Finally! an announcement!

[albinousrex]

Hey all,

We've been working really hard this past week discussing the big issues, and have an update for all of you.

PS3 Guitar Compatibility:

Many of you have contacted us about the PS3 edition of Rock Band--from issues with guitar compatibility to frustration that stand-alone guitars and drums for Rock Band have not yet hit stores. Please know that these issues have our full attention. We are listening and we read everything that is posted here on our forums. We are committed to providing the best play experience possible and working hard to ensure that we solve these problems as soon as possible. We promise to keep you updated and, in the meantime, we thank you for your patience.

Rock Band Guitars:

Many of you have contacted us regarding your guitar controllers. As sometimes happens when new products first go into manufacturing, we discovered an imperfection with the strum bar in an early production run of guitars that were shipped at launch. We want to inform you that we have since identified and fixed the issue in all subsequent production runs of the guitars. If you are experiencing a problem with your guitar or any of your other Rock Band instruments, simply visit the customer support website (http://support.ea.com/rockband) and we will send a replacement immediately. Harmonix is dedicated to creating 100% customer satisfaction and to those of you who've encountered any hardware issues, we are sorry for the hassle.

I know many of you have questions about other issues that weren't covered here. Be patient, we are aware of the issues, and are working on plans to deal with your concerns.

Thanks again!

nothing about reinforcing the kick pedals unfortunately though :(

[turkeysandwich]

Thanks for addressing the problem and showing us that our business is appreciated! If you continue to support us like this EA/Harmonix/MTV Games will have nothing but devoted and happy consumers behind you! :)

[MixPlus]

Now the question for Harmonix is, to avoid having every guitar produced to date sent back on warranty for fear of being part of the defective manufacturing run is there any way to tell if you have the "old" one or the "new" one? I for one just bought RB - question is, old run or new run?

Also, I wish they'd be more specifc as to the "issue" found? Strum bar response? Trigger issue? Construction? Durabilitiy? All of the above? Something else?

Thoughts anyone?

[PhattyBoomBatty]

Now the question for Harmonix is, to avoid having every guitar produced to date sent back on warranty for fear of being part of the defective manufacturing run is there any way to tell if you have the "old" one or the "new" one? I for one just bought RB - question is, old run or new run?

If there is a known manufacturing defect in a certain production run, why doesn't EA just identify that run and recall those specific guitars? By the way, my guitar had a defective strum bar and it had a date of Oct 16 on it. That seems to be the most popular date for defective guitars.

[3Dave]

Oh thank goodness, now that they've made a statement things are so much better!

Wait... my guitar and drums are still broken.

No clue why people were so excited to get a statement from them in the first place. They didn't say a single thing we didn't already know.

[Redempshin]

If there is a known manufacturing defect in a certain production run, why doesn't EA just identify that run and recall those specific guitars? By the way, my guitar had a defective strum bar and it had a date of Oct 16 on it. That seems to be the most popular date for defective guitars.

Because recalls cost lots of money. It also causes loss of confidence in companies as well as confusion between which models get recalled causing more warranty calls and cost.

What I'm unhappy about was that they identified this before it shipped, STILL let it ship hoping that some people wouldn't experience (grandma isn't going to wear out her strum bar), they'd be too lazy to care to ship back the device, or maybe it was just one of those "if we close our eyes hard enough and wish often enough, maybe it'll just go away." kinda things. They've sat here silent for over a week while we've been fighting to get replacements.

[560sdl]

Oh thank goodness, now that they've made a statement things are so much better!

Wait... my guitar and drums are still broken.

No clue why people were so excited to get a statement from them in the first place. They didn't say a single thing we didn't already know.

Except for the 3,785 posts on here complaining that they are silent and people would feel much better just to know that they are heard!

[3Dave]

Except for the 3,785 posts on here complaining that they are silent and people would feel much better just to know that they are heard!

Of course we're being heard. It's been posted on Joystiq, Kotaku, G4 and other sites. The folks at EA and Harmonix new what was going on from day one, hence the bright pink sheets in the boxes.

Now we know for sure they've heard us, and you know what? Things are the same as they were before we weren't sure.

[560sdl]

Yea, that is kind of my point. The unhappy people are still unhappy even though there are many threads saying "just tell us something", "don't be silent", "don't ignor us". Now that a carefully worded statement has been issued, there will be complaints about the wording and message. This board really does have more people that seem to want to complain than any I have ever seen.

