In a long-anticipated revelation following last month’s teaser, PDP has officially introduced the Riffmaster, a cutting-edge wireless guitar controller set to hit the market this spring.
The PDP Riffmaster comes in two distinct configurations, catering to both Xbox enthusiasts with compatibility for Series X/S and Xbox One, and PlayStation aficionados, with support for PS4 and PS5. Initial observations might draw parallels to the plastic guitar controllers popularized during the heyday of Guitar Hero and Rock Band, but a closer inspection reveals noteworthy innovations.
Notably, the Riffmaster boasts a thumbstick positioned behind the guitar, adopting an ambidextrous design, a 3.5mm audio jack, and an impressive promised battery life of 36 hours on a single charge. Noteworthy in its disassembly, the Riffmaster employs a foldable design, departing from the conventional two-piece teardown by avoiding the detachment of the guitar body and the extended neck, enhancing portability and storage convenience.
One detachable element of the controller is the pickguard, expected to offer various designs for customization, providing a thoughtful touch reminiscent of the way Guitar Hero and Rock Band players adorned their controllers with stickers for personal flair.
The PDP Riffmaster is set to be compatible with two prominent games: Rock Band 4, which recently concluded its final DLC release, and Fortnite Festival. However, the latter’s integration awaits an update from Harmonix enabling support for Rock Band guitar controllers. Once implemented, Fortnite Festival stands to gain substantial advantages from the inclusion of guitar controller support, especially given its current reliance solely on controllers and keyboards, creating a somewhat unconventional gameplay experience.
Luke Reilly, a colleague, expressed in his review of Fortnite Festival, “Fortnite Festival is just… Rock Band on a gamepad, and it’s a little like playing a light gun game on an analogue stick. Yeah, it works, but it doesn’t feel like quite the right way to play it,” rating the game 4/10.
While PDP has yet to disclose the pricing details for the Riffmaster, eager consumers can anticipate its release sometime this spring, promising an enhanced gaming experience for Rock Band 4 enthusiasts and the potential to revolutionize the gameplay dynamics of Fortnite Festival.
