Sony: All PS3 Plastic Instruments will be Compatible

Sony has flexed its muscles and done what many gamers have been asking for: mandating that the instruments used for Guitar Hero, Rock Band, or Rock Revolution work with both of the other games, at least to the minimum level.   Director of Public Relations for SCEA Michael Shorrock said on the Playstation Blog:

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.

In addition, Guitar Hero: World Tour and Rock Band 2 will both support the SingStar microphones.

Of course each of these great games have their own specific cool features that may not be compatible with the other controllers, but this is our first big step in bringing a level of compatibility to music games that is sure to benefit PlayStation 3 consumers.

This means that you can finally go to a store and pick up any old guitar that has the words “PS3″ on it and it should work with future music games on the PS3.  Thank god.  I only have enough room for so many plastic instruments in my heart.

However, if you want to go out and buy another guitar for your current version of Rock Band or Guitar Hero, make sure you buy the right version, at least for a while.  Shorrock said, “We’re still working hard to ensure compatibility between the Guitar Hero and Rock Band titles currently on the market, and we hope to have an announcement on that shortly.”  Hopefully that issue will be resolved soon.

So three cheers for Sony.  Hopefully Microsoft and Nintendo will see this and follow suit.