I paid $179 for this rant

[Greg-J]

I paid $179 for this rant, so here goes. (This is for the PS3 version of course)


I woke up incredibly early to purchase RockBand today and got the last copy they had. I can't even explain how excited I was to actually get it on release day.

Let's rewind a little. I knew RockBand was coming out before I bought GuitarHeroIII and after much contemplation I purchase GuitarHeroIII after major press releases telling me that my Guitar Hero III Les Paul would work with RockBand. In fact, it has been a well-known fact for quite a while now.

Back to this morning. I went home and immediately unpacked it with my wife and kids. We were like kids in a candy store. After getting it set up we soon learned that not only was our mic defective and couldn't be picked up as an instrument, but I could not for the life of me get the Les Paul to be seen as a guitar either.

I spent over an hour trying to get both peripherals to work to no avail at which time I promptly packaged it back in the box and set it aside to take back once I got home from work today.


I had a loyalty to RockBand because you guys created the original GuitarHero's that I love. This is inexcusable though. You purposely let us buy RockBand knowing the Les Paul wouldn't work thinking that once we played it we would be o.k. with the fact, or maybe you would make up it up to us later. I don't think so. Not only am I returning RockBand when I get home, I will never trust you to come through on another product again. Period.

[KaoAtlas]

You do that.

Can you not wait a month or two?

For an adult, you act very immature.

[NotorietyH]

My pre-order just got back ordered by gamestop.com, I'll buy it off you if you don't want it.

[bmore007]

im pretty sure that its not harmonixs fault or even eas for that matter, its sony and their stupid-ass updates, every week they are doing a new update, each time they fix something they fuk 2 things up, way to go sony!

Sony has nothing to do with Rock Band or Guitar Hero and their controllers guy.

[JeffAC]

> Can you not wait a month or two?
>
> For an adult, you act very immature.

I don't think it's immature for someone to expect a product to work as advertised. The Rock Band box states "Rock Band is compatible with most music game controllers", of which the only one available not otherwise included with the game doesn't work.

Things happen, and - while it's hard to believe that this made it past Q/A before release - if Harmonix were to post an announcement to the effect that they know of the problem and plan to have a fix within a few weeks - that would be understandable (albeit a bit annoying). The fact that they haven't actually come out in public and said anything about the matter, though, is hard to justify.

I think they are a good company and have good intentions, though, which is why it's very important that they get on top of this and make a formal announcement some time in the very near future. A failure to do so will likely result in a large number of returned games, something which won't bode well for them.

- Jeff C.

[Rook_x51]

I don't mean to rain on your hate parade, but Harmonix has never said they would work together. Your problem is that you trusted an Xbox360 review on Rock Band to tell you what would happen with the PS3 version. When IGN said they work they clearly mentioned it worked for the 360 version.

Your problem is with Sony. And the fact that you trusted rumours.

Although the problem with the mic sucks :(

But that's not Harmonix either, go complain to EA.

[Greg-J]

You do that.

Can you not wait a month or two?

For an adult, you act very immature.
I would love to make sense of your post so I can provide an appropriate response, but there's not much there to work with. When you have children and after over an hour you have to deal with not only your own dissapointment, but theirs as well - you can come to me and tell me how immature my feelings are. Until then you only sound ignorant.


@NotorietyH,
If you want it, it's yours - but the mic is also faulty.

[Edgehopper]

I paid $179 for this rant, so here goes. (This is for the PS3 version of course)


I woke up incredibly early to purchase RockBand today and got the last copy they had. I can't even explain how excited I was to actually get it on release day.

Let's rewind a little. I knew RockBand was coming out before I bought GuitarHeroIII and after much contemplation I purchase GuitarHeroIII after major press releases telling me that my Guitar Hero III Les Paul would work with RockBand. In fact, it has been a well-known fact for quite a while now.

Back to this morning. I went home and immediately unpacked it with my wife and kids. We were like kids in a candy store. After getting it set up we soon learned that not only was our mic defective and couldn't be picked up as an instrument, but I could not for the life of me get the Les Paul to be seen as a guitar either.

