Honestly not digging how the thing looks... but hey, at least it's compatible.

Australia would like to play rock band BTW.

Does it really matter by then? Sure they are going to be cheaper, but cheap doesn't always mean good. I assume by the end of the month Harmonix will release their single guitars (hopefully not with the issue the in the box guitars are having). I want a new guitar because honestly it sucks leaving that one friend out of the fun. Sure bass is not always great but its fun. FUN i say *shakes fist*

Well, having a dongle shows there is a lock out.

Good luck explaining Activision!

the annoucment will probaly be a swift kick in the ass to the other two, and the patch will hopefully be released real soon. Or they could have conspired together to let nyko make a little on the side.

Opps forgot to add but that fret board keys look nasty. There i said it.

Ugly as it may be, it's about the best thing for rockers with a PS3.

Of course, I have a 360...

meh that looks pretty fugly, but hey if it works it works... but isn't Harmonix supposed to be selling separate guitars starting in February anyway?

I'll just stick to not buying Rock Band until Activision and Harmonix work out their issues and the Rock Band controller gets its down strum issues sorted out. That, and I want the Rock Band controller to be a bit more responsive to Star Power. I can't be the only person who is causing either Rock Band or Guitar Hero to be losing a sale because the controllers are incompatible with each other.

Still waiting for an anthology blu-ray disc of Guitar Hero so I can rock out to all of the songs with out having to hook up my PS2 or change discs. Whatever happened to Guitar Hero for the DS. My theory that it was all a publicity stunt is starting to look good.

You're one... ugly.. plastic guitar.

I'll hold out and just wait for a 2nd RB guitar. GH3 doesn't stand a chance against RB.

@ceilingfanboy:

Sad that RB is suffering due to Activision and their lock out ... gee, ironic, this is what Activision wanted all along!

I don't think this would be such a huge problem if the RB guitar wasn't such a piece of crap. At least then maybe you could bring over a friend's RB guitar, but nobody wants to do that because then that's just twice as many pieces of crap that you don't need. Frankly, nobody likes more pieces of crap than they should have to tolerate because after all, they're pieces of crap.

That's right. I said it many times.

WHOA what a dongle! It's huge!

@JarenFace: What are you talking about? That's an X-plorer. It looks awesome.

@def PD: I guess you haven't seen any of the sales numbers. While Rock Band is a somewhat successful game, it is a flop when compared to the hype it received. The price argument isn't really that good, either, when you consider that the PS3 and 360 versions of Guitar Hero are $100. Yea, that's still somewhat significantly less than $170, but is still high enough to alienate a lot of the casual gamers.

god DAMN! that's one ugly son of a gun!

seriously. did a guitar hero ii controller hump a fender mustang and an atari 2600 controller in a threeway?

@PGGB: Overreact much? It's practically the same as the x-plorer just different colours.

@EnigmaNemesis: Make the controllers work between the two games and they will pick up at least a sell from me...after I finally get around to picking up COD4, Heavenly Sword, Ninja Gaiden, Uncharted, Unreal Tournament, and by that time probably MLB 08:The Show.

@ceilingfanboy:

Yes, but it isn't up to RB to do that. RB tried, and Activision blocked it. Thus RB is suffering (by your example, and it is a valid and understandable opinion) for it.

But it is a wonderful game regardless, the drums are so much fun. Thought I wouldn't may them no mind, but well worth it and a warm change from the guitar.

@ceilingfanboy: I guess you haven't noticed that Rock Band availability is about the same as the Wii.
Those sales figures are as high as they could get. There weren't enough made to do GHIII numbers.

Jesus that's ugly.

nice concept to be able play rock band at home and guitar hero at your friends house with the same controller. idk about the alienated casual gamers. if they were that "casual" they were brought in by the popularity of these games.

awesome strap but the guitar is ugly.

I actually forgot the whole Activision/Harmonix dispute for my entire winter holiday.

At the moment, I'm not quite sure if thats good or bad.

@ceilingfanboy: Getting a drum kit, a mic, and a game made by the people who did Guitar Hero rather than the people who bought Guitar Hero... that's pretty good for 70 extra dollars.

Play Guitar Hero III is so 2007.

