My review of the XB360 Wireless guitar for RB

[lvnomad]

I love RB.
I love it more than the "other" game.

I love RB so much that I have overlooked multiple Hardware failures (1 bad guitar. 1 bad drumset), and chose brand loyalty by buying a RB wireless guitar over a standalone guitar from the "other franchise".

I knew the "other" guitar would work well, but again I took a leap and showed some HMX love.

This guitar is such a worthless piece of junk I dont know why I bother. It is getting returned tomorrow.

(No tilt sensor --- just like every other post in this forum). Why this company continues to sell parts with known defects is beyond me.

[Tr1gg3r93]

Tilt it UP and not sideways..?

[CaptainFeral]

It's sad but true. The peripherals really really suck.
Also, where can you buy a standalone GH3 guitar? I've been looking for one for the 360, but I don't wanna buy the crap game it's attached to.

Rock Band: Good
Rock Band peripherals: Suck

Guitar Hero 3: Sucks
Guitar Hero 3 peripheral: Good.

I'm sensing that Red Octane and Harmonix are two halves that need to be whole again.

[trilidar]

Tilt it UP and not sideways..?

No offense, but I think the 20+ of us all experiencing the SAME bad tilt-sensor issue know how to play the game. I literally stopped playing and started violently shaking the guitar to get it to deploy. No luck.

The wireless X360 guitars are crap. No doubt about it. I've owned two that don't work and am still awaiting another round to hopefully get at least ONE that does.

The game's awesome, no doubt about it. However, I'm afraid the crap EA controllers are ultimately going to kill the franchise (or at least severly damage it).

tril

[bonethug0108]

Where is the review?

[CaptainFeral]

No offense, but I think the 20+ of us all experiencing the SAME bad tilt-sensor issue know how to play the game. I literally stopped playing and started violently shaking the guitar to get it to deploy. No luck.

The wireless X360 guitars are crap. No doubt about it. I've owned two that don't work and am still awaiting another round to hopefully get at least ONE that does.

tril

Don't bother.
There are some tutorials on how to fix them, though.
I'd be more than happy to tell you how to fix the sensor and the strum bar.

[DethBoxx]

No tilt sensor here, and you have to unscrew a small screw to change batteries.

LOVE it otherwise though.

[Tomahawk217]

That's why I skipped on the RB guitar and have a standalone GHIII controller on pre-order. I've used the Xplorer for GHIII and RB because the Fender is total crap. They shouldn't have fubared the strum bar, and they should've tested their tilt sensors, i've had a dusty launch RB guitar now finally getting sent in months later to get the sensor fixed. My friend says he loves the Fender, but agrees its a ***** to play on my guitar, maybe my strum bar was faulty.

On a side note, whats with the hate for GHIII? It's a great game with a great setlist. From a guitar only standpoint, GHIII is the funner game, the RB guitar songs on Expert are extremely easy and boring. With a full band, the game is a blast though.

[shogun290]

On a side note, whats with the hate for GHIII? It's a great game with a great setlist. From a guitar only standpoint, GHIII is the funner game, the RB guitar songs on Expert are extremely easy and boring. With a full band, the game is a blast though.

I have both and to me GH3's charts are impossible hard, i finally beat GH3's One on hard and its the equivalent of RB's Expert. I do love the tracks on GH3 but the fact that its hard for the sake of being hard, i don't love. Also, for some reason, the charts in GH3 just dont mesh quite right on a bunch songs (notes being off time by a tiny fraction) while all the charts ive played for RB are perfect matched up.

Btw, i am about half way through Guitar Solo Tour on Expert and can play any song in the game on Bass on expert, not five star, but just play.

[The real Anteraan]

No offense, but I think the 20+ of us all experiencing the SAME bad tilt-sensor issue know how to play the game. I literally stopped playing and started violently shaking the guitar to get it to deploy. No luck.

The wireless X360 guitars are crap. No doubt about it. I've owned two that don't work and am still awaiting another round to hopefully get at least ONE that does.