[albinousrex]

i was never really unhappy, but the announcement made me happy to know that they have corrected the problem and are shipping out working guitars that wont break again!

[Stevedelaheb]

i was never really unhappy, but the announcement made me happy to know that they have corrected the problem and are shipping out working guitars that wont break again!

Agreed. I'm glad that they confirmed there is in fact a problem. Everyone knew there was a problem, but just the fact that they admitted there was fault is good to me. Also, I'm exTREMELY happy that the guitars that they sent out (including the one that just showed up on my doorstep) are reported as reliable. If they are not, well, then I'm going to be really pissed.

Now I'd like to hear an announcement on the drums!

[albinousrex]

Agreed. I'm glad that they confirmed there is in fact a problem. Everyone knew there was a problem, but just the fact that they admitted there was fault is good to me. Also, I'm exTREMELY happy that the guitars that they sent out (including the one that just showed up on my doorstep) are reported as reliable. If they are not, well, then I'm going to be really pissed.

Now I'd like to hear an announcement on the drums!

me too!

im hoping for "due to cheap plastic, we will be recalling all drum pedals and paying for metal ones for everyone that wont snap when 5 pounds is applied to it"

[MixPlus]

If there is a known manufacturing defect in a certain production run, why doesn't EA just identify that run and recall those specific guitars? By the way, my guitar had a defective strum bar and it had a date of Oct 16 on it. That seems to be the most popular date for defective guitars.

Where is the date located??

[albinousrex]

Where is the date located??

a small white circle sticker on the bottom of the box. Some didnt have them though most likely because they rubbed off.

[PhattyBoomBatty]

Where is the date located??

I think I remember seeing it on a sticker located on the bottom of the Rock Band box. It's not on the guitar itself. If it wasn't on the Rock Band box, it would have been on the guitar box.

[albinousrex]

its on the rockband box

[Micker]

I hope they did more then a little tweak to the guitar. The insides of that thing gave cheap a whole new meaning.

[albinousrex]

they said issues were fixed and guess what? if you experience more problems, they will keep retrying till something works

[Marfy1226]

They said they're taking care of it. I ordered mine Sunday and today around 9am it said the part had shipped on the EA website. So I'm sure they are on the way.

You just have to be patient, yes it sucks, but all the complaining aint gonna do **** at this moment in time, it's just the way it is. What is gonna happen when you get your replacement guitar and you still have the same problem...keep *****ing like everyone else and get nowhere?

The kinks will work themselves out soon enough and I'm sure fans will be well rewarded for it.



No I have no affiliation with EA/Harmonix or UPS, just bein reasonable.

[albinousrex]

They said they're taking care of it. I ordered mine Sunday and today around 9am it said the part had shipped on the EA website. So I'm sure they are on the way.

You just have to be patient, yes it sucks, but all the complaining aint gonna do **** at this moment in time, it's just the way it is. What is gonna happen when you get your replacement guitar and you still have the same problem...keep *****ing like everyone else and get nowhere?

The kinks will work themselves out soon enough and I'm sure fans will be well rewarded for it.



No I have no affiliation with EA/Harmonix or UPS, just bein reasonable.

thats what isnt fair. My order was placed wednesday, the day after the games release and still it hasnt shipped.

[sickdaddy]

Excellent! Although I wish it would have explained why they shipped replacements in reverse order. Entered my info the night of release date, still have not received any package. I guess others waiting 3-4 days, and us that entered the first day must wait two weeks is understandable pause not.

[jeremiahtmckay84]

i was never really unhappy, but the announcement made me happy to know that they have corrected the problem and are shipping out working guitars that wont break again!

AMEN! THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT I WAS WAITING FOR! I was mainly worried about getting a replacement guitar that was the same as the first. I can now take comfort in the thought of being able to finally get started playing the guitar for this damn game. Been playing lots of drums while I wait, and so far nothing has f*cked up yet. That, and I just want to finally get my friends to shut up with the nagging questions of "When you getting your guitar? When we gonna play again?"

Hey, what do you know, my account for EA has been updated as well. It seems that yesterday (11/29) at 4:30AM, it states that "Parts Shipped". Only a matter of time now, kids.