Guitar Hero III guitars available individually from early 2008

by Jem Alexander { Nov 28th 2007 at 12:00PM }

Activision has announced that the wireless controllers for Guitar Hero III will finally be made available separately in early 2008. Ultimately, this means that if you want to play 2 player this Christmas then you'll need to buy two copies of the game or know somebody else who has one too. Bit of a shame, really, when you consider that this is the time of the year when families are getting together to celebrate stuff.

Rock Band is currently suffering from the same problem, especially on the PS3 - the controllers for GHIII and Rock Band are incompatible. At least Rock Band has two other controllers of various types included in the box, making it the perfect holiday party game.

Tags: ghiii, guitar-hero-3, guitar-hero-iii

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Todd @ Nov 28th 2007 12:15PM

Wait... you mean I can't play Guitar Hero III with a Rock Band guitar, or Rock Band with a Guitar Hero III guitar? There goes my awesome theory of just buying one of each and being set.

That's lame.

Dru @ Nov 28th 2007 12:16PM

Call me stupid, but can't you use a regular controller? I've never played GH or RB so I'm one of the uninitiated. I'd love to try RB out though. Banging on some drums sounds cool.

Nate @ Nov 28th 2007 1:03PM

You CAN..... but it's about as fun and effective as using a steering wheel controller to play a fighting game.

Rock Band is fantastic. The drums are really good.

gilbert @ Nov 28th 2007 12:26PM

call me crazy but they should fix the backwards compatibility issue between GH3 and GH1&2.

Phizzy @ Nov 28th 2007 12:29PM

Can you not use a PS2 guitar controller with a PS2-USB adapter that has a home button?

Nate @ Nov 28th 2007 1:05PM

Tried it. No Worky.

Personally, I think the reason that the older guitars for the XBox work on RB as well is only because when GH was the only game around, it didn't occur to them that they might have to compete for sales with another company producing guitar controllers.

Wonderflex @ Nov 28th 2007 12:37PM

The most important thing is fixing RockBand to allow people ot use Guitar Hero III guitar controllers. Currently they do not work on the PS3....thus, those of us who bought box sets can't play 4 player, and those who bought the stand alone version can't play at all.

Wonderflex @ Nov 28th 2007 12:51PM

- Oh, and btw, why isn't anybody reporting on the issue with there being no way to play the stand alone PS3 Rock Band?

Isn't it a pretty serious issue that a company is selling a game that can't be played?

Since there are no individual instruments available for purchase you couldn't play any aspect of this game, even if you wanted to; yet nobody is reporting on this; or the fact that people are having their Rock Band guitar strum bars, and drum bass pedals breaking right and left.

Wonderflex @ Nov 28th 2007 1:02PM

Yes there is a dongle, and, no, there isn't a patch, and they aren't making one. The latest response from the officials on the Rock Band forum are that Harmonix is blaming it on Red Octane for not supporting an, "open standard." Problems with this logic - they can't seem to quote what this open standard is.

Other, even bigger problems, nobody is reporting on the fact that those who purchased the stand alone copy of Rock Band can't even play the game. It's not possible as there are no individual instruments for sale. So if you go on Amazon right now, or to your local department store, and pick up a lovely $60 copy of the Rock Band game you are going to be very angry when you get home and don't have any way to play it. It seems like a company selling a game you can't play until Feburary should be noted.

Oh, or how about the tons of other issues going on right now. Like, how half of our guitars are having broken strum bars? I simply love using the upstrum for every fast song! (insert sarcasm here). Then on top of that it's rather easy on your drums to snap your bass pedal, and dent your pads.

Lastly, don't bring up the fact that some wireless routers make it so your guitar doesn't register, or slows down the performance so that you can't hit every note. It's annoying...super annoying.

IMHO - until they manage to fix all these problems, send out replacement instruments, and stop selling an unplayable game, I wouldn't suggest getting this game at all. Sure, I've had a ton of fun playing, but there are just so many problems...such as having to make a different character for each instrument you play, for example...that really dampen the experience.

Nate @ Nov 28th 2007 1:02PM

What standalone version? There IS no PS3 standalone version. Just the bundle. Unless you're buying it off ebay, in which case, it's not the company selling it, it's someone who needed a second guitar selling their second game. Which reminds me, I need to put my second game on ebay, too.

squirtforce @ Nov 28th 2007 1:07PM

And yes there IS a standalone disc only version. I saw a giant pile of them at the store yesterday when I picked up my special edition bundle.

