p.s. a double kick pedal would make this way cooler

overdriven707

sorry guys, these drums are actually more "realistic" than rock band's drums. four pads just really doesnt cut it. and most 4 piece drum sets have exactly what this set has (only with more cymbals depending on the drummer) so this would actually be easier and more realistic to play.

overdriven707

@Krutch: Damn, that's just lame. How could they continue to make a similar game without stepping on each others' IP rights.

ripfire4

Woah, nelly. No offense to Rock Band, because I thoroughly enjoy it, but this drum kit looks a lot more like a drum kit. Incompatibility will keep me at bay for some time though.

ViewtifulJason

@Aneurism: Guess I did come off a little smarmy there.

combat chuck

Cymbals are cool and all, but what really needs done is a bass drum pedal that works right and doesn't break.

shadowthief0

@ripfire4: Here is how it goes I believe.

Red octane and Harmonix created Guitar Hero. Red octane held the rights to the title. Activision bought Red Octane. Activision made the other guitar heros instead of using Harmonix. MTV buys Harmonix so they make Rock Band instead.

Krutch

What, no floor tom? Fail!

Brian B

What, no pedal?!

(that's a joke, son.)

Harmonix and Activision can squabble over their controller interfaces all they want, but unless they agree to start standardizing a little bit, there's going to be a huge consumer backlash. The cost of all these peripherals is getting ridiculous, and the space constraints are already painful.

styrofoam

Rock Band has 4 drum pads and a kicker. 5 inputs.

GH4 has 3 drum pads, 2 cymbals, and a kicker. 6 inputs.

I suspect RB2 will have 4 pads, 2 cymbals, and a kicker! 7 inputs FTW!!

Along the same lines, since GH3 has Aerosmith, I expect Rock Band to come out with a special edition Def Leppard drum kit for one-armed players.

ackthbbft

I was at a local Best Buy trying to play Rock Band with my friend Ashley, we spent over 20 minutes trying to turn the stupid thing on and NOTHING. I then proceeded to throw the drum sticks... I was not a happy camper

carmen89

drums in a game named GUITAR Hero...nice one.

iPhony

They look stupid and the whole idea of GH using any instrument but GUITARS is retarded.

Harmonix is awesome, they created both GH and Rock Band. You can't beat them in this war!

Krutch

@HeartBurnKid: Not gonna solder anything. There may be a small market for someone who does want to make some sort of converter kit for this though. But it would have to be quite a bit cheaper than just buying these Playskool drums.

combat chuck

@combat chuck:

I have a question which has probably already been discussed at some point but I'm just now starting to pay attention: I'm a real gamer with an actual keyboard and mouse, among other pc peripherals. Is there a way to hook my kit up to one of these games if I wanted to shoot everyone? Perhaps through PS2 port or something? Just curious.

Aneurism

Can someone explain to me again why we have two games that are just way too similar?

ripfire4

Seriously, Activision, what's with the incompatibility? Do you guys think anybody's going to want to buy and keep 2 sets of overpriced toy instruments?

If you want to convert Rock Band's base, you need to let them use the gear they already have!

@combat chuck: Not really, but it probably wouldn't be too hard to rig up a MIDI port -> PS2/PS3 adapter. How good are you with a soldering iron?

HeartBurnKid

Nothing says I'm cool like a livingroom packed full of plastic 'instrument' controllers.

Gann

Looks like a typical cheesy entry level electronic practice kit.

I have a question which has probably already been discussed at some point but I'm just now starting to pay attention: I'm a real drummer with an actual Yamaha electronic drum kit, among other percussion instruments. Is there a way to hook my kit up to one of these games if I wanted to play? Perhaps through MIDI or something? Just curious.

combat chuck

Rock Band FTW indeed.

GH is done for, GH3 was way too lame for me to want to go back to that series.

wheelsoffire

They look cool, but I think I will definitely plan on waiting to see what Harmonix comes out with next before buying yet another fake drum kit.

xerograde

To much stuff. I'll stick with normal Guitar Hero, and real guitar...

and cowbell hero, still holding out for that.

Tayng

I agree with Munch. Rockband all the way.

Those Guitar Hero drums look alot cheaper then the Rockband ones.

Sergeant JoKer

Rock Band - FTW

Munch

I just grabbed a couple more songs for Rockband last night from XBL, all total there are about 120 songs available for download. GH3 has about 30, Rockband FTW indeed!

What's the point of cool controllers if your not going to provide cool content?

