Guitar Hero: World Tour drums not recognized by PS3 Rock Band 2

by Ross Miller { Oct 27th 2008 at 2:25PM }

Despite promises to the contrary, the PlayStation 3 Guitar Hero: World Tour drum set doesn't seem to be working with Rock Band 1 or 2. Many users on the RB forums have noticed that the game is recognizing the wireless set as a microphone, and unfortunately, the mic isn't being recognized as a beat box receptor.

A Harmonix developer has chimed in to say, "We are definitely looking into this. We'll keep you posted on updates as soon as more info is available." Sony had previously said there would be universal instrument-rhythm game compatibility. The Xbox 360 drum sets seem to work with each respective game. We're working to independently confirm compatibility as we fill in the blanks to our Instrument Compatibility Matrix.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

Tags: breakingnews, compatibility, ghwt, guitar-hero, guitar-hero-world-tour, instrument-compatibility, js-twitter, rock-band, rock-band-2, world-tour

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Lord HowitHurtz @ Oct 27th 2008 2:41PM

Why would it be recognized?
It's like complaining that your wii-mote isn't being recognized by your 360 or PS3.

Kumar @ Oct 27th 2008 2:49PM

Because they said it would.

Hooray It's Rob! @ Oct 27th 2008 2:58PM

From SCEA Director of Publisher Relations Michael Shorrock (in the link posted in the article):

"For the past several months, we have been working closely with Neversoft and Activision, Harmonix and Konami to ensure that PlayStation 3 guitars and drum sets will all feature a basic level of gameplay compatibility.

For the most part, this means that the titles with musical peripherals will work with the other’s software. A few specific examples include: Guitar Hero: World Tour’s guitars and drums will work with Rock Band 2 and Konami’s Rock Revolution software.

And yes, you guessed it, Rock Band 2’s guitar and drum set will work with Guitar Hero: World Tour and with Rock Revolution."

sk8monroe81 @ Oct 27th 2008 11:57PM

who the hell has a room to devote to 2 fake band setups... these peripherals take up a lot of space when you have 2 full kits...
and a lot of people dont have enough room in their own room for this to happen, but im sure some want to play both for extra songs and etc...

Lekko @ Oct 28th 2008 3:59AM

Actually... the PS3 does recognize the Wiimote.

Seriously, you can get them to sync. It won't do anything though, but it registers.

Slippage @ Oct 27th 2008 2:33PM

What about the 360?

Dirty @ Oct 27th 2008 2:37PM

"The Xbox 360 drum sets seem to work with each respective game. "

There are these words underneath the headline that have more information about the same topic..... it really is amazing.

dark_inchworm @ Oct 27th 2008 3:07PM

I think Joystiq needs a prompt that says "Did you RTFA?" that you must answer before you can comment on a story.

Courtney @ Oct 27th 2008 3:18PM

@dark_inchworm

If people can't RTFA, do you really expect them to RTF warning about the fact that they should have RTFA?

dark_inchworm @ Oct 28th 2008 1:16AM

A point... you make it well.

Do these people even bother to proofread their posts?
Do they even realize what they're posting?
Do they even realize they're posting?
:-/

Roto13 @ Oct 27th 2008 2:38PM

Maybe I'll just stop buying music games altogether.

*headdesk*

john paul @ Oct 27th 2008 2:42PM

So when the next instrument compatibility thing coming? :p

On a side note

Haggard @ Oct 27th 2008 3:19PM

Yeah, I have no idea if my RB1 drums/guitar will work in GH:WT. All the articles thus far have only mentioned RB2.

CTC XBL-supapaypamawio PSN-ctclaw @ Oct 27th 2008 4:27PM

They work great, I used them last night.

Autopsy15 @ Oct 27th 2008 3:00PM

But does the GH guitar work with Rock Band 1 or 2? Screw the GH drums, Rock Band drums are better.

Ghen @ Oct 27th 2008 3:35PM

as far as they've said the guitars from the recent games will be interchangeable on Xbox and PS3

adam @ Oct 27th 2008 3:02PM

Hopefully this just means Activision can't block the inevitable patch from Harmonix this time.

Seph X @ Oct 27th 2008 3:06PM

There's another compatibility flaw with GH:WT, it doesnt function that well with 'fun' either. So they'll need harmonix to patch that up too.

Jakka @ Oct 27th 2008 3:17PM

I c wat u did there,

Ive bin ceeing dis for 2 long nao...

