Have you heard about the new game 'Entertainment Venue?' It sounds awesome! Depending on what day you play it, you do different things. It comes with a microphone, so you can do karaoke on karaoke nights. It comes with a dance mat, but not just any dance mat; it covers your entire floor so that many people can dance together. It's got drum kits, guitars, bass so you can play standard rock. That will be Wednesday nights. You can also get the piano peripheral, and the saxaphone (which detects how hard you blow while holding down the buttons) for jazz night. It also comes with a turntable, and strobe lights so you can turn your living room into a club. Drugs and booze will come in the expansion pack.

OK, I'm being a bit silly obviously. The music rhythm genre has been dominated, at least recently, by the Guitar Hero franchise, and Rock Band. In the wake of Rock Band, Activision have stepped up, and are including drums and vocals in Guitar Hero 4. They have also added a feature we haven't seen yet in this genre; being able to make your own songs. I don't really have an opinion on that, and I doubt I would use it, but it is still neat none-the-less.

Then Konami, who kickstarted the genres with Guitar Freaks and Drummania (so I understand; I don't know these games myself) a decade or so ago, recently announced Rock Revolution. Seems like the same feature set as what Guitar Hero 4 is aiming for, including being able to make your own songs. One point that may ruffle some feathers is all of the 40 planned songs are covers. That doesn't really phase me a lot, but it's still something. Gamespot's coverage didn't make it entirely clear to me, but looking elsewhere it seems that vocals will not be included in console versions (but will appear in the DS version). That's a far bigger detractor for me.

Now, Rock Band hasn't been released yet in Australia. Yes, we are still waiting to slap down our $450946 (my estimate, price not yet confirmed) when it arrives in September. I am still very keen to play this game. But if these other contenders get here about the same time (although knowing our luck, they will be delayed here just like Rock Band) I might have to reconsider. I mean, I can make my own songs with the other games. Like I said, I might not use it, but it's better to have the option than not.

So here is what it comes down to; cross-compatibility. I think Activision is moronic for locking out Playstation 3 users from using their guitars they may have had for GH3 on Rock Band. If it was possible, people might go and buy that extra guitar from you guys instead of the Rock Band Guitar. Or maybe if Rock Band was their first choice of rhythm game, they might buy a GH3 bundle to complete their Rock Band quartet instead of buying an additional Rock Band guitar. But that is hardly the cross-compatibility issue I'm talking about. I'm talking about drums.

Rock Bands drum kit has 4 pads and a kick pedal.

Guitar Hero's proposed drum kit has 5 pads (3 normal pads plus 2 cymbals) and a kick pedal.

Rock Revolution's proposed drum kit has 6 pads and a kick pedal.

I'm not going to say that those drum kits are not going to be fun to play, but I question their choice to design new kits that in all likelihood will not be compatible with other games. I think Rock Band really has the advantage here. Harmonix designed a guitar that in most ways was the same as what was already on the market. On the Xbox 360 at least, solo guitarists didn't need to buy any new gear if they had a GH3 controller, which I'm sure sold them more units than if such compatibility had not existed.

Rock Band also has the only drum kit currently on the market. Are those who forked out the biscuits on a full set of Rock Band going to be able to use their drum kits with Guitar Hero 4 or Rock Revolution? Not likely. Are those people willing to fork out for another drum kit to play a similar experience? That's debatable. I enjoy peripheral games because they are usually a new way to play. I own a dance mat, but I'm not likely to buy a competing game that is not compatible with the one I have. I'm interested in Buzz when it comes out on PS3, but I don't want Scene It for the Xbox 360. Do I think Scene It is a bad game? No, but I'm not willing to fork out for another set of buzzers to play a similar experience on a different console.

Similarly, these new proposed drums (which I guess still have time to change) do look interesting to play. I'm willing to fork out $400 (my revised Australian price estimate) once for the band experience. But I'm not willing to pay another $800 for two more slightly-different-but-still-quite-similar experiences. By introducing gameplay that will not be compatible with Rock Bands drums, I think these competitors are going to alienate the owners of the established brand. They'll just pick up Rock Band 2, because the other games are far less attractive options (unless Harmonix decide to change their hardware for the next iteration, which I highly doubt).

I must admit Konami's kit looks perfect for a whack-a-mole minigame though. That would be sweet.