Yesterday, we brought you news of an impending PlayStation 3 Rock Band controller compatability patch, by way of Harmonix. The headline read: "PS3 Rock Band getting controller compatibility patch today." Well, yesterday's "today" has come and gone, and PlayStation 3 owners longing to finally be able to use their wireless Gibson Guitar Hero III controllers with Harmonix's game are still waiting.
A trusted source has told Destructoid that the patch has indeed been submitted to Sony for approval, and (as promised) should have been available yesterday. What's the hold up? According to our source, Activision has actively attempted to block the release of the patch, even bringing their lawyers into the fray. While the obvious plan is for the patch to be available as soon as possible (it was announced yesterday, after all), until this is all worked out behind closed doors, PS3 shredders may be waiting a little longer.
Harmonix has been very clear that they're interested in an open standard for these peripherals, an idea clearly not shared by their competition. (The Rock Band Stratocaster guitar peripheral does not work with Activision's Guitar Hero on any platform; Guitar Hero controllers currently DO work with with Rock Band on the Xbox 360, but not on the PS3). We've pinged Activision for comment, and we'll update with information as we get it.
Contest:
5:25 PM on 12.06.2007
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Is it really going to hurt them? If a person already has a PS3 controller from Guitar Hero 3 and they bought Rock Band… there’s probably a good chance they’ll purchase another rhythm game that uses a similar controller. Ala Guitar Hero 4.
I can't believe Activision is (seemingly) trying to block a patch that would open up the Les Paul guitar peripheral to be used in Rock Band. What is the point of this? How many PS3 owners refused to buy GHIII once they heard the guitar would not be compatible with Rock Band? The number may not be very high, but that's no excuse for Activision to act this way.
Also, geetar.
I personally believe it has something to do with Activision bitching about the open platform environment Harmonix wants. They probably are trying to sotp something
1. Let the patch come out
2. Price the controller lower than EA's version
3. Profit.
Hey if they are not going to buy Guitar Hero, then you might as well try to make money off of Rock Band some how.
Either way, I'm enjoying the Stratocaster very much.
I'm going to have to post about this.
Go here and add your comment to this topic in the GH forums. We need to let Activision know how the gaming-faithful feel about this.
An open standard means that other developers and peripheral makers have instructions and guidelines to help them make a compatible device. This is not what they are doing, otherwise the Fender Strat would probably work in Guitar Hero 3 (since Red Octane would know how it works). All Harmonix is doing is promising that any other controller will be supported, and the only reason they can do that is because they know from past dealings how companies like Red Octane, The Ant Commandos, etc. make their controllers. They've benefitted from past experience, whereas only they know how the Strat is made. They aren't being any nicer than any other company as much as they are benefitting from their knowledge.
Open Standard means that they will support other peoples controllers, much UNLIKE what Activision/Red Octane is pulling with Guitar Hero (I.E Locking everything that they DIDN'T FUCKING MAKE OUT).
Open Standard is EXACTLY what they're doing, as you can see that Guitar Hero Controllers work just fine on the 360, but not vice versa.
Everyone, we can go back to sucking on Harmonix's teet, because they're not asses like Activision.
Hypocrites
-GOOS