Rock Band wireless PS3 guitar gets FCC'd, mystery dongle discovered

by Ross Miller on Sep 24th 2007 9:15PM

FCC employees must have had a lot of fun testing out this one. Though the hipsters might call it Exhibit VFR822151, to the layman it's the Bluetooth-enabled wireless Rock Band guitar for the PlayStation 3. Shown on the site are some test reports, pictures of the guitar's innards (ew!) and snippets of the manual.

Somewhat perplexing is the picture of a USB dongle (pictured after the break). Because of the Bluetooth technology, the guitar shouldn't need an intermediary device to connect to the PlayStation 3; however, the user manual included with the FCC exhibit clearly show the dongle as part of the setup process. Perhaps it'll become clearer closer to Rock Band's holiday launch.

[Via Engadget]

Source

Tags: bluetooth, ea, Electronic-Arts, electronicarts, harmonix, PS3, rockband, sony

Reader Comments (61)

1st post ftw

Asshat.

Douchebag.

you = dumb

yeah, it doesn't work like that anymore.

Fair enough. In my defence though, it was gone 2am here in the UK, and I was drunk.
Silly me, must remember to never leave comments when inebriated.

It's so obvious that it's used for recharging the damn thing. DUH
People are over thinking this little issue.

ummm, no its not. there is only one usb connector on that thing ... how could it be a charger? you can't send wireless electricity.

Actually, you can send wireless electricity, I'm surprised no one knows of this, the tech has been around for practically a hundred years (I am seriously not kidding).

Yes, please explain this "obvious" charging unit. There appears to be no way of connecting it to the guitar unless the pic is hiding something on the underside (which is unlikely if it's a FCC pic).

yes thats it, it charges it wirelessly via Bluetooth lol it's so simple why didn't everyone think of that lol dumbass

The dongle charges the guitar through lightning.

I wonder how that'd work...

First of all, the only reasonable way to "send electricity" wirelessly is using microwaves. Microwaves are harmful, and therefore this is not a charger. Secondly, even if this *was* a charger, the only power connector utilized by the USB IEEE standard is only 5V, and a very low current. Problem #2 with this being a charger.

"First of all, the only reasonable way to "send electricity" wirelessly is using microwaves. Microwaves are harmful..."

You're an idiot. It's called magnetic induction. My electric toothbrush uses it. Yours does too.

Dude, the PS3 controller is charged through USB, my bluetooth headset is charged through usb. Why is it so hard for an ignorant man like yourself to realize, that maybe, a guitar-controller could be charged in the same way...

Oh wait, it's because your ignorant.

can u say, wireless 360 guitars.......

No. As a 360 owner I'd love some hot wireless guitar action, but until MS pulls their head out of their collective, sizable bottoms, looks like we'll be screwed again :(

I can say that EA is a bunch of money grubbing bunch of A holes since Activision doesn't seem to have a problem putting out a wireless guitar at no additional cost. EA simply doesn't want to take the hit on their game. Don't blame MS for that, blame EA.

u all realize that 360 has a wireless guitar right? but its not included in the 200$ bundle.

If you look at the FCC filing that is linked to by Joystiq, the guitar uses AA batteries.

The USB acts as a base station (look at the "user manual" under the FCC page). This doesn't use Bluetooth, probably the same setup as the PC & Mac Guitar Hero 3. The 360 doesn't have standard USB ports so isn't compatible with this method.

Actually, the 360 DOES have standard USB ports. Why else would the play and charge kits, the camera, and the steering wheel work in Windows when you plug them into a PC?

i would think the most obvious answer would be: maybe the guitar isn't bluetooth!

maybe they used the same technology in both the 360 and the PS3 Rock Band guitars.

im gonna go with charger on this one i mean there not gonna expect you to run it on AAA's

Um, how come there are A,B,X,Y, and LB labels inside of the guitar if it's for PS3 and not 360? You can see them if you look in the 'Internal Photos' section.

The PDF refers to it as PS3 Controller. I'd imagine to save on manufacturing costs, they use the same PCBs for both guitars.

What's even more interesting is that there are more buttons on the lower part of the fretboard. High-pitched guitar solos, anyone??

Welcome to like five months ago. They're for solos. We've known this for a while.

Mmmm. I love mystery dongles.

Fender Strat sweetness! *Kisses his Fender Strat*

Would make sense to use their very own usb receiver... This way, any consoles with a usb connector could share the same wireless devices. No need to use specific wireless protocol. Also only one FCC approval instead of one for every console.

that would save them manufacturing cost and allow people with a 360 guitar to play on a friend's ps3, or vice versa

you're actually talking sense! too bad they probably won't work like that

Looks kinda like a receiver to me. Which means the guitar is NOT Bluetooth as everyone was speculating. Logitech did the same thing with the first version of their MediaBoard. It wasn't until the second iteration of that product that they made it Bluetooth.

Here's a theory:

Bluetooth only allows up to 7 devices.

Maybe Sony locks out 4 of them for their own controllers, and they require 4 for Rock Band (mic, guitar, bass, drums) so therefore they needed a separate bluetooth receiver.

Mics and drums for both verions are wired only.

Another thing would be...cross compatibility across all consoles. That would be sweet. Actually I think that's the main reason...good idea!

PROTIP: PS3 controllers must be PLUGGED IN in order to sync.

Jeez, thank you Jay.

Seriously. Every PS3 "wireless" controller has required use of that stubby POS USB cable to sync it and to recharge it. Everyone, apparently, has forgotten.

Probably because they never took it out of the box (or, never bought one, like me, so how is it that I know more than they do?)

Older gen - Controller is always hooked up to the console
Last gen - Wireless controllers powered by batteries make wires unnecessary
New gen - Controllers cost more, and you have to play with a wire attached while charging or syncing

That seems like a step backwards to me.

except the wii has its own custom ones

It emits low-amplitude microwaves that interfere with your brain function to send you into a face-melting thrash-metal frenzy.

Also, I guess cross platform compatibility seems as worthy a theory as any.

its clear that the unit has more buttons on it than a typical ps3 controller... maybe it has software embedded in the hardware so that the ps3 can understand the extra buttons needed to play the game

Maybe, finally, its a attachment for the guitar hero guitars thats going to work.
But why packaged it with a guitar???

You know what, I think I'd rather have a wired guitar. I these photos helped me to realize just how pissed I would be if I was about beat a song of Free Bird's difficulty on expert,and my controller's batteries died. Ah well, real electic guitar's are wired anyway.

Either way, 360 users are stuck with wired controllers.. suck on that.

There ARE wireless controllers, fatass. They're just sold seperately, instead of coming in the bundle.

Blame EA. The GH3 bundles for both 360 and PS3 come with wireless controllers, AND they cost the same. Hmm...

Sorry man, check out the interal picks section on the link, they show a picture of the guitar's back, and those look to be 4 AA batteries.

um, bluetooth transfer rates would be full of lag for the speed of two guitars when things are going insane

What's your proof?

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Rock Band wireless PS3 guitar gets FCC'd, mystery dongle discovered

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