Those of you who downloaded the Green Day: Rock Band demo from Xbox Live Marketplace (which includes the two tracks “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” & “Welcome to Paradise”) were treated to a teaser banner when exiting the demo for Rock Band 3.  Along with the usual suspects (guitar, drums, bass, and mic) sits an entirely new instrument, a keytar!  At first glance gamers interpreted the new icon to represent the addition of a keyboard peripheral for the new Rock Band game, but ArsTechnica claims their “now-famous Mole” has reliable information that the new instrument is in fact a keytar.  For those of you who are not familar with the instrument, a keytar essentially combines a guitar and keyboard into one, and it’s very ’80s.  Look after the break for a sexy image of said instrument.

Along with this tease comes more news surrounding the upcoming music game.  While the first two iterations of Rock Band were sold with instruments created by developer Harmonix, all peripherals for Rock Band 3 will be created and distributed by third-party game accessory company Mad Catz.  Mad Catz will promote a myriad of bundles including guitars, drums, and mics.  Information regarding the keytar will likely be detailed next month at E3.

And there’s one more morsel of news that comes from this same source.  Rock Band 3 will feature a new “pro mode” “that will require proper technique, and may lead to actual skills on guitars and bass.”  Again, expect more details about the game to be exposed at E3 in mid-June.

[Via Joystiq; ArsTechnica]