@Len Bias Cocaine Surplus: The proper form of that verb would actually be playing

@ZerozakiIshiki: At least where I live, we have had Rock Band bundles sitting on the shelves for quite a while without selling. The only version of Guitar Hero 3 that can be found is PS2 version and sometimes the 360 version and that's only because Wal-Mart got a bundle that repackaged the old guitar controllers from Guitar Hero 2. Even those bundles are starting to run out.

@StocDred: The main thing that made me go with GH3 before RB was that I don't have people over to play games often enough to justify paying the premium for a game with not as good single player but a better multiplayer. Even with the broke ass guitar that RB has, I was able to beat the songs listed as impossible on my first try, and that was with me trying to use the solo keys at the bottom and it being my first time using the different controller. Had I had my trusty old GH controller (I still think the old GH 2 controller is faster than the GH3 controller, but that might just be because the keys are broken in) I would have really torn up the songs. Also, I don't play drums and my living room is cluttered up with guitar controllers enough as it is without a drum sitting in it.

that is the worst looking guitar I have ever seen

@ceilingfanboy: Which version of Rock Band? Everywhere here only had the PS2 version. I gave up looking after a few weeks and ordered it from Amazon.

The strum bar on the RB guitar blows, and that's all there is to it.

@ZerozakiIshiki: Odd, the PS2 version is the only version that we can't seem to keep in stock. Right now we only have one PS3 version, but on a normal day there are plenty in stock of the 360 and PS3 versions. We haven't gotten any shipments in in a while, so our shortage isn't really due to fast sales. Even with our shipments usually only being about 4 at a time for Rock Band, they hang around for a while. The PS2 version of GH3 comes literally 30 at a time and we're down to maybe 6 copies. The other versions come in usually 6 or 12 at a time but are usually gone within a couple days.

Too little, too late. F Rock Band and f Guitar Hero. If neither of them are going to placate the consumer, I feel more than justified taking my money elsewhere.

First and last time a blog begins with "Bless you, Nyko"? Probably.

@ZerozakiIshiki: That's because most stores only pack 3 or 4 rock band bundles from what i've noticed.

Rock Band=Awesome sauce.
this guitar=awesome suck.

@myd12: Especially since in the same amount of space that 4 Rock Band bundles take up, you can ship 24 copies of Guitar Hero.

Damn, that's one huge dongle for the wireless. I could care less if it looks like a distortion pedal - it's huge, ugly, colored a nasty shade of beige, and almost completely unusable if your PS3's on some sort of ledge.

And why not sell just the dongle?

that looks HORRID

Technically, it's not really compatible with GH3. Activision only licenses GH3 for use with an Activision-provided controller or a standard controller provided by a console maker (read the initial loading screen). So 3rd-party controllers are out.

Of course in practice it's unlikely that Activision would go after people using 3rd-party guitars, but I'm not sure if this licensing thing would enable them to sue Nyko for doing this.

@ceilingfanboy:

I'm aware sales-wise how many units GH3 moved in comparison to RB (something like 3.17 mil to 350k roughly). I'm just talking about from a gameplay standpoint. I'm a "guitarist" at heart, and enjoy the difficulty level of GH compared to RB, but as an overall gameplaying experience coupled with the tracklisting RB is far superior (IMO of course). =)

Although I do wish RB had more "heavier" (i.e. metal) songs.

@argh: the buttons look ridiculous, the body looks stretched out. nope, looks nothing like the x-plorer.

the key thing is, if it looked ANYTHING like a real guitar (in scale and shape) i can't knock it. it's just ugly, and there's no reason that peripherals have to be ugly. i'd have to put a bag over it's head to use it...

the guitar look horrible on the picture!

Just got Rock Band yesterday and opted for the 360 version because their GH guitar is compatible. I don't own a 360 but my brother does, and I'd rather own it on PS3. Stupid Activision... becoming another EA.

Hope it works with GH1, GH2 and GH80's. Then I can get rid of my PS2.

@Jordan Lund:
Amen, brother.

ooh thats ugly, but nyko does a better job than most peripheral crap-sellers with quality

Awesome response time. The market demands; they deliver.

The fret buttons look a lil' nasty, but I might pick this up anyway.

This whole thing is just ridiculous beyond belief. At least NyKo's bringing some sanity to PS3 owners.