Mad Catz is Your Official Rock Band Peripheral Maker

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Mad Catz has announced that it has partnered with Harmonix to "produce and distribute Rock Band music videogame controllers for future iterations of Rock Band during the term of the deal, including the highly-anticipated Rock Band 3 for the Xbox 360(R) videogame and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation(R)3 computer entertainment system and Wii(TM) system from Nintendo."

Absent from this list is mention of a PlayStation 2 version, though it might not be a confirmation of no PS2 version as the PS3 and PS2 guitars for Rock Band games have been cross-platform.

Mad Catz has had success with its line of licensed Street Fighter IV and Super Street Fighter IV arcade sticks. The high-end sticks are made with arcade-quality parts and are favored by many fighting game fans.

It is not clear if this means that Rock Band 3 will feature entirely new peripherals or if Mad Catz is stepping in to handle physical production of the existing peripherals. Rock Band 3 was announced at GDC 2010 for release this holiday season. A PlayStation 2 version is not expected to make the cut.
From The Chatty
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    April 27, 2010 8:15 PM

    So Mad Catz makes good quality Street Fighter IV arcade sticks? It'd be nice if that level of quality extended to their third-party 360 / PS3 controllers and gaming mice.

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      April 27, 2010 8:45 PM

      I got their RB2 triple cymbal expansion kit and the clamps used to attach the cymbals to the drums legs were too big. I had to use rubber bands and paper to create girth so they'd stay. That's a pretty big oversight. I must say, other than that, they're pretty good - they still work, and I've beat the shit out of them.

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        April 28, 2010 4:41 AM

        Are you sure you didn't just put them on incorrectly? I know I had trouble with them staying in place until I found out I had them attached the wrong way so they didn't completely lock down.

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          April 28, 2010 8:55 AM

          Yeah, I'm sure. There were apparently a batch that came like mine. The clamps are large enough to clamp onto the thicker, lower portion of the legs, but you wouldn't be able to play them from way down there, much less put the cymbals on. Try to clamp them on the top and there's half a centimeter of space, so they fall.

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            April 28, 2010 9:05 AM

            Did a quick search to find where I had read about the manufacturer screwing up, and found this:
            http://boards.ign.com/rock_band/b11059/176982984/r177156359/
            "Setup was "fairly" easy once I figured out that you have to attach the clamps to the plastic base of the drum set (above the metal poles), I think people who complain about the cymbals sliding down are attaching them to the poles instead. "

            ... :(
            Will try this.

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        April 28, 2010 6:53 AM

        Unless the RB2 drum set or the cymbal expansions have changed since they were released.. it sounds like you haven't put them on correctly. Mine are clamped on so tightly (without extra modification) that I'm not sure they're ever going to come off!

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      April 28, 2010 8:24 AM

      at some point they were pretty shitty but they improve <3 my fightstick TE

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      April 28, 2010 11:37 AM

      They don't make good quality arcade sticks, they import the parts from japan. Both the Fightstick SE and TvC FightStick for the Wii are made by Mad Catz and the buttons are HORRIBLE they WILL break within a month of playing with it.
      The only reason the TE is liked by pros is because they use Sanwa parts, if they didn't no one would care.

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