Red Octane responds to GH2 X-plorer issues
With this week’s release of Guitar Hero II for the 360, reports started to surface before long about people having problems with their whammy bar. With Xboxic’s review unit also suffering and multiple reports on our forums, this could not be simply denied. Joystiq also noticed the problems and queried developer Red Octane for an explanation.
For those not in the know, the ‘whammy bar’ is the metal bar underneath the ’strings’ which allows you to modulate notes after they’ve been struck. In the game this nets you extra Star Power for use later. Since this is quite vital for getting good scores, it rather sucks if it fails to work 1 out of 3 times or so. Red Octane replied to Joystiq:
In regards to the controller, we’re currently in the process of having our internal QA and production teams look into this possible issue, and are working to quickly isolate this if there is one. In the meantime, we suggest our fans try to replug in their guitars without holding down any buttons or the whammy bar, and that may help immediately resolve the issue.
Meanwhile all reports about a recall are false, although future developments may change this. Hopefully Red Octane can sort it out quickly without having to recall all affected guitars. To check whether your guitar is potentially flawed, note that there are two versions of the guitar out: one with the RJ-11/phone pedal jack next to the headset plugs, and one with that plug next to the USB cord, which is the edition possibly affected.
Blockbuster ain’t renting this sale only
So hopefully by the time I buy it these problems will be resolved.
I have one with the plug next to the USB cord which appears to be the broken one. I have noticed it does not always work but not to the point that I have been hearing from some people stating it does not work at all.
Although mine works but not all the time, it is still unexusable especially dropping $90 on it. I will be taking mine back since I purchased the warranty but waiting to see if Red Octane plans to do anything first.
Its not just the 95055 Model.. I have two 95065’s and they are doing the same.. it works if I pull it all the way up , then whammy.. but thats a pain the butt.. and shouldnt be that way.
Oh come on, I bought two of the buggers…
Did you get them yet and you got the affected one? You gotta keep in mind, one of the guitar types is probably sold more than the other with the game. Hopefully the fine one gets to the most people.
Nah, I won’t have them until early next week. I hope they’re fine
i have the one with the phone jack on it…and the whammy bar does have some issues. from what i can see i have to have it set a certain way. and i dont know if im the only one that has played the ps2 version but when u try to activate the star power by tilting the guitar up it seems a little bit hard to activtae from the ps2 version
WOW i haven’t had any problems with my whammy bar at all
Likewise… Mine is in perfect condition. I am sorry to hear about everyone’s issue. I hope Red Octane or your local retailer will make it right.
I have two units, and both are not affected. My friend has one, that is affected. I remember reading that someone connected the guitar to his pc, and was able to notice full movement in his “defective” whammy bar. I was able to reproduce the same experiment with my friend’s defective unit. So hardware wise, all is fine. We also noticed that if you move the whammy to the oposite end before pressing down on it, is does work fine. This tells me the start position is not registering correctly. This problem should be able to be fixed via a patch to the game, and should not require a recall.
Mine’s working great fortunately.
The ironic thing is - real guitars also have whammy bar issues. Especially floating tremelos. Authentic or what?
As long as they don’t start making us restring the damn controllers,it’s fine… Freaking Floyd Rose system.
I fucking hate whammy bars.
Mine seems to be working ok with the whammy bar (as far) but the star power tilt is really hard to do without virtually throwing myself backwards!
Actually, no, as I got more used to the game I tried using it more, and it barely registers most of the time. Maybe one in four goes…
hahaha funny.
And hmmm i havent noticed any problems with mine whatsoever, and i have had no problem activating star power either.
I have two guitars and both work fine. No whammy issues and love the way it plays.
I do feel, though, for those who plunked down good money and had issues. That’s too bad…Hopefully Red Octane resolves this ASAP…
my whammy works “sometimes” :\ funny thing is that I have the supposed “working” model of the guitar with the jack on the bottom next to the headset plug… bah! hope it’s just a software glitch that can be patched easy peasy!
My buddy and I each have 1 with jack on the bottom and a buddy with the jack on the back. Each works the same. No whammy problems. No tilt problems.
I just find it funny there are two models.
The back of the game case shows the “defective” one with the jack by the USB cord and the instruction booklet illustrates the one with the jack by the strap and headset connector.
Nice and inconsistent.
Hmm, maybe I’m lucky? I haven’t had a problem with the whammy bar. I don’t remember exactly which model I have, as I’m at work right now.
That is just poor QA. It’s obvious that it comes from two different factories since they have two versions. This only means that someone wasn’t checking them against final software.
POOR POOR POOR, Since this is just a port and it’s not a Christmas rush, this is un-acceptable.
anyone know if theres a way those of us who havent bought it yet could check what version of the guitar we are getting without opening it yet? like say being able to check in the store? anyone care to see if they can find some sort of hint on their retail box. like a specific SKU or product id thing or something. idk. would be nice if i could check before i got myself into this mess with the rest of ya. sorry though, would be a bummer to have something like that on a game that most people were so hyped on. so let me know.
Mine is a bit flawed, seems to work sometimes but not most, works beter when I hit it hard, and as far as it will go, but then I don’t get much of a cool ‘whammy’ effect, and more of a bass one.
And Activision’s phone system is rubbish. I chose option 6, a ‘live operator’ then the thing went black and I just sat, quietly, for a few minutes before I hung up.
This happened twice.
the 2 different SKU’s as you’d like to say are NOT the problem… One is not better than the other… MINE is the supposed GOOD version… but the whammy is flaky… so there is no GOOD and BAD version of the guitar… both have the problem… i believe there is a software issue.
There may be a problem with a few but with internet fever people believe it’s all bad. Not so. Do a poll of people who’ve bought it and I bet most are happy.
no problem with mine I’ve been playing every day since release.