And it begins. It was a matter of time until the two competing music games butt heads. It seems that Activision has drawn first blood. There was a patch in the works that would allow the PS3 guitars to be used in the Rock Band game even though they were developed for GH3. The patch was created and is pending release, but Activision has objected to its release. This is a direct quote from the Harmonix Team’s letter to the public:

“As is the case with the Microsoft Xbox360, we believe that Sony PLAYSTATION 3 users should be able to use the peripheral of their choice with Rock Band. We sincerely hope that Activision will reverse its decision and allow release of the compatibility patch and further, that Activision will allow Guitar Hero III to support Rock Band guitar controllers as well. We welcome all third party developers who wish to support our controllers and will provide any required support in order for them to do so.”

Third party controllers and compatible peripherals are nothing new and only help the consumer not hurt it. Granted, this is only one side of the story, but it seems that Activision will be the bad guy on this one.