Maybe the root of the problems aren't really a problem at all...

[KeithSkins]

After some very extensive "play testing" (about 8 hours worth today), it's clear that the rhythm window is much smaller than the Guitar Hero series, especially GH3. I wonder how many "My strum bar and drums aren't registering random notes!!1!11!eleven!1!!!" issues are a result of this?

Maybe I just happened to get lucky on the hardware, but before you throw the baby out with the bathwater, maybe double check you that you're in fact accurate from a rhythmic standpoint. If you're not concentrating on precision, I could see how it be very difficult to get away with things that GH let slide, and I could see how a good GH player might not chalk it up to user error.

Hope my thoughts save someone the hassle of returning a non-defective piece of hardware. :)

[Apples]

I can't speak to hardware problems, but yes the timing is pretty tight. It is a rather welcome shake-up compared to another recent release where I could just sort of spam my way through solos. Precision is definately rewarded.

[Angry_Games]

After some very extensive "play testing" (about 8 hours worth today), it's clear that the rhythm window is much smaller than the Guitar Hero series, especially GH3. I wonder how many "My strum bar and drums aren't registering random notes!!1!11!eleven!1!!!" issues are a result of this?

Maybe I just happened to get lucky on the hardware, but before you throw the baby out with the bathwater, maybe double check you that you're in fact accurate from a rhythmic standpoint. If you're not concentrating on precision, I could see how it be very difficult to get away with things that GH let slide, and I could see how a good GH player might not chalk it up to user error.

Hope my thoughts save someone the hassle of returning a non-defective piece of hardware. :)

I'm holding notes and just strumming away both up and down and no notes are registering at all so I'm pretty sure it's not a timing issue (btw, before the fender broke and now playing with my 360 explorer, I also notice the timing window is a lot less forgiving and I am with Apples in that I am totally down with this! Precision is definitely rewarded, though the difficulty levels are much reduced from GH2/GH3)

[MysteryMan]

Hrm, I considered this, but I switched to my GH3 guitar and was getting five stars, easy. For whatever reason, the Rock Band guitar does not like to strum several notes straight for me.

[deepbluevibes]

After some very extensive "play testing" (about 8 hours worth today), it's clear that the rhythm window is much smaller than the Guitar Hero series, especially GH3. I wonder how many "My strum bar and drums aren't registering random notes!!1!11!eleven!1!!!" issues are a result of this?

Maybe I just happened to get lucky on the hardware, but before you throw the baby out with the bathwater, maybe double check you that you're in fact accurate from a rhythmic standpoint. If you're not concentrating on precision, I could see how it be very difficult to get away with things that GH let slide, and I could see how a good GH player might not chalk it up to user error.

Hope my thoughts save someone the hassle of returning a non-defective piece of hardware. :)

I still don't get what you guys mean by a tight timing window; the timing window on this game is huge. That or Drummania is just tighter than all of them; I hit notes that many times I feel I should have missed by a mile because i hit them late or early.

But yeah, like i linked to the video earlier, there are definitely drum hardware problems at the very least, that video gave rock solid proof.

[mxmarks]

i cant EMPHASIZE how much I agree with you!!!!!

I was SO HAPPY my strum bar was fine for 3 hours plus - than I got a set that had Surfragette City into Here It Goes Again (on Expert) - I tried downstrumming and shouted "AH, IT FINALLY BROKE!"

Everyone was sad. I said let me keep going. I then ROCKED OUT on Orange Crush and Wanted Dead Or Alive (DOA was 98%!!!)

It was TOTAL PROOF to me that what I THOUGHT was a busted guitar was really just an INSANE window on chords. Which now Im REALLY excited to perfect, because Im positive my guitar is working as it should =)

[Se7enLawliet]

^They're talking about American standards.

I was laughing pretty hard when I first played Guitar Hero 1 after years of Guitar Freaks. Then started getting to the more technical songs. Jeebus....