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PlayStation 3 News by Tom Bramwell
Activision has made it clear that the reason it is blocking the release of a patch to let PS3 owners play Harmonix/MTV's Rock Band with the Guitar Hero III controller it created is because it wants compensation.
"Unfortunately for Rock Band users, Harmonix has been unwilling to discuss an agreement that will allow us to provide that option in a manner that maintains the high standards people have come to expect from Activision," spokesperson Maryanne Lataif told The Boston Globe. "We believe we should be compensated for the use of our technology."
For its part, a Harmonix spokesperson said that it was "really and truly not looking at this from the financial standpoint". "We are looking at this from the consumer standpoint," spokesperson Spencer Saltonstall explained.
Whatever the motives of those involved, the result is that people who bought Rock Band for the PS3 cannot use their existing Guitar Hero III controllers and will not be able to do so until the issue is resolved. This has angered a number of people who have spent lots of money on the basis of promises of support and subsequently the promise of a patch. We spoke to Rock Band PS3 owner Tom Bramwell, who bought the package on import and has also bought a PS3 Guitar Hero III controller, to see what he thinks.
"I think they're all sods," Bramwell explained, handsomely. "The irony is that I only bought the Guitar Hero III PS3 controller so I could use it with Rock Band instead of the Fender Stratocaster bundled with the Harmonix game itself. In other words, I extended my custom with Activision in order to do a thing it is now prohibiting out of a desire to prevent itself losing my custom."
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Psychotext
20/12/07 @ 16:39
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They want compensation... THE F*CK*NG CUSTOMER ALREADY PAID FOR YOUR PRODUCT YOU CNUTS. What they do with it from that point on is their business, not yours.
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"Activision doesn't want those extra GH peripheral sales for some reason. Is it because they're stupid?"
On second thoughts, I expect what they would say (if their entire PR department hadn't vanished this week, for some reason) is that my comment above is wrong - that the desire for compensation and protecting the custom of existing fans are separate things. So perhaps my sarcasm is unfair. For some reason I still don't particularly feel like deleting it. |
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McBradders
20/12/07 @ 16:54
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Activision openly admitting they are greedy and silly in the same breath.
AWESOME! |
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Triggerhappytel
20/12/07 @ 17:05
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No that I can really blame their position from a business standpoint (why do anything to support Rock Band unless they get something back from it?), but Activision are being wankers over this.
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"you can't really blame Activision for taking a step against a direct competitor using their hardware"
But they make money from people buying their hardware! That is their compensation... they even hurt their competition because if people buy the GH3 controller then they won't need the RB one. They are just trying to make Harmonix look bad, and all they're achieving is making themselves look bad... |
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tonynibbles
20/12/07 @ 17:25
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Blizzard vision.
Guitar Hero III is just not good enough to compete with Rock Band, face it. |
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I agree with Activision: let's face it, almost everyone has now a Guitar Hero guitar but who has (in the USA of course) the Rock Band one?
Why a publisher should allow its hardware to work on a direct competitor software? It's plain stupid: you're helping another publisher in selling more copies of their game. A game that does exactly what your does. And you're also giving away the huge competitor advantage that you have: millions of compatible guitars already in millions of houses. No way I would give away for free such critical advantage (to be honest, I wouldn't give it away at all. They would have to give me a LOT of money, because you'll have to compensate for future income too). |
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@L42yB
I'm guessing their intention is to keep people playing GH by making rock band seem like an expensive choice (as you will have to buy the hardware again). Also, they probably WILL exceed in making Harmonix looks bad because the vast majority of player won't be reading the threads and won't know the history behind all this. They've chosen to try and defend their corner rather than risk the benefits of sharing the market (maybe because they think RB is superior). |
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If you allow people to use your hardware in other games... then there are more games that your hardware is compatible with.....
If there are more games that your hardware is compatible with, then more people will want your hardware.... In exchange for your hardware, people will give you money.... Money can be exchanged for goods and services. It's green, and is made from trees.... |
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Haven't we been through this already?
I thought that the GH3 guitar uses a custom dongle to connect wirelessly to the PS3 (instead of the native BlueTooth), isn't that correct? If it does, doesn't that mean that it uses a proprietary interface, which is developed / owned by Activision, instead of a standard API (as it happens to the x360)? If the answers to both questions is "yes" how can it be wrong to ask for some license agreement (compensation, if you will) before you share your technology? If Harmonix look at it from the consumer standpoint, why don't they hand over the cash? More over, does the Rock Band guitar work on PS3 GH3?
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 20/12/07 @ 17:36
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Eighthours
20/12/07 @ 18:18
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A short opinion article about the spat: http://pressstartblog.wordpress.com/2007...
