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Activision Responds to Harmonix/MTV Accusations: Harmonix 'Unwilling to Discuss an Agreement'
by Chris Remo, Dec 13, 2007 9:09pm PSTActivision has sharply responded to statements made earlier this week by MTV Games-owned Harmonix that the Guitar Hero III publisher blocked the release of a patch intended to allow compatibility between Harmonix's Rock Band and PlayStation 3 versions of Activision's Guitar Hero III guitar controller.
According to Activision, Harmonix and MTV were the companies blocking progress--not Activision, its subsidiary publisher Red Octane, and Guitar Hero III developer Neversoft.
"The recent announcement by MTV Games/Viacom's Harmonix division that Activision is blocking Sony from releasing a patch and their plea to enable Rock Band software to work with Guitar Hero hardware paints a very misleading picture," reads the statement, released to the press tonight.
"In fact, Harmonix and its parent company MTV Games/Viacom recently declined Activision's offer to reach an agreement that would allow the use of Guitar Hero guitar controllers with Rock Band, the statement continues. "We have been and remain open to discussions with Harmonix and MTV Games/Viacom about the use of our technology in Rock Band. Unfortunately for Rock Band users, in this case Harmonix and MTV Games/Viacom are unwilling to discuss an agreement with Activision."
The nature of Activision's proposed agreement was not stated. "Activision's top priority is to provide consumers with a seamless marriage of best-in-class hardware and software. We are focusing our efforts on innovating hardware and software that are designed to work together, work flawlessly and provide an enjoyable gaming experience," concludes the statement.
Meanwhile, platform holder Sony Computer Entertainment has declined to comment in any significant way on the matter. "At SCEA, we of course want this resolved and to ensure the best possible gaming experience," the company said in a statement. "We encourage MTV, Harmonix and Activision to discuss this among themselves so there can be an amicable resolution in the best interest of the consumer."
Comments
Cheaper than buying a guitar, makes everyone except the consumer happy. What do we think? (I hate it)
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Is the rockband guitar really that crappy?
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Lets break it down for those who may not understand how things work...
Red Octane patents and releases a guitar that will work with their game. They made the game. They made the guitar. Is anyone upset yet? blame Activision yet? anything wrong with a company trying to introduce a fun game? ooooh wait is this activisions fault too?
Ok
Harmonix then releases their own version of a similar music style game with their own peripherals, including guitar, drums, etc. Activisions fault here? blame anyone for this alternative game coming out? anyone? Im waiting for all haters to jump in at any time here...
People then decide that they prefer the guitar from guitar hero, but want to use it for rock band. hmmm are we blaming activision yet? Noooo don't blame harmonix for a fine guitar or lack thereof. lets find a way to blame activision.... Harmonix must hack code to allow the guitar hero guitar which someone took the time to design and make and in order to utilize this persons idea (the maker of the guitar) they need permission and should by all means purchase rights to use this persons guitar (who again, needs to get paid). Soooooo, now is it fair to steal someones idea, so you can sell your game and not have to pay for someones idea for a guitar? what about the person who designed the guitar? credit? a pat on the back? something?
Whatever...im over it...
Rock on haters..... One day you might come up with your own idea and you may understand when another person gets paid for it and you get nothing, just how the world works.... good luck to you...
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I'm not entirely sure what allows Activision to prevent the release of the patch. If this functionality had been in the original master of the game they couldn't have done anything about it. Could you imagine how up in arms people would be if the patch also fixed something else?
Activision, this is a PR nightmare for you. You need to start looking like heroes right now. You're getting your asses handed to you.
the petty jab at the end was certainly low class though. why even do that? really?
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Dicks.
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They want money, and Harmonix/MTV don't want to pay it. This is activision being pricks, and they've just proven it even more. They don't want to "use our technology in Rock Band," they want to be able to use a generic wireless usb based device as input to their games. There's no code/library/etc they need to use, it's just a device ID code.
On the 360, RockBand controllers are SPECIFICALLY blocked from working in GH3. This is a proactive block by activision.
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I stand by this. The studios making hte games are innocent. What we have here are 2 faceless entities that own/publish them slugging away without regard to fans, only the bottom line. I am sure both parties have a piece of the blame, and Sony as well, mainly for their non-universal standards that enabled this situation to begin with.
The internet overreact? never!
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