Rock Band hit a major snag when it was released for the PS3. The major selling point of the game, the 4-player band mode, was not playable… unless you knew someone else who bought the 170 buck bundle. See, the set only comes with one guitar, one drum set and one mic. The game’s developer (Harmonix, the guys who made Guitar Hero 1 and 2 before jumping ship to EA and Rock Band) realized that most everyone in the free world owns a Guitar Hero guitar to play with, and would just be able to use one of those for the other guitarist in the band. It was smart, and kept the price down on the box set.
The Xbox 360 version worked perfectly (unless your instruments broke) but the PS3 has a huge flaw. Seems that even though it was promised to gamers before, the PS3 Guitar Hero 3 guitar wasn’t compatible with the game.
This left a problem for most people who had sunk money into Guitar Hero for the system, as they now had no way to play with a full band. That’s right, there are no other guitars available to purchase separately for Rock Band, so gamers were assed out when it came to playing with a 4-piece.
Sony and Harmonix got quick to work making a patch to make the guitar compatible, and it was just about to be released to gamers when Guitar Hero‘s publisher (Activision) stepped in and complained, effectively blocking it from being released.
Over the last couple of weeks press releases have been flying back and forth from both camps, each blaming the other side, but one thing was obvious- Activision wasn’t about to let their competitor use their guitars. Unless they paid up.
It was hinted at that money was the problem but never outright said, but that all changed today with an article from The Boston Globe.
"Unfortunately for Rock Band users, Harmonix has been unwilling to discuss an agreement that will allow us to provide that option in a manner that maintains the high standards people have come to expect from Activision," [Activision spokeswoman Maryanne] Lataif said. "We believe we should be compensated for the use of our technology,"
Know what? Fuck you. You’re disillusioning your customers and outright fucking them over. You know there’s room for both games to compete here, and you’re being assholes about it. I won’t even harp on the fact that if weren’t for Harmonix, Activision wouldn’t even have a hit series on their hands. But then again maybe that’s what it is… some latent jealousy.
Look, I know it isn’t something they have to allow. It’s isn’t going to help them, especially since their product is inferior to the other game. But it’s no money out of their pocket.. the patch is done and could be implemented immediately. And if anything, it allows people to buy more guitars from them, especially since the Rock Band guitars have been acting up and most people prefer the old clicky feeling (I sure do).
This is nothing more than pure money hungry bullshit, and I’d suggest to anyone considering picking up Guitar Hero 3 for the PS3 to reconsider it. All the people that I know who bought the game for PS3 did so only in anticipation of using it for Rock Band when it came out. They wouldn’t have sunk a hundred fucking dollars (the prices for these have gotten out of control, but that’s for another rant) for it when they could’ve simply bought the disc for the PS2 for 50 bucks.
It’s a scummy thing, through and through, and I hope enough customers complain to them to break them down.