I spent over an hour trying to get both peripherals to work to no avail at which time I promptly packaged it back in the box and set it aside to take back once I got home from work today.


I had a loyalty to RockBand because you guys created the original GuitarHero's that I love. This is inexcusable though. You purposely let us buy RockBand knowing the Les Paul wouldn't work thinking that once we played it we would be o.k. with the fact, or maybe you would make up it up to us later. I don't think so. Not only am I returning RockBand when I get home, I will never trust you to come through on another product again. Period.

1. I doubt they knew about the Les Paul problem. Remember, HMX's guitars are on the open standard, the Les Paul is not.

2. Did you plug in a PS3 standard controller? You need to do that to get the mic to work.

[Greg-J]

I don't mean to rain on your hate parade, but Harmonix has never said they would work together. Your problem is that you trusted an Xbox360 review on Rock Band to tell you what would happen with the PS3 version. When IGN said they work they clearly mentioned it worked for the 360 version.

Your problem is with Sony. And the fact that you trusted rumours.

Although the problem with the mic sucks :(

But that's not Harmonix either, go complain to EA.
Have you read the package for the PS3 version? I didn't trust any XBOX360 review for my information, I trusted the packaging.

[Greg-J]

1. I doubt they knew about the Les Paul problem. Remember, HMX's guitars are on the open standard, the Les Paul is not.

2. Did you plug in a PS3 standard controller? You need to do that to get the mic to work.
I did plug in the controller with the mic and followed all the directions and still nothing.

[Edgehopper]

I did plug in the controller with the mic and followed all the directions and still nothing.

In that case, your mic is under warranty. Go to ea.com/support, or whatever it says to do on that pink sheet. Give their customer support a chance to do their job :)

[KaoAtlas]

I would love to make sense of your post so I can provide an appropriate response, but there's not much there to work with. When you have children and after over an hour you have to deal with not only your own dissapointment, but theirs as well - you can come to me and tell me how immature my feelings are. Until then you only sound ignorant.


@NotorietyH,
If you want it, it's yours - but the mic is also faulty.

Returning a game because you beleived in a rumor is very foolish.

Edit: Nevermind, I see.

You can ship the mic back to EA or just get a cheap USB mic, it all works.

[Greg-J]

Returning a game because you beleived in a rumor is very foolish.

Edit: Nevermind, I see.

You can ship the mic back to EA or just get a cheap USB mic, it all works.
Assuming my purchase was based on a rumor is very foolsih.

I'm well aware of how to get the mic working, but if it's broken there isn't much I can do is there?


It's amazing how quick people are to jump on another customer after they simply express their discontent with their experience.

[KaoAtlas]

Assuming my purchase was based on a rumor is very foolsih.

I'm well aware of how to get the mic working, but if it's broken there isn't much I can do is there?


It's amazing how quick people are to jump on another customer after they simply express their discontent with their experience.

I did edit my post after I saw that post, did you see what I put in?

[bmore007]

Your problem is with Sony. And the fact that you trusted rumours.

.

No no no, this is not Sony's problem. This is IGN's problem for not letting it be known that it didn't work. How do you fault Sony? They didn't program or release the game.

I kind of see it as a Harmonix problem too because didn't they say the game would be open to other guitars? Well obviously it isn't. I'm sure this can be fixed through a patch but still.

To blame Sony on this one, of all people to blame is beyond stupid and I think you're just doing it to appease your 360 fanboyism and thump your chest.

[Greg-J]

It would be great if Harmonix would just tell us one way or the other if they're going to patch it. It would save me from having to sell my PS3 versions of GHIII and RB to get the 360 versions...

[mxmarks]

I dont understand how this is Harmonix's fault at ALL.

The game IS open to ANY guitars that will "play nice with others". ANY 3rd party guitars that ANYONE makes using open standards will totally work.

