Wondering what, exactly, the difference is between the new Rock Band 2 drums and the original Rock Band 1 drums? Me too. Engadget has a great set of photos from E3 that reveal all the new features. Let’s examine them one by one.

Reinforced bass drum pedal — check.

Neoprene or rubber drum surface for better “bounce” and less noise — check.

Fully wireless (look ma, no wires in this picture!) — check.

The one disappointment I have is that the new Rock Band 2 drumset offers no additional reinforcement of any kind between the green and red drums. This means the red and green hits will be vulnerable to excessive vibration and might be unreliable under intense expert-level drum play, as they are on the original version. I hope my drum reinforcing struts will work on the new kit; it looks nearly identical in shape, so I’m thinking they will.

But there is one exciting new feature which you can see hinted at in this photo — green, blue, and red plugs on the back of the drumset.

These are for the add-on cymbals you can attach to the drumset. According to a source from E3, the cymbals can be hit at any time instead of their respective tom pads, but during drum fills, the game knows to play cymbal or tom sounds depending on which you hit. We have yet to see any information on pricing or availability of the add-on cymbals for the Rock Band 2 drumset.

Still, I’m encouraged that two out of three major flaws with the original Rock Band drums are being addressed with the new Rock Band 2 drumset:

1. Reinforced pedal
2. Improved drum surface for better durability, bounce, and less noise.
3. Structural support for the “hanging” red and green drums

I guess two out of three ain’t bad.