Rock Band, Guitar Hero III video game do rock, but real is better

The most talked-about new video game this holiday season, Rock Band, counters every argument that game haters have been coming up with since the dawn of Pong.

Rock Band is social, encouraging families to create their own little Partridge Families and jam together in the living room. It's easy to pick up, with a control scheme that isn't very far removed from that ubiquitous Simon memory game everyone played back in 1979. And the game even requires you to be kind of ambulatory - it's almost impossible to play without at least one Pete Townshend windmill or a Johnny Ramone-style pogo off your coffee table.

If this were strictly a review, Rock Band from Electronic Arts - and its first cousin Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock from Activision - would probably both have the Little Man jumping out of his chair. In terms of entertainment value, it doesn't get much better than these two titles.

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Know the games' ratings! Go to ESRB.org to see if a child's pick is age- and maturity-level appropriate.

A videogame Gift Guide for kids, tweens, teens, adults, and older/casual players.

30- and 40-somethings are blending of social networking and online games. Some analysts call MySpace and Facebook "massively multiplayer games in disguise,".