thoughts on guitar hero 3 and rock band for my ps3

a few weeks back, i broke down and got Guitar Hero 3 for my PS3.  the main reason being that it was $70 cheaper than Rock Band (yes, i know that you get a guitar, drum set, and mic w/it) and was out then.  however, after playing Guitar Hero 3 religously for the last few weeks with my pals, i realized that Rock Band would really be fun since we could all be playing at once.



again, the only reason i didn't get Rock Band from the get-go was that it cost $170 for the bundle.  i'm no sugar-daddy; $plus 170 these days gets you a PSP or DS and a game.  so, the next logical step was to see if my GH3 Les Paul would work w/Rock Band on my PS3.  to my dismay, the PS3 guitar does not work w/Rock Band.  the x360 GH3 guitar does indeed work w/Rock Band but all other platforms do not.  seriously, WTF is up with that.  i know the Rock Band developers want to create an open standard of instrument controllers however Activision is rather opposed to the idea, more on this later. ;)

with the guitar compatibility or lack thereof in mind, i went up on over to good ole eBay to see if i could find any Rock Band game only deals and stumbled upon a TON of broken up bundles; the majority being Rock Band Special Ed. for the PS3 w/o the Guitar (since they do not sell the guitar on its own, only bundles till after xmas, another salt in the wounds of us consumers).  the guitars for Rock Band are usually going for about $120-130 on eBay in case you were interested.  i then decided to see if perhaps the PS2 Guitar Hero 3 guitar would perhaps work on my PS3 (it has the emotion chip = ps1/ps2 compatiblity and main reason i got my PS3 early), but again, no dice.

so i finally decided i'd just get the bundle w/o a guitar since 2 people at once would be fun and it be different than GH3.  i ended up getting one for $75 shipped!  not a bad deal for Rock Band the game, drums, and the mic. 

however a few hours after scoring this deal, i read up on destructoid on a rumor of a patch for Rock Band to make the Les Paul GH3 guitar work on the PS3 w/Rock Band!!! joy!!

but corporate (Activision) greed sets in and the patch appears to now be delayed.  it appears that Activision (makers of GH3) don't like the idea of the PS3 Les Paul working with Rock Band (Harmonix).  all i can say is why not make it work? people would rather pay $100 for GH3 and use that guitar and then sell the game or even try to trade it in since its still sealed to get a guitar for about the price of what a standalone should be.  activision would make money and those who bought GH3 on the PS3 would be happy; we all win!

i guess we'll see how this plays out, hopefully for the better of us consumers. and now back to the jam.. :)