Wireless Guitar Hero 3 controller functions with PC version

by Ludwig Kietzmann { Nov 9th 2007 at 3:00AM }

First, the good news! The Xbox 360's sleek, wireless Gibson Les Paul controller that made its debut with Guitar Hero III has been confirmed by the wonderful folks at Shacknews to be fully compatible with the upcoming PC version of Activision's rhythmic rocker. It's not "officially" supported by develo-porter Aspyr, mind you, but you'll find it works just fine for setting those frets on fire -- all you need is the Xbox 360 Wireless Gaming Receiver.

The bad news (don't be shocked, we alluded to this in the first paragraph!) is that Guitar Hero III's PC variant, which releases November 12th, already comes packaged with a guitar, namely the Gibson X-plorer which accompanied Guitar Hero II on the Xbox 360. It's uglier, it's wired and simply won't let you play the game from ridiculous and impractical distances! It seems the Gibson Les Paul is only a worthwhile option if you desire a second controller or if you can track down a standalone version of the game. Can't you help out with this, Steam?

Tags: Activision, Aspyr, GH3, Guitar-Hero, GuitarHero, GuitarHero3

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

INCH75 Vocals @ Nov 9th 2007 3:25AM

That's a nice added bonus.

colin @ Nov 9th 2007 3:39AM

im sure bittorrent can help, ludwig.

velocitystrike @ Nov 9th 2007 4:03AM

what's bittorrent?

=|

colin @ Nov 9th 2007 4:22AM

a slippery slope =|
j/k see http://www.google.com

velocitystrike @ Nov 9th 2007 4:55AM

I knew this, I was alluding to the idea that it didn't exist...

*cough*

Ah well, my "humour" is wasted on the internet

colin @ Nov 9th 2007 5:01AM

don't beat yourself up ... sarcasm is so hard to put a finger on while inside the internet. i will know next time. for some reason i thought you might have misunderstood "bittorent" as "bitterant" ... the stuff they put in keyboard duster so that you don't inhale it ... bastards.

colin @ Nov 9th 2007 5:27AM

oh WAIT!!!

humour???

get out of here, brit!

j/k, women w/ british accents really get my goose.

Andy @ Nov 9th 2007 4:50AM

why would you want to play the game on pc again when you already have it on the 360?

Dreamcicle @ Nov 9th 2007 5:37AM

Better graphics.

Einhanderkiller @ Nov 9th 2007 6:30PM

Custom songs! (At least more easily playable custom songs. You can get custom songs in GH2 on the PS2, but it requires a modded PS2.)

ScottyGEE32 @ Nov 9th 2007 5:50AM

Yeah because better graphics is the key point of the game >_>

Sentry Gun (Jesus) @ Nov 9th 2007 6:55AM

the entire guitar hero series revolves around graphics ya know

Dreamcicle @ Nov 9th 2007 8:11AM

Yeah, 'cause I wasn't totally being sarcastic.

Gangsta Smurf @ Nov 9th 2007 9:17AM

There goes that elusive 'sarcasm' again.

deaftly @ Nov 9th 2007 4:07PM

there goes my nipples again

DWells55 @ Nov 10th 2007 3:01AM

Holy crap, the legendary ScottyGEE posts on Joystiq?!? All hail one of the greatest Halo modders of all time!

'sup Scotty? How long you been lurking around Joystiq?

grim-one @ Nov 9th 2007 5:56AM

I'm gonna get my Wii GH3 guitar working with Frets on Fire!

JonFitt @ Nov 9th 2007 8:52AM

The Wii controller might be a bit difficult to get working.

maisp @ Nov 9th 2007 6:53PM

Actually the Wii guitar is very easy to get working with Frets on Fire. All you need is a bluetooth receiver for your computer (wiimote is a standard bluetooth device) and GlovePie to map the buttons. When connected to the wiimote, the guitar is basically recognized as a Classic Controller. Google it.

Sokkratez @ Nov 9th 2007 7:24AM

Here's hoping that Activision and Steam make it happen.

Joe @ Nov 9th 2007 8:35AM

Having checked those "minimum" specs on the Aspyr website the graphics had better be amazing!

Ghen @ Nov 9th 2007 8:34AM

I really don't understand playing GH3 on the PC... except maybe for create-your-own content?

My sound systems are similar, PC to TV. But my TV is 4x bigger than the computer monitor.

def PD @ Nov 9th 2007 9:27AM

Any confirmation on whether the PS3 GH controller works on the PC?

NickDynmo @ Nov 9th 2007 10:03AM

I think the 360 Les Paul only works because of the connectivity between 360 controllers and PCs. Remember how, if you have the proper wireless connector, you can use 360 controllers for Vista games?

Jon @ Nov 9th 2007 11:07AM

Yep, I suspect the PC version will be popular for the create-your-own content crowd. Can you imagine this turning into something like Stepmania (minus the open source app of course...). Oh, I guess we've already got Frets On Fire, maybe we don't need this at all?

