Rock Band standalone instruments almost on the way

Between the Guitar Hero compatibility feud and the lack of standalone instruments, PS3 owners have had their share of uphill battles with Rock Band.

Harmonix and EA hope that PS3 owners will be a bit more alleviated with the announcement of the release of Rock Band's standalone instruments as well as their price. Both the drums and the guitar will start shipping as early as next month in the United States. The drum set will be shipping first with a price point of 79.99 USD.

Following the drum set's shipment, the Fender Stratocaster will be next in line shipping on April 1, with a price of 59.99. The Stratocaster and drum set will be compatible with both the Playstation 2 & 3 and will connect via USB on both systems. The announcement did not mention anything about a Rock Band branded USB microphone, but this is less of a concern to most PS3 owners as any USB microphone will work just fine with the system.

This announcement comes as a relief to PS3 owners as those who purchased the special edition bundle have only been able to rock with 3 band members as opposed to 4. This issue was caused because of the lack of standalone or aftermarket Rock Band guitars as well as a lack of compatibility with Guitar Hero's Wireless Les Paul Guitar.

Currently the only way to get your hands on Rock Band is by either buying the standalone software or the special edition bundle. The standalone game is not compatible with any previous guitars on the PS3 but works just fine on the PS2 with previously released guitar controllers.

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