"Rock Band 2" is a passion for South Lyon senior Calvin Williams III, Novi junior Mac Swearengen, New Hudson junior Tony Cristiano and Midland junior Art Berghoff - a band known on Xbox's worldwide leaderboards as The Brotations.

"We're just brotating our way to the top," jokes Williams, who usually plays drums. Although each group member has strengths and weaknesses, they all take turns playing each instrument, which they call "brotating."

With Swearengen and Cristiano on guitar/bass, and Berghoff on vocals, The Brotations were at one point ranked third on the leaderboards out of around 100,000 players, and they remain in the top 100.

Scores are not averaged, so if The Brotations were to have an off game, it wouldn't matter because only high scores count.

Individual scores must also be good in order for the group to have high overall rankings, the group said.

The Brotations are not only skilled, but they also haven't given in to what Williams describes as "super groups." These groups are highly impersonal, as they are formed by gamers across the globe seeking to recruit members based on their skill sets in order to form a more powerful band.

"I have no doubt that we are one of the best bands that actually knows each other," Berghoff said.

Watching The Brotations play on the highest difficulty level, it is shocking to see how nimbly Swearengen and Cristiano move their fingers to hit nearly every virtual guitar and bass note that appears on the game's screen.

Along the top of the screen, Berghoff's vocals are scored based on the accuracy of the notes he hits, as the lyrics also flash across the screen. "Excellent!" isn't an uncommon update on the screen in regards to Berghoff's vocal ability.

Williams' drum sticks fly across the premium-quality Ion electronic kit set that was lent to him by a friend, valued at $300.

Band members each have a virtual version of themselves that appears on the screen when they play, which Williams says are "super-fied, classy versions" of themselves. Players can choose from a variety of virtual clothing (each of The Brotations dons a unifying sport coat) and instruments (Christiano's virtual guitar bears an Italian flag).

The Brotations have differing opinions when it comes to music, but all four attest to a love for The Red Hot Chili Peppers, and that metal and country are not among their favorite genres.

Swearengen is known by the group to have a weak spot for downloading new songs to the game. Out of approximately 500 available downloadable songs, Swearengen has downloaded around 300.

What may be surprising with such a talented group of gamers is that the group does not spend a copious amount of time practicing.

According to Williams, it can be difficult to work around everyones' schedules, so the group most often plays leisurely in groups of two or three.

So competitive gamers beware - The Brotations may, at any given time, be only be a few points away from reaching the No. 1 spot.

Within the first two weeks of the release of "Rock Band 2" for the Xbox 360, Grand Rapids senior Campbell Lempe was ranked as the No. 15 drummer in the world.

Although it may appear that such an accomplishment would take hours of dedication, Lempe says this wasn't the case.

"I only had to play the song once or twice before I was in the top rankings," Lempe said.

During the time that Lempe was a high scorer, he did not allocate an obscene amount of time to improving his ranking, and still had plenty of time for schoolwork and shows with his real-world band, Instant Prehistoric.

It hasn't been all fun and games for Lempe. It appears he and "Rock Band" players everywhere are experiencing some technical difficulties with the game freezing at the highly crucial time when scores are updated.

"I went to the support site and found out that it was happening to a lot of other people as well," Lempe said.

Lempe also struggled with his drum set, which he says is a bad model that he got with the original "Rock Band."

To improvise, Lempe watched a video on YouTube.com explaining how to create a "sock mod," which allows the electronic drum set to read the hits of the drum sticks more easily. The modification entails placing socks on the drum heads, tying them down with rubber bands and securing the socks to the drum shell with tape.

With "Guitar Hero: World Tour" coming out, Lempe is excited at the possibility of obtaining a better-functioning drum set.