Do Not Buy A Guitar Hero III Bundle

2007 October 28
tags: , , , , , ,
by CajoleJuice

So in addition to Red Octane and Neversoft being a bunch of douchebags and locking out the Rock Band guitar, they apparently can’t even make their own guitar controller work properly. The detachable-neck design should have set off alarms in my head, but I figured they couldn’t be stupid enough to fuck up something so seemingly simple. Why would they add the detachable neck unless they knew for sure it wouldn’t screw up the functionality?

Well, they did. People have been getting their GH3 bundles tonight and have not been happy. Of course, some (probably the majority) of controllers work fine, but the fact that there’s a significant number that seem to be defective is infuriating. With Rock Band coming out in a month, Guitar Hero might be totally fucked. Honestly, I was on the fence about which version of GH3 to get, but Justin convinced me to get the 360 bundle version. I wish I got the PS2 game-only version. I’m going to go to the Best Buy I bought the game from on Monday to see if I can exchange for the PS2 game-only version. If not, I guess I’ll just get a new 360 bundle and hope that guitar actually works.

My faux Les Paul guitar activates Star Power whenever it feels like it, usually the second I get it. If it doesn’t activate it right off the bat, I can’t even activate it myself unless I flail it around like a madman, and even then it usually kicks in a few notes down the road, if at all. And my problem isn’t even as bad as some others. Sometimes buttons don’t work or other ones are detected as pushed when they really aren’t. It all comes down to the detachable neck. So this is all versions, not just the 360. Nice job, Red Octane.

You can see some complaining here in a NeoGAF thread. There’s plenty going on at guitarhero.com as well. Here’s a gem I particularly enjoyed.

Thread title = Store exchanges/returns

There’s going to be a lot of them. I returned my first one within the first hour, because the guitar sucks so much ***. I’m returning this one in the morning. I hope to see Red Octane filing for bankruptcy within the next year. **** those guys.

With Rock Band coming out in a month, poised to dominate Guitar Hero in almost every way (difficulty), he might get his wish.

If you have a PS2 or 360 and guitar(s) already, just stick with them. If not, just wait until Rock Band. Neversoft and Red Octane don’t deserve your money for their new two-piece faulty guitars.

Related posts:

  1. Guitar Hero vs. Rock Band: A Clusterfuck
  2. Leaked Guitar Hero III Song List?
  3. Guitar Hero III News

from → Games, News

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  • JB

    On my way to CC tonight to exchange my PS3 bundle for the PS2 game only. The graphics may be aweful, and there won’t be any downloadable content, but at least I won’t go crazy blowing sections that I should be able to nail in my sleep.

  • Jeff

    “It all comes down to the detachable neck. So this is all versions, not just the 360. Nice job, Red Octane.”

    I disagree with this assertion. I have the WII version with the detachable neck and just wanted to leave a note that the starpower power problem cannot be associated with the detachable neck in the case of the WII since it is most likely using the WIImote motion sense. And as another data point I have yet to have issues with button error on WII. I have played a friends 360 with the bundled Les Paul and I know exactly how bad it can be. Great blog about this fuck up.

  • http://thesomewhatmanlynerd.wordpress.com/ CajoleJuice

    You’ve definitely got a point there about the Wii version. Since I wrote this entry, I’ve actually returned my 360 bundle to get a new one. Luckily, my new guitar has worked perfectly fine. It’s still a hassle I shouldn’t have had to deal with.

  • http://www.play-asia.com/SOap-23-83-3qza-71-dh-77-2-49-en-15-guitarhero3-84-j-70-25rr.html chad

    Dont bother buying the bundle just buy the game on its own from here its the cheapest around.

    http://www.play-asia.com/SOap-23-83-3qza-71-dh-77-2-49-en-15-guitar hero 3-84-j-70-25rr.html

  • http://www.play-asia.com/SOap-23-83-3qza-71-dh-77-2-49-en-15-guitarhero3-84-j-70-25rr.html chad

    http://www.play-asia.com/SOap-23-83-3qza-71-dh-77-2-49-en-15-guitarhero 3-84-j-70-25rr.html

    sorry link error try this one

  • Idetrorce

    very interesting, but I don’t agree with you
    Idetrorce

  • Ken

    Ya Blue button does not work. Did for 2 or 3 presses but not any more. Piece of crap

  • someguy

    Yeah same for me blue rarely works and whenever i tilt the guitar all the buttons completely get cut off (due to the detachable neck) and no buttons work.

