Rock Band, the ambitious new rhythm action game for 360 from Harmonix, MTV and EA, has been described by one of rival Activision’s managers as being too ‘complex’. Rock Band is a multiplayer music game in which a singer, drummer, guitarist and bassist can play together locally and over Xbox Live through hit songs in the Simon-says gameplay style that Guitar Hero has made so popular.

However, Will Kassoy, Activision’s Global Brand Manager has questioned the game’s ease of use saying: "I think some of the early signs we've seen might make [Rock Band] a little more complex than some of the things that make Guitar Hero so great, which is its accessibility and ease of play for everyone"

"If you go beyond the game industry to just really mass market consumers, people haven't heard about Rock Band yet and the fact that it's only on next-generation platforms is going to be a little bit limiting."

Activision is continuing to publish the Guitar Hero series of games now that development of the series has been handed from Harmonix to Neversoft, they of Tony Hawks skateboarding fame. As such Rock band and Guitar Hero 3 will be rivals upon release later in the year.

Guitar Hero 3, while limiting the gameplay to just guitarists is being released for PS2, PS3, 360, Wii and DS, while now rival Rock Band offers many more ways to play but is limited to the PS3 and 360 platforms.