Acti wants RB compensation

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."