In a move that can best be described as "woefully overdue," Harmonix today announced a patch scheduled to be released this Thursday will allow Gibson Les Paul controllers to be compatible with the PS3 version of Rock Band. This is a compatibility issue that has never affected the 360 version of the game, with all Red Octane-manufactured peripherals working on the Harmonix-produced game from day one. However, Activision’s refusal to allow Harmonix’s Stratocaster controllers touched off a cold war of peripheral compatibility that is just now being resolved. Thankfully, now PS3 owners who prefer the Les Paul will be able to utilize that particular plastic instrument for all their pretend-rock needs.

The update fixes a few more issues as well, most notably the freezing that occured for those who downloaded the PAX track pack. Harmonix determined that the issue was due to a bug in the MC Frontalot song “Livin’ on the Corner of Dude and Catastrophe,” causing the entire pack to malfunction. New tracks will be released Thursday, so anyone experiencing troubles can simply download the new versions and proceed to rock out.

Finally, this week’s update allows PS3 owners to export their songs in preparation for Rock Band 2. Sadly, you’ll just have to stare at the songs as they sit on your hard drive due to the fact that the PS3 and Wii versions of the game won’t be out until next month. Oh well, you’ve waiting this long, surely a few more weeks won’t kill you.

It’s a big week for PS3 Rock Band owners, time to celebrate by getting back to those songs you never finished and practicing them until your fingers bleed. Those are the dues you have to pay to be a fake rock star.