The game's awesome, no doubt about it. However, I'm afraid the crap EA controllers are ultimately going to kill the franchise (or at least severly damage it).

tril

Make it 21+ now. I got mine yesterday, and it is far worse than my launch guitar (which I have been happy with). My tilt sensor doesn't work (GRRRRR!), and the fret buttons are louder than my launch guitar ever was. But I have to say, the strum bar seems better, and wireless is SO nice! I'm glad I got the 1-year replacement program from Toys R Us with it. It will come in handy once these things get fixed, and it only cost me $8.

[Totally Calibrated]

Add another busted wireless guitar. I just picked mine up today, and just opened it up about an hour ago to play it. No tilt sensor at all. Shook the hell out of the thing, but not a single overdrive was to be had.

I'll RMA it tomorrow I suppose. Hopefully it will come this week along with my FIFTH drumset in 2 months. Let's hope the 5th set is a charm... These ELs they keep sending me last about two weeks...

[Xerosnake90]

GH3 doesn't suck, it has plenty of great songs. Sure the difficulty is over the top but that doesn't mean it's bad in any way.

[Sarge51]

GH3 doesn't suck, it has plenty of great songs. Sure the difficulty is over the top but that doesn't mean it's bad in any way.

I think a monkey charts those songs and handles the matchmaking...

[lvnomad]

One side note, I am often skeptical of the retail horror stories -- until RB came out, i have never had peripheral problems or console problems (no red rings.... etc).

For some reason, I can just not get good equipment for this game.

[Blacklabel22]

Rock Band: Good
Rock Band peripherals: Suck

Guitar Hero 3: Sucks
Guitar Hero 3 peripheral: Good.

I'm sensing that Red Octane and Harmonix are two halves that need to be whole again.
ya thatd be really nice. i hate my tilt sensor. and i cant even take it apart cuz im afraid of rmaing it. its just a bad cycle.

[cdylan13]

Hey you guys give it some time.

When I got mine from RMA, the tilt sensor was **** too. But now it activates perfectly.

However I am getting a Les Paul once it comes out for 360 standalone.

[Bonez]

No offense, but I think the 20+ of us all experiencing the SAME bad tilt-sensor issue know how to play the game. I literally stopped playing and started violently shaking the guitar to get it to deploy. No luck.

The wireless X360 guitars are crap. No doubt about it. I've owned two that don't work and am still awaiting another round to hopefully get at least ONE that does.

The game's awesome, no doubt about it. However, I'm afraid the crap EA controllers are ultimately going to kill the franchise (or at least severly damage it).

tril

I've RMAed two guitars now (not to mention a drum set too)...my third one should be here any day now. It doesn't matter how hard you shake them, virtually nothing makes them work. I've found that if you tilt it straight down, then straight up it works sometimes, but you're guaranteed to lose your multiplier doing that trick because of the huge range of motion it requires.

The last one I sent back had something wrong with the whammy effects sensor too...the menu would fire randomly during gameplay.

I did about 95% of the game with the GHIII controller...I'm stuck on GGaHT on expert. If I have the soloing buttons and overdrive I know I can get through the solo, but to date I've never had the luxury of having both.

I really wish they would get their peripheral ducks in a row...this is bordering ridiculous.

[greenyfortehwin]

Hey you guys give it some time.

When I got mine from RMA, the tilt sensor was **** too. But now it activates perfectly.

However I am getting a Les Paul once it comes out for 360 standalone.
in 3 days it comes out?

[Totally Calibrated]

I really wish they would get their peripheral ducks in a row...this is bordering ridiculous.

Agree.

I have an update for those with wireless guitar problems. I called EA today to get an RMA for mine, and the guy said they only have the standard shipping option available. He also said that the wireless guitar for Xbox is the only peripheral that you can return at the store, so there is no need to go through EA to exchange it. He said if the stores give you a hard time about it, to just note down the manager's name and number and EA will call them up and let them know that it is ok to take back busted wireless guitars.

So I will try to return mine tonight and hope I get one that works.

[skullpit]

GH3 doesn't suck, it has plenty of great songs. Sure the difficulty is over the top but that doesn't mean it's bad in any way.

You should know by now that this place is full of HMX fanboys that take any opportunity they can to praise RB and bash GH. Personally I love both games but hate RB's crappy equipment.

