If you’ve gotten the latest issue of Game Informer magazine like me (or you’ve cheated and seen the screen shots on the Scorehero forums!) you’ve learned more specific details about the much awaited sequel to Rock Band coming this Fall.  If you haven’t gotten the mag in the mail yet and don’t wanna wait, here are some of the details on all the new features (being announced today at E3!) that this non-gamer girl found impressive.

No Fail Mode- I always hated that booing sound anyway.  This will ensure I will never have my pride beaten like a dead horse again.  No Fail Mode can be selected from the Options menu and will allow you to get all the way through that song no matter how badly you play.  This feature should help at the next Rock Band night at Keat’s (one of our local hangouts) for the newbies!

Pre-Fab Characters - Just that simple.  Maybe I can finally get my sister to play since she never got past the initial create a character.  It was just “too much work”.  (She’s REALLY a non-gamer!)  Just pick one of the decked out characters ready to be played and jump in (on No Fail Mode of course)

New Clothing and Accessories - We’ve all asked for this, and apparently our cries were heard.  And this ties into the next item.

Wear your Character - This new merchandising option uses an in game photo creator and will let you set facial expressions and poses for your character which can be uploaded to RockBand.com.  Create t-shirts, posters, bumper stickers and more of your band, your character and your logo.

Old vs. New Instruments - If you’re not made of money, or are happy with your current instrument peripherals from the original Rock Band, fear not, they will all still work with the new Rock Band 2.  You can just buy the game itself and plan to continue your rockfest.  IF, however, you are itching to spend your summer job money you’ve been saving, you can upgrade to new ones. The new guitar promises a less-mushy strum-bar and quieter clicks on the frets, while the drums have a stronger, metal-reinforced pedal and velocity sensitive, quieter heads.  In addition, there will be third party peripherals made by Mad Catz and a special Ion drumset that you can try out above and beyond what Harmonix will sell.

Xbox Only Release - At first at least.  I’m glad Mike made my buy an Xbox as my first console!  Apparently Microsoft has “arranged for a short window of exclusivity” which means that Playstation owners as well as Wii folks will have to wait a bit.  Don’t cry to any Europeans though - since you’ll be just waiting from the September release until sometime before Christmas when all consoles will get the game.

JukeBox Mode- Love the soundtrack but not in the mood to play?  This feature essentially lets you choose a bunch of songs just to listen to and watch.  Essentially like a music video without the note charts. 

More - You’ll also find additional details about the new drum-training option which allows for freestyle play, as well as details on the Battle of the Bands mode - but I’ll be interested in just seeing those rather than reading about them.

Essentially Rock Band 2 is like a nicely upgraded version of Rock Band the original taking into account all of the suggestions and ideas they’ve gathered since the initial release.  I will most likely be buying just the game at first which will save me some cash since all of the “toys” I have now will still work.  I’m thankful for that.  We’ve all been talking about how much space we’re going to need with all of the new peripherals we’re expecting to see from the Rock Band competitors around the same time!

For more on these details and additional enhancements, check out Cena’s Corner over the next several days for video reviews.