When Rock Band was announced, it seemed like a fantastic way to diversify the band simulation game scene. Of course, Rock Band did a lot of things Guitar Hero didn’t, and was quite successful due to how well-developed the product was. It’s not surprising that Guitar Hero is adding drums and vocals too – it’s the next logical evolution, and lord knows Activision doesn’t want to fall behind in terms of innovation or ways to make money. But gamers are the ones that lose when the peripherals between the two games aren’t compatible with each other. They lose even more when a third game is added to the mix, now that Konami’s entering the fray with a title that uses even more instruments that don’t work with the other games.

First and foremost, the drums are a huge issue. Rock Band’s drums had four pads and a pedal, so Activision slapped an additional pad on to the Guitar Hero drums to make five. Rock Revolution will have a total of six pads.. Even if someone could afford each set of instruments to go along with his or her respective games (which is a stretch at nearly $200 a piece), the question remains as to whether that person desires to own all these products or even has room for them. None of the drum sets are massive on their own, but when you have two -- God forbid -- three of them, space starts to become a premium.

Also, the actual layout of each drum set is completely different. Are you already used to the Rock Band drums? Expect a learning curve if you intend to attempt to use the others and their additional pads. The guitar interface was functionally identical between Guitar Hero and Rock Band, so why can’t the drums be as well?

I’m not trying to bitch about innovation, or furthering the genre. These would be fantastic additions to the games if we didn’t have to purchase a new set of instruments, not only with every new series we want to try out, but every installment of each one as well. A standardized set of instrument features that works with each game would be amazing for gamers. The drums should be handled similarly to how the guitar is handled between Guitar Hero and Rock Band. The same buttons and same mechanics would make for the same comfortable experience if the walls of absolute competition would come down. The developers can still charge $50 or $60 a game, and around the same price for individual instruments if gamers choose to upgrade them.

As it stands, it’s too much for me to handle, and I can’t be the only gamer that feels this way. It’s too much money, the instruments take up too much space, and it’s too much of a hassle to keep up with all the changes. Competition breeds innovation, but it’s almost not worth it when it bleeds your audience dry. I’ll probably buy a real drum set with all the money these companies are asking me to spend; at least then I don’t have to worry about compatibility issues.