As exclusively revealed on G4, Harmonix have announced a new title in the Rock Band franchise, this time for XBLA and PSN. The game is called Rock Band Blitz, and it replaces the traditional instrument-controllers of the series with… a gamepad.

The game is designed to be a single-player arcade experience rather than a performance simulation, and, as such, it’s much more about scoring points. If you’re thinking that it sounds like a spiritual successor to Harmonix’s early titles Frequency and Amplitude, then you’re on the right track (the PSP Rock Band game was also similar in concept to this).

The really cool part of this new title is that it works with all existing Rock Band content. Any songs you already own can be imported into Blitz and played immediately, and the 25 new songs that come with Blitz will be playable in Rock Band 3. This gives the game an incredible, immediate library of over 3700 songs, and saves you from having to re-buy any songs just to experience them in Rock Band Blitz.

The game will be available on XBLA and PSN this winter.