Well, maybe not the stage so much as the precious floor space in your living room. With Konami launching Rock Revolution, and Guitar Hero 4 including a drum kit, there is going to be less and less room in your living room unless you decide to pick a franchise and stick it out.

At least when it came to Rock Band and Guitar Hero, the guitars worked across games on the same console. However, since the new comers to the multi-instrument scene are bringing in peripherals with different numbers of drum pads, the question of compatibility across games looks to be leaning towards a no. The Guitar Hero 4 drum will feature three drum pads, as well as two cymbal pads, and a kick pedal, while Rock Revolution will be sporting a bevy of pads. Konami’s drum set busts in with one large circle pad, two smaller circle pads, and three triangular shaped pads [and don't forget the kick pedal on top of that].

Harmonix is all about there being a standard for their peripherals, so who knows what kind of tricks the three companies could have up their sleeves - it is possible that the two new games will map certain pads to match the Rock Band drums for back-compat. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem likely that the developers will go to the extra work for something that integrates with their competitor’s product.

Either way, it’s going to be bad enough with these new peripherals, but if the rumored/hinted at Rock Band 2 features any revamped instruments, you might have to buy a new house just to get your fix of instrument-based rhythm games.