I got Rock Band the other day, as I so subtly bragged about earlier. While I love the songs, the character customization, multiplayer, so on and so forth, the equipment is downright crap.

I opened the box, removed about ten layers of useless packaging, and found a guitar that doubles as a maraca. All the buttons work, but something is definitely bouncing around inside. Maybe it's part of the motion sensor, because I can't hold the guitar anything steeper than 20 degrees without the overdrive going off.

One of my friends, who bought Rock Band the very next day, has the same rattle, if not a little worse. At least his Overdrive works properly. Even so, the guitars just feel cheap, like they're going to snap in half at any second. Playskool makes more durable instruments than this.

Then there are the drums (my favorite part). My yellow pad makes a disturbing "clank" sound with every hit. You really have to nail it to make the beat register too, so as you can imagine, I fear that it'll break at any second. Oh yeah... my friend's yellow pad has the exact same problem.

I love the game, but with gear that crapped out before it left the box, I don't know how much use I'll get out of it. At least the microphone works, which is the one thing that I absolutely did not buy the set for.