Rock Band 2 Introduces Real World Instruments

Announced today from Harmonix and MTV Games, Rock Band 2 will be getting an array of musical instruments straight from the music industry's top of the line manufacturers. From guitars and basses, to the drums and mics, players (or should I say rock stars) will be able to jam to their favorite songs with a wide variety of options. Greg LoPiccolo, Vice President of Product Development at Harmonix Music Systems had this to say on the subject:

"We believe that working closely with our musical instrument partners is crucial to our mission to deliver the most authemtic music experience possible. Whether it's picking out your P Bass, finding the right finish & hardware for your drums, or choosing the best microphone for your singer's style, having real world instruments included within the world of Rock Band 2 is essential."

Here is the list of what's to come...

Guitars, Basses and Amplifiers:

• Fender™ (Including Charvel™, Gretsch™, Jackson™, Squier™, SWR™)

Drums:

• DW
• Gretsch Drums™
• Ludwig/Conn-Selmer
• Pearl
• SJC Custom Drum
• Zildjian Cymbals

Microphones:

• Selnnheiser
• Shure

Accessories / Additional Instruments:

• Ernie Ball
• Electro-Harmonix
• EMG Pickups
• Fender™
• Ludwig Drumsticks
• Pro-Mark
• Roland/BOSS
• Vater Drumsticks
• Vic Firth
• ZVEX
  

So it looks like there will be plenty of options for every rocker out there. Rock Band 2 makes its way onto your PS3 on October 18th.

New Rock Band and Guitar Hero Peripherals will be Compatible

Rock Band and Guitar Hero sitting on a tree. R-O-C-K-I-N-G. Well, not yet, but it's going to happen.

The hard working folks at Sony have felt our collective outrage and have taken steps to have some kind of cross software peripheral compatibility between top music simulator franchises Rock Band and Guitar Hero. Also, the upcoming Rock Revolution was thrown in the compatibility mix for good measure. The results (so far) are:

Guitar Hero: World Tour

• Compatible with Rock Band 2's guitars and drum sets.
• Compatible with Rock Revolution's drum set.
• Compatible with SingStar microphones.

Rock Band 2

• Compatible with Guitar Hero: World Tour's guitars and drum sets.
• Compatible with Rock Revolution's drum set.
• Compatible with SingStar microphones.

Rock Revolution

• Compatible with Guitar Hero: World Tour's guitars and drum sets.
• Compatible with Rock Band 2's guitars and drum sets.

Compatibility for Rock Band and Guitar Hero games out in the wild is being worked on as well (yay).

There is one catch to all this compatibility goodness. Specific game features may not work on the competitor's controller, but that is reasonably understandable.

As an owner of 4 fake guitars (PS2 GH x2, PS3 RB x2) one fake drum set (PS3 RB) and one mic (can you guess for which game?) this is music to my ears. (horrible pun...I know, so sue me)


Source [PlayStation.Blog]