RED OCTANE locked the Les Paul into GH3. How is Harmonix supposed to do anything about that, other than paying Red Octane, which is a waste of thier time.

If this CAN be fixed through a patch, it would need to be a patch to the Les Paul itself, opening it up to different games.

[JeffAC]

> Returning a game because you beleived in a rumor is very foolish.

The text found on the PS3 version's box is a rumor?

Do you honestly thing it's an unreasonable expectation for people to assume that the GH3 controller will work when A) Harmonix has indicated that it would, B) the RB box cover says that it's compatible with other music game controllers, of which there is only one available and C) the Xbox 360 version works just fine?

Sure, maybe none of this is legally binding for Harmonix, but given the huge amount of interest in this matter well before release the least they could have done was publicly state something to the effect, "despite all indications to the contrary and our very own box art, only our own instruments will work with the PS3 version of the game."

- Jeff C.

[KaoAtlas]

> Returning a game because you beleived in a rumor is very foolish.

The text found on the PS3 version's box is a rumor?

Do you honestly thing it's an unreasonable expectation for people to assume that the GH3 controller will work when A) Harmonix has indicated that it would, B) the RB box cover says that it's compatible with other music game controllers, of which there is only one available and C) the Xbox 360 version works just fine?

Sure, maybe none of this is legally binding for Harmonix, but given the huge amount of interest in this matter well before release the least they could have done was publicly state something to the effect, "despite all indications to the contrary and our very own box art, only our own instruments will work with the PS3 version of the game."

- Jeff C.

No they didn't, they said they would like it to happen if it can.

[mltdwn]

I don't think it's immature for someone to expect a product to work as advertised. The Rock Band box states "Rock Band is compatible with most music game controllers", of which the only one available not otherwise included with the game doesn't work. (emphasis mine)

Key word "MOST" and I am willing to bet the box for the 360 and PS3 RBs are the same (sans the PS3 requirements and badging). Also the Les Paul is not the only guitar available on the PS3. It's the only "official" PS3 guitar available the GH2 guitar has been shown to work fine with the PS2-PS3 adapter.

Also of note. HMX has always stated that the game would work with ANY music controller that follows the "open standards" system. The Les Paul does not, meaning it would most likely not work, and HMX would probably be sued if they tried to make it work. You want to blame someone blame RO (and the reason the 360 works, after researching I found MS requires ALL device manufacturers to use open standards on their box, Sony does not), and by extension Sony for not holding developers to the same requirements as MS does.

As for the mic that does suck, and I hope you can find some resolution to that.

[JeffAC]

> RED OCTANE locked the Les Paul into GH3. How is Harmonix supposed to do anything
> about that, other than paying Red Octane, which is a waste of thier time.

1. My understanding is that the Les Paul works fine in the Xbox 360 versions. This would seem to indicate that Red Octane had nothing to do with it not working.

2. Even if it doesn't work and won't be fixed, given the huge and widespread expectation that it would work (based in part on words by Harmonix and even their very own game's box art) I think it's reasonable to expect - at minimum - an official announcement that it wouldn't work by release day.

In the end, it's Harmonix who is going to be hurt by this. It would be in their best interests to clarify the matter one way or the other before half their PS3 customers return their purchases and the PR damage is done.

- Jeff C.

[dumari]

I kind of see it as a Harmonix problem too because didn't they say the game would be open to other guitars? Well obviously it isn't. I'm sure this can be fixed through a patch but still.


What they meant by that is that they will allow 3rd party manufacturers to make products that work with Rock Band (avoiding all that TAC bull from GH) not that they would go out of their way to make sure pre-existing hardware they have nothing to do with (and no rights to) would work with Rock Band.

They never stated the LP would work they only stated that they believed the X-plorer would (which makes sense they were making GH2 for it but they had no part in GH3). What the problem is is that people mistook rumors and eventually reviews for the word of the actual developer.

You cannot hold Harmonix responsible for not making their software compatible with other peoples hardware. What you can hold them responsible for is the condition of their own hardware (like the problems everyone seems to be having with their Gibsons).

