Sexy shots of Xbox 360 Rock Band USB hub

46 Comments by Kyle Orland Oct 30th 2007 11:40AM
Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, Rhythm

Some may think Rock Band's Fender Stratocaster-inspired guitar is the sexiest thing in that ~~$200 box~~ [correction: $170 box!], but they're forgetting about the USB hub that Xbox 360 players will be using to plug in all those wired instruments. We have to admit, we got a little hot and bothered when we first spied the above picture of the sleek, stylishly-designed four-port hub.

1UP has even more naughty, gratuitous shots of this bad boy, and baby oh baby, they are smoking. We just can't wait until we get to fondle that hot piece of tech for ourselves come Nov. 20. *Drool*

Update: We just noticed that this hub seems to require external power from an A/C adapter wall unit. Significantly less sexy ...

Tags: 360, hub, rock band, RockBand, USB

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(Page 1) Reader Comments

FOXHOUND: Oct 30th 2007; 11:47AM

Four slot dongle love.

JodyAnthony: Oct 30th 2007; 12:00PM

hahaha

everything is funnier with the word 'dongle'

kinshadow: Oct 30th 2007; 12:32PM

@Jody

Actually, I like the word "slot" more.

Shagittarius: Oct 30th 2007; 12:37PM

I knew this hot slot once, I gave her my dongle.

jorojoserojas: Oct 30th 2007; 8:06PM

LMAO

+1 to Shag

FrankTheCrank: Oct 30th 2007; 11:52AM

Wires? Wires? Are you kidding me?

You guys cried because the PS3 GH would have an RF dongle that had a 3 inch wire from the USB port, and now the XBOX has this USB hub but that's "sexy".

Balla360: Oct 30th 2007; 11:58AM

Not to mention this hub requires an additional power cord - that's right, the ports aren't powered by the 360.

JJ Rooster: Oct 30th 2007; 12:01PM

The PS3 version of RB will need a hub too for the 40GB users. And they have to buy it separately.

Phranctoast: Oct 30th 2007; 12:02PM

comeone FrankTheCrank.

we all know why that is.

rivaldi22: Oct 30th 2007; 12:03PM

To Frank, the sexy comments were sarcasm.

To Balla, the hub may need an adapter, but if the ports on the 360 don't supply power, then how the hell do they charge a controller battery?

JJ Rooster: Oct 30th 2007; 12:04PM

The PS3 versions will have all these same wires, and a 40GB user has to buy his own hub! It's gonna be ugly on both systems and require a roadie to manage cables!

Zertoss: Oct 30th 2007; 12:05PM

Powering 4 controllers on a single USB port is a good way to burn up your USB port. A powered hub is the only smart way to do a wired setup.

NATO_Duke: Oct 30th 2007; 12:05PM

Rivaldi - exactly what I was thinking. If they power the controllers, they can power this.

JJ Rooster: Oct 30th 2007; 12:06PM

+1 for the comment system! geez

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School): Oct 30th 2007; 12:12PM

Nope, Zertoss is right. If you try and power 4, 5 volt devices off of 1 5 volt feed, its going to have to increase the current, which will burn up your USB port/USB controller over time.

Slaziman: Oct 30th 2007; 1:11PM

Man you are a really sucky troll, GTFO...

ssuk: Oct 30th 2007; 1:32PM

FrankTheCrank approached this all wrong. It's not "hurr wired USB", it's; "For the love of god MS, give up that propiatry wireless standard and let 3rd parties have wireless peripherals."

Quastor: Oct 30th 2007; 12:01PM

$200? The price of Rock Band has been confirmed to be $169.

http://www.rockbandstore.com/detail.php?p=45250

Syko360: Oct 30th 2007; 12:01PM

The game isn't a "$200 Box" the game is $169.99, The writer couldn't even get this well known fact about the game correct. Simple oversight or Guitar Hero Fanboy...You decide.

rivaldi22: Oct 30th 2007; 12:03PM

Simple oversight.

NATO_Duke: Oct 30th 2007; 12:07PM

On a witch hunt today? Not everything equals a sign of fanboyism. In fact, the article doesn't even mention GH.

spoo: Oct 30th 2007; 12:02PM

I wish it was black instead of clear. Am I just being picky?

rivaldi22: Oct 30th 2007; 12:07PM

Solution.

rivaldi22: Oct 30th 2007; 12:08PM

Haha, sorry, I forgot the URL.

http://www.markingpendepot.com/ProductImages/SharpiePaintAsst-L.jpg

Slaziman: Oct 30th 2007; 1:02PM

If at once you don't succeed, you fail.

rivaldi22: Oct 30th 2007; 2:11PM

Like how you failed that quote? ;)

Portal was awesome, though.

ssuk: Oct 30th 2007; 4:05PM

That's the second time you failed that bloody quote. =/

Grant: Oct 30th 2007; 4:06PM

Unless my eyes deceive me, that appears to be white, not clear.
doesn't it make more sense to make a peripheral that matches the majority of the systems, instead of just elite? I'm sure if you really need a black powered USB hub you can get one on ebay or even compusa for $5.

spoo: Oct 30th 2007; 4:14PM

I was talking about the wire. It doesn't make sense to me to make the hub 3 different colors. The USB plug is black, the wire is clear, power cable is black and the hub is white. It doesn't matter to me much what color if it was all uniform.