And I suspect (and hope!) some bright spark will crack support for the Wii guitar. GlovePIE lets you map Wiimote buttons to PC key presses so, assuming GH3PC supports keyboard play, it may be that there's actually no work required at all :-)

why not the LS2/LS7? @ Nov 9th 2007 11:26AM

I'm guessing the PS3 one works too, and without buying the additional MS receiver. All you need is a USB port.

why not the LS2/LS7? @ Nov 9th 2007 11:40AM

Yeah. I just tried it on my PC, it shows up as a regular old HID device when you plug it in.

The D-pad shows up as a the point-of-view hat, the flipper also shows as up and down on the POV hat. The 5 frets, select, start and PS button show as buttons. The whammy bar comes in as the Z-axis analog input.

Oddly, there are X, Y and rotation axis that you can't seem to affect, maybe one of them is accessible with the foot switch input, but I'm guessing that a these are mostly there due to sloppy programming of the HID interface by Red Octane.

But anyway, I can use this to play games on the PC, so it'd be surprising if I couldn't use it to play GH3 on the PC. I'd expect the wireless PC controller to be essentially identical.

Dark @ Nov 9th 2007 11:44AM

the PS3 guitar does indeeed work. It plug and play . It works 100% with frets on fire.

mmendoza27 @ Nov 11th 2007 12:21PM

Great! Now, I was interested in using Frets of Fire and now I can thanks to my PS3 controller.

Does anybody know when they are going to release a GH3 controller just by itself?

edisinsane @ Nov 16th 2007 12:00AM

i just tried the ps3 les paul on the pc ver of gh3...

but no luck :(...strange, too, if you open game controllers in the control panel, it shows up as "Guitar Hero3 for PlayStation (R) 3", yet the game doesn't support it

i tell ya, there's a bit of favoritism in microsoft's direction from activision

monkeymonkeymonkey @ Nov 9th 2007 3:11PM

What kind of adapter do I need to get my Xbox 360 Les Paul to work on my PC? I like the fact I can make my own songs. I want to play some 311 music!! :)

OTAM @ Nov 9th 2007 6:41PM

Here's a question. Does the wireless PS3 guitar work on Guitar Hero 1 and 2 (playing the old games on my PS3 of course)?

edisinsane @ Nov 16th 2007 12:01AM

unfortunately, not...when you start gh1/2 (or any ps2 game) the system asks you to press the ps button after the game loads, but the ps button on the les paul doesnt function the same way as the one on the sixaxis

matt @ Nov 19th 2007 12:24AM

OK ive got a question. Has anyone gotten GH3 PC to work with a PS2 guitar hero controller? I have a PS2-USB converter and it works great on frets on fire, but it wont work for me for GH3 PC....Anyone know if and how this can work?

DocMcJansen @ Nov 19th 2007 2:17PM

@ Matt

I have exactly the same problem and I couldn't figure it out..seems just not to work :(

DocMcJansen @ Nov 20th 2007 7:01AM

@ Matt

Problem solved! just use this tiny tool joytostick (google for it) and remap the keys from your keyboards to the joystick (=guitarcontroller). Works perfectly!!

mattizm @ Nov 23rd 2007 6:20PM

Can't get the whammy bar to work, everything else works fine with JoyToKey

crem @ Dec 7th 2007 6:06PM

how do i set up my ps2 guitar to work on the PC?

DocMcJansen @ Nov 19th 2007 3:01PM

Arrghhh..my bad...the tool is called: Joytokey ofcourse...not joytostick...typo..sorry...

y halo thar @ Nov 19th 2007 8:14PM

Another program to use is Xpadder, however, it seems I can't get the whammy bar to work :( [I'm using the Guitar Hero I Controller]

DocMcJansen @ Nov 23rd 2007 7:17PM

Well..I just use the keyboard (ALTGr) for the whammy bar...well not the best solution but it works for the game...

Rachel @ Dec 5th 2007 2:39PM

I saw some reviews of the PC version saying that you can't use two guitars with that version, that the second player has to use the keyboard. Is this true? Does anyone have the pc version and have it running 2 player mode with 2 guitars?

knight @ Dec 21st 2007 6:16AM

I have PS2-USB converter n guitar mania freedom v.. its wireless.. but i cant get it work.. anyone please?

KingGreat @ Dec 23rd 2007 11:45PM

Sorry for a newb question but...I'm buying the Guitar Hero 3 bundle for PS3 and I wanted to know if the guitar from Guitar Hero 2 (PS3 version) would work as a second controller. It would make sense to me that it would, but I wanted to make sure they both have the same buttons, etc. They want an awful lot of money for the GH3 Les Paul version, and I'm unfamiliar with the game and accessories. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

Marsuvees Blak @ Jan 2nd 2008 9:02PM

I have GH3 on PC, i have two xplorer controllers and they both work fine for two players. Careful though, playing multiplayer can get the game quite skippy from processing both fret lines if your pc has a piece of crap AMD Sempron stuck in it. Bleck!!!