[bmore007]

Also the Les Paul is not the only guitar available on the PS3. It's the only "official" PS3 guitar available the GH2 guitar has been shown to work fine with the PS2-PS3 adapter.



WAIT, the PS2 SGs WILL work with the adapter for sure??? i've heard nothing but that they don't work

[KaoAtlas]

WAIT, the PS2 SGs WILL work with the adapter for sure??? i've heard nothing but that they don't work

When you play the old Guitar Heroes on a PS3.

[Ultrace]

It would be great if Harmonix would just tell us one way or the other if they're going to patch it. It would save me from having to sell my PS3 versions of GHIII and RB to get the 360 versions...
Considering that HMX's statement that they would get the game to work with open-standard guitars (which the PS3 LP most definitely is not) was taken as a gospel that the GH3 LP would work with the game in all ways, I'd be afraid to see how any statement on this, even a "we're working on it" would be interpreted. They can't tell you for sure that it can be fixed now, and if they even indicate they're trying, that will no doubt set up an entirely new firestorm if they aren't able to do so.

[bmore007]

What they meant by that is that they will allow 3rd party manufacturers to make products that work with Rock Band (avoiding all that TAC bull from GH) not that they would go out of their way to make sure pre-existing hardware they have nothing to do with (and no rights to) would work with Rock Band.

They never stated the LP would work they only stated that they believed the X-plorer would (which makes sense they were making GH2 for it but they had no part in GH3). What the problem is is that people mistook rumors and eventually reviews for the word of the actual developer.

You cannot hold Harmonix responsible for not making their software compatible with other peoples hardware. What you can hold them responsible for is the condition of their own hardware (like the problems everyone seems to be having with their Gibsons).

I agree with what you're saying completely. It's not Harmonix's game design problem, all they have to do is make their own instruments work. My only beef is they should have not aloud so many people to become misinformed on the issue. That's where I see the problem.

[dumari]

I agree with what you're saying completely. It's not Harmonix's game design problem, all they have to do is make their own instruments work. My only beef is they should have not aloud so many people to become misinformed on the issue. That's where I see the problem.

I can understand that but I question if they're even allowed to comment one way or the other on issues involving other companies hardware.

Just a thought.

[bmore007]

When you play the old Guitar Heroes on a PS3.

No offense, but who cares if they work with guitar hero on the ps3. I think everyone is more interested in if the PS2 SGs will work on the ps3 with rock band and from all accounts i've heard they will not.

I'm guessing you cant play guitar parts with a controller either? If the les paul just registers as a controller. It would seem they just need to patch the game so you can play guitar with a controller, then perhaps the Les Paul and the PS2 SG's will work with it.

[sporkBrigade]

> RED OCTANE locked the Les Paul into GH3. How is Harmonix supposed to do anything
> about that, other than paying Red Octane, which is a waste of thier time.

1. My understanding is that the Les Paul works fine in the Xbox 360 versions. This would seem to indicate that Red Octane had nothing to do with it not working.

2. Even if it doesn't work and won't be fixed, given the huge and widespread expectation that it would work (based in part on words by Harmonix and even their very own game's box art) I think it's reasonable to expect - at minimum - an official announcement that it wouldn't work by release day.

In the end, it's Harmonix who is going to be hurt by this. It would be in their best interests to clarify the matter one way or the other before half their PS3 customers return their purchases and the PR damage is done.

- Jeff C.

I know you're knee jerk reacting right now, but take a second. The mic obviously is a problem, but it's covered in the waranty. Every release is going to involve duds. That's fact. If you don't like that fact, don't purchase electronics.

The Guitar issue: It is what it is. Harmonix developed Rock Band to work with all controllers. The PS3 one doesn't, and that has nothing to do with Harmonix. The fact that the XBox controller works has nothing to do with anything. That's a different platform. With the PS3, RedOctane used a wireless dongle for the Les Paul, which means they had complete control over what "language" that guitar is using. If they changed it from the standard, there's nothing Harmonix can do about that. Sure, it might hurt them financially in the end, but that's something to go to the Guitar Hero forums and complain about. Not here.

