It Was A Good Idea At The Time
The two part guitar hero controller: the neck snaps into the body and is locked into position. A small circuit board within in the neck has connection points that come into contact with a spring-enforced circuit board with pins within the body. Why? Cause the controller would be easier stored in two pieces. No more guitar controller just out laying out there in one solid piece, not being an eyesore, just there waiting to be played. Somehow Red Octane thought this was a grand idea. But after a customer return last night and a google search of “guitar hero 3 controller problems”, I found that the design is flawed.
Angry fans went online at various forums and complained of many problems with the new Guitar Hero Les Paul controllers. Most of the complaints came from the PS3 and Xbox 360 side (haven’t stumbled across any complaints agains the Wii controller) with cries of “malfunction tilt sensors”, “sticky strum bars” and “unresponsive fret buttons.” The latter being the biggest complaint of all. A lot of the gamers are saying that the break-apart concept is the flaw. The neck doesn’t sit properly even though it is locked in and that constant play could render the neck to loosen resulting in the pins not making contact with the board in the neck.
Seriously, do real guitar players use break-apart guitars for extra portability? I’m not a guitar expert, but I hardly think that real guitars are made in a such a fashion. Under the stress of recording, touring, and just all out jamming, a real break-apart guitar would be ridiculous. So why make a break-apart fake guitar for Guitar Hero III? With all the hype and the fans of the franchise, gamers are gonna be playing this game for long hours, and a break-apart controller is not the answer to deal with the stresses put on it.
Red Octane, we’re all grateful that the controllers are wireless (well the PS3 got screwed with those dongle thingys, but that’s the least of the Sony fanboys’ woes), but why further fix it when it clearly isn’t broke?
If you must pick up the Guitar Hero 3, just get the game and use your wired Xplorer controller if you haven’t traded it in already. Hopefully Red Octane will come out with solid, stable one-piece wireless guitars before they get sued or something.
~ LoneWolf
