Guitar Hero and Rock Band users may have been dealing with their own mangled music mess when trying to figure out which controllers are compatible with which instruments.
Guitar Hero officials want their users to stop worrying about compatibility and focus on unleashing their inner rock star, so they have released a compatibility chart.
“The Guitar Hero team has noticed that there has been a great deal of conversation regarding the entire family of Guitar Hero instruments, and their compatibility across various titles,” said an official post on the Guitar Hero Community Web site. “To answer your call, they have put together a user-friendly compatibility chart to make your Guitar Hero experience even more enjoyable.”
Download Available
Users can to the Guitar Hero Community Web site and download a JPEG of the chart, which lists MTV Rock Band controllers and instruments, and whether they are compatible with Activision’s Guitar Hero devices. The two charts outline each release for both series and their instruments, along with which systems and competing games they work with. Game systems listed include Wii, PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360.
The compatibility chart also includes a disclaimer that certain game functionality may not be available with all controllers, and continued compatibility with any non-Guitar Hero controller is not guaranteed. Activision also makes it clear that its customer service is available only to answer questions about and support for Guitar Hero controllers.
This is not the first time issues of compatibility between MTV and Activision music games have surfaced.
When Wii came out with its Rock Band release, many questioned whether it would be compatible with Guitar Hero III’s guitar. It was clear where Harmonix and MTV stood on the issue. Harmonix Music and MTV Games said they believe in an open standard for hardware and game compatibility.
They also said there should be interoperability between music-instrument controllers across all music games, because it would be in the best interest of consumers, game developers and console manufacturers, and would help grow the music-game genre and inspire innovation.
Sony and Harmonix
In August, Sony announced it was working on issues of compatibility. “For the past several months, we have been working closely with Neversoft, Activision, Harmonix and Konami to ensure that PlayStation 3 guitars and drum sets will all feature a basic level of game-play compatibility,” said Michael Shorrock of Sony Computer Entertainment.
“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,” Shorrock added. “Of course, each of these great games has their own specific, cool features that may not be compatible with the other controllers, but this is our first big
Harmonix has a long-standing open-compatibility stance for all its games, according to Tracie Snitker, a Harmonix spokesperson. She added that “games will be compatible with third-party controllers that conform to the various platform controller standards.”
