Rock Band gear to work with Guitar Hero World Tour

So, I just noticed, the folks at Wired have a sorta exclusive. The Xbox gear for Rock Band (Drums, guitars, mic) is slated to work on Activision’s upcoming Guitar Hero World Tour. That is HUGE news for the GH franchise. Since most fans of this type of game, likely already own drums and mics from Rock Band Special Edition, and are less than likely to fork over another ~$200 for the GH branded gear.

I have basically written off the GH franchise ( as you might be able to tell by the focus of this blog. Though, you know what……GH is now coming back on my radar.

A little history from me to you. I never owned any of the GH games. “Wha-wha-WHAT,” you say. That’s correct. In fact, I didn’t own a game system prior to the release and success of Rock Band. After playing RB for hours at a Best Buy, and then at a couple friends houses, I needed it. And it had to be on Xbox 360, so we could play on Xbox Live together.

So, why did I never get into Guitar Hero. Simple, I’m a drummer and singer. The RB drums are close enough to the real thing, that I’m actually practicing my drumming skills while gaming. Kind of a 2-fer-1, deal. Same thing with vocals on RB. For the guitar and bass parts, although they are fun….they aren’t like the real thing.

Ok, so you know my background. Now, back to RB vs. GH. If what Wired says is true, you can expect me to blog alot more about the upcoming GH World Tour (which between you and me, I have been reading a lot about, just not writing about it).

Here’s what Wired learned from Brian Bright of Activision: “Here’s how it’ll work. Speaking with Bright after the conference, I found out that the game’s five-button drum track, shown above center, will be compressed down to four inputs if a Rock Band drum controller is inserted.

There’s also a MIDI jack on the back of the drum kit, Bright said, which will allow gamers to play Guitar Hero with any electronic drum kit by simply plugging it into the controller. You can also hook up a second drum pedal if you want to play two bass drums.”

So, what are you thinking now? Do you own RB? Will you get RB2? (Of course you will). Will you NOW get GHWT? Will you get both games ($170 buh-bye)? Will you get new instruments?

What will get me to fork over $60 for GHWT, when I already have RB and guaranteed to get RB2. As of now, all features aside, and all hardware aside…….songs. If GHWT has a compelling enough setlist that I like to play, then I will get it. Though, it’s going to be VERY compelling with the 314 and counting (to date) known songs that will be playable once RB2 comes out.

So, talk to me. What’s your story?