[Touwe]

ive always used my ghiii controller and it is just now starting to crap out, orange button and strum bar are messing up a lot and soon im gonna have to buy a new standalone one though they cost $10 more then the RB ones

[Totally Calibrated]

I really wish they would get their peripheral ducks in a row...this is bordering ridiculous.

Agree.

I have an update for those with wireless guitar problems. I called EA today to get an RMA for mine, and the guy said they only have the standard shipping option available. He also said that the wireless guitar for Xbox is the only peripheral that you can return at the store, so there is no need to go through EA to exchange it. He said if the stores give you a hard time about it, to just note down the manager's name and number and EA will call them up and let them know that it is ok to take back busted wireless guitars.

So I will try to return mine tonight and hope I get one that works.

[FuznuckinShiznit]

I got one the other day and it's been working great! Love that it's wireless now so I don't have to worry about a cord holding me back from rockin out!

Sorry the other people are having so many problems :(

[Bonez]

ive always used my ghiii controller and it is just now starting to crap out, orange button and strum bar are messing up a lot and soon im gonna have to buy a new standalone one though they cost $10 more then the RB ones

At least you know it will work the way it's supposed to...that's worth every penny of that extra $10, IMO.

The only feature about the RB guitar I really love is the soloing buttons. Other than that, they can keep it as far as I'm concerned. At this rate, I just want one that works properly for ten minutes so I can finish the expert career and never use it again.

[dome420]

mine works perfect...the tilit sensor sometimes goes off without me doing anything...but i guess its better than not working at all...lol

the strummer is alot better, i think they used a stiffer spring

[Bonez]

The ones I've had so far go off by themselves too. Basically, it does everything it shouldn't be doing.

[Darth Swifty]

I was at my local Best Buy yesterday, and they had Plenty of the wireless GH3 Les Pauls available Stand Alone without the game, Also plenty of the X-Plorers (Which I will be getting another one of) Just a heads up for you guys.

The RB Strat is neat, I have a real Strat so thought it would be cool to have one for my gaming sessions as well, but it is a piece of garbage, so it just sits, collecting dust behind my tv, and I use my GH2 X-plorer.

[Daxel123]

So I got the wireless guitar and I've already taken it apart. It turns out that the tilt sensor is just behind he strum bar and appears to be horizontal (or nearly so) this would mean that if you hold the guitar in a normal fashion with the arm slightly up, it would register as "active". You would need to lower the arm past the horizon, and then bring it back up to "re-activate" it. It is a tilt sensor - not sure if that means it is a mercury switch or not - it looks like a little black cylinder. I took out the two tiny screws and adjusted the angle on mine to get to a usable orientation, and went from either no tilt or auto-activate to it working perfectly. I'll attach a picture of the tilt sensor inside the instrument so you can see what I am talking about. I know there are other people who have done "3rd party" replacements to the tilt sensors in order to get a better feel. I would have to look at radio shack and then decide if my horrible soldering skills were up to the task, but the quick adjustment of taking it out of the slot and angling it then holding it in place with a drop of hot glue seems to have worked.

Ok...I know that is a lot to ask of a new product, but I definitely like the feel of the frets on the Strat over the blocky buttons on the other guitars. The size is also a big factor - 3/4 real size as oposed to maybe 1/2 size.

[CM_Drunk]

Mine works great. Im very happy with my wireless strat. The tilt sensor goes off sometimes without me wanting it too, but it doesnt happen often, and only happens cause I believe it was designed with stand-up play in mind, and when I do it doesnt have a problem.

Its when im sitting down laid back is when it goes off once every 5 songs or so on its own.

[webboy]

bought 2 wireless controllers lastnight in 2 different stores No OD at all. Shake it like mad with no luck. seems like the only option for OD is the back button. Tempted to take it apart today...

[bonethug0108]

I'm still waiting for the review.:(

[lvnomad]

2nd guitar. same problem. this one was shipped from gamestop.com.

Im going to return it as well and wait for a GH3 controller.

I anxiously await the HMX press release summarily apologizing for releasing a sh#tty batch of guitars.

[NHmets06]

i got mine and the OD goes off pretty much on its own all the time. it's weird how some don't work at all and some go off all the time. you would think they'd be able to figure out how to make it work right by now....

[JorynnRace]

I got my wireless 360 strat a few days ago, and it works perfectly.