Dirty @ Oct 27th 2008 4:06PM

Who needs fun when you got a whole bucket of original recipe and a jack and coke.

Deaddy @ Oct 27th 2008 3:20PM

I found that my SingStar mic doesn't work with Rock Band 1. It would barely register anything. I think it was looking for a more sensitive mic, I guess the SingStar one is crappy quality compared to a RB mic.

Ian @ Oct 28th 2008 4:47AM

I found that originally as well. Then I went to the RB settings and turned up the mic sensitivity, and unplugged the PS Eye camera (which also has a mic, and RB was choosing over the Singstar mic for some reason).

Works fine now.

Courtney @ Oct 27th 2008 3:20PM

I suspect Joystiq is somehow behind this. They just want to make sure then can keep posting increasingly complex and convoluted instrument compatibility charts.

Dirty @ Oct 27th 2008 4:05PM

We should release a chart of their charts. That should either clear things up or complicate things to the point of total chaos.

Draken Stark @ Oct 27th 2008 5:02PM

Perhaps they're competing with nintendo with the world record for chart making? Any-who, I rather like to look at charts as I think they are shiny with information about stuff I care about. On a side note, I find both Rockband 2 and GHWT kinda shiny and I've really enjoyed GH3 thanks to Joe Satriani and Eric Johnson. Really hate how they've gone missing, but it makes sense cause those songs that were in GH3 were intrumental. However, when I get GHWT or RB2 I'll be expecting some really fun parties.

ja @ Oct 27th 2008 3:24PM

Just to add something else to the compatibility matrix: the ion drums don't work well with GHWT.

They are recognized as a 5-input drum set, but hitting the blue or green cymbal triggers both the blue or green pad AND the orange cymbal at once, making it impossible to play the orange notes (which don't appear at all when using a RB1 set).

mkrajew @ Oct 27th 2008 5:46PM

And of note is that someone from Neversoft posted to the Guitar Hero forums that they were supposed to release a Day 1 title update that would fix this, but we all know it's past day 1 now.

jayeffaar @ Oct 27th 2008 6:10PM

I just looked up that post on the GH forums and to be fair, what neversoftBRIAN posted on Friday was: "Don't worry, the ION Rocker works fine in the Xbox 360 Title Update for GHWT. This update should be out at launch if all goes well."

You can never predict when these things will come out with any certainty, but it certainly looked like
1- they had a working patch for the Ion drums on Friday
2- it was already making its way through the certification process

Barring any last minute surprises, it looks like Activision may actually do the right thing on this one.

warlock7 @ Oct 27th 2008 3:28PM

And where's the promised compatibility patch to make the Les Paul work with Rock Band?!?!

Ben Forbes @ Oct 27th 2008 3:41PM

...

That happened. A long, long time ago.

warlock7 @ Oct 27th 2008 4:15PM

Did I get that backwards???
I meant, where's the patch to make the stratocaater work with GH?!?!?

OTAM @ Oct 27th 2008 4:40PM

And yet again,us PS3 owners get the shaft.

Thanks again you guys. Fuck over the paying customers so you can continue your little playground school fight.

Brad @ Oct 27th 2008 4:50PM

Well, at least it's Rock Band with the lacking compatability and not GH:WT. I have at least a little bit of faith that Harmonix/EA will release a patch to fix this.

For 360 users lucky enough to try it out, how exactly do the RB charts map to the GH:WT drums?

Hooray It's Rob! @ Oct 27th 2008 7:56PM

The colors match up and the orange cymbal does nothing. I don't notice any "velocity sensitive" effect unfortunately. Other than that, it seems to work fine so far.

Dr.Conway @ Oct 27th 2008 5:17PM

Can anyone offer answers to what guitars will and will NOT work if I want to pick up Guitar Hero(I), GHII, and GH Rocks the 80's as PS2 games to be played on a PS3?

The early GH games are insanely cheap now, and since I didn't discover the genre until GHIII, I want to go back and play the earlier versions. I have the RB1 Guitar and the GHIII guitar. I'd rather not have to pick up one of those PS2 guitars if I can avoid it.

Finally: can they start adding the Starpex (and the others) to the compatibility matrix?

OTAM @ Oct 28th 2008 2:10AM

Believe me,i'm been trying for years to find a guitar that works on the PS3 with the older games.