Epaminondas

So, Harmonix sold the Guitar Hero franchise to Activision and went off on their own to make Rock Band which was hugely more successful. Then Activision gets jealous and tries to copy them...? lame

demonspawn2578

Too many friggin' controllers for my taste. If these worked with the RB drums I already have then great, but since they don't I'm going to continue playing GH with, what else, a guitar.

surfer88

So funny... The Activision studio I worked at developed this over a year ago (2-3 fully playable songs) and the executives canned it. Now it looks like they've pulled their head out of their asses... just too late. Typical executives...

Geist420

no more fake instruments please... im gunna need a whole room just to store them all

daversW

@overdriven707:
Then people could play TTFATF or any other dragonforce song. W00t.

th4tkid

Well i like it.

th4tkid

It's good to see a separate hi-hat, but I'm worried about the toms. I think it would be awkward to do a fill if the blue and green pads on that set are supposed to be the rack toms. The kick pedal also worries me, since it's not fixed in place like the rockband one is. Unless they have some good anti-slip pads on it, it's not going to be very fun on a hard floor. I hope in the future they start putting a hihat pedal in also, since that is probably the primary element that will confuse anyone playing these games when sitting down at a real drum kit. At least, that was my experience, having never played real drums before.

misterblendy

They are really trying to outdo Rock Band. At a certain point this accessorizing is going to get ridiculous.

oopl

Does the upgraded one come with a better groupie? Cause the one that came in the box was very inactive, almost dead like. I think I one that will scream while I play and then throw her bra and panties at me when I hit 90% accuracy.

LoganSix

Oh yea, those cymbals are not going to break off...

This thing looks even cheaper and tackier than the Rock Band drum set.

berribrand

I dont really want two sets of fake drums in my living room either, however master tracks from Van Halen and Sublime might just break me.

murph

@overdriven707: I beg to differ. No one in their right minds plays the ride cymbal that high. This is just a glorified 2-crash-cymbals drum kit with a snare and 2 toms, if you look at it in a conventional positioning schema. The hi-hat (if it is the red pad) is even more in a central position than in Rock Band, which wasn't far enough to the left to be able to play cross-armed. This is more apparent in fast snare/hi-hat songs like Blackened and the Earache Thrash DLC songs. No 2nd pedal is also lacking, be it for open/closed hi-hats or double bass drum. Don't be fooled by this drum kit, I think we will see even more "pad-to-drum-sound" conversions, mostly when you have hi-hat/snare combinations transitioning to tom-tom rolls. The colors could lose their meaning and keep swapping around. In any case, like stated earlier, logically they would want to put the ride cymbal on that upper-right cymbal pad, and not in a longshot would I play like that. My 0.02$

EganKestrel

no guitar hero for me, rock band all the way!

but i do like the cymbals. if rb2 comes out with 4 pads, 2 cymbals, bass pedal, & hi hat with pedal, then they get my undying loyalty, and that of anyone else I can convince. Plus, if they do have that, who can challenge their seat as the king of "band" games?

sqrlking

Just have to mention that this drum kit is not a copy of rock band - this is the drummania drum kit - the video game that did it all first (in japan mostly). Red Octane (guitar hero) was the company that tried to bring drummania to the US.

SagunaKabobulator

@qwijybo:

Ahh good work, that should do the trick for now.

Tayng

@tayng its not cowbell hero but it might hold you over until its released [www.vml.com]

qwijybo

I played Rock Band for the first time about two weeks ago (late to the party as ususal) & it was insanely fun. There is no way that I would dedicate enough living room space to have two sets of fake instruments.
Are the guitars interchangeable?

rexplex

I am still sticking to Rock Band thank you very much. I have complete faith in Harmonix and have lost interest in the GH games.

jake18oly

Sorry. I'm not spending another $150+ to upgrade from GHIII to GHIV. Rock Band FTW.

TVGenius

Owning only a Wii I have the distinct advantage of choosing one or the other as neither one is out yet! Assuming GH doesn't screw us out of using our less than a year old Wii GH3 guitars I'll probably stay with GH and buy these drums and a mic. Sorry Rock Band.

t10phoenix

needs more cowbell.

roflwaffles

If rock band really wanted to demolish GH, for RB2 they should include some sort of (optional) clip on cymbal pad(s) for the drum kit. That way people wont have to buy another set if they wanna play RB2. Because you know after this, Harmonix is gonna add some sort of cymbal for the next release of their game.

makalaka

@makalaka:
true true. Rock Band 1-upped GH with their reverse-compatible guitars, I bet they'll do it again for drums.

kaneshadow

@makalaka: same thing I was thinking. A simple add-on and they will win a lot of gratitude from their fan base.

The GH4 set looks cheap and not that stable to me. I'll be skipping it.

psychopanda