I'm firmly on the side of Harmonix here. |
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PinkSpider
20/12/07 @ 20:14
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It's a spiritual successor surely. In the same way as Supreme Commander was. Harmonix do music games best and have freezepop.
= Win. |
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farticusmaximus
20/12/07 @ 21:02
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You may want to blame Activision but the truth is that Sony fucked things up by not agreeing a standard API for their bluetooth controllers, so blame must lie in equal proportions on the developers/publishers/platform. The proof is there in the fact that there is no problem with the RB/GHIII controllers on the 360. Dongles FTL.
Open standards are all very well until you venture into the world of consoles where standards are everything and 'open' means fuck all to mr. Joseph Public. Sorry if that sounds fanboyish, it's not intended to be. The problem would not exist on the PS2, a console I respected. Edit: I would like to add that I have just been on a christmas boozeup so may, or may not be, be drunk as a badger submerged in brandy for a fortnight then forcefed meths until ready to be spooned onto a christmas pudding and lit up like a focking Apollo moonrocket**. **Badgers may be substituted for ageing rockers and meths substituted for Jack Daniels but fock me if you put a match to my ass I swear by all that's holy I would headbutt the moon in less than 3 minutes.
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most recently on 20/12/07 @ 21:13
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"They want compensation... THE F*CK*NG CUSTOMER ALREADY PAID FOR YOUR PRODUCT YOU CNUTS. What they do with it from that point on is their business, not yours."
WOOOAH THERE! lets think fucking sensibly for a minute. Lets think about this in logical terms. Lets say microsoft could make halo 3 work on the ps3. Would they just release a patch to let ps3 users play it and get the extra sales even if it meant giving something away to the competition? No. Because that'd be an insane business decision. Why would you give your competition a part of your product - thus boosting their sales without any compensation? If you have GH3 and could use the guitar in rock band - you're in effect saying to every GH3 owner "hey - why not go out and buy rock band as well - you might like it more and spend more money on downloading their tracks instead of ours" If that's any of your's idea of "good business" then remind me never to go into business with you - as you'll be bankrupt within days. Sheesh. Think about it people! |
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No Smelly, Pyschotext is right! While your logic will work on an Iraqi Oil field, Activision needs to remember their roots and where they make their money from or they can rapidly become like Atari, bankrupt!
Sony needs to get their house in order. Just to reiterate... They want compensation... THE F*CK*NG CUSTOMER ALREADY PAID FOR YOUR PRODUCT YOU CNUTS. What they do with it from that point on is their business, not yours. |
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Machiavellian
21/12/07 @ 03:02
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@Lamb
You really are missing the point. Yes, the customer has purchased the device but just like any device you purchase, you are only entitled to what the device main purpose. Supporting another competitor who sells would definitely cut into your sells seems pretty silly. Yes, Activision can sell more GH Guitars but that’s not the purpose or the business model. I am sure Activision and Harm get way more profit off of selling the GH game not to mention the downloadable content. Giving Rock Band the key to the city for free means they have just given their competitor an advantage for free. This would be like Sony creating a patch that would allow the 360 to play PS2 games. Yes, Sony would gain some profit from the sell of those PS2 games even if they were bought to play on the 360 but that would mean their would be no incentive to purchase a PS3 or PS2. As someone has said, there are millions of GH Guitars out there. Harm developed and tested the wireless method they created for the PS3 system. Why should they not get compensated for the work they put into their product. Do you think sells of Rock Band mean more sells for GH with this patch. If anything, this will decrease sells of the GH game. |
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Sl1pstream
21/12/07 @ 06:14
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But that's the point. They are being compensated for their work through GHIII sales. The patch is made by Harmonix, for their game. There's no extra work for Activision in there.
They're being dicks because they can. They've got a ton of franchises so they're an important publisher. Sony knows this so they're giving them what they want, even if it's a dick move. |
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"But Harmonix has already created a patch so that the Guitar Hero guitar will work with Rock Band. They are just not allowed to release it."
disc, they *may* have developed this patch based on Activision's proprietary API code, which Harmonix doesn't actually own or license. Even if they have already contributed to this code in the first place (when they were in charge of GH), it *might* not be theirs to use for free anymore... |
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GH3 and the guitar are for .. yes.. you guessed right GH3 ....
activision never promissed the guitar would work with rockband... harmonix promised this... he microsoft, sony sead you're controller would work on the ps3, why doesn't it? it's a stupid question isn't it.... the blame is not with GH, they would be mad to make the guitars compatible. loos all that money from dc, it's said a lot of times in this thread. from a consumer standpoint it would be nice. for activision it's anightmare. |
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