Wonderflex @ Nov 28th 2007 1:12PM

LoL - Are you really serious? No stand alone versions? Let me give you a few links if you don't mind:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp;jsessionid=FD05SXHI0SFQ5KC4D3GVAFQ?skuId=8402926&type=product&id=1180742577578

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=7789032

http://www.amazon.com/MTV-Games-Rock-Band/dp/B000TSZADA/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1196273451&sr=8-3

Also, I stopped a guy from buying a copy at Best Buy on Friday. They are all over in the stores, and I think it's crazy - like a fox.

squirtforce @ Nov 28th 2007 1:13PM

Nevermind, sorry, we were talking about rock band and you were talking about gh3. I blew it, you're right rock band has a stand alone, but the GH3 only comes with a guitar. IT'S ALL SETTLED.

Nate @ Nov 28th 2007 1:40PM

Whoa.... yeah, I was talking Guitar Hero, but I assumed it went for Rock Band as well. Why the hell are they selling standalone Rock Band for PS3? That's insane! I can't believe how pissed I would be if I bought that, thinking it would work with my GH3 controller. Wow.

Thanks for correcting me, guys, I really didn't think there was a standalone of either (I"d searched for the GH3 one, but didn't for RB)

Wonderflex @ Nov 28th 2007 1:49PM

Yep it is insane...wait...not it's not insane, I believe it's unethical.

Eric E @ Nov 28th 2007 12:47PM

Are the patching this so it will eventually work? does the rockband guitar have a stupid dongle too or does it work straight up?

Nate @ Nov 28th 2007 2:39PM

Rock Band's official line is that they support any controller which follows a standard.... whatever standard that may be, since there isn't one. They're pointing the finger at GH3, even though it's their code that isn't recognizing the controller, and GH3 can't exactly fix the controller now.

So.... your guess is as good as ours.

squirtforce @ Nov 28th 2007 1:00PM

Yeah they really need to patch this somehow so the guitars are compatible. I'm over the problem of how the new rock band/gh3 guitars won't work with the old GH games for the ps2, but this shit where the guitars can't be used on the other game is insane to me. Do they REALLY expect people to buy four goddamn guitars if they own both rock band and GH3?! And YES the rock band guitar ALSO uses a dongle. I imagine this whole dongle thing, and not using the ps3's built in wireless, is what's causing all the problems. Lets start a petition or a letter writing campaign or SOMETHING!

Wonderflex @ Nov 28th 2007 1:00PM

sorry on the double post

HedonismBot @ Nov 28th 2007 1:34PM

@Nate: I pre-ordered at GameCrazy and when I went to pick it up, it was the standalone version. They told me I hadn't pre-ordered the bundle, none of their customers did, and as a result all they got in were standalones.

Now, obviously that's due to the GameCrazy staff being daffy morons, but the fact that they tried to get me to buy a standalone PS3 copy of Rock Band disproves your comment. It does exist, they did ship it. They might since have told retailers not to sell it, but it's there. PS3 standalone copy of Rock Band.

Nate @ Nov 28th 2007 2:37PM

Sorry, as I said above, I was mistaken - looked at GH3 but not Rock Band.

whoamygod @ Nov 28th 2007 1:31PM

the only reasoning i could see behind selling a standalone disc is if friends wanted to divide the cost of the box set and split up the instuments to keep at their own houses. but that really isn't very practical either.

Dante @ Nov 28th 2007 1:32PM

let me get this straight...

im getting guitar hero 3 for christmas

....so i cant get rock band (game only) for extra guitar songs?

Wonderflex @ Nov 28th 2007 1:46PM

Currently you can NOT purchase Rock Band stand alone to get extra songs...like most people are prolly already thinking about doing. If you get Rock Band one of two things has to happen - 1) They make a patch...or B) You wait until Feb. to get a guitar for Rock Band; because we all know you want to have two guitar controllers laying around. Especially if it breaks on you.

And on the possibility of a patch, just read this from Harmonix:

http://community.rockband.com/vbforum/showthread.php?t=9169