January 2012, Anaheim, CA - MadCatz the preeminent gaming accessory supplier was at NAMM with their relaunch of the RockBand3 platform. They have acquired rights and have taken over the role of publisher for the game from Harmonics to expand the peripherals and the music content for the latest generation of RockBand3. They are releasing their peripherals for the Wii/PS3/XBox platform.
The Rockband3 platform has new software and added new devices - Midi support, a keyboard and most importantly new guitars and guitar modes. In addition to the Fender Mustang Pro guitar with built in controller, they have added a play along and learn to play guitar. In Pro mode or learn to play mode, the guitar (which is based on the Fender Stratocaster) has a control button where the 6 strings would be between every fret (yes a whole lot of buttons). The game play now includes all of these controls as requirements and the position of the buttons corresponds to actual sting and fret combinations for a real guitar. The controller, in free play mode, acts a a mdi style controller and can be used to practice with playback.
In addition to the guitar, there is a standard midi interface keyboard for the game and a Midi Pro adapter that allows for connecting real midi devices to the games. These devices include full size keyboards, electronic drums and midi-guitars/basses. These devices can be used with GarageBand thorugh the Midi interface.
All of these devices are available now, and we will have several of these products with in-depth reviews in the coming months.