If HD DVD said "We're over it. Open formats for all. We're making HD DVD players compatible with Blue Ray Discs. Enjoy!" Then Blue Ray specially changed something about their discs so that they wouldn't work with the new "Compatible" HD DVD players, who do you get mad at? Who's cheating the customer? (Ignore the obvious with HD DVD playeres magically reading Blue Ray discs. It's just an analogy involving formats to make the point.)

[Greg-J]

No offense, but who cares if they work with guitar hero on the ps3. I think everyone is more interested in if the PS2 SGs will work on the ps3 with rock band and from all accounts i've heard they will not.

I'm guessing you cant play guitar parts with a controller either? If the les paul just registers as a controller. It would seem they just need to patch the game so you can play guitar with a controller, then perhaps the Les Paul and the PS2 SG's will work with it.
From a development standpoint, It's not a matter of if they can get it to work - it's a matter of when they will. This is far too important an issue not to address.

In all honesty, I wouldn't be upset if I could buy another Fender controller. Hell, I prefer the Fender to the Les Paul by a long shot...

[sporkBrigade]

I agree with what you're saying completely. It's not Harmonix's game design problem, all they have to do is make their own instruments work. My only beef is they should have not aloud so many people to become misinformed on the issue. That's where I see the problem.

Actually, I remember every Harmonix quote on the matter was VERY specific that not all controllers WOULD work. They always repeated, again and again, that they were going to design Rock Band to be open standard, but if the maker of the guitar did something to make it incompatible, there's nothing they can do about that. All complaints about such an event should be directed to the maker of said guitar. In this case, that would be RedOctane, and no one from RedOctane reads posts from this board.

I'm sorry, but you can't get mad at Harmonix because people don't want to hear what they're being told. Harmonix was as clear as they could expected to be. Any investments people made before knowing the facts were poor choices by the consumer.

It is what it is. Please direct all further complaints to the people who should be hearing them. www.redoctane.com

[KaoAtlas]

From a development standpoint, It's not a matter of if they can get it to work - it's a matter of when they will. This is far too important an issue not to address.

In all honesty, I wouldn't be upset if I could buy another Fender controller. Hell, I prefer the Fender to the Les Paul by a long shot...

What I'd do even though this is a very odd way to fix this , buy another bundle, keep the guitar and sell the rest over the internet.

Or buy a SG guitar for the PS2 and then get a PS2 to PS3 adapter, which is an official product.

[bmore007]

Or buy a SG guitar for the PS2 and then get a PS2 to PS3 adapter, which is an official product.

That does NOT work either......

[KaoAtlas]

That does NOT work either......

Proof?

They don't work when playing GH1-80s, but where is the proof it doesn't work with Rock Band?

[bmore007]

Proof?

They don't work when playing GH1-80s, but where is the proof it doesn't work with Rock Band?

There's like 2 threads here of people testing it man. The pelican adapter and the radioshack adapter people have said don't work when trying to use SG's on rock band.

[JeffAC]

> They always repeated, again and again, that they were going to design Rock Band to
> be open standard, but if the maker of the guitar did something to make it incompatible,
> there's nothing they can do about that.

While I disagree that they've made much of anything especially clear, consider this for a moment: Judging by the postings in this forum and various articles in the past, for whatever reason there were widespread assumptions by a large number of people that the controller would work.

In fact, based on what I've seen, it seems even Harmonix itself thought they could get it to work (game box art mentioning other music instruments when only one even exists, the fact that the Xbox 360 version works, etc).

So - regardless of who is at fault - there are a lot of people who purchased something under the assumption that it would work. In my experience if that happens on a wide scale the problem is with the producing company for not making the message the slightest bit clear. I think that's what we have here.