I hear people saying that they are shaking their strat, but are you playing a note?

I can shake my strat all I want, but if I don't play a note with it in a somewhat vertical position, then it won't OD. Maybe that is a "well duh" thing to say, but I just had to say it incase there is even one person who is now putting hand to forehead.

Obviously there are a lot of you who's strats just don't have working tilt sensors, and I feel for ya for sure.

[JxNK]

It's sad but true. The peripherals really really suck.
Also, where can you buy a standalone GH3 guitar? I've been looking for one for the 360, but I don't wanna buy the crap game it's attached to.

Rock Band: Good
Rock Band peripherals: Suck

Guitar Hero 3: Sucks
Guitar Hero 3 peripheral: Good.

I'm sensing that Red Octane and Harmonix are two halves that need to be whole again.

The guitar for GHIII was absolutely not good. It broke within 2 hours of play time over a week. It had so many problems with the connector it wasn't even funny anymore. I loved playing with that guitar but someone didn't want to take the time to make a male-female connector. I've known four others around me who have had the same problem and countless people online.

I think everyone (rather the majority) of those who have RB (at least those who have the 360 as far as this statement is concerned) all have the same problem with their guitar when they first get it; the tilt sensor is way too sensitive.

It's not broke, unless you consider it being too sensitive as broke. All I have to do is sit/stand up and hold the guitar horizontally and then raise it up to get it to activate correctly, or I'll actually keep it horizontal and then hit the select button while playing to activate.

The new one is the same as the old, so far. It's playing really well. No problems so far. If they do arise I'm not too surprised. I am thankful for having any broken instruments replaced and having new ones come out.

I like RB more than GH. But only slightly. :D

[SlivedCupWinner]

This thread should be called *****ing and moaning...not a review.

The high percentage of people who come here to vent thier frustrations probably makes the issues with the hardware more serious than it really is. It's just human nature, we like having something to complain about, but when it's good, we've got nothing to say.

For me, the pluses of the strat (wireless or not) greatly outweigh the negatives. I'm so used to it, I have a very hard time playing on the xplorer these days.

[lvnomad]

This thread should be called *****ing and moaning...not a review.

The high percentage of people who come here to vent thier frustrations probably makes the issues with the hardware more serious than it really is. It's just human nature, we like having something to complain about, but when it's good, we've got nothing to say.

For me, the pluses of the strat (wireless or not) greatly outweigh the negatives. I'm so used to it, I have a very hard time playing on the xplorer these days.i tried to be balanced and illustrate how much GOOD luck i usually have with devices. Your post is pretty indicative of "IF IT DOESNT HAPPEN TO ME ITS NOT A REAL PROBLEM". To that i say "shut the eff up, moron".

[Munger88]

Rock band guitar sucks. End of discussion.

[SlivedCupWinner]

i tried to be balanced and illustrate how much GOOD luck i usually have with devices. Your post is pretty indicative of "IF IT DOESNT HAPPEN TO ME ITS NOT A REAL PROBLEM". To that i say "shut the eff up, moron".

I didn't say I didn't have problems with the guitar. go back and read my post. Basically, I said I'd take the good in spite the bad of the strat, I just didn't say what the issues were.

While you think that the guitar is worthless, I personally found your review to be worthless. Don't call it a review unless you're going to actually review it. Your "review" was just complaining.

As for your non-working tilt sensor, try opening the guitar up and see if the leads are connected. That's how I fixed mine.

[Akuryu]

I'll review it.

My wireless strat works perfectly. I've been playing with it for nearly a week and its definitely better than my original strat. Faster notes and alt strumming seem easier, the OD has never gone off on its own and the tilt sensor works well (although I use the back button mostly). Most of my scores have gone up and I've added 4-5 more Gold stars since I started using it.

I have not used a GH controller since GH1 on the PS2, so I can't fairly compare the strat to them. I'd assume if you are used to GH guitars you'll probably dislike the strat simply because its different. For those people...just keep on using whatever makes you happy. For people who like the strat (or are willing to give it a chance), the wireless is worth the buy.

[Kafel]

what sort of battery do you need for the wireless guitar ?

[Akuryu]

3 AA batteries (it comes with them)