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With all the incompatibility out there surrounded by Guitar Hero / Rock Band instruments, it is a true treat to see somewhat want this. The Director of Publisher Relations at SCEA has requested an update such a promises compatibility between instruments and service for following titles; for instance, Guitar Hero: World Tour’s guitars and drums ought to try amid Rock Band 2 and Konami’s Rock Revolution software, and Rock Band 2’s guitar and drum set is planning to job investing in Guitar Hero: World Tour and providing Rock Revolution. Furthermore, the bunch is even “working hard to ensure compatibility between the Guitar Hero and Rock Band titles by now on the market,” even though we are imparted upon the an announcement on the would surface “shortly.” Rock ‘n roll harmony, baby.

Last time we saw the Gibson Robot Guitar it was in the hands of Yngwie Malmsteen, who was laying down gorgeous, undulating waves of pure classical-metal fever. The first version of the self-tuning Les Paul was a rather limited edition, but now Gibson is sharing the wealth by introducing two more widely available models. The guitar-maker will issue the original iteration of the axe, but it will now be joined by Gibson’s other familiar face, the SG. Both models will apparently be available in a funky, purple-metallic finish (which we suspect only Prince could truly love), and will go on sale for a “limited time” — though Gibson hasn’t said what the cutoff will be. So, if you’ve got $3,999 for the Les Paul, or $3,599 for the SG, now might be the time to buy.

source:engadget

The wireless Rock Band guitar’s in the FCC (again), this time supposedly for the Wii. Oddly, the images depict it running on a PS3 (which we’ve already seen). Bring it on, Harmonix, it’s hella difficult to do power slides when plugged in via USB.

source:engadget

Face it, nobody has time these days to learn a real instrument with “strings” and “sevenths” and these “quarternotes” we hear tell of. That’s why all music recorded from 2002 on has been 100% sampled: it’s just better that way. The next step in this natural evolution, of course, is instrument-less instruments. Silverlit provides just such a future with the VBeat Air Guitar and Air Drums. Building upon Tomy’s groundbreaking Air Guitar Pro, the VBeat instruments include “free style” and “easy go” modes, the latter of which allows for playing you fakestrument to pre-programmed rhythms — a synergy of layered samples and a metronome, simply stunning. There’s also a step-by-step learning mode called Pop Academy, but only losers need apply. These should sell for about £29.99 ($60 US) a piece, no word on availability. Action video is after the break.

source:engadget

source:engadget

Although Nyko’s wireless FrontMan axe is slated to land for Xbox 360 this June, it seems as though it has been beaten to the proverbial punch by some random rival from who knows where. Known only as “3rd Party,” the aforementioned company has seemingly crafted a wireless Flying V that plays nice with the Xbox 360, and better still, it looks to be available right now. Still, considering the fact that it’s labeled “Guitar for Games” and designed to function with the “X 360,” we’re not entirely sure we’d be willing to risk our $41.94. But hey, if you see “quality” written all over that image pictured above, we certainly aren’t going to stop you from pulling the trigger and hoping for the best.
source:engadget

We’re not exactly clear on how Gibson’s legal team managed to license all those brand names and guitar designs to Activision for this many Guitar Hero games before realizing that the company maybe-sorta had a patent on the idea, but here we are: Activision filed a lawsuit yesterday asking the US District Court for Central California to invalidate a 1999 Gibson patent on “simulating a musical performance,” because apparently Gibson’s bugging them about it since January. Wait, just January? Seriously, people, you’d have thought this would’ve come up by now. Anyway, Activision says that Gibson is still a “good partner,” just that it “disagrees with the applicability of their patent and would like a legal determination on this.” We’re sure it would. Gibson’s patent apparently involves playing an instrument of some kind along with a pre-recorded concert while wearing what is described as a “3-D headset,” so there seems to be some overlap, but we’ll see what the court says — something tells us explaining Guitar Hero to the judge is going to be relatively amusing.

Update: On reading the patent, Gibson’s system is designed to be used with a “musical instrument” — and no matter what the Guitar Zeros have to say, we don’t think Guitar Hero controllers really qualify. It’ll definitely be interesting to see what the court has to say about that, no? [Thanks, Matt G.]

Disclaimer: Nilay’s a lawyer and a decent Guitar Hero player, but he’s not your lawyer, and none of this is legal advice or analysis.

Read - Article on lawsuit
Read - Gibson patent

source:engadget