable right (like hugs) and we don't think anyone's day should be be without some nutty, PaRappa-the-Rapper-goes-South-of-the-Border action ... even if they are Canadian.

We'd love to paint a word picture for our Brit friends, but honestly, there are no words in English that can accurately reflect how rad it is watching a monkey play maracas. ... Hey, don't blame us, it's your language.

While we may find ourselves favoring Rock Band's a la carte offerings far more than Activision's band-themed bundles, we're not sure whose model will win in the long run. Take the Beatles for example: getting the notoriously protective (note: they're not even on iTunes) band's tracks onto either offering (or both!) would be a huge coup, to be sure, but wouldn't Guitar Hero: Beatles be more attractive to the license holder than some downloadable tracks for Rock Band?

FT.com revisits the pursuit and reports that, perhaps unsurprisingly, Beatles "representatives have held discussions with both Activision and MTV Games" in pursuit of a "final deal [that] would be worth several million dollars" and "could be reached in a matter of weeks." Well, we'll be here in a matter of weeks ... say, E3 would be a really nice time to announce something. We're just sayin' ...

Last week's announcement of The Pixies' Doolittle was a bit premature, but the full album is definitely coming next week. Additionally, three Weezer tracks from the new Red Album (none of which are titled Pork and Beans) are also coming out next week. All songs are master tracks for pristine rocking ability.

Fun Fact: Weezer's Rivers Cuomo cites Pixies as a major influence. They recorded a cover of the song Velouria for the tribute album Where is My Mind?

Weezer Pack (440 MS points / $5.49) -- All songs are also sold individually (160 MS Points / $2)

• "Dreamin"
• "The Greatest Man That Ever Lived"
• "Troublemaker"

The Pixies' Doolittle (1520 MS points / $19) -- All songs are also sold individually (160 MS Points / $2)

• "Crackity Jones"
  
• "Dead"
  
• "Debaser"
  
• "Gouge Away"
  
• "Here Comes Your Man"
  
• "Hey"
  
• "I Bleed"
  
• "La la Love You"
  
• "Monkey Gone To Heaven"
  
• "Mr Grieves"
  
• "No 13 Baby"
  
• "Silver"
  
• "Tame"
  
• "There Goes My Gun"

Videos for Doolittle can be found here. After the break, peep the three Weezer tracks. The songs will be available next Tuesday and Thursday on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 respectively.

Activision invited us out to the House of Blues last week, which was a fitting place to give us a first look at Guitar Hero: World Tour in action. Though we didn't get to play it, we did watch the folks from RedOctane take a spin through all the new features. Suffice it to say, this isn't simply Guitar Hero: Rock Band ... which is what we thought it might turn out to be. Read on after the break to find out why you'll soon have a closet filled with enough peripherals to make your own one-man band.