After GH3 came out over a month ago, Harmonix could have grabbed a copy and tested it. Within hours they could have posted a matrix on their site showing which guitars would work with the shipping version of Rock Band and which would not. If they had plans to make the GH3 guitar work down the road in a patch, they could have divulged that as well. That would have been completely unambiguous and allowed their customers to make purchasing decisions with 100% valid, confirmed information.

So, yeah, maybe they could blame the customer for not carefully parsing every single word Harmonix said and reading the wrong message into their rather "coy" wording (and box art - ahem...). But, in the end, they could have easily prevented this problem and not stuck people with an unexpected bad experience on release day.

That's Customer Service, Marketing and Public Relations 101, people. Get ahead of the problem and make it a non-issue before the buying public gets stung with a nasty surprise.

Let's just hope that they get on top of the matter ASAP and - if they don't plan to fix it - let people know.

- Jeff C.

[eldoctorg]

im pretty sure that its not harmonixs fault or even eas for that matter, its sony and their stupid-ass updates, every week they are doing a new update, each time they fix something they fuk 2 things up, way to go sony!

[vectorz]

I have no idea what the HMX fanboyism is all about but here is the bottom line, regardless of what fanboyism disallows you to see clearly:

MOST people whom will be purchasing rockband, are NOT frequenters of Rock Band's interviewed statements. They will go solely on that very simple statement on the box that says "works with most guitars". Considering there aren't ANY other guitars on the PS3 besides Les Paul, it would be very clear to understand that it is SUPPOSED to work with Les Paul.

Unless of course, your fanboyism allows you to retort with stupidity. There's going to be a lot of unhappy parents and children who read at face value. You should get your fanboyism out there and tell the entire world how stupid they were for not keeping up with HMX interviewed statements.

[Greg-J]

It would be great if Harmonix would just tell us one way or the other if they're going to patch it. It would save me from having to sell my PS3 versions of GHIII and RB to get the 360 versions...

[KaoAtlas]

It would be great if Harmonix would just tell us one way or the other if they're going to patch it. It would save me from having to sell my PS3 versions of GHIII and RB to get the 360 versions...

Give it a day or so, the game just came out.

[Greg-J]

This just keeps getting better and better.


I figured since my RockBand experience for the PS3 wasn't nearly what I was hoping for I would get the 360 version and start over. I went to the store and exchanged my copy for the 360 version and purchased another copy of Guitar Hero III (this time for the 360 since I figured I could easily sell my PS3 version on ebay).

I was excited. Again. Unpacked it and hooked it up and away I went. Then something happened that nearly put me through the roof: The mic that came with this system would not function. It would recognize, it simply would not provide any sound when playing. The game saw it was there and we tried absolutely everything. We plugged it into every usb outlet on the 360 itself as well as the hub. Restarted, turned off, turned on, etc - and nothing. Finally we called the support number just to make sure I wasn't an idiot because it seemed awfully odd to me that I could get 2 defective mic's in one day. What are the odds of that?


I wasn't suprised to get an indian I could hardly understand when I called, but it compounded my frustration. After treating me like an idiot and doing everything I had already tried twice he conceded that my mic was faulty and that "it is a common problem". Off to the warranty department I went where I requested a complete refund. Two defective systems in one day is just too much for me to want to wait to receive a mic in the mail. I just wanted my money back, nothing more. I was told it is not EA policy to do this. I asked if it was EA policy to release hardware with 100% failure rate and they quickly pointed out that the failure rate is much lower. I disagreed because in my experience, the failure rate of the microphone has been 100%. I know this isn't true, but you need to look where I'm coming from and my frustration. I was now 16 minutes into the phone call when they asked me to speak with a supervisor.

I was on hold for an additional 34 minutes before my phone beeped at me telling me it was going to die. All in all I spent $268 today to play this game to its fullest and was unsuccessful in doing so regardless of my extreme efforts. I'll be going back to the store tomorrow with a printout of several of these threads along with my taped conversation with tech support to try to get my money back for Rock Band.