XanthouS: Oct 30th 2007; 12:03PM

Joystiq...this is one of the major game releases this fall, is it too hard to keep track of its MSRP?

The Special Edition bundle is releasing at $169.99 for the PS3 and 360.

rivaldi22: Oct 30th 2007; 12:05PM

I'm definitely hooking this up to my computer and using the drum kit as a controller for a sampled drum machine.

Grant: Oct 30th 2007; 12:51PM

powered? That's pretty weak. You know, if they made a wireless reciever and had all the instruments be wireless then they would only need one thing to be plugged in, even though that would probably break the bank. Or even better they were going to go wireless they might as well go the extra mile and get the Ms certified wireless contollers and not have any USB recievr at all.

Slaziman: Oct 30th 2007; 1:06PM

And use batteries? No thanks.

Grant: Oct 30th 2007; 1:24PM

and thats different from current controllers how?

Between Wii controllers that use AAs and wireless 360 controllers that have shitty over priced battery packs,
anybody who hasn't already bought a bunch of AA recharables and a charger is an idiot who prefers to just piss money away on batteries. I'm sure it wouldn't be a hassle to all that many people.

Slaziman: Oct 30th 2007; 2:17PM

Because unlike controllers you don't move around with your drum set? -facepalm-

Seriously though, somehow wired seems better for this game, at least for me.

Grant: Oct 30th 2007; 4:00PM

Really? because i'm pretty sure that the developers think you will be picking up and taking your drum set to your friends house an awful lot if you plan to split the cost between you and 2 of your friends.

If your plan is to buy it, set it up, and never move it, wired works dandy. Considering you have to physically be there with your friends to play together to get the whole experience, i get the feeling people are going to be picking the parts up and traveling more than not. Wires = Hassles, and this game doesn't really need any more obstacles.

Grant: Oct 30th 2007; 4:01PM

Leo-Jay: Oct 30th 2007; 1:08PM

I imagine that if you're only using one or two controllers you don't need to have this plugged in, since you've got enough USB ports for that particular run. Since I plan to drumsolo most of my career away, this isn't a huge deal. I could also get a less conspicuous 4-port hub and put this to use elsewhere.

(Yes, I know the 360 has 3 USB ports. I sort of ignore the awkward one on the back.)

Shape: Oct 30th 2007; 1:18PM

Bus powered USB hubs can only deliver 500mA max to all of the ports on the hub. Therefore all of the devices plugged into the hub must be low powered devices, which is specified by the USB spec to be under 100mA.

If a hub is self powered (powered by a wall outlet), it can supply the full USB power spec to all the ports.

Most hubs can work in both bus powered and self powered modes. Simply unplug the device from the wall, and it is in self powered mode.

It is possible that one of the 4 rock band accessories requires more than 100mA. If it is only one of the accessories, you could probably plug that device into the 360 itself and plug the other 3 into the hub, and leave the power brick unplugged from the hub.

For that matter, it is possible that none of the devices is over 100mA, and that they will all work with an unpowered hub. But an unpowered hub wouldn't charge a controller, therefore it is best to include a powered hub in the package instead of fielding questions about why controllers won't charge in the hub.

This is all about USB specs.

My 360 can already handle all 4 devices since I have 2 ports on my 360, and 2 on my HD-DVD drive. :)

serotoninzero: Oct 30th 2007; 1:32PM

It's sad to say, but its going to be hell for me to find a plugin by my computer/360 that I could actually use to power all devices.

Paulypies: Oct 30th 2007; 2:18PM

unless you're playing the whole 4 player setup, or if you're using the wireless adapter you'll only need theis when its 4 player time, and i can imagine that you could easily get away without the power cord plugged in the hub if you just plug the drums in the back of the system, the 2 guitars in the hub and the mic in the other front usb on the 360

peeweejd: Oct 30th 2007; 3:40PM

that is the dumbest friggin thing I have EVER seen for the 360.

EA FTL

monkeymonkeymonkey: Oct 30th 2007; 4:29PM

Will the new Les Paul Wireless guitar that came with Guitar Hero 3 work on the Rock Band game??

Sieged Eagle: Oct 30th 2007; 5:18PM

In Rock Band you can use ANY controller from the GH series to play the game, but you can't use the RB's Strat to play GH.

I hope this answered your question.

neebick: Oct 30th 2007; 5:14PM

Personally, I was hoping they would some style to it and make look a mini amp. Also that cord looks really short, wouldn't it make more sense to make it long so that it can sit in front of all the players (so everyone is equal distance from the hub)?

Frankie_Says_Relax: Nov 19th 2007; 6:01AM

When I saw this, I immediately changed my reservation to the PS3 version. Not to mention - I only have the 20 Gig 360 HD. Wireless guitar, no USB hub + more HD space for song downloads. It just made more sense.

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