Sony To Set Compatibility Standards For PS3 Music Games 89
Michael Shorrock, Sony's director of third-party relations, announced on the Playstation blog that he's been working with the major music game developers (i.e. Rock Band's Harmonix, Guitar Hero's Activision, and others) to ensure basic compatibility for peripherals between the games. Joystiq has a compatibility matrix that shows which devices work with which games.
"...Rock Band 2's guitar and drum set will work with Guitar Hero: World Tour and with Rock Revolution. Conversely, Rock Revolution's drum set will work with both Guitar Hero: World Tour and Rock Band 2. In addition, Guitar Hero: World Tour and Rock Band 2 will both support the SingStar microphones. We're still working hard to ensure compatibility between the Guitar Hero and Rock Band titles currently on the market, and we hope to have an announcement on that shortly."
Update: 8/20 17:38 by SS: Reader TheWolfkin notes that Microsoft has now made an official announcement to do this as well.
Re:Glad someone is doing this ... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Correct me if I'm wrong... (Score:3, Informative)
The compatibility they are talking about is just within PS3 games and peripherals. That is, Rock Band 2 instruments working with Guitar Hero: World Tour games and vice versa. It also appears that Rock Band 1 instruments will work with GH: WT as well as RB2.
Re:Just showing appreciation (Score:5, Informative)
You would be surprised, if you actually looked at the PS3, and even the PSP with recent firmware you would be suprised at how "open" these so called closed systems are.
Take the PS3. It was hammered on launch, for being too little too late, and too costly. Now, with recent firmware updates, and its overall better hardware design (no Red Ring of Death), has now made it a decent games system, a phenomenal Blu Ray, and upscaling DVD/DivX/Xvid/media player. Anandtech has revised its original 6 out of 10 score to now 9 out of 10, with high praise.
Connectivity? Standard WiFi, Ethernet, USB and Bluetooth are all there. Even the controllers use bluetooth, no proprietary wireless standard. You can even connect the PSP wirelessly via stanard WiFi or internet.
Running out of ports/sockets? No worries, they are just standard USB 2.0 ports and you can use a normal USB hub to expand them. No need to any proprietry crap to extend the number of ports on the unit. The controllers charge from the USB ports using normal USB A to Mini USB cables. (you can use standard USB chargers too, like a Motorola V3i, or Blackberry charger)
Need a Keyboard or Mouse? No problem, just either attach a USB one, or get a bog standard Bluetooth one.
Need a universal media player? You got that! BlueRay, DVD, VCD, DivX/Xvid (its actually DivX certified), AAC, MP3, and a growing list of media support. It also acts as a standard DNLA client, so can pick up media from other computers, and DNLA media servers via the network. I have got it to work with Nero Home server, Windows Media Player, TVarsity (FOSS), and even a Nokia N95.
You want to run Linux on a PS3? no problem, it works, support is built to boot other operating systems (under a hypervisor). Sony officially supports Yellow Dog Linux for PS3, but there are versions of Ubuntu, Fedora, and others. There is work in porting Myth onto the PS3.
You want additional Hard Drive Space? No problem, just replace the built in hard drive with a larger standard SATA 2.5inch drive. The manual event explains how to do it.
Proprietary Memory Cards? No way! It uses standard USB Storage Devices. No need for proprietary Memory Cards. Backups can be done to normal USB Drives. Those lucky ones who got an earlier 60/80gb PS3, have built in Card Readers too (CF, SD, MemoryStick). The PS3s that don't have memory card readers, you can easily attach a USB version.
Home Brew? Didnt i say it runs Linux? In fact there is a YouTube video of some masochists, booting Linux on their PS3, then running Windows XP in VM Ware, crazy, considering there is not a LOT of memory there!
Its a very good system, and I bought it without any question, and am still pretty amazed at what it can do, certainly for its price.
Oh, and I recently bought a Sony 40Inch Bravia 1080p LCD, for £650 with 5 year warranty from Costco. This is actually cheaper than a similar Samsung (and i feel better performing).
Maybe they are only changing in some markets, but lets see.
Re:Glad someone is doing this ... (Score:3, Informative)
I recently sold my X360 due to all the noise it makes, however there's several other reasons I'm glad I've stuck with my PS3. (although I'm sure I'll be labelled the PS3 fanboy, surprise surprise)
Free wifi built in
Non proprietary hard disk, substantially cheaper to change over.
Free online service (slowly improving too)
No stupid timed demo releases (Xbox Live Gold vs Silver)
The standard 'official' MS headset had worse sound quality than a 4'rd party cheapo bluetooth headset on my PS3 (I was surprised too)
The PS3 virtually silent, the 360 is noisy WITHOUT a disc spinning due to noisy fans, let alone once a disc spins.
I can use a HDMI video cable and optical audio cable without needing to butcher cables or purchase some dopey dongle.
(See: http://www.chadledford.com/?p=50 [chadledford.com] and http://www.google.com.au/search?q=xbox%20360%20switches%20off%20changing%20inputs%20hdmi&hl=en&meta= [google.com.au] (second hit)
RROD's!
The list could go on for ages, depending on how biased I am.
PS3 is far from flawless (bluetooth only remote? jesus!) but ultimately, I think the days of giving the PS3 shit are long since over, I am seeing fewer and fewer vehement Microsoft defenders bashing the PS3 nowadays and the 360 sales are starting to wane. I have a feeling these 2 will actually end up even in the end, unlike how it is now.
Re:Just showing appreciation (Score:3, Informative)
Yes the two main things you dont have access to are the GPU (which i cannot fully understand), and parts of the Blu Ray handling, not surprising as they dont want Linux Access to help facilitate piracy do they? :)
Re:Just showing appreciation (Score:3, Informative)
AnandTech gave the PS3 a 9 out of 10!? What the heck? We have never reviewed the Playstation 3. Here's what we've written on the PS3:
An article when Sony introduced the PS3 [anandtech.com]
An article discussing the internal technology of the PS3 (and 360) [anandtech.com]
And an article covering it (and the Wii) at E3 2006 [anandtech.com]
We have never reviewed the PS3, in fact we don't even use point scores. I'm not sure if you have us confused with someone else or are trying to attach our name to the PS3, but in either case I'd like to make it clear that we have never reviewed the PS3 as you have described.