PS3 Guitar Hero: World Tour drums not Rock Band 2 compatible; Gene Simmons guitar controller not compatible with taste

Guitar Hero: World Tour has only officially been on shelves for a day or so now, but unhappy PS3 customers are already making a fuss -- the game's new drumkit isn't compatible with Rock Band 2. That's a major disappointment -- having redundant guitars because Activision and Harmonix can't play nice is annoying enough, but two drumkits is downright ridiculous -- and it's doubly irritating because Sony promised it would bring the hammer down and make sure all these peripherals were cross-compatible. The Xbox 360 kits seem to work with each other, so it's probably just a bug and Harmonix is apparently working on patch. In the meantime, you can probably take out your frustration with this crazy Gene Simmons axe-shaped guitar controller that's due out on Halloween -- we're not sure if we'd pay $80 for the privilege of pretending to be in KISS while playing a video game, but if you're in the Army, Amazon is taking preorders now.

Read - Guitar Hero: World Tour drums incompatibility
Read - Gene Simmons Axe Guitar

[Neon @ Oct 27th 2008 9:17PM]

For a split second I thought it looked cool, then I saw his little face leering at me, tongue stuck out like a panting dog with rape on its mind, and it just went downhill from there.

[Flashpoint @ Oct 27th 2008 9:27PM]

How bout a pair of testicles at the bottom.

[Killian @ Oct 27th 2008 10:00PM]

guitar gonads?

[r3loaded @ Oct 28th 2008 3:04AM]

Isn't this the guy who said, "Every little college kid, every freshly-scrubbed little kid's face should have been sued off the face of the earth."

Douchebag.

[Jarhead2012 @ Oct 27th 2008 9:22PM]

Looks like PS3 users got screwed again...

I've heard, though, that the GH drum set is really fragile...can anybody support/deny these claims?

[Drew Green @ Oct 27th 2008 10:09PM]

I can support that claim. My GH 360 drums have already broken since I purchased them on Sunday; twice.

Red Octane wanted me to pay to ship the drum kit back to them for repairs, which were supposed to take about 3 weeks. I said screw it, opened it up myself, investigated the problem, and fixed it. The wires that connect the circuit board to the drum pad are connected to the pad terribly. After a re-solder and throwing some Krazy Glue on top, it works well now.

That was on my green pad, yesterday. Today the same thing happened on my red pad. Same fix. Works well now.

[Ignatius @ Oct 27th 2008 10:22PM]

They seriously wanted you to pay for it? Christ, Harmonix still ships out brand new sets for free and as long as you return them, there is no charge.

[Drew Green @ Oct 27th 2008 11:45PM]

Just to follow up on my earlier comment, one of my cymbals started acting up this evening, too. The connection looked OK, but I re-soldered it just to be sure. Works better now.

The way these things were made, the wires are just barely soldered to the pad, and they are covered with some glue. The glue dried is more like a putty. I'm not surprised that the connections are breaking. After they break, the glue hold them together, but they don't register every hit since the only connection is glue holding the wire against the pad.

[cheng @ Oct 27th 2008 9:23PM]

i think this might be the first third party guitar hero guitar worth buying. it looks pretty badass whether you're a KISS fan or not.

[Dylan @ Oct 28th 2008 12:03AM]

I'm sorry:

No, no sir - it does not.

[maveric101 @ Oct 27th 2008 9:28PM]

how does the 360 drums compatibility work, given that GHWT has 3 drums and two cymbals while RB has 4 drums? seems like it would be awkward. also, RB drums is hard enough, dunno how hard the 5 buttons of GHWT would be.

[lowdef @ Oct 27th 2008 10:11PM]

no. kiss blows and this guitar looks like complete shit. there you go.

[lowdef @ Oct 27th 2008 10:12PM]

Dammit that was directed at cheng.

[Ignatius @ Oct 27th 2008 10:23PM]

Just imagine how insane Rock Revolution's is then. Explains the low score it's been getting everywhere.

