Sony: All PS3 rhythm-game instruments compatible

Publisher confirms Rock Band 2, GH: World Tour, and Rock Revolution instruments will all be interoperable; SingStar mics also game-agnostic.

Activision Blizzard technically wasn't even party to this year's E3 Media & Business Summit, but the publisher still managed to make waves at the show with the shock announcement that the Xbox 360 edition of Guitar Hero: World Tour would support peripherals developed for archrival Rock Band 2.

At the time, Neversoft director Brian Bright said that the concession applied only to the Xbox 360 edition of the games, but teased that a similar arrangement was being sorted for the PlayStation 3 versions. Today, that announcement has come, and Sony has revealed that PS3 gamers will be extended the same compatibility courtesy for not just Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero: World Tour, but also Rock Revolution and SingStar.

"For the past several months, we have been working closely with Neversoft and Activision, Harmonix, and Konami to ensure that PlayStation 3 guitars and drum sets will all feature a basic level of gameplay compatibility," said SCEA director of publisher relations Michael Shorrock via Sony's PlayStation Blog. "For the most part, this means that the titles with musical peripherals will work with the other's software."

Explicitly laying out what the compatibility measures mean to gamers, Shorrock said that the guitar and drum-kit peripherals from World Tour, Rock Band 2, and Rock Revolution will all be interchangeable. Shorrock also noted that World Tour and Rock Band 2 microphones will be compatible with the publisher's own SingStar karaoke game.

Unfortunately, the publisher has yet to finagle compatibility between current-generation Guitar Hero and Rock Band games, though Shorrock did say that "we hope to have an announcement on that shortly."

Rock Band 2 is expected to arrive for the Xbox 360 in September, with the PS3, Wii, and PlayStation 2 editions arriving later in the year. Konami's Rock Revolution is slated to arrive on the Xbox 360, PS3, and Nintendo's Wii and DS this fall. Guitar Hero: World Tour is also expected to go on the road this fall for the Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii, and PC.

166 Comments

  • icehawk001987

    Posted Jan 2, 2009 12:13 pm PT

    GH has way better instruments. i would get those then by rock band if u want both

  • MasterFreinz

    Posted Sep 22, 2008 5:22 pm PT

    Phew, I was afraid I'd have to buy Rock Band 2's drumkit or just completely skip it - as I plan to get GH:WT first.

  • gslimjim08

    Posted Sep 21, 2008 6:01 pm PT

    how will rock bands guitar work with guitar hero if guitar hero has five buttons on the guitar while rock band has four. how will this work or is it really obvious?

  • Derek1177

    Posted Sep 19, 2008 6:37 pm PT

    but i would recommend getting the guitar hero kit and buying rockband 2(game only) separately. Thats what im going to do

  • Derek1177

    Posted Sep 19, 2008 6:35 pm PT

    you will probably just not be able to the harder difficultys ronjon

  • ronjon9

    Posted Sep 16, 2008 2:34 pm PT

    so is the rock band drum set compatible with GH: WT? is there like a cymbal add-on? sorry, i'm a little slow.

  • blazndragon0

    Posted Aug 22, 2008 11:11 am PT

    Wow I've been waiting for this news for a long time. Thank you for coming to a compromise Activision and Harmonix.

  • jjdomo

    Posted Aug 20, 2008 9:25 am PT

    this is the best news i've heard in weeks. now i can pick up one full set of instruments and play all three games!

  • RaNaBiR

    Posted Aug 20, 2008 4:27 am PT

    Finally!

  • iBuSHiDo

    Posted Aug 20, 2008 4:18 am PT

    So no word yet on this also being true for the Wii versions? That would really suck for Wii owners if everyone else is enjoying both GH and RB games for around $230, while Wii owners have to pick up both for around $360, not to mention not have as good a version considering how awful the online system is. =/

  • tom22580

    Posted Aug 19, 2008 11:33 pm PT

    how much is GH:WT

  • T-Machine99

    Posted Aug 19, 2008 10:25 pm PT

    Sweet. I'll get the GH:WT bundle and just buy the Rock Band 2 game.

  • Valen_Ca

    Posted Aug 19, 2008 7:04 pm PT

    Now all they need to do is build a PS3 guitar that is compatible with the original Guitar Hero and I can retire my PS2.

  • xbox360progamer

    Posted Aug 19, 2008 2:53 pm PT

    WOW I WANT THAT GUITAR

  • thestickman

    Posted Aug 19, 2008 1:03 pm PT

    Awesome. It's always a good thing to be able to use the peripherals you spend your hard-earned cash on with more than one game XD

  • audioslave69

    Posted Aug 19, 2008 12:54 pm PT

    Ad-2cool4u the extra notes get mapped into another pad if you're playing Gh:WT with rockband drum, i would think its gonna be similar the other way around

  • chickenfeed9

    Posted Aug 19, 2008 12:47 pm PT

    thankyou!

  • audioslave69

    Posted Aug 19, 2008 12:46 pm PT

    HK88
    yes because theres been sooooooo many games with these accesories.

  • railroberto2007

    Posted Aug 19, 2008 12:45 pm PT

    not only do rb drums have ports for 3 cymbals but also for a double bass pedal lulu52 engaget has some pics and it looks great

  • Kevu

    Posted Aug 19, 2008 12:38 pm PT

    Whoa, whoa, whoa. This is just too convenient. I don't trust it. I bet the catch is somethin real out there...like I'll have to get seperate sets of drum sticks, who knows! That's really awesome.

