guitar compatibility

[dinga6969]

I'm not sure this has been stated clearly or not but I was curious as to the guitar compatibility for the Rock Band guitars. I know that you can use the Guitar Hero controllers for Rock Band but can you use the Rock Band controllers for Guitar hero? Thanks! Rock out with your..........you know the rest!

[ThePaska]

This has been asked so many times. I'm not sure if there is a definitive answer or not, but I do know that Harmonix has said they will work with Activision if they want to use their guitar to help make it available for use with GH III. I think it is basically up to them whether or not they will allow 3rd party guitars to play their game, most likely they will. I have a good feeling that GH III guitars will work for Rock Band and Rock Band guitars will work for Guitar Hero III

[Electric_Zen]

I just looked through the n00b guide for the first time since Xzyliac published it, and I don't think the question of 'which guitars work with which games' is addressed there.

It should probably be at the top of the guide, since this is by far the most frequent n00b question we get in the forums.

Here's the quick rundown:
__________________________________________________ ______

Can I use my GH2 Xplorer with Rock Band? Yes

Can I use my Rock Band controller with GH2 360? Yes. It is not known whether the additional fret buttons will work here.

Can I use my Rock Band controller with GH3? Probably. Harmonix wants to support open standards and make everything compatible. Activision would have little incentive to block the Rock Band controller, if it's even possible, since support will move more copies of GH3.

Can I use my GH3 controller with Rock Band? Doesn't look good. Activision has made statements that don't sound too promising in this regard. They say they regard their hardware as a 'competitive advantage'. They deride Harmonix for getting a free ride by 'piggybacking' support for the GH2 Explorer controllers. There are open standard for guitar controllers on the 360, but if Activision deviates from those standards, there's probably nothing Harmonix can do about it. They can't exactly issue a GH3 patch to support the Rock Band controller.

[masterx1918]

I doubt Red Octane would put software in their guitars so they specificaly don't work fo rock band....so i'd leave that as a probably also

[Keebler]

Can I use my GH3 controller with Rock Band? Doesn't look good. Activision has made statements that don't sound too promising in this regard. They say they regard their hardware as a 'competitive advantage'. They deride Harmonix for getting a free ride by 'piggybacking' support for the GH2 Explorer controllers. There are open standard for guitar controllers on the 360, but if Activision deviates from those standards, there's probably nothing Harmonix can do about it. They can't exactly issue a GH3 patch to support the Rock Band controller.

By that logic, then the GH3 controllers won't work with the old GH games, and I doubt Neversoft wants to start its developing history with the GH series by alienating part of the community and making an incompatibility.

[thrdeye]

Yeah, I'm waiting for some sort of confirmation that the GH3 controller will work with rock band. When we get that confirmation, I will plan on buying GH3

[PurpleHaze]

From what I've read, it sounds like Red Octane aren't interested in discussing this with Harmonix. That in itself doesn't bode well, but that also suggests that even Harmonix themselves won't know the answer to compatibility until GH3 has actually been released.

[masterx1918]

http://img.waffleimages.com/f55c01430bd750a4cd1c278b7d16851f6277bd00/chart%20copy.png

[NotorietyH]

Damn the only reason I'm getting GH III is so I can use it as the Bass controller for Rock Band, and as a way to kill time until Rock band arrives, but if it ain't going to work with Rock Band I'm not going to bother getting it.

Funny if it doesn't work because Activision are trying to protect it's franchise or are pissed at Rock Band for 'piggy-backing' (as someone said above) with GH II, that they'll probably ending up doing more damage because I assume there's people like me who mainly want Rock Band and are just getting GH III for a second controller or something. They could end up losing more sales than they think they'll be 'saving'

[Bakkster]

Yeah, I'm waiting for some sort of confirmation that the GH3 controller will work with rock band. When we get that confirmation, I will plan on buying GH3

If I can't play GH3 on the Strat, I won't be buying it. Simple as that. I don't need or want 7 guitar peripherals. I already own 6 actual guitars and I'd prefer to have more of them than plastic ones...

