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'Rock Band' game is virtually like seeing Green Day live

Green Day's members are having the time of their multimedia lives.

The group's Broadway musical, American Idiot, is up for three Tony Awards on Sunday. And the video game Green Day: Rock Band arrives today ($60 for PS3 and Xbox 360; $50 for Wii; rated T for ages 13-up). "It's been amazing, the things that have been happening lately," says vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong. "It's been a pretty intense experience."

Armstrong and his partners in the trio, bassist Mike Dirnt and drummer Tré Cool, recently talked about the game, which has 47 songs spanning the band's multiplatinum career from 1994's Dookie to last year's 21st Century Breakdown.

COMIC: See digital book accompanying 'Rock Band' release

Q: You guys are renowned for your live performances. Does that carry over into the game?

Cool: We definitely take our hats off to the game guys who developed this because we don't just stand in one place when we are on stage. (Our game characters) jump around, and the energy with the crowd, we really wanted that to be conveyed in the game. They did a really good job of that. And there's some details the Green Day fan can pick out that are true to our live show and our personalities.

Dirnt: They actually