Wireless, a good or bad idea?

[CraiZE]

Heya!

As this is my first post, i wish to say hello to all fellow rock band fans out there!

Now, we've all heard that the new Fender Guitar will be wireless....

This is not an entirely bad thing, but on the Xbox 360, you can notice a "lag" of 2-8ms (thats my assumption, I don't have a way of measuring it) between the wired and wireless controllers. Intruigingly, I am wondering if the Fender will have this lag also...

Since timing is such a crucial element to this game, i would not want to cope with such a lag and wonder... Will there be a way to stick it into the USB port so it works as wired?

I know on the 360, wireless controllers that you plug into the USB port are only being charged, they do not use the USB to communicate with the console.

So yeah, I am worried that it will lag and screw up timing. Can anyone who played it confirm or debunk my paranoia? I would be soooo grateful to hear from someone who was at E3, or even maybe one of the Harmonix guys tell me that the lag doesn't exist, or is so minimal, that you don't "feel" it at all.

[ThePaska]

I don't know about the lag, that would certainly not be good as you say. Good thing is though that you can choose between wired and wireless guitars. Now that you have stated this, I may lean towards wired guitars, sounds like the safer better, and I wont have to worry about batteries either.

[CraiZE]

There will be a wired Fender? Can you show me your source? I would be relieved if that's true :)

[TheRocker]

You know , i come to realize that i wouldnt care if i they made the guitars wired , just make the cable long enough for me to move around .

[FunkaTrunk]

There's no actual lag that I can tell, when I'm playing NHL07 at me friends house, we all use wireless, and theres no lag at all, everythings hunky-dory.

There are some of you who really want wired over wireless? Why? Wires get in the way. You can't make a proper movie for Youtube with Guitar Hero2, so you have to change the whole plot thanks to the wires comming out to often, and your friend tripping over himself.

Just leave wires in the past, in the last-generation of games. Wireless is the way to go, don't be scared of lag, there isn't any.

[lithiumkc]

There's no actual lag that I can tell, when I'm playing NHL07 at me friends house, we all use wireless, and theres no lag at all, everythings hunky-dory.

There are some of you who really want wired over wireless? Why? Wires get in the way. You can't make a proper movie for Youtube with Guitar Hero2, so you have to change the whole plot thanks to the wires comming out to often, and your friend tripping over himself.

Just leave wires in the past, in the last-generation of games. Wireless is the way to go, don't be scared of lag, there isn't any.

Meh... I prefer wired because i hate batteries/charging. I always sit down to play GH anyways. Either way though i wouldn't care.

[devo193]

Well if you have all four instruments, at least ONE of them has to be wireless.

Theres only three USB ports on a 360.

Personally, I'm leaning toward wired. My biggest gripe with my Wii is forgetting to charge the batterys and they be dead when I want to play.

I intend to play for hours on end with Rock Band.

[OrdealByFire]

Wireless cost more, that's why it sucks. I play sitting down anyways... I don't need a damn wireless guitar. But when playing rock band I might just want to embarrass myself a little bit.

[xCHRISx]

How did you discover lag on the 360 with a wireless guitar, when no wireless guitar for the 360 is currently available for sale?

[CraiZE]

Exactly - there is no Wireless Guitar for the 360.

People who do not notice any lag are often not as "picky" as I would be.

While the 360 Controller is as close to lagless as I've seen to date (I admit, I did not try the PS3) and that is still not perfect. While I do enjoy my fair share of wireless play in several games on the 360, I would never use the wireless controller for 2D Fighting Games (Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat) nor for Music Games like Guitar Hero / Rock Band.

The Argument about one instrument having to be "wireless" I can debunk. The 3 USB Ports on the 360 are Root Hub's, which means, you can actually attach an 8 port HUB and attach 8 devices per port (by using 3 hubs, connected to each port individually). So factually, you can have up to 24 Devices connected to the 360 at once, using wires.

Even if you consider "wireless" cool, there is an undeniable lag compared to the wired controller. If you don't believe me, try any game on your 360 - and I mean, any game, and switch between a wireless and wired controller during gameplay. You will notice the difference immediatly, even though the "wireless" lag you get is not bad, and is quite bearable, for a music game, I do not wish to have that sort of "lag" if I have the option to go wired.

Additionally, I won't have to worry about batteries.

I rather invest good money into a USB 2.0 HUB then actually wasting every few days /weeks batteries on several instruments that do not function lagless.

It's a personal preference, but at the end of the day, I am a consumer/customer, I pay with my hard earned money for a product, so I want the product to please me and work properly. I pay with lagless money, so my controls should be lagless too! :)

[DShizzle1029]

IMO, Wireless is a good idea. I mean, despite some lag, which could be calibrated, you only have three wire ports on the 360...so if you wanted 4 people to play, one instrument would have to be wireless. (Assuming one person would be using the GH2 controller.)

[xCHRISx]

Exactly - there is no Wireless Guitar for the 360.

People who do not notice any lag are often not as "picky" as I would be.

