For those not in the know here's the situation. Rock Band on 360 can use the Guitar hero 3 controller. The PS3 version is unable to due to hardware diffrences and as of now confirmed hardware design features that Activision implemented. Harmonix developed a patch to appease the people who bought the PS3 rock band game disc seperately. That patch is now being held by sony on the request of activsion. In effect keeping a sony brand game broken despite teh efforts of the games developer.
Now there's rumors of activision petitioning MS to force a software update on ROCK band removing support for the GH3 controllers. the source is a 1up podcast. This source has rarely been reliable but after the press release from harmonix explaining how activision is blocking the patch on ps3 it's now very likely that they have tried to pull this off with MS as well.
I for one am boycottinga ctivisionf rom now on. Which is sad because I've own every guitar hero ever released and now have to just ignore the series.

If they force a Rock Band update I simply wont download it.

What I want to know is, how can one company *force* another company to add or remove code from a game without going to court?????

There sure are some big brains working on this. It would suck for Activision to sell a bunch of guitars to people that don't even own their game. Wow. "No thanks, we don't need any extra money..."

If they force a Rock Band update I simply wont download it.

What I want to know is, how can one company *force* another company to add or remove code from a game without going to court?????

Some 360 games can indeed force an update if your connected to XBL(so we'd have to play off the net). Though as most people know even if you do download such a patch you can wipe by doing a HDD maintance. And no Harmonix would have no requirement to do it even if MS demanded it. It's their code and their property. Yes a court could force it but i don't see how Activision has any legal grounds to do so.

Sweet..they're learning from EA. Siths always come in twos a master(EA) and an apprentice(Activision)

HA!

They could still find ways to screw you over and almost force you to get the patch. Like, requiring it to be installed before you can get any downloadable content, or play online. Also, they could cripple Rock Band 2...

Hopefully it's only an unfounded rumour.

If they force a Rock Band update I simply wont download it.

Then you won't be playing online anymore.

Then you won't be playing online anymore.

I don't play RB online so it wouldn't bother me one bit :cool:. If they somehow could put a patch on future DLC packs....then I would be in trouble :(

Then you won't be playing online anymore.

Fine with me. I'll sacrifice online play to be able to have friends over and play coop offline with more than one guitar.

F*ck Activision.

I wouldn't worry about it if you have the 360 version, seems way to speculative.

There's no way Microsoft would certify a patch and distribute it through Live if it will be removing support for the Red Octane controllers. (Activision/Neversoft only makes the software, Red Octane has been making all the Guitar Hero controllers.)

Put yourself in Charles Huang's shoes for a minute:

. You have sold 7,000,000 copies of GH this year
. Now you have a new dangerous competitor
. The competitor has crappy hardware
. The competitor game is a lot better with your great hardware

If you are going to be mad, be mad at MTV games for creating crappy hardware.

"I don't think we're too interested in having their guitars work on our game, because they're having a lot of issues with their guitars. From our standpoint, to be quite honest, if you know a competitor's product has issues, there's not a whole lot of motivation to make these problematic controllers work with your game. Why would you want to cause yourself the headache?"

"Long term, you can't go against what the consumer wants," said Huang. "Before people at Harmonix or Neversoft start throwing a lot of resources into cross compatibility, we're probably just focused on this Christmas, getting the other issues resolved. Quite honestly, that is our number one complaint in customer service: when can I buy a standalone guitar?"

disclaimer: holding 428 shares ATVI :o

I think the rumors of Harmonix being forced to create and release a patch that would make the GH3 guitars quit working is completely baseless and pure internet trolling/fear mongering.

It just doesn't make any sense. There's no upside for Harmonix. And if by some retarded magic there were some kind of court order to do it, which I just can't fathom coming to be, HMX would be wise to just use a delaying action of "this is harder than we thought" and "we have our resources focused on our guitar hardware issues" and then finally, "crap, we released that patch but somehow if you hit RED-BLUE-RED it's recognized again. We have to start from scratch."

Let's stick to the work at hand: bagging on Activision for stopping Sony from releasing a patch for a competitor's product. Why the heck do they even get a say in this?

