UPDATED: EA confirms Rock Band for iPhone - pics

EA Mobile has confirmed a version of its extremely popular Rock Band game for the iPhone and iPod touch.The news first emerged during an Electronic Arts presentation at the CTIA mobile trade show yesterday. Just like its console siblings, the iPhone version will offer downloadable tracks, alongside Bluetooth multi-player features designed to support up to four players.

TechCrunch informs that on the iPhone game play seems set to reflect that of its console kin, the notes flow down the fretboard in the same way, with guitar pick-shaped buttons presumably there to play notes.

“We’ve seen it in action and can confirm that is the real deal, with gameplay almost identical to the console version including the ability to play with up to three additional players via Bluetooth,” reports Mashable.

The game matches everything you’d expect from the console version, including graphics and terrible howling mistakes...only difference is you aren’t using any instrument other than your iPhone (or voice).

The app comes with 15 songs – familiar tracks from past and present – with 5 additional songs that you can unlock as you complete the World Tour, as well as options to buy more.

Mashable informs you’ll get:
-Single player
- Multi Player over Bluetooth
and Facebook Connect integration.

Here’s another - larger - image, then pop over to Mashable to take a closer look. We think it looks pretty good...

From earlier story
We’ll update this story later on when we learn more about the iPhone game, pausing only to reflect the last time Rock Band made it big on the Apple users agenda was on release of The Beatles Rock Band game.

With claim and counter-claim then speculating music from the band would be made available through iTunes at the time, former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney said: “We were having problems with iTunes – well not iTunes, EMI was the problem – with downloading, which we'd like to do because that's how a lot of people get their music.

“We've kind of bypassed that [download problems] because now you can do it in 'Rock Band'," he added. "I always liked that, when you're told you can't do something and suddenly there's a little route round the back."

We’re not expecting The Beatles to be part of the iPhone version - at least not in this iteration, but interesting to reflect, nevertheless.