Guitar Hero / Rock Band guitar compatibility matrix v2

I don't know why there were court proceedings. Dumb, yes.

From the point of view of the developer, Harmonix deviated from the standards they had created earlier with the original GH guitars when they released the RB guitars; they worked differently than everything they created earlier. The Activision guitars work exactly the same as the original Harmonix guitars. So Harmonix broke everything, not Activision. Activision has just continued using the standards originally set by Harmonix.

You need to check your history Doug. Harmonix never made controllers prior to RB. 3 games, no guitars. Red Octane made the original guitars and were subsequently bought up with Activision along with the GH name. When RO tried to sue TAC for making controllers, it seemed a little hypocritical for a company that got it's start with 3rd party DDR pads. When GHII came out and 3rd party guitars no longer worked, it was downright dirty. I recall rumblings (that I'm too lazy to look up and site) that RO made Harmonix go back and alter the code to "lock out" 3rd party controllers- which is why you can play GHI just fine on your 60gig ps3 with an adaptor, but GHII and 80's are basically broken. Activision now owns RO and the GH name. Presumably it's their call to keep these policies going, but RO probably has no small say in the matter since peripherals are obviously their lifeblood)

Remember how GH3 had to be built from the ground up because they couldn't reuse Harmonix's code? That "controller lock code" was RO's doing. Rather than use their proprietary standard to dictate guitar interfaces, they took the high road to make an "open standard" that's probably a heck of a lot easier to program for and saves them from RO/Activision's lawyers for "stealing" their code or using the information that may completely or partially belong to RO/Activision in the development of their game or the development of their peripherials (or maybe the peripheral is more EA's department, I'm not totally sure). And Harmonix obviously won't come out and say that Activision owns the patent on guitar blocking code because everyone's thinking it anyways. Even if they did directly blame RO/Activision, they'd probably just get sued for using their insider information to slander their competitor.

Whatever's ACTUALLY going on between the two- the status quo seems to be working fantastically for both, from a sales perspective. Whether or not the maket's big enough for two band games remains to be seem, but I seriously doubt either franchise will be hurting for business this holiday.

But they also lack DLC, online play, online leaderboards, all of the various online challenges and such from RB2, online content sharing in GH:WT, and a lack of the entire customization and World Tour mode for Rock Band (much like the crippled Wii version as well).

I only have a PS2 at the moment and while I really, really, really want Rock Band I got GH3 because it was available, not seriously crippled (DLC hasn't been much of anything), and I already had a guitar from the first game.

Still, I wouldn't dismiss the advances in the newer generation versions. They add critical features rather than just nicer graphics. I'd also think (but can't confirm) that they're probably using much better sound as well.

Yes The Nyko Frontman.
I have one for Wii and was wondering myself.

According to Nyko's website:

"The FrontMan for Wii is not compatible with Rock Band on the Wii at this time" "The FrontMan is fully compatible with Guitar Hero III ™ and works with you existing Wii Remote™"

"Nyko’s FrontMan Wireless Guitar Controller for Playstation 3. The FrontMan is fully compatible with Guitar Hero III ™ and Rock Band."

"Nyko’s FrontMan Wireless Guitar Controller for Playstation 2. The FrontMan is fully compatible with Guitar Hero™, Guitar Hero II ™ and Guitar Hero III ™"

No mention of rockband on ps2 and no listing of an x360 frontman.