  • Chris

    I got this for the Wii from my girlfriend at Christmas. The first bundle i got had a faulty whammy bar that refused to work at all, so i take it back and get another version….this controller worked for all of about an hour before i experienced a complete break down of control…the buttons decided they would stop working…the whammy failed again….and when i had no intention of pressing buttons they decided to go off on their own….all this halfway through the battle with Slash..to say i was not impressed is an understatement.

  • chris barnes

    good comment on the faulty controllers, if only i had read this article before buying the ps2, gh3 bundle, as the buttons are useless and the strum bar is faulty. Returning it tomorrow for another one, if that doesn’t work, i’ll wait for Rock Band to come out; it will use gh as a toilet brush.

  • Guitar Hero Kid

    what the hell are u all talking about? idk, maybe when it first came out the guitars were faulty or whatever, but i haven’t had any problems at all. are u guys like completely destroying your guitars when u play, or what? i’ve had my guitar hero 360 bundle for about a month now and i haven’t had any problems whatsoever. all this seems very odd to me O.o

  • http://thesomewhatmanlynerd.wordpress.com/ CajoleJuice

    I should update this post by saying that I returned my original copy for a new one and it has been working fine since then.

  • saberwing

    I got mine and it was working fine but now i have to hold the guitar vertical to activate star power, when before i only had to lift a bit above 45 degrees.

  • http://thesomewhatmanlynerd.wordpress.com/ CajoleJuice

    Yeah, I can imagine the weight (at least I’m guessing that’s how it works) inside starting to get loose or something. I’m not quite sure about the inner workings.

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  • http://gay.org sig

    you all have way to much time on your hands to be crying about some guitars. learn to play the real thing nerds!

  • jamo

    sig you have far to much time on your hands to go around flaming people who have to much time on their hands. loser!!! lol

  • http://all_tiesto_here.ifastnet.com mp340gb
  • http://www.guitarherounderground.com Guitar Hero Underground Cheats

    Good info. I’m trying to figure out which bundle is the best one right now too and this will certainly help me in my research process.

  • Screw that

    The X-plorer guitar blows. Mst of them have defective whammy bars and the design is the most unconfortable of all of them. There is nothing wrong the the Les Paul style guitar. The detachable neck doesn’t interfere with crap. This guy just sucks at the game and can’t come up with a reason to make him look good so he complains about the guitar which is perfectly implemented. Read the Ign review of the guitar, they actually have the right idea. Get this guitar. Fuck this “manly nerd”.

  • bonghead

    I noticed the red button stopped working after my little brother detatched the neck while the guitar was running, 2 weeks later and now all buttons apart from green randomly stop working. and with the whammy i noticed when i play when im sitting down its hard to activate the start power, unless it automatically uses it, if you stand up and play with the strap on it its easier to play also and doesnt auto trigger star power, wish i knew how to fix the fuckin things.

  • Toby

    Anyone saying ‘learn to play a real guitar’ obvously have no concept of FUN, or maybe they just don’t have any friends? Spending years learning how to play a guitar is quite a bit different from spending an hour with a couple of your mates listening to some decent music and trying to beat each other at a video game!

    Also, wanting to have a guitar where the buttons don’t always stop working in the middle of songs isn’t nerdy, if you actualy had any friends to play with you would realise how annoying it is when two of your are playing and suddenly in the middle of a song one of you can’t play anymore.

  • angrymanlol

    for the green and orange buttons dont work (actually all of the,) but when i firmly press the upper part against the wall and play like that only green and orange fail OMG i want an X-plorer then

  • stuff

    i agree with most comments here. i got the peice of crap on relrase day then couple day later i get star power activating on its own cant whammy and buttons wont even respond.i dont know what problem is i had no problems with gh2 for ps2 with cherry red sg then my les paul breaks i get an explorer controller and 10 min later all buttons are sticky

  • http://www.themusicalinstrumentsstore.com The Musical Instruments Store

    I got the PS2 version when it came out and I’ve not had any problems with the guitar. I’m hoping that’s not going to jinx it now!!!

    http://www.themusicalinstrumentsstore.com