Gamers uninspired by Rock Band’s 1000-strong track catalogue could be strumming along to their personal music collections by Christmas, MTV Games has said.

News of Rock Band Network (RBN) emerged earlier this year. It is designed to let gamers turn almost any track in their collection into a version playable in the Rock Band videogame.

A spokesperson for MTV Games has since told website Kotaku that the team is “working hard to get the RBN open public beta release of tools up before the end of the year”.

A closed RBN beta is already live, but - according to its online description - the beta is designed mainly for bands “authoring and preparing” tracks for review through the network.

Perhaps RBN could eventually become a platform for aspiring rock bands unable to secure five minutes with Jim Beach?

RBN is expected to be available on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. ®