X-Play's All-Access with Guitar Hero: World Tour

Broadcasting from GamesCon 2008 in Leipzig, Germany, X-Play gets an all-access pass to preview Rock Band 2's competitor, Guitar Hero: World Tour.

PlayStation 3 Music Peripherals Are Compatible

SCEA Director of Publisher Relations Michael Shorrock made a huge announcement on the PlayStation.Blog yesterday. 

Shorrock and his team have been working closely with Harmonix, Activision, Neversoft and Konami to "ensure that PlayStation 3 guitars and drum sets will all feature a basic level of gameplay compatibility".

And so, he announced that Guitar Hero: World Tour's guitar and new drum set will be compatible with Rock Band 2 and vice versa. What's even better news? Shorrock has gone even further to state that his team is "working hard to ensure compatibility between the Guitar Hero and Rock Band titles currently on the market".

For more compatibility details (including Konami's Rock Revolution and Sony's SingStar), check out the official PlayStation.Blog!

E308: 360 Guitar Hero: World Tour & Rock Band Instruments Compatible!

GameSpot has reported at the E3 2008 Activision Blizzrd press conference, Neversoft director Brian Bright announced that the company had programmed Guitar Hero: World Tour to recognize and adjust for Rock Band instruments. Bright explains:

"We use a five-channel input, and we've engineered the game to sense when you plug in a Rock Band drum set and switch to a four-channel input. The orange cymbal input in Guitar Hero [World Tour] automatically becomes the green fill or the blue pad on the Rock Band drum set, depending on what works best with the song. You don't even have to think about it."

The developer clearly informed GameSpot that Guitar Hero: World Tour will be compatible with Rock Band instruments. He did not confirm if Rock Band 2 instruments would work with Guitar Hero: World Tour. Furthermore, Bright has stated his comments only apply to the Xbox 360 version of Guitar Hero: World Tour. No word on PlayStation 3 compatibility.

For more details, visit GameSpot's full article here.

Guitar Hero: World Tour Demo at D6

Here's some highlights of the Guitar Hero: World Tour (aka Guitar Hero IV) demonstration at The Wall Street Journal Executive Conference, D6: All Things Digital. The demo includes a presentation Activision CEO, Robert Kotick.

(And yes, that is Tony Hawk and Paula Abdul.)

Guitar Hero IV Adds Drums & Vocals; Drum Kit Revealed!

According to the forums at NeoGAF, the latest issue of Game Informer has revealed details on RedOctane's Guitar Hero IV. The fourth installment will add drums and vocals. I would assume to compete with rival Harmonix's Rock Band. GH IV will also feature a create-a-song, but no vocals will be allowed in the mode due to copyright issues. For more details check the NeoGAF forums here.

Included in the issue is a shot of the official Guitar Hero IV drum kit (shown right). Instead of having four pads like Rock Band, the kit will feature 3 pads and 2 cymbals. RedOctane claims that their kit will be an improvement over Rock Band's kit, featuring quiter pads...