The Rock Band box is as large as my entire trunk, so we had to cram our actual overnight bags into the car. This was a surprise to Rhonda. Oh, and I had to have the PS3 back in its retail box, safe on a seat, because I didn't want it in the trunk or on the floor.

Our hosts Chad and Dana have a beautiful plasma HDTV, so I enjoyed seeing what all of my PS3 stuff looks like in reality. Locoroco was absolutely stunning in HD, as was the clarity in Warhawk and the Burnout demo. I have pencilled "new TV" onto the list of things to do in 2008.

There was quite a full house over New Year's, so the Wii would have been a solid hit. And a far easier hustle. But Rock Band is too slick to be missed... plus, the last time I had the Wii out of state, it made some weird clicks and refused to boot up Metroid 3 on the first try. So I'm not risking its movement at present time. After all, I'd have no trouble finding a replacement PS3, but a new Wii? Maybe Nintendo's shelf stock will catch up by the summer. Maybe.

We arrived late, so we couldn't do the full setup until the next day. (Drums wake kids and other living things.) The rest of the group had previously been enjoying two-player Guitar Hero II, so there was a bit of the ew-this-guitar-doesn't-click thing that all Rock Band newbies must go through. And if you haven't taken your PS3/Rock Band around to visit different TVs - and I know you haven't - they're not kidding when they say you should visit the calibration menu in Rock Band. Things felt a bit off on guitar, but when I switched the calibration from standard-def to plasma, it tightened up. I was muffing that lovely back-and-forth on Gimme Shelter before the calibration, and then knocking the frets back with ease afterwards.

Now I have a new conundrum. Several months ago, I had the great idea to take Rock Band to our company holiday party (which is in mid-January because our company rightly figures that everybody is too consumed with family visits and travelling to squeeze in an office party with bad food and free drinks and lots of people you hate and their spouses). I enlisted the gang in my department and we would sort of present ourselves as "live music" for the party. For the last few years, they've had a successful run of karaoke (Or so I'm told; we don't attend... because of the food and the drinks and the people I hate and their spouses), so stepping it up to Rock Band retains the karaoke but adds in the It factor of Guitar Hero++.

I wanted this super-big too. My plan was to set up a TV in front of us for the band to watch, but split the signal to the company's projector on a screen behind us, so everybody could see the game video. Jack the audio into the DJ's sound system so we get boomin' volume. Put together a three-song playlist that me and the mates have practiced enough times so we can grandstand our way through it... and end on Won't Get Fooled Again so I can introduce the band during that long empty synth break. Get a guy to shoot it so we can get the whole thing into YouTube. Then open it up for folks to sing or play.

Here's the crazy bit: now I don't want to do it because I only have one guitar. This whole thing was predicated on four of us looking like a real goddamn band with two guitars. The guitar controller is really the star of the show, since EVERYBODY is familiar with Guitar Hero by now. So having two guitars is a necessity. I'd feel like a tool up there with only one guitar. Harmonix broke my heart and wrecked my office party when they said that standalone instruments would not be ready for 2007.

It's been suggested that we get somebody's 360, since you can use other guitar controllers on the 360 version (WTF is up with that? How did just the PS3 get the shaft?), but I don't want to be responsible for somebody else's gear... particularly something as death-prone as a 360. Plus, then it's no longer my group's Band and avatars and DLC and such.

So I don't know. I'm completely psycho to want to bag this great and fun idea just because I'm lacking one guitar, but I'm an Alpha Gamer. I have to control the entire experience to perfection or I don't want to do it at all.

I just think a fake band with a single fake guitar would be so lame.