  • combatsoldier

    Posted Aug 19, 2008 12:25 pm PT

    Great news to help save us consumers some money. Very smart move to get the love of the public. Genious.

  • lulu52

    Posted Aug 19, 2008 12:15 pm PT

    The rock band drums will have ports to add cymbals is what I've read in a few articles.

  • Tremblay343

    Posted Aug 19, 2008 12:07 pm PT

    That's gonna save me some money

  • ScottEFresh

    Posted Aug 19, 2008 11:57 am PT

    This is great news and means good things for all parties involved. This really would have been nice with Guitar hero 3 and Rock Band but it's good to see they are doing it for future titles.

    Being able to use my one guitar for both games just means I'll be more likely to buy the "2nd" game because I know I will now have an extra guitar for a band.

  • Ad-2cool4u

    Posted Aug 19, 2008 11:34 am PT

    Okay, wait a second. So the Rock Band Drum set has 4 pads, GHWT has 3 and 2 cymbals, and I dont even know what Rock Revolution has, but wouldnt this mean that you'd have to buy the one with the most pads because if you bought Rock Band 2 before GHWT you'd have to buy the World Tour Drum Set for those extra pads in the game. Maybe they're just talking about Mics and Guitars, which makes sence, but its the drum sets that cost the most so there still will be alot of money spent. Oh well, its still good news, this is what I was hopeing for.

  • HK88

    Posted Aug 19, 2008 10:46 am PT

    Finally, i don't have to buy 3 sets of drums 3 guitars and 3 mics.... They should have did this long ago. This will benefit all gamers.

  • edloved

    Posted Aug 19, 2008 10:28 am PT

    so if i had a 360 gh guitar it would work for the ps3 gh game as well? or is just on the same consol compatibility

  • itwiz90

    Posted Aug 19, 2008 10:16 am PT

    Now, that's what I'm talking about, using technology to unite the masses and games, brilliant and about time.

  • randomgod

    Posted Aug 19, 2008 10:05 am PT

    good news, it would be stupid to make it do they didnt work with the othergame though

  • killzone_gamer

    Posted Aug 19, 2008 9:35 am PT

    Yay
    Inter-compatability.

  • super_slonik

    Posted Aug 19, 2008 9:31 am PT

    to Hvac0120

    As far as I remember, they announced it on E3 specifically for XBOX360. So I guess, it will be compatible on all consoles now... except maybe Wii...

  • dogymik7

    Posted Aug 19, 2008 9:26 am PT

    Is it just me or wasnt that the same before???

  • villihamson

    Posted Aug 19, 2008 9:19 am PT

    i have had to buy 2 new gh controllers but now they are bringing out a NEW one and the drums are just drawing me in, i am such a sucker for music based games :'(

  • MiltoxBeyond

    Posted Aug 19, 2008 9:14 am PT

    Rock Band wanted to make a patch but Guitar Hero was blocking the patch legally, preventing all guitars from working together

  • Autolycus

    Posted Aug 19, 2008 9:09 am PT

    its stupid that RB1 didnt even allow the activiation guitars to work in the first place. thats the problem when you have a money hungry company (EA) creating anything. They want more money, just like APPLE

  • EcoJak

    Posted Aug 19, 2008 9:01 am PT

    Sweet

  • Quezakolt

    Posted Aug 19, 2008 8:44 am PT

    it probably doesn't work just because it's blocked. It's just a controller, afterall. I havent seen in my lifetime another thing like that happen, like a lightgun only working with one game.

  • dewwy

    Posted Aug 19, 2008 8:42 am PT

    This really only matters so long as you can purchase the instruments separately.

  • Hvac0120

    Posted Aug 19, 2008 8:35 am PT

    This is great for consumers who have had it tough this generation with all the peripherals that have been coming out for all of these new types of games. Where the heck do you store all of it? I understand the loss of functionality for certain parts of each game, but you choose which game has the best feature set, get that games instruments and then purchase the other game without the instruments.

    This is a great effort by Sony and the cooperating Publishers/developers. I am curious if Microsoft is making the same effort or if the Publishers/Developers just decided to do this for all platforms after the discussions with Sony?

  • auron_16

    Posted Aug 19, 2008 8:21 am PT

    good, cause i wanted rock band 2, but liked the drums n guitar from guitar hero world tour MUCH better.

  • lamplan

    Posted Aug 19, 2008 7:40 am PT

    Let us do the dance of Joy! (da da da da da da DA Hey!)

  • magicmorgan77

    Posted Aug 19, 2008 7:22 am PT

    Not really, you don't need talent, just time to learn it. It is not as easy as playing rock band, but it is more fun as you eventually make up your own music, and eventually you may end up making a band, which is fun and frustrating. So most people would rather just play a game, because it is easier, and just for fun, mostly.

  • N-One

    Posted Aug 19, 2008 7:21 am PT

    JonyBoyHache, sorry, RB Wii insturments don't go by Nintendo's Standard (Wii Remote in Guitar & Drums), so RB won't work with GH, & GH won't work with RB.

  • David_Kniffin

    Posted Aug 19, 2008 7:10 am PT

    Awesome news! I'm glad they're finally figuring this out!

  • DSgamer64

    Posted Aug 19, 2008 7:07 am PT

    Nice to know that this is happening, it is high time too. I just hope they sort out RB and GH3 controller compatibility

  • JonyBoyHache

    Posted Aug 19, 2008 6:58 am PT

    Now we just need the wii to be compatible...

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