Harmonix have announced several big names that will be supporting their upcoming game Rock Band.

Firstly, they've announced that Steven Van Zandt-a.k.a. 'Little Steven' is to Chair Music Advisory Board, which will guide the Harmonix development team in the selection of artists, albums and tracks to be featured in the music videogame, both on the game disc and for digital distribution.

Steven's expertise is vast, from his status as a founding member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, his encyclopedic knowledge of rock music history and well-known skill at pulling people together. He is the perfect choice to lead the team to steer us through the thousands of musical choices we are currently facing.

Metallica have struck a deal with Harmonix and MTV Games and jumped on board, allowing several tracks from their catalog to be used in the game, with Enter Sandman on the initial release.

Rock Band will allow gamers to jam with the guys through their long, successful career, from young, raw talent to mega stars, playing the hard- rocking sounds that the band is known for.

And what may be one of the coolest moves in Music Game history, Rock Band will be the first game ever to offer new game levels based on Full-Length Albums

Offering entire albums for play on the Rock Band platform is a monumental step forward in Harmonix's ever present quest to provide new ways for people to interact with music and creating the most authentic music experience possible. This will give players the opportunity to play through the entire album set list of arguably some of the most influential rock albums of all time and brings them one step closer to what it feels like to be a true rock star.