Step aside all you axe heroes, it’s high time for the thunder gods of the drums to reign. The Ion Drum Rocker premium kit is made by Alesis, a manufacturer of electronic drums, and designed for the Rock Band games.

Most such drum sets are just a fixed array of plastic pads. Yet Alesis says the robust Drum Rocker premium kit will take a Keith Moon-style thrashing. The kit will cost £230 when it is launched in Britain in September with the next version of Rock Band (see www.drumrocker.com). Initially this game will be exclusive to the Xbox 360, whereas the current version is on all three major consoles.

Rock Band will not be the only gig in town, though. The next edition of the Guitar Hero series for home consoles will add drumming into the mix and offer an optional premium drum kit.

Could these accessories be superseded as soon as they are released? Nintendo says its Wii controller will soon allow you to play virtual instruments. A new version of the infectious Samba de Amigo game, due out in September in the UK, will challenge you to shake your Wii controllers in time with savage samba beats.

Better still, the Wii Music game, demonstrated at last week’s E3 Expo in Los Angeles and due out later this year, enables you to play in a variety of percussive styles from maracas to a full-on rock-god drum kit by waggling the controllers in time with prompts on a TV. If you own a Wii Fit you can use it as a bass-drum pedal in the game. You may be no Bernard Purdie but no one can stop you trying.

- The kit has a ‘professional aluminium drum rack’ that enables you to reposition the supplied snare, tomtom and up to three cymbals wherever suits you but must be wired to a console

- If you add a drum-sound unit (such as the Alesis DM5, £180) you can take these Ion pads out on the road and play them as a proper set of electronic drums

WORTH CONSIDERING...

Rock Band drum kit £70 www.rockband.com Has four fixed-position drum pads and a basic foot pedal. Feels plasticky, though, and must be wired up to a games console

Guitar Hero: World Tour drums £TBC www.guitarhero.com/uk This kit has three fixed drum pads, two cymbals and a bass kick pedal. Outgunned by the Ion for quality, it is at least wireless

Additional reporting: David Phelan in Los Angeles

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