Rock Band Guitar with Guitar Hero *2*? (360)

[jdeason]

Hi all,

We've heard that the GH2 controller, and probably the GH3 controller, will work with Rock Band, and the status of the RB controller on GH3 is undetermined at this point...but about about the RB Guitar on Guitar Hero *2*?

Maybe I'm in a unique situation on this board, but I don't own GH2 currently, not for 360 anyway (I played on my old roommate's PS2). The thing is, just going by looks and apparent function alone I like the RB guitar more then the current (360) Guitar Hero 2 guitar and the future Guitar Hero 3 guitar, and it would be nice if I could go back and pick up GH2 sometime in the future and play through those songs, without having to get another guitar with it that I don't particularly want. I know Guitar Hero 3 is up to the new developers of that game, but GH2 was developed by Harmonix, right? Is this a consideration at all or is it assumed that most of the people interested in Rock Band have Guitar Hero 2 already?

I realize that a lot of this is out of the hands of the developers, but the truth is no matter how much I like the looks and features of the RB guitar, if I can buy the GH3 guitar and have it work across 3 games while the RB guitar only works on one, well then I'm probably going to have to choose function over form. If the RB guitar works on 2 games at least, then I can justify that to a degree.

[MrtyMcfly]

It's difficult to say. Nothing has been determined on that matter, I don't think it's been brought up much. I was going to say it worked before with GH 1 and 2, but that was on the ps2. Microsoft's products are coded in a special way, which is why the Xplorer didn't work on ps2.

But since you're talking about GH2 on xbox 360, I would think if you had the RB guitar, it would work for GH2 because it's based off the same game engine (I think).

I'm not very technical, maybe someone can put it into better words.

[Supergeek]

Since the GH2 guitars are supposed to work forward with RB, I would give a very good chance that the new Fender will work with GH2. It's an assumption, but it makes sense.

[MrtyMcfly]

Obviously the switch on the RB guitar won't do anything, but I'd love to go back to GH2 and try those solos if the additional fret buttons work. It would make Freebird a lot easier with all the H/O's and P/O's :D

[Dismissile]

Obviously the switch on the RB guitar won't do anything, but I'd love to go back to GH2 and try those solos if the additional fret buttons work. It would make Freebird a lot easier with all the H/O's and P/O's :D

The controller might work on GH2 but I highly doubt the lower 5 fret buttons would work (at least in the way you they will in RB).

[Keebler]

Here's what we know at this point:

*Guitar Hero 2/3 controllers are compatible with Rock Band*
*Rock Band controllers MAY be compatible with Guitar Hero 3 (it's up to Activision to support)*

[jdeason]

Funny, neither of your bolded statements answers the question, so it may get asked a few more times. There's a reason I emphasized the 2 in my subject.

So I guess there's been no official position on this. It looks like we'd need more details on the guitar to determine this. If it's doing the same thing as the Xplorer electronically with the additional stuff added on top, then it'll probably work, but if the RB guitar protocol is totally different, and they just built in a Guitar Hero compatibility mode in to the game to handle the old guitars, then it probably won't.

[Keebler]

Sorry, I misunderstood.

I would have to assume Rock Band's guitar will be compatible with Guitar Hero 2, since Guitar Hero 2's guitar is compatible with Rock Band. As for the 5 new fret buttons, I'm not sure how they work. I'm not sure if the new solo sections require the use of the new buttons or if the new buttons can be used anytime. I'm not sure if the strumless fretting is made possible by the game's solo sections (software) or by the actual controller button mapping (hardware). If it's the software that allows for the strumless playing, then the 5 new fret buttons are nothing more than duplications of the existing buttons and they would be completely operable with Guitar Hero 2. If its the hardware that allows for the strumless playing, then the 5 new buttons work differently in not requiring a strum and thus, they would likely not operate the same with Guitar Hero 2.

[MrtyMcfly]

The controller might work on GH2 but I highly doubt the lower 5 fret buttons would work (at least in the way you they will in RB).

The new fret buttons are actually no different than the existing ones. You could essentially play an entire song using those buttons. It's just not realistic because the rhythm to songs are lower notes on a real fret board.

If the RB guitar works for GH2, then these buttons will work fine. They perform the same action. The only thing that won't work is the 5-way switch. All the other buttons are programmed the same.

[PurpleHaze]

The new fret buttons are actually no different than the existing ones. You could essentially play an entire song using those buttons. It's just not realistic because the rhythm to songs are lower notes on a real fret board.I don't believe Harmonix have actually confirmed exactly how the new fret buttons works - and I'm curious on that point myself, in particular regarding the fact that you don't need to strum when using them. As I see it there are two possibilities - either the notes in those sections don't need to be strummed anyway, in which case either set of buttons can be used without strumming ... or, the new fret buttons send both a button down and strum hardware signal, which means you can either use the new buttons without strumming or use the original buttons with strumming.

[MrtyMcfly]

As I see it there are two possibilities - either the notes in those sections don't need to be strummed anyway, in which case either set of buttons can be used without strumming ... or, the new fret buttons send both a button down and strum hardware signal, which means you can either use the new buttons without strumming or use the original buttons with strumming.

Maybe using those buttons for a whole song is iffy, but I believe you can use the buttons strumming and not strumming. But if this guitar works on GH2, and you can use those buttons, it would still be easier to use them for H/Os and P/Os than it is to do that on the existing buttons.

In the 40min Gamespot video, Alex was talking about the new buttons and how a main purpose of them is so that you can use 2 hands and finger tap the notes during solos and such. As well I think they would help with repetitive YBO YBO YBO riffs or vice versa.

The new buttons still activate the same frets/notes, if the guitar works, the buttons should also.