EA has announced that Europeans will not get a "special edition" Rock Band bundle like the one that is so popular in North America. Instead, in their infinite wisdom, EA is only offering the game and instruments separately.

You might want to sit down before reading on...

EU Rock Band Game (Disc only): EUR 69.99
EU Rock Band Instruments (Mic, Guitar, Drums): EUR 169
EU Guitar Only: EUR 79.99
EU Drums Only: EUR 89.99

So to clarify...

Cost of Mic, Drums, Guitar, Game in North America: $169, or 107 Euros.
Cost of Mic, Drums, Guitar, Game in Europe: $378, or 240 Euros.

Even given the strong Euro and sagging US Dollar, this announced EU pricing is asinine.

Harmonix has announced that the highly anticipated Nintendo Wii version of Rock Band will be released on June 22, 2008. The special edition bundle will have an MSRP of $169.99 and feature a wireless guitar similar to the PS2/PS3 version. The instruments will not utilize the Wiimote, but rather function the same as they do on other consoles.

There will be 63 songs shipped with the Wii version, including 5 bonus songs. As Harmonix has not yet announced what these 5 bonus songs will be, it is probably safe to assume they're going to be exclusive to the Wii.

According to Harmonix employee Sean, the Wii port will be similar to the current PS2 version of Rock Band. What this probably means is that several of the features found in the Xbox & PS3 versions of Rock Band will not be present, such as variable speed practice mode, etc.

Each week Harmonix releases new downloadable content for Rock Band. Unless otherwise noted, all DLC content is usually available for all platforms.

This week's release features six master recordings from Boston's classic self-titled debut album:

"More Than a Feeling" (Master) - $1.99 or 160 Microsoft Points
"Peace of Mind" (Master) - $1.99 or 160 Microsoft Points
"Smokin'" (Master) - $1.99 or 160 Microsoft Points
"Rock & Roll Band" (Master) - $1.99 or 160 Microsoft Points
"Something About You" (Master) - $1.99 or 160 Microsoft Points
"Hitch a Ride" (Master) - $1.99 or 160 Microsoft Points

The Boston six-pack (which includes all six songs above) can be purchased for $9.99 (800 Microsoft Points).

MyTego.com has unveiled a unique design-it-yourself skin creator for Rock Band guitar and drum set controllers. Their intuitive web-based design tool allows users to customize the face of their controllers in any way imaginable. Users can stylize their gear with pictures or logos of their band, favorite groupies, or whatevers clever. To start designing your own logo click here.

The Tego Skins are shipped and then applied by the user onto the Rock Band guitar or drum set, to give it a unique level of personalization for each and every customer. Every Tego Skin is unique, as each one is created specifically by each customer. Tego Skins can be removed with ease, and changed from month to month, or concert to concert, depending on the customers preference based on the season, favorite new rock star, newest bf/gf, or whatever. Any image can be put onto the design of the Tego skin, either from the online catalog available at mytego.com, or the customer can upload their own image.

Surprisingly, Amazon.com has updated the availability date on their PlayStation 3 FrontMan Wireless Guitar product page to March 25, 2008. GameStop.com has a release date of April 21, 2008 for the same product and Nyko's official prouct page says "Coming April 2008".

We're not sure if Amazon secured some kind of exclusive early release date or if this is an honest mistake, but it certainly makes the Rock Band third-party guitar controller issues for PS3 owners even more confusing. While they're busy sorting this all out we'll be crossing our fingers and hoping to see the FrontMan this time next week...

Our friends at ConsoleHero.com are in the process of compiling a Rock Band & Guitar Hero controller compatibility guide and they need your help!

This is a great project the ConsoleHero guys have taken on and will no doubt be an invaluable resource for the Guitar Hero & Rock Band communities once finished. Head over there and show them some support!

We reported on Friday that Steradian Technologies would begin taking general orders for the Omega Pedal and Twin Rocker today. Not only did they add general ordering this morning as planned, they also introduced two fantastic bundles at a significant discount.

If anyone has already ordered an Omega Pedal or is going to order one soon, we would love to see some video of it in action once it arrives. I'll be ordering my own in a couple weeks and will be posting a video review at that time also.

Updating our previous article on the Omega Pedal, we have received word from Steradian Technologies that it will indeed be compatible across all platforms. They also expect to have video of the pedal in action available in the next couple weeks.

But this might be the best news of all:

"We have started taking pre-orders from those who contacted us in the last few weeks and will open general ordering and start shipping pedals on Monday."

Steradian also tells us that the Twin Rocker will have two versions, one for the Xbox 360 and the other for PS2/PS3. This is all fantastic news for Rock Band enthusiasts!