Yeah, but the ache is starting to go away now.

My point is - I've bought Guitar Hero II! The game blew my expectations sky high. The song list is spectacular. I was dubious of the songs at first, but that was just due to my incompetence in recognizing song names (YYZ pretty much sold the game on me, though). Cherry Pie and Carry On Wayward Son are fantastic. I can't do the "Opening Licks" songs too well, as they are kind of boring, but I rock on Cherry Pie. Van Halen's "You Really Got Me" is pretty awesome, too. I find it funny that a Kiss song is under "Opening Licks"; perhaps RedOctane has the same opinion of them as I do.

Well, the game totally owns; every 360 player should buy it, despite the high price ($60 for the game, $30 for the controller). Casual players can pick it up quickly - my father will love it - and hardcore players have various difficulties and an increasingly difficult songlist, plus very creative achievements. Guitar Hero II does not disappoint.

EDIT: On my second day in, I'm still enjoying the game (of course). The seams have started to show, however: your guitarist's eyes never move, and seem to be completely black (I'm playing Izzy Spark, who I hear is based on Jimmy Page . . . though he doesn't look anything like Mr. Page). The lack of online co-op was a very bad idea. Also, why is it a wired controller? It's more realistic, I guess; real guitars are wired into amps. But I can't strut around my front lawn, playing the screen inside my house (like I could have done a freakin' thing that way). And what's up with the lack of any Led Zeppelin songs? I have a feeling it's due to Zeppelin's fast-acting crack-team of lawyers and their foolish defense of their copyrighted material; a la youtube.com. All of Zeppelin's videos were taken off that site, which leads me to believe RedOctane isn't able to acquire a Ledded song for GHII.

However, the core gameplay is enthralling enough to make up for these errors. Ripping riffs on the more difficult songs gets your blood pumping and your [fantasy] fans cheering. This is a GREAT game for attracting buddies in college; Madden no longer holds stake to that claim.