Maybe HMX should make a new patch that "fixes known gaming issues and adds new character costumes", and slip the guitar compat thing in there, and then there can be a good fight about how come another company gets to stop them from improving their customer's gaming experience.

I got all the online achievements for Rockband already so if they do patch it to remove the gh controller I just won't update. If I need to update to play dlc songs then they won't get my money for new songs either.

If I need to update to play dlc songs then they won't get my money for new songs either.

I was thinking the same thing.

I think the rumors of Harmonix being forced to create and release a patch that would make the GH3 guitars quit working is completely baseless and pure internet trolling/fear mongering.

It just doesn't make any sense. There's no upside for Harmonix. And if by some retarded magic there were some kind of court order to do it, which I just can't fathom coming to be, HMX would be wise to just use a delaying action of "this is harder than we thought" and "we have our resources focused on our guitar hardware issues" and then finally, "crap, we released that patch but somehow if you hit RED-BLUE-RED it's recognized again. We have to start from scratch."

Let's stick to the work at hand: bagging on Activision for stopping Sony from releasing a patch for a competitor's product. Why the heck do they even get a say in this?

Maybe HMX should make a new patch that "fixes known gaming issues and adds new character costumes", and slip the guitar compat thing in there, and then there can be a good fight about how come another company gets to stop them from improving their customer's gaming experience.


well actually people have been asking if they can release teh patch as a file for download and manual installation via usb key or CD.

I went to play guitar hero3 with my fender and it no longer works....

I went to play guitar hero3 with my fender and it no longer works....

It never worked.

It never worked.

Im confused is the gh3 that i used then to play rockband...oh well..too many instruments..lol

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the world of corporate gaming... now instead of spending their time and resources on making games, these corporations will be focused on suing each other in hopes of eliminating the competition and increasing shareholder value. Oh and guess who's paying for all of this? Thats right, you will be when GH3.5 comes out next year with a $20 price tag increase

activision's respinse:
http://www.gamedaily.com/articles/ne...ch/18855/?biz=

Quote:
To Music Gaming Fans: The recent announcement by MTV Games/Viacom's Harmonix division that Activision is blocking Sony from releasing a patch and their plea to enable Rock Band software to work with Guitar Hero hardware paints a very misleading picture.

In fact, Harmonix and its parent company MTV Games/Viacom recently declined Activision's offer to reach an agreement that would allow the use of Guitar Hero guitar controllers with Rock Band. We have been and remain open to discussions with Harmonix and MTV Games/Viacom about the use of our technology in Rock Band. Unfortunately for Rock Band users, in this case Harmonix and MTV Games/Viacom are unwilling to discuss an agreement with Activision.

Activision's top priority is to provide consumers with a seamless marriage of best-in-class hardware and software. We are focusing our efforts on innovating hardware and software that are designed to work together, work flawlessly and provide an enjoyable gaming experience.

Best regards,
Activision

SO basically they want money to allow the patch which is funny because it's not there's to allow but sony feels it is. It's cool RB sold 312k in novemeber they'll caatch up right quick.

activision's respinse:


SO basically they want money to allow the patch which is funny because it's not there's to allow but sony feels it is. It's cool RB sold 312k in novemeber they'll caatch up right quick.
It sounds to me like they're saying the guitars that YOU purchased aren't yours to do with what you want, but they are Activision's, and only they are allowed to say what game you can use it for.

What a crock. I used this analogy before but it's like me creating a joystick and requiring all games that use it to pay me a royalty fee. :rolleyes:

Is this similar to what Microsoft does with their wireless controller technology, or not allowing the modding of the Xbox hardware?

Is this similar to what Microsoft does with their wireless controller technology, or not allowing the modding of the Xbox hardware?

the EULA for 360 does indeed say that your actually licensing the 360 but the truth is these EULA never hold up in court. They are there to state that this is what the maker expects of you and what you should expect of them. MS does have a strict third party controller policy that usually requires fees to be paid to MS but in return you get full MS support for your proiduct and info on how to make your product as compatible with the 360 as posssible. WHile HMX and RO were a bit snarky about having to pay MS for use of the wireless tech for 360 they did admit that MS was there for thjemm when they ran into trouble.