Rock Band controllers to work with Guitar Hero: World Tour

by Xav de Matos { Jul 17th 2008 at 3:10PM }

At Activision's non-E3 conference Tuesday, Guitar Hero director Brian Bright surprised attendees confirming that any guitar and drum controllers players own for other games on the Xbox 360 will be compatible with Guitar Hero: World Tour.

This news comes as quite a shock considering the current state of controller compatibility between the two music franchises -- a recent update apparently made all guitar controllers compatible with Guitar Hero: Aerosmith but we've heard of some issues.

You may be asking yourself how the drums will work, considering Guitar Hero: World Tour drums use five-inputs while Rock Band uses four (see center of image above). According to Wired, Activision promises that using the Rock Band drums will cause the game to adjust the title to four inputs only. Now we wonder, will plugging in the Rock Revolution controller bring the input count to seven?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Tags: e3-08, e3-2008, e308, guitar-hero, guitar-hero-world-tour, peripherals, rock-band

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

mirage @ Jul 17th 2008 3:29PM

Old!

Just kidding, I hate it when people do that. This is truly great news for me as I will be able to play both RB2 and GHWT with my RB1 instruments! Yay!!!

Pasz @ Jul 17th 2008 3:37PM

good, cause there was no way i was going to buy another set of drums...

this was a good idea for GH cause i think im going to end up buying both RB2 and GHWT instead of just RB2

Deezul @ Jul 17th 2008 3:58PM

And what about the Ion Drum Controller? Will it still allow for 5 drums?

And I still haven't seen someone using the kick pedal on GH WT. Is it there for looks? Or are technically 6 buttons, as the RB drum has 5 (4 pads & kick)

tan @ Jul 17th 2008 5:29PM

in all the videos it's quite clear that the drummer is using a kick pedal.

especially in the van halen song
man that looks fun

corbin @ Jul 17th 2008 4:04PM

Well I probably won't be buying world tour at launch, but, but if i can get the disc only and still have a decent experience with my rock band controllers then i might just buy it.

Ill wait for a review that mentions rock band compatibility.

Neuromancer @ Jul 17th 2008 4:21PM

I'd like to think Activision has realized the errors of their assy ways but I think more likely they just realized they'll make more money this way.

murph @ Jul 17th 2008 4:21PM

this is good news. at the very least, i will pickup the GHWT disc for Van Halen and Sublime...if nothing else.

however, i still think the GHWT drums look better than the RB/RB2 drums (not the Ion's...i'm not paying $300 for videogame drums). so the million dollar question in my mind is will GHWT drums work with RB?

Jonah Falcon @ Jul 17th 2008 4:24PM

It's nice to have variety but frankly, the Rock Band guitar sucks.

Xoviet chiK @ Jul 17th 2008 7:20PM

That seems to be the overwhelming consensus...

But from my own experience, most people I know who actually play Guitar and / or Bass *myself included* prefer the Rock Band Guitar because of it's larger size, smooth and recessed fret buttons, and quiet rounded strum bar.

Only thing I don't like about it is that stupid screw hole behind the main buttons... My thumb never wants to leave, and it's really uncomfortable for songs you are moving up and down the neck for.

dark_inchworm @ Jul 18th 2008 9:31AM

I finally grew accustomed to the fret buttons - though I still don't necessarily like them - but man, that strum bar bugs the piss out of me. Complain about noise all you like, but I like to be able to hear and feel the clicks of a successful strum.

tcc3 @ Jul 18th 2008 9:56AM

The other advantage of the RB guitar is that the stiff strum bar wont bounce. The GH strumbar will bounce back if you click it too hard, creating a double strum.

Kristianlee @ Jul 17th 2008 4:38PM

I'm hoping that Rock Band 2 ends up being compatible with GHWT instruments. Then I can buy that bundle and just get the Rock Band disc. If not, I'll be doing it the other way around.

Completely agree about the $300 drums. As a casual player I don't see me spending that much on them...although I sometimes get carried away if I get addicted.

tan @ Jul 17th 2008 5:34PM

im pretty sure all guitar hero instruments will work with rb2 but with the drums if they worked it might be strange if the coloured drums on the world tour kit are ordered differently(i think they are but i can't remember atm)

either way im getting the world tour stuff:)

jake18oly (XBL,PSN: RSXtypeSfan) @ Jul 17th 2008 4:45PM

That is great news. There is no way that I would buy Guitar Hero WT otherwise. I am still might just be sticking with Rock Band 2 but only time will tell.

bigmac375 @ Jul 17th 2008 4:59PM

this is a great move for them, but it really was the only move without committing peripheral suicide.
I'm buying it now, and getting aerosmith when that gets tossed to the bargain bin where it should have started

emanuel meneses @ Jul 17th 2008 5:19PM

im so glad that they did that so i don t have to buy a guitar hero kit!!

mrhammerstein @ Jul 17th 2008 5:12PM

finally. i get to use an inferior guitar on superior guitar tracks.

only comparing guitars.

Rob @ Jul 18th 2008 12:03AM

So the question is, which instruments will be better for both RB2 and GHWT?

murph @ Jul 18th 2008 10:38AM

that is the million dollar question. i'm leaning towards GH as Red Octane are the hardware experts. but we'll see after some hands on impressions come out. and hopefully i'll find someplace to demo the GH kit before it's release.

i already prefer the GH3 axes, and the GH4 axes look even more kick ass with the touchstrip and a slightly larger size.