Activision Says No To Harmonix Guitar Patch
Those of you who were looking forward to playing Guitar Hero III and Rock Band on the same guitar controller are going to be disappointed. Activision has decided to keep the patch – that would allow the guitar controller to work for both games – from being released.
Harmonix created the patch and after receiving the go ahead from Sony last week was making plans to release it when earlier this week Sony called them back and told them not to release it. Apparently Activision spoke with Sony and told them that releasing it would not be a good idea for them.
Harmonix chose to create the patch to make it easier for gamers to play their new Rock Band game – which requires a guitar controller. The only way for them to purchase the guitar is to buy the packaged bundle – which includes the guitar, drum controller, and microphone. This means that if you want a second guitar you will have to buy another package.
Sony and Activision released a statement explaining their decision:
As we have said in the past, Harmonix and MTV Games believe in an open standard philosophy of hardware and game compatibility. We think that there should be interoperability between music instrument controllers across all music games. This is clearly in the best interest of consumers, game developers and console manufacturers and will only help to grow the music game genre as well as inspire innovation and creativity.
Two weeks ago, Harmonix created a software patch for the Sony PLAYSTATION 3 version of Rock Band that allowed for guitar compatibility and support for third party peripherals, including enabling use of Activision’s Guitar Hero III controller with Rock Band. The compatibility patch was submitted, approved and had been scheduled for release by Sony on Tuesday, December 4. Unfortunately, Activision objected to the compatibility patch’s release. The patch remains with Sony, but we have been told that it will unfortunately not be released due to Activision’s continued objection.
As is the case with the Microsoft Xbox360, we believe that Sony PLAYSTATION 3 users should be able to use the peripheral of their choice with Rock Band. We sincerely hope that Activision will reverse its decision and allow release of the compatibility patch and further, that Activision will allow Guitar Hero III to support Rock Band guitar controllers as well. We welcome all third party developers who wish to support our controllers and will provide any required support in order for them to do so.
We believe that when consumers have choice, everyone wins. Harmonix and MTV Games hope that Activision and others will also adopt this philosophy.
