Those Red Octane losers

[Alphadown99]

Okay, so, just click the link. 'nuff said. I can't believe they would try to pull this crap!
http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/08/red-octane-vp-excuses-axe-incompatibility-blames-rock-band-issu/ (http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/08/red-octane-vp-excuses-axe-incompatibility-blames-rock-band-issu/)

[Julio_No_Mas]

Pathetic. How would they know the RB guitars would be screwey while GH3 was in development? Do they have a spy we don't know about?

[Alphadown99]

Pathetic. How would they know the RB guitars would be screwey while GH3 was in development? Do they have a spy we don't know about?

A bunch of As*holes

[Ventura]

At this point, am I the only one who wishes Harmonix and Red Octane had never parted company?

Harmonix should've gone on an employee recruiting spree, then split into two teams and produced both Guitar Hero 3 and Rock Band. That way us unfortunate PS3 owners wouldn't have to worry about compatibility issues.

But no, instead Harmonix teamed up with Electronic Arts, who it seems, couldn't build a guitar out of plastic if their lives depended on it.

If I were in Red Octane's shoes, I'd be laughing too.

[MF-PO'd]

This Charles Huang fellow strikes me as a little on the dense side.

I hope he didn't set off the fire alarm during that interview from all the smoke blowing out of his ass.

[Ultrace]

Harmonix should've gone on an employee recruiting spree, then split into two teams and produced both Guitar Hero 3 and Rock Band. That way us unfortunate PS3 owners wouldn't have to worry about compatibility issues.
Wouldn't have happened. Why in the world would a single company make GH3 and then another, more indepth game with guitar in it? If Harmonix hadn't split, we'd have no RB. One of the devs even said in an interview way back that RB was the game they'd always wanted to make. Yet, they hadn't done so. Clearly that game was not going to be made while they were aligned with Red Octane.

[Ventura]

Wouldn't have happened. Why in the world would a single company make GH3 and then another, more indepth game with guitar in it? If Harmonix hadn't split, we'd have no RB. One of the devs even said in an interview way back that RB was the game they'd always wanted to make. Yet, they hadn't done so. Clearly that game was not going to be made while they were aligned with Red Octane.

Don't tell me it couldn't have been good.

They coulda done Guitar Hero and Drum Hero, with Rock Band as the complete collection. Everything coulda been compatible; same songs and all. Owners of just Guitar Hero could've filled out lead or bass positions in Rock Band games, and Drum Hero owners could've likewise filled out the drummer position. And of course, all of the hardware would've been compatible.

More money than sense, these execs have. If just one of them had a brain, I reckon they'd be dangerous.

[admanimal]

These scenarios were not exactly a choice for neither Red Octane nor Harmonix. Red Octane was purchased by Activision. Harmonix was purchased by MTV Games. At that point, who developed what wasn't really up to Harmonix or RO.

[Quastor]

Don't tell me it couldn't have been good.

They coulda done Guitar Hero and Drum Hero, with Rock Band as the complete collection. Everything coulda been compatible; same songs and all. Owners of just Guitar Hero could've filled out lead or bass positions in Rock Band games, and Drum Hero owners could've likewise filled out the drummer position. And of course, all of the hardware would've been compatible.

More money than sense, these execs have. If just one of them had a brain, I reckon they'd be dangerous.

Sorry, but Activision bought RedOctane for the sole reason to get the rights to the Guitar Hero trademark. Activision threw the franchise to one of their own dev studios, and completely locked Harmonix out of the title all together. All Activision is interested in is milking this franchise for as much as it's worth. They didn't think what Harmonix was doing was anything special that couldn't be emulated by another studio. And now Rock Band is proving them wrong.

Do believe that's their intention? The first text bubble (http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/12/05) from that PA comic is a direct quote from the Activision CEO.

[Ventura]

Sorry, but Activision bought RedOctane for the sole reason to get the rights to the Guitar Hero trademark. Activision threw the franchise to one of their own dev studios, and completely locked Harmonix out of the title all together. All Activision is interested in is milking this franchise for as much as it's worth. They didn't think what Harmonix was doing was anything special that couldn't be emulated by another studio. And now Rock Band is proving them wrong.


I know what went down mate, I was just posting what-if's.

That's the beauty of it though. You gotta wonder if Activision are just pissy cause they went and bought the wrong company.

Seriously, they can have Guitar Hero. Fill your boots, fellas. When Guitar Hero 4 comes out, I'll be looking around for a box that's got "Rock Band 2" written on it instead.

[CraiZE]

I don't think red octane is that wrong on this part. Sure it sucks for us that they don't add support for the Fender, but then again, the Fender has known issues with double downstrum, no downstrum working at all, etc.

Depending how much that "patch" of rockband did, it may have helped some by filtering "strums" out completely, and it would be much more of a pain to integrate that (as they dont know the timing exactly) into GH3.

Worse is, if they don't get it right, yet put it in, people will complain to Neversoft/Red Octane to get support - a product they don't make a penny of.

Its normal you dont want to spend customer support staff on someone elses product.

They could have explained themselves better when giving their statement - and tbh, i am quite sure they have. But the 1 liner comment is the clear winner on the internet, since it gets them flames :)

[Eternal Dredd]

I love my guitar, although I admit it's my second one. Her name is Druscilla, and no one uses her but me. She's so damn cool I want to hang her on the wall. It broke my heart when I couldn't use her to thrash on GH3, which would have allowed me to return one of my four (count em) guitars (1 on PS2, 2 for GH3 and 1 for RB). To say my family is a fan is an understatement. I'm kind of glad there are 2 more guitars for my kids to play on, so I can't blame one of them when my next axe goes kaflooey. Gina(my first RB guitar), I hardly knew ye.

I don't think there is going to be an official Rock Band 2, just updates to the original for the next year. Then they will release a "best of" or something. They'll probably release a "Country Band" with a banjo and a fiddle. Why stop there? Why not start a blues band with a sax or horn?

[Ultrace]

Don't tell me it couldn't have been good.

They coulda done Guitar Hero and Drum Hero, with Rock Band as the complete collection. Everything coulda been compatible; same songs and all. Owners of just Guitar Hero could've filled out lead or bass positions in Rock Band games, and Drum Hero owners could've likewise filled out the drummer position. And of course, all of the hardware would've been compatible.

More money than sense, these execs have. If just one of them had a brain, I reckon they'd be dangerous.
I'll tell you it couldn't have been good because it doesn't make economic sense. A smart company doesn't release a pair of products alongside a third product that doesn't make you need the other two--not when it comes to hardware and things this pricey. Could they have done Guitar Hero and Drum Hero and then a year or two later compiled it as Rock Band? Perhaps, but most likely only as a software piece and not a hardware piece because you're undercutting yourself. If you produce peripheral A, peripheral B, and then a bundle that includes peripherals A&B, then somewhere out there, a person will buy, A, B, or A&B, but not all three.