I have to say that I am completely dissapointed. I gave this company another chance to rectify the situation and I got burned. It's more than just the money and the faulty hardware too. It's about the time and emotion that goes into it. It was like Christmas morning for a lot of us, including my entire family who has waited months for today. Only to be let down not once but twice and then slapped in the face by support? This is how you expect to keep your fans happy?

I'll post an update after I get back from the store to see how this goes, but this is a very poor way to treat your customers. From start to finish it has been a complete nightmare.

[Huskie]

Greg-J,

I can understand where you're coming from. I have kids myself and could imagine what it was like for you trying to get the game working with them all waiting with anticipation only to have their hopes destroyed in the end. :(

I'm a lastgen holdout so I can't even get the game for our household yet. (PS2)
We're all waiting patiently for the PS2 release but now I'm a bit scared.
I'm not feeling that nice fuzzy feeling anymore after reading the horror stories from today.

I hope somehow you can get this rectified and get smilies on the family's faces soon.

[KaYotiX]

Gotta love the POS3 :p

I feel for you guys.....kinda. Everygame out has issues it seems with SONY's console.

[batsu336]

I would love to make sense of your post so I can provide an appropriate response, but there's not much there to work with. When you have children and after over an hour you have to deal with not only your own dissapointment, but theirs as well - you can come to me and tell me how immature my feelings are. Until then you only sound ignorant.


Man, it's a GAME. Yes, an expensive game, but a GAME. If it's broken, send it back and get your money. End of story. You make it sound as though somone hijacked your plane on your way to DisneyWorld. If the whole family is that crushed over a video game then it is time to take the family out and do something else together to straighten out your priorities. I bought the kit to give to the family for Christmas, but I would be concerned if my family was as depressed as yours apparently is...

Every once in a while you get a lemon with anything mass-produced, and you ended up with a faulty mic. So lay down $30 at Radio Shack and get a USB microphone. Any USB microphone is supposed to work. Problem solved. What's with returning the whole kit for a bad microphone??? And as someone else already posted, the GH3 guitar compatability was only reviewed for the 360.

[smudgeyjoe]

I am not ranting yet, but I could use some insight here before I feel the need to rant. I am using the 360 version of Rock Band. I have the Stratocaster that it came with and the Les Paul from Guitar Hero III. When my son and I choose quickplay, we are able to play fine, either one of us on lead or rhythm, but when we try to do World Tour, we immediately get stuck at the set up stage. He chooses his character and it goes to conintue, when I click in, it has me create a character, which I have done twice, but as soon as I choose a character, it does not go forward, it just keeps sending me back to create a character. On another thread, I have found others having the same problem. It is not a guitar not working problem, it is a software won't let us go ahead problem, or else a dumb user problem, but this dumb user wouldn't care if you could point me in the right direction.

[InuHanyou1701]

I can understand your anger and frustration regarding the issue but, and I intend no insult or anything of that nature in this, I think it's a little too harsh. You have to bear in mind that since this is the first shipment of the product, there will still be some kinks to work out. They test and test and test this equipment but there will always be bugs that they couldn't catch. As was said in the Halo development, when you fix one bug, 20 more pop up. It's hard to catch it all in time. (Sucks about your mic. Seriously contact EA and have them send you a replacement.) You also have to bear in mind that the box said "most" music controllers. If I were in your position I would try emailing Harmonix and see what they say (Unless Harmonix has responded here which is possible since I haven't read everyone's posts) because sometimes they can be dead useful. Also try emailing Red Octane and see what they say. ^^; At the risk of upsetting you further I know that Harmonix and the dev team for Rock Band want to see their customers absolutely thrilled by their product so they would not have lied to us purposely. They, more than likely, didn't know that this was a problem because they do not benefit in any way if they know of this problem and don't tell us. People will just get angry, as you did, and return the product. Email Red Octane and Harmonix. See what they say. I hope you get it all working soon! Good luck!

Edit: Wow... I just read the second part of this story. Sorry about that. Well at any rate, I hope that you get everything working to your satisfaction. Best of luck to you. Oh and Happy Thanksgiving if you celebrate it!

