Battle of the Rock Bands

by Michael - 2007/12/13 3:10pm

We all knew that Guitar Hero and Rock Band would clash at some point, but few of us figured such a clash would be so turbulent, as Activision and Harmonix are butting heads together over compatibility issues with the peripherals used in either game.

As has been wildly reported, the Lee Paul controller used in the PS3 version of Rock Band does not work on PS3 Guitar Hero. When news of this became widespread, Rock Band developers Harmonix decided to create a patch that would make the Rock Band guitar compatible with Guitar Hero 3.

Apparently though, Activision isn't too happy about this fact, and wants to keep GHIII support exclusive to their own controllers. The reasons why are explained below, courtesy of an official statement by Harmonix on the issue, which you can read below.

"Two weeks ago, Harmonix created a software patch for the Sony PlayStation 3 version of Rock Band that allowed for guitar compatibility and support for third party peripherals, including enabling use of Activision's Guitar Hero III controller with Rock Band. The compatibility patch was submitted, approved and had been scheduled for release by Sony on Tuesday, December 4. Unfortunately, Activision objected to the release of the compatibility patch. The patch remains with Sony, but we have been told that it will unfortunately not be released due to Activision's continued objection.

"As is the case with the Microsoft Xbox 360, we believe that Sony PlayStation 3 users should be able to use the peripheral of their choice with Rock Band. We sincerely hope that Activision will reverse its decision and allow release of the compatibility patch and further, that Activision will allow Guitar Hero III to support Rock Band guitar controllers as well. We welcome all third party developers who wish to support our controllers and will provide any required support in order for them to do so.

"We believe that when consumers have choice, everyone wins. Harmonix and MTV Games hope that Activision and others in the industry will also adopt this philosophy."

As for who can win this convoluted battle of the bands - it's anyone guess.