Sony To Set Compatibility Standards For PS3 Music Games

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.

Sanity Prevails

[bestinshow]

Holy battlesnakes! That actually makes sense! Thanks Sony!

Re:I own a real guitar

[Anonymous Coward]

Then stop playing shooters and buy a real gun. Same principle right?

I also own a guitar. My group of friends, however, are not musically talented and do not own instruments. I learned to play the guitar over years of practice and dedicated time; I'm still not that good in the grand scheme, and I doubt you really are either. Despite that, our little group has been having an awesome time with Rock Band after an hour or two with it, and it has become a staple of our free nights.

Be an elitist blowhard all you want, this is good news.

Re:How About Making it Cheaper?

[powerlord]

Can you please make it compatible with my wallet?

Isn't that what they are doing?

By trying to make the game makers "play nice" and getting instruments cross-game compatible, buying an instrument for one game means you only need to buy a game to play the second game, instead of needing to pay for a new instrument as well.

Re:Glad someone is doing this ...

[ckthorp]

Actually, Lexmark lost the case that has allowed toner cartridge manufacturers to produce aftermarket ID chips for toner refills. The same reverse engineering for compatibility precedent likely holds in this case too, though it will be expensive to convince M$ of that fact...

Re:How About Making it Cheaper?

[Anonymous Coward]

Or you can buy both games without instruments, and since there's a standard on how the instruments work, you can buy third party instruments that are cheaper and work with both games.

Re:Just showing appreciation

[Nerdfest]

It's a pretty obvious gesture after you've seen the frustration it causes people. Still, it is pretty surprising for Sony. Perhaps this is the beginning of a brand new era of Sony not actively annoying their customers.

It's sad that this is actually news.

[Mr_eX9]

My understanding is that a console is supposed to be a standard in the first place...Sony, MS, and Nintendo all screwed by allowing the Rock Band/Guitar Hero compatibility problems to exist. MS at least screwed up the least by forcing Activision to use the 360's controller standards, resulting in the GH guitars working with Rock Band and no wireless dongles. The RB guitar doesn't work with GH2 or 3, though...I suspect it's a software issue.

Re:Sanity Prevails

[SenseiLeNoir]

ironically only Sony's "Own" PS3 uses normal BlueTooth and USB for its connectivity (see my above post). The XBOX 360uses a proprietary Wireless Standard, and stuff. The Wii uses Bluetooth I believe, but it has some weird wired connectors.

Actually I have a beef with Guitar Hero, why the HELL does it use a weird USB propritry wireless dongle on the PS3, when they could have just made a bluetooth guitar? Maybe scared that people will use it on other games, or with a PC?

Just a waste of a USB socket, and a waste of the PS3's built in Bluetooth. Maybe this is why Sony is trying to standardize this?

Re:Just showing appreciation

[Raenex]

Home Brew? Didnt i say it runs Linux?

You don't get full access to the hardware. I agree on your other points, it's a nice system.

Re:Glad someone is doing this ...

[SenseiLeNoir]

Considering both the PS3, and the Wii use standard Bluetooth, why the HELL are they even using USB wireless dongles in the first place?

Re:Glad someone is doing this ...

[SenseiLeNoir]

Why would Sony bankroll this? They themselves use standard USB controllers on the PS3 and probably dont give a shit about a few pissed off XBOX users, who may just go out and buy a PS3 instead