Edit:

Funny if it doesn't work because Activision are trying to protect it's franchise or are pissed at Rock Band for 'piggy-backing' (as someone said above) with GH II, that they'll probably ending up doing more damage because I assume there's people like me who mainly want Rock Band and are just getting GH III for a second controller or something. They could end up losing more sales than they think they'll be 'saving'

I think they'll end up banking on the GH name to sell copies, and try to lock in as many periphs as possible. RO has always been a periph maker (got a good RO dance pad for my sis, even I can use it), so on one hand it makes sense that they would try to make cash off of periphs. On the other hand, they started their business making 3rd party stuff, why would they try to discourage 3rd party? Wait, don't answer that one...

[Electric_Zen]

Excerpted from the interview with Charles Huang of Red Octane:
___________________________________________
GS: Will Guitar Hero II Explorer guitars work with Rock Band?

CH: I suspect they will--that's what Harmonix is saying. Harmonix of course developed Guitar Hero II, so they know exactly how the Explorer system works, so I suspect if they're saying it will work, it will.

GS: How do you feel about propping up your competition from a peripheral point of view?

CH: To us, it's always been a competitive advantage that we could do both [software and hardware]. We obviously believe it's a competitive advantage, and even if they can make it work with our previous guitars, and they're able to piggyback on the install base we've created, we'll be able to continue to innovate, continue to build new features into both the hardware and the software.
___________________________________________

That cracks me up every time. Red Octane created the install base, and Harmonix is a bunch of freeloaders that had nothing to do with it.

Anyway, nothing definitive here. But Charles doesn't seem happy about cross-game support on the guitars, and he seems to be drawing a distinction in the ability to support the 'previous' guitars and the new guitars.

[M3dlinguy]

The guitars are glorified controllers. So every controller will work with every game.

[masterx1918]

yeah exactly....that's why i'm saying that I doubt Red Octane would go out of their way to build software so their guitars work only with GHIII.

[Bakkster]

The guitars are glorified controllers. So every controller will work with every game.

Remember how when GH2 came around you suddenly couldn't play with a dual-shock anymore? Same thing here, they can put things in the guitar so that it is recognized as such, locking everyone out. I wish you were right, but it seems to be the naive way of looking at it. If RO thinks they will make more money having a locked down controller, they'll do whatever they need to keep it that way.

[masterx1918]

You can play GH2 with non-guitar controllers. I'm not sure what you're talking about.

[Bakkster]

You can play GH2 with non-guitar controllers. I'm not sure what you're talking about.

PS2 version? I remember trying it with the demo and I know it didn't work there. I seem to remember trying it in the released game as well.

Regardless, as the OPM demo showed, they can lock out non-guitar controllers if they try hard enough.

[AVC808]

that's a good visual masterx1918. i hate seeing the guitar compatability threads getting flamed and locked all the time when they're asking questions pertaining to those you have a ? mark on. id like to know if the RB guitar will work with the ps2 games. that would be great, although all along things haven't looked too good.

[Markn951]

I just looked through the n00b guide for the first time since Xzyliac published it, and I don't think the question of 'which guitars work with which games' is addressed there.

It should probably be at the top of the guide, since this is by far the most frequent n00b question we get in the forums.

Here's the quick rundown:
__________________________________________________ ______

Can I use my GH2 Xplorer with Rock Band? Yes

Can I use my Rock Band controller with GH2 360? Yes. It is not known whether the additional fret buttons will work here.

Can I use my Rock Band controller with GH3? Probably. Harmonix wants to support open standards and make everything compatible. Activision would have little incentive to block the Rock Band controller, if it's even possible, since support will move more copies of GH3.

Can I use my GH3 controller with Rock Band? Doesn't look good. Activision has made statements that don't sound too promising in this regard. They say they regard their hardware as a 'competitive advantage'. They deride Harmonix for getting a free ride by 'piggybacking' support for the GH2 Explorer controllers. There are open standard for guitar controllers on the 360, but if Activision deviates from those standards, there's probably nothing Harmonix can do about it. They can't exactly issue a GH3 patch to support the Rock Band controller.



Um great, but Im getting the PS2 version in two days...what about PS2 compatibility????