It turns out Harmonix does like money, after all. Today they announced that they'll be making a sequel to the ridiculously successful rhythm game Rock Band. Rock Band 2 will hit stores in September for Xbox 360; the PS3, PS2 and Wii versions will arrive later in the year.

In an interview with IGN, lead designer Dan Teasdale stated that Rock Band 2 will have many of the features fans have been clamoring for. First off, all of the DLC from the original Rock Band will be compatible with the sequel and vice versa. Thus, even though PS3 fans will have to wait longer to Rock Band 2, they'll still have weekly DLC to tide them over.

Your instruments from the first game will be compatible with the new version as well, though Teasdale notes that Harmonix has made "quieter, more realistic, and more reliable instruments" for the Rock Band 2 bundle. Teasdale also promised several new game modes, one of which will allow you to sing and play guitar at the same time. He dodged and weaved a bit when asked about whether Rock Band 2 will allow user to make their own content, like Guitar Hero World Tour. He said that a feature like that takes time to perfect and that "if we're going to do it, we want to do it right as our goal is to create a fully-realized, fully-integrated way for people to become real musicians and release quality music through Rock Band." My best guess is that this means user-generated content won't initially be supported but eventually will be added via an update.

The September release of the 360 version means it will beat Guitar Hero World Tour by about a month, though World Tour will be releasing on all platforms simultaneously. Rock Band 2 will debut at this year's E3 (July 15-17) so we'll have more information soon.