While the 360 Controller is as close to lagless as I've seen to date (I admit, I did not try the PS3) and that is still not perfect. While I do enjoy my fair share of wireless play in several games on the 360, I would never use the wireless controller for 2D Fighting Games (Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat) nor for Music Games like Guitar Hero / Rock Band.

The Argument about one instrument having to be "wireless" I can debunk. The 3 USB Ports on the 360 are Root Hub's, which means, you can actually attach an 8 port HUB and attach 8 devices per port (by using 3 hubs, connected to each port individually). So factually, you can have up to 24 Devices connected to the 360 at once, using wires.

Even if you consider "wireless" cool, there is an undeniable lag compared to the wired controller. If you don't believe me, try any game on your 360 - and I mean, any game, and switch between a wireless and wired controller during gameplay. You will notice the difference immediatly, even though the "wireless" lag you get is not bad, and is quite bearable, for a music game, I do not wish to have that sort of "lag" if I have the option to go wired.

Additionally, I won't have to worry about batteries.

I rather invest good money into a USB 2.0 HUB then actually wasting every few days /weeks batteries on several instruments that do not function lagless.

It's a personal preference, but at the end of the day, I am a consumer/customer, I pay with my hard earned money for a product, so I want the product to please me and work properly. I pay with lagless money, so my controls should be lagless too! :)

Ah, I misunderstood and thought you were talking about a wireless guitar controller, when in fact you were speaking about the regular wireless controllers. Personally, I haven't noticed any lag when using a wireless controller, and without some way of measuring it, I'm tempted to think it's just a psychological thing. I'm sure Harmonix wouldn't release a wireless guitar if it had any sort of noticeable lag at all.

Just remember, there are real musicians who use wireless guitars on stage for shows. If they had any sort of lag at all it would be immediately noticeable, as they would be out of time with the rest of the band.

[DShizzle1029]

Ah, I misunderstood and thought you were talking about a wireless guitar controller, when in fact you were speaking about the regular wireless controllers. Personally, I haven't noticed any lag when using a wireless controller, and without some way of measuring it, I'm tempted to think it's just a psychological thing. I'm sure Harmonix wouldn't release a wireless guitar if it had any sort of noticeable lag at all.

Just remember, there are real musicians who use wireless guitars on stage for shows. If they had any sort of lag at all it would be immediately noticeable, as they would be out of time with the rest of the band.

Yeah that too...lol!

[Rock_Starman]

Wired for me. I hate needing batteries/charging,it's cheaper,it'd probably get smashed Nirvana style if stopped working soon as I was about to finish a really hard song,I don't make videos so it's not in the way,I'm getting it on PS3 wich has 4 ports and it would probably feel like I was playing an acoustic guitar (system = amp :p).

[CraiZE]

So could someone link me to some official info where they say the guitar will be available in wired and wireless mode?

[bchaps]

Not the most reliable source, but the only one i could remember right away

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_Band_(video_game)

Go there press Ctrl F, then type wired. It should bring you right there


Because you can only get 3 wired things i would choose to get the mic wireless because i would use it alot less. (that is assuming everything has a choice of wired or wireless)

[Jamoney]

You know , i come to realize that i wouldnt care if i they made the guitars wired , just make the cable long enough for me to move around .

WAOH, dude, have you LOST your mind? This World NEEDS wireless! When my mom is floding clothes, and people walking by across the room, they trip and unplug my controller, and that sucks! i probably will be buying the wireless. But i am concerned aboout this lag. i hope it doesnt happen. I was also needing to ask, will the Drums be wireless? (I totally doubt it thought).

[kanerules]

WAOH, dude, have you LOST your mind? This World NEEDS wireless! When my mom is floding clothes, and people walking by across the room, they trip and unplug my controller, and that sucks! i probably will be buying the wireless. But i am concerned aboout this lag. i hope it doesnt happen. I was also needing to ask, will the Drums be wireless? (I totally doubt it thought).

Well as far as I'm concerned, why would anyone have to worry about someone tripping over the cord passing by while you're playing. They'd have to be quite the jackass to walk in front of someone trying to play a game that requires pretty much full attention all the time. And as for the argument between wired/wireless, yes wireless is handy and i could sit way back from the tv and not have the slightest worry about cords and such. But honestly, I have 2 wireless regular controllers, I rarely use them, and I have to change the batteries ever 4-5 times I use them.

So just imagine a game like Rock Band, if it's any indication by GH now, I will be playing RB at least 8 hours a day for the first while, and yes I work full time, sleep is overrated. So, I definitely would not be a fan of having to change the batteries in 4 different peripherals every couple days, much less couple weeks. Wired for me, I just hope all four come wired in the box. At least as an option anyways.

[FunkaTrunk]

WAOH, dude, have you LOST your mind? This World NEEDS wireless! When my mom is floding clothes, and people walking by across the room, they trip and unplug my controller, and that sucks! i probably will be buying the wireless. But i am concerned aboout this lag. i hope it doesnt happen. I was also needing to ask, will the Drums be wireless? (I totally doubt it thought).

