For those about to ROCK, check this list and see if your guitars will work first

Instrument compatibility has been a bit of a sticking point between the Rock Band and Guitar Hero franchises, with last year’s plastic guitars being incompatible with their competing product on all consoles except the 360. And with Activision doing all they can to whore their series, confusion could very well be in place for less educated gamers. That’s probably why compatibility charts have cropped up on the official Guitar Hero community forum.

The charts show which instruments will function in which games (at a playable capacity, at least) and lists the products for both Rock Band and Guitar Hero. They even tossed in the ION drum kit for those who are willing to make the hefty investment. No other third-party instruments are listed, which probably isn’t a big deal for the discerning consumer with class who knows what to buy, but could leave some people scratching their heads if they’re foolish enough to invest in somebody else’s guitar peripheral.

As should suprise nobody, Wii users are getting the hardest shaft, with neither set of instruments having any cross-game compatibility at all. Once again, it kinda sucks to only have the little waggle machine as your only gaming option.

Check out the gallery for each of the compatibility lists.

[UPDATE: As many of you have pointed out, this list is woefully wrong. Some combinations listed as working do not, while others that are said to be incompatible are perfectly fine. It’s a little ridiculous that the “official” list from Activision is so riddled with errors, but I suppose we probably shouldn’t have been surprised. Sorry for any confusion this may have caused.] 

[Via Kotaku]