[Greg-J]

Greg-J,

I can understand where you're coming from. I have kids myself and could imagine what it was like for you trying to get the game working with them all waiting with anticipation only to have their hopes destroyed in the end. :(

I'm a lastgen holdout so I can't even get the game for our household yet. (PS2)
We're all waiting patiently for the PS2 release but now I'm a bit scared.
I'm not feeling that nice fuzzy feeling anymore after reading the horror stories from today.

I hope somehow you can get this rectified and get smilies on the families faces soon.
My level of frustration is at an all-time high. It dawned on me that I should be able to use any USB mic so I'm going to go down to Circuit City and see if they have a couple different ones I can pic up to try.

It's ridiculous how much I've had to work today just to try to play this damn game though.

[Zero80Rocker]

Goodluck Greg. Hope you're able to enjoy the game soon or get your money back.

My copy of the game (for 360) is working great -- I have a slight guitar problem I'm dealing with (the strummer seems to lag a bit whereas the older GH2 guitar on RB works great) but the rest of the game seems to be ok.

[Greg-J]

As for the mic... We have several 4 pin mic's and I happen to find a 4 pin mic to usb adapter for $60 at Circuit City last night so I bought that and tried it out and unfortunately it doesn't work. The mic does however work on my PS3, go figure...

At this point I'm just over the whole ordeal. It's taken more energy than anyone should have to spend on it and the entire experience has been completely shot.

I did get a chance to play with the guitar and the drums last night and while I think the guitar is miles beyond the Les Paul from GH3, the drums leave a lot to be desired. I say that as a fairly accomplished drummer. After a few hours with them, I don't find them interesting or entertaining. I find them obnoxious and especially distracting when you're playing the guitar.

Good has come of this experience though. Had my equipment not been faulty I wouldn't have been able to return the game because I didn't like it.

[tntnixon1]

Didn't Harmonix create guitar hero. Then, why is there a compatability issue. For all the crap they keep sputtering out they don't seem to understand that they made the promises not the consumer. And yes they did say the Les Paul would work with rock band but the Fender may not work with Guitar hero unless there was a request for backward compatabilty. I read every pre-release press release in anticipation of this. They never said there was a differince on the PS3

[Rook_x51]

I am not ranting yet, but I could use some insight here before I feel the need to rant. I am using the 360 version of Rock Band. I have the Stratocaster that it came with and the Les Paul from Guitar Hero III. When my son and I choose quickplay, we are able to play fine, either one of us on lead or rhythm, but when we try to do World Tour, we immediately get stuck at the set up stage. He chooses his character and it goes to conintue, when I click in, it has me create a character, which I have done twice, but as soon as I choose a character, it does not go forward, it just keeps sending me back to create a character. On another thread, I have found others having the same problem. It is not a guitar not working problem, it is a software won't let us go ahead problem, or else a dumb user problem, but this dumb user wouldn't care if you could point me in the right direction.

I don't think it's a "dumb user" problem, more of a "sloppy UI design" problem. Everything is so complicated for selecting characters and such. Make sure that you are both selecting "Continue" after you have selected a rocker. We had an awkward time with this as well.

[derrikirred]

They DID NOT create GHIII (les paul).

[GattzDaBerzerk]

Yeah Harmonix sold GH and focused on Rock Band instead...makes sense why the LP don't work. I have the ps3 version and I'm gonna try hookin up a wired ps2 (non SG) guitar w/adapter and see what happens. I'll post if it works. Remember, real guitars have cables anyway.

Also on the Mic issue: I think most people are confused as to how to connect the mic. I thought mine was broken too and I was pissed, then I searched some forums and found the solution. Make sure the mic is plugged into a USB port, and simply turn on one of the ps3 controllers. The option to join will be highlighted then...just sux that you have to make all the choices with the controller coz mic doesnt have buttons (;_;)
Hope this helps some people. Now all I need is a S.O.A.D. Downloadable content *sigh*