Guitar hero 3 and rock Band, wireless dongles????

Originally Posted by jason10mm

I just listened to a Rock Band interview. They said the guitars would be ONLY wireless for the PS3, while the mic and drums would be wired. Didn't mention how the wireless guitars work, may have a dongle I suppose.

Apparently the 360 wireless stuff costs more to implement (licensing?) so the 360 package will have either all wired (using a USB hub since the 360 doesn't have enough USB ports for all 4 instruments) with more expensive wireless guitars available as well.

You also need to have a controller working since the mic player has to use it to navigate menus. Don't know why they wouldn't stick some basic control buttons on the mic, but oh well.

I think I'm gonna be sticking to my GHII controller for the 360 (may even work for the PS3, who knows?).

Originally Posted by NewNameGuy

If I were in charge of the PS3, my #1 overriding drop-everything-else-until-its-done priority would have been getting GH 1&2 to work on the PS3. Well, they dropped the ball on that one.

My next priority would be ensuring that the PS3 gets the easiest and best implementation of GH3 and Rock Band. Call up the developers and tell them they get whatever the need. Period. No questions asked.

If these reports are true, I just don't understand what Sony is doing.

Originally Posted by ppshooky

(and I thought GH 1 worked with the PS3 now?),

Originally Posted by logicalnoise

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/24/ro...fccd/#comments

looks like the ps3 rockband guitar controller will have a dongle and the guitar will need it's own batteries.

Originally Posted by Kess

That the guitars are not rechargeable via USB is really gonna suck. Then again, rechargeable batteries aren't too much of a pain, I suppose.

Will the PS3 Guitar Hero 3 guitars be Bluetooth and rechargeable?

Originally Posted by ppshooky

Well this is disappointing, if true.

I checked the link to the FCC filing and cannot find the picture that shows the dongle that is featured on joystiq or endgadget. It shows a picture of it in the manual, but the manual doesn't specify which system it belongs to (though, the 2nd page does say PS3 controller on the top, it doesn't look like the 2 documents necessarily belong with one another? source). I'm sure it probably will come a dongle, which is just irritating. Especially when the Xbox360 version of RB comes with a HUB and the PS3 version so far will not (source).

Not sure if I like the AA battery idea.

If this is what the final version of what the controller is going to look like, I'll skip out on the package and buy the mic and drums separately and buy GH3 guitars (assuming they too don't suffer the same fate).

Originally Posted by Cysquatch

its the ps3 version. All documents on the exhibit list are referencing the PS3 contoller. I have two wireless controllers for GH1/2 and they work fine so this isn't a show stopper for me.

Originally Posted by dx31698

since i have my ps3 in the next room, because i cant stand the fan noise it puts out, am I not going to be able to play this game because an IR signal is not gonna go through my wall?

Originally Posted by logicalnoise

They didn't use Bluetooth because while Bluetooth has great universal use it doesn't guarantee packet delivery times. WHich is detrimental in rhythm games.

Bottom line is, if you own a 360, you'll want to get that version of Guitar Hero III. And since Harmonix's Rock Band only includes one wired guitar in its 360 bundle, you'll already have a wireless one ready for your band's bass player if you buy that game's bundle as well. Choosing between the PS3 and Wii version comes down to whether you want the friends-based online functionality of the Wii version or can live with the PS3 version's bare bones online features, as long as you can grab new songs as downloadable content. But even this PS3 feature has a caveat: Neversoft studio director Scott Pease told me he wasn't sure the company would be able to deliver songs on the PlayStation Network in as timely a manner as on Xbox Live Marketplace.

Originally Posted by 1up

Your wireless rocking out experience will vary depending on what machine you're playing on.

With Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock on Xbox 360 and Wii, you simply turn on the machine, sync the guitar and start to rock. On PlayStation 3, however, there's the bizarre addition of a USB wireless dongle, despite the hardware featuring wireless Bluetooth technology in the box -- it's how the Sixaxis connects without a cord. When no one would comment on the additional wireless accessory during a Guitar Hero press event a few weeks back, 1UP contacted Red Octane for an explanation on why the PS3 version needed the additional step.

"For the PS3 guitar, we're using our own 2.4ghz wireless solution. Our products require considerable time for certification and testing to perfect both our software & hardware, so this was the most effective way for us to bring a high quality wireless solution for PS3 this holiday," said Red Octane VP of Hardware Lee Guinchard. "The guitar does have many features that you will see on the Sixaxis controller such as the Home button, D-pad for menu navigation, etc., and it follows official PS3 protocols and is an officially licensed product from Sony."

Right, but why? The wireless capabilities of PS3 and Wii are both Bluetooth-based. The Wii version doesn't require a separate dongle -- it simply hooks into the Wiimote and hijacks the existing signal -- so why are developers swapping Sony's own wireless solutions for their own? Red Octane spokesperson Bryan Lam told 1UP it's because Sony's tools only work for the Sixaxis at the moment. In order for Guitar Hero 3 to hit day-and-date with the other versions, Red Octane was forced to develop their own wireless solution. Nintendo, on the other hand, had everything ready to roll, allowing Red Octane's guitar to simply ride on the existing Bluetooth technology found in the Wii.

Naturally, Guitar Hero shouldn't be the only one affected by this roadblock; Electronic Arts and Harmonix are planning to deliver wireless guitars with Rock Band in November, as well. A Harmonix spokesperson confirmed our suspicions with a similar response. "Our first and ideal choice is to utilize Sony's tools for 3rd party use of their PS3's Bluetooth functionality, however our development schedule timing for Rock Band did not coincide for this to be an option for the first generation of Rock Band guitars. Although we have not made any final decision yet on this matter -- we are actively considering moving to the PS3's internal Bluetooth solution in the future when feasible," the studio told us.