"Rhythm game fans seem to be in a tough spot. It used to be that we could just buy whatever interested us, and that was that. Now, as new peripheral after new peripheral gets manufactured (of the same instruments), there's a problem: we're running out of space. Not all of us live in big, swanky mansions (or even small, cozy houses for that matter). Another problem? Money. Faux guitars and drum sets don't come cheap, so buying multiple game instruments isn't very economical."

Can't say that I don't agree with that. Soon we gonna need a full room just for our Wiis.

Full Story: http://www.gamenewsdirectory.com/news-details/56877-konami-wants-music-peripherals-to-be-universally-compatible

Bah! Communists, pfft.

This sounds like it could benefit many players. What's the point in buying Separate peripherals for different games, if they could easily be compatible with one another?

Aren't the Guitar Hero and Rock Band guitars compaitible with each other (at least on 360)?

They are compatible only on the 360. The Wii and PS3 versions do not work with each other for various reasons.

Money. You'll have to shell out much more cash for 5 game-spesific peripherals than for a single universal one, even if the universal thing is more expensive.

In business, greed often overrides common sense.

 That sounded like his point.

From a business perspective it is better to sell one game then not sell one. Conflicting peripherals means fewer people buying your game due to the barrier for of entry being so high. More people are willing to pay 50/60 rather than 170. It is less business greed, and more malice and an attempt to drive your competitor out of business.

Bingo, it's the guitar hero vs. rock band war.  The companies make a bit of money on stand alone accessories, but you can find rock band for $150.  Stand alone accesories run $60 guitar/$50 drums/$30 mike.  So they can't make that much more of a margin by selling the bundle versus just selling the game.  It's a stupid game because there is enough rythum fans to keep both series going strong.  We'll see if Guitar Hero realizes this when they see that despite the fact that GH4 is superior to Rock Band, it will sell less due to people not wanting a second fake drum set.  (By sell worse, I'm excluding those that will get it just for guitar purposes).  They probably won't care because they'll still make tons of money.

For non wii systems I agree...

However, for wii owners it will probably be Rockband that sells less.  I know a couple of people that were going to get Rock Band for the wii (which it's late for compared to 360), and then I pointed out GH4 is only a few months away and better and the guitar from GH3 isn't compatible with rock band for the wii, and they decided to wait...