[N74JW @ Oct 27th 2008 9:42PM]

Whatever! Get a real guitar and play...

[Anthony @ Oct 27th 2008 9:45PM]

OMG!!! You're the first person to say this and its opened my eyes!

[John B @ Oct 27th 2008 10:44PM]

GFY, Mayer. What are you doing on Engadget anyway?

[thethirdmoose @ Oct 27th 2008 9:45PM]

The title should say that it's only PS3...

[teddy @ Oct 27th 2008 9:46PM]

the gh world tour drums work with rock band 2 on the 360 you just dont get to use the orange cymbol

[Neebs @ Oct 27th 2008 9:46PM]

Rivers Cuomo would be very happy.

[rodsky @ Oct 27th 2008 10:50PM]

Kiss sucks

[Curious Mom @ Oct 28th 2008 12:23AM]

We're considering buying a drum kit for my son's GHWT for PS2 - would we be better off buying Rock Band drums instead?

[Evmeister @ Nov 6th 2008 7:20PM]

buy the guitar hero but wait a little bit because GH is going to put a patch in that will allow everything too work with eachother. Also, if I were you( I gotta lil bit of spare cash so I can spend it), I would buy both the games but just 1 bundle so then you get all the songs for only 260$. It's a pretty good deal if you ask me.

[ethana2 @ Oct 28th 2008 12:26AM]

"controller not compatible with taste"

I was going to go all "Hey, thanks for reminding me what site I'm on, Engadget.."
..then I saw the picture. ..and I actually think I agree.

[EdgeOne @ Oct 28th 2008 1:52AM]

GHWT should be a PS3 exclusive (and yet another reason not to own one)

[frankXchange @ Oct 28th 2008 3:32AM]

I used to totally rock to KISS man, then I turned eleven and outgrew them.

[Scotty Doo @ Oct 28th 2008 6:23AM]

Saw Kiss a few months ago @ Download 2008 in the UK.

What an amazing show it was!

Gene used a guitar like that, awesome!

[WT @ Oct 28th 2008 3:37PM]

I have rock band 1 drums will it work on GHWT?????? please reply to my email at [e-mail]

[Payton @ Oct 28th 2008 10:09PM]

Which Drum kit is better? Buying tomorrow and the best drum kit wins? GHWT or RB???

[ecros @ Oct 29th 2008 10:57PM]

does anyone know if the GHWT *GUITAR* for ps3 works for both rockband1 and rockband2?

[Marafcl @ Nov 1st 2008 11:11PM]

ok, so Rock Band controllers, drums and all do work with Guitar Hero World Tour, tried it with PS3. Guitar Hero world tour not as good with songs, but it works, rented the game to try it

[Scott G @ Nov 3rd 2008 8:32PM]

This guitar is great - some googling revealed an interesting behind the scenes story:
http://www.legacyengineer.com/portfolio-guitar.html

Looks like this company is the one who actually designed it for Gene Simmons - but the thing is - I2G/Gene stiffed them and never paid for the building of it. These people are the ones behind the Flashback 2 and other cool looking products as well - they build electronic works of art. If Gene played a concert - he'd expect to get paid, well these people built what looks like a great product, real shame that didn't get paid.

[Lisa @ Dec 8th 2008 10:44AM]

my son already has the drum set, now he wants the Guitar hero III drum set, does anyone know if the additional pieces will come out soon and can be added to xbox 360.

thanks

[laablaaa @ Jan 4th 2009 6:12PM]

gh3 only has guitar it will never have drums or microphone

[henry @ Dec 11th 2008 12:56AM]

i heard that rock band 2 drums can work on guitar hero world tour but im not sure if its true....is it?

[Video Artist @ Jan 15th 2009 12:24AM]

As musicians and songwriters, KISS are really pretty weak, but as far as live shows go, they blow just about everybody else away. I own no KISS CDs, but the concert was very cool. They have to be OK on some level if they can have been around 30 years and can sell mass produced guitars