Behold.

http://fyad.org/wicj

Jmerridew124 @ Oct 27th 2008 6:13PM

So, how are they going to go about this? Are they going to send out an update to make the drums compatable?

ToRo @ Oct 27th 2008 8:21PM

lol Seriously, what Rock Band owner in their right mind would buy GTWT with instruments at full price?

I have Rockband 1 and 2. I'll be getting GHWT (disc only) but used. Activision doesn't deserve my money.

Hooray It's Rob! @ Oct 27th 2008 9:21PM

... just the $59.99 for the game.

ToRo @ Oct 27th 2008 9:23PM

$60 for a rockband wanna be? Nah. I think I'll pass. I would pay $30 for it though.

sk8monroe81 @ Oct 27th 2008 11:55PM

rock band 1 & 2- does mtv/viacom/paramount corporation who published the game and EA who distributes rock band deserve your $ 300+ if you bought the full kits.??

whats wrong with activision???

IMO all that money on any "fake band" games is a joke and the money should goto real instruments and all the time spent could go to learning real instruments....
but im not also a fan of the bus driver video game or playing golf or doing something i should do in real life for my benefit and enjoyment.
have fun though...millions do.. im not hating...

ToRo @ Oct 28th 2008 12:26AM

@ sk8monroe81

EA isn't an angel but at least they don't charge when their hardware breaks down, unlike Activision. I sent my rockband drums pads a total of 6 times (One time it was because hit the red pad too hard and the whole thing came off). And every single time it was free. I know sure as hell Activision won't be doing that anytime soon.

Oh and I didn't buy rockband at full price. I bought it for $100 (drums, guitar , mic and game) back in February from a co worker of mine who got it for Christmas and got bored of it.

And also, I've played my share of music games but after beating that stupid song on on expert in GH3, Through the fire and flames,(my gamercard http://profile.mygamercard.net/ElToRo15)I decided to stop playing the plastic guitar. So a cousin of mine gave me a real guitar and I've been taking lessons. So I am learning how to play a real instrument. But that whole "You would've learned the real guitar by now" is bull shit. Go tell the guys who play COD to join the army. Tell the guy who play Madden to join the NFL. It's stupid and people really need to stop saying that.

Some people just want to play some songs with friends without having to learn how to actually play the instrument. There ain't no harm in that.

Oh and what's wrong with Activision? Maybe the milking of guitar hero? You know. Guitar Hero DS. Guitar Aerosmith. And not only that but double the guitar hero in 09? No wonder there are people like you who can't stand music games. Too many crappy/lazy ports out.

xMCxKINNEYx @ Oct 27th 2008 10:15PM

Here's an article for how I fixed my drums.

http://www.goodinput.com/2008/10/27/guitar-hero-world-tour-drum-fix/

This is for people who have drums that don't register 100% of the time.

Enjoy your fixed drums! :)

Gilbert Tang @ Oct 27th 2008 10:22PM

I sincerely hope things change ASAP. My purchase of GHWT as opposed to RB2 was predicated on (1) the ability to play RB's 1 and 2, and (2) the better drum layout and feel.

If not, I will be extremely upset.

Jim @ Oct 28th 2008 11:38PM

my sentiments, exactly!

Lekko @ Oct 28th 2008 4:02AM

I'm just curious now about cross-platform compatibility. Could a PS3 wired Rock band 1 drumset work with a 360 GH:WT? Or guitar?

Or vice-versa? I'm betting no, but has anyone tried?

blah @ Oct 28th 2008 4:38PM

do the rock band 2 drums work for guitar hero world tour on the wii, and vice versa?

Screech @ Oct 28th 2008 10:25PM

i'm 13 and have GHWT,it's not bad,THE LIMIT FOR MAKING A SONG IS 2 MINUTES AND 52 SECONDS. AND EACH INSTRUMENT CAN ONLY PLAY 1200 MOTES(actually,that's alot). I haven't been playing the actual songs much,but,from my judgment,GHWT is cool. I've already made 3 songs,but,one problem. The Singstar mic DOESN'T WORK WITH IT. ITS THE ONLY PART THAT SUCKS. The cool part is that you can play ALL the other parts with guitars(even drums!).So,those friends you play it with,just have to bring over their guitars and it works. And personally,i agree with what Toro said. Don't tell the guy who plays Madden to try out for the NFL. Some people just like playing games. Like some people just like forplay,not sex(that weird though).