Why thank you! Someone else has the same problem as I had. But with wireless, there's less stuff that can get tangled up. Wireless guitar controlers just make everything much more easier. For my controler, I have two rechargable battery pacs. If one should ever die, I just pop the other one in, and put that dead one in the recharger. And at the end of every day, I put them both in the recharger. When I get out of the shower, there both fully recharged.

I've never used a wired controller for the 360, and I own in games like Gears of War, Call of Duty 3, NHL2007, etc. I can understad if you guys might be a little iffy about the lag, but the truth is, there isn't any, and there won't be any.

[WildWalker]

Now, we've all heard that the new Fender Guitar will be wireless....

This is not an entirely bad thing, but on the Xbox 360, you can notice a "lag" of 2-8ms (thats my assumption, I don't have a way of measuring it) between the wired and wireless controllers. Intruigingly, I am wondering if the Fender will have this lag also...




No, you can not see 2ms to 8ms of Lag. It takes between 100ms and 150ms just to blink, so I seriously doubt you can see 2ms of lag.

Look at wireless lans, ping your router and you will get 1 or 2 ms latency. That is, it takes between 1 and 2 ms for the packet to be sent from your PC to the router and then come back again, so wireless is not that slow.

Most of the lag you may see in GH or RB will mostly be display lag if you are using an LCD TV. The 'refresh' figures quoted by most LCD manufacturers is ludicrous (they measure the response at full luminance which is not how 'we' use the panels) so most 8ms panels are probably 40 or 50ms anyway.

I use the wireless controllers for games and don't notice any lag, if the controls are seemingly unresponsive its probably poor sofware code on the develpers part.

WW

[WildWalker]

I have 2 wireless regular controllers, I rarely use them, and I have to change the batteries ever 4-5 times I use them.

So just imagine a game like Rock Band, if it's any indication by GH now, I will be playing RB at least 8 hours a day for the first while, and yes I work full time, sleep is overrated. So, I definitely would not be a fan of having to change the batteries in 4 different peripherals every couple days, much less couple weeks. Wired for me, I just hope all four come wired in the box. At least as an option anyways.

If they use the plug and charge kits on the guitars that would be okay, you could play with the plug and charge apater when batteries are charging and remove it when charged.

Also, you can charge them from any USB charger, and you can get plug in the wall ones that you can plug in near where you stand/sit so that the wires go behind you to a plug, not in front of you to hte console.

WW

[CENACHAINGANG54]

Well for starters I like wireless due to no wires and freedom to move. However I play alot of guitar hero II which everyone knows there is not a wireless controller until 3 comes out for the 360. I lag all the time, yet I never lag with my regular wireless controllers. I think with all the work they are putting into Rock Band, there will be no lag and all will be fine. Also for those GH players now or if you decide to go wireless for RB, you can pick up a 10 foot extension from your nearest game stop

[Jamoney]

Well as far as I'm concerned, why would anyone have to worry about someone tripping over the cord passing by while you're playing. They'd have to be quite the jackass to walk in front of someone trying to play a game that requires pretty much full attention all the time. And as for the argument between wired/wireless, yes wireless is handy and i could sit way back from the tv and not have the slightest worry about cords and such. But honestly, I have 2 wireless regular controllers, I rarely use them, and I have to change the batteries ever 4-5 times I use them.

So just imagine a game like Rock Band, if it's any indication by GH now, I will be playing RB at least 8 hours a day for the first while, and yes I work full time, sleep is overrated. So, I definitely would not be a fan of having to change the batteries in 4 different peripherals every couple days, much less couple weeks. Wired for me, I just hope all four come wired in the box. At least as an option anyways.

hm...my six year old sister is QUITE the jackass. Every time im Rocking, she comes RUNNING by and unplugs me! lol. My mom always told me, that i should stand and play, but i always do unless im playing on a lower difficulty.:D

[CENACHAINGANG54]

If they use the plug and charge kits on the guitars that would be okay, you could play with the plug and charge apater when batteries are charging and remove it when charged.

Also, you can charge them from any USB charger, and you can get plug in the wall ones that you can plug in near where you stand/sit so that the wires go behind you to a plug, not in front of you to hte console.

WW

Plus you can charge them at any time even when the batterie is not drained and not worry about conditioning it. I have used the charge and play kit since the 360 was released. I pull at least 20 hours a batterie and my wireless controllers is all I use. But remember that with the 360 they also have the option to use the infared which they will be using for the upcoming Scene It? title:o

[bounchfx]

I want to be able to rock out freely. There better be a wireless guitar. Any lag can be calibrated.

[NorrenRadd]

I want to be able to rock out freely. There better be a wireless guitar. Any lag can be calibrated.

I'm also hoping for a wireless guitar so that I can rock out freely. The message in Guitar Hero about rocking out too hard was funny when it happened however.

Cables cause tangles and clutter. Lag can be calibrated and I honestly don't notice any lag on the regular X360 controller.

As for battery power, that is a concern. I've resigned myself to purchasing the 20+ packs of AA when I find them cheap. I hate when I forget to charge the rechargeable ones.

[karlkaza]

I would prefer wireless, but whatever gets the most votes.........I basically don't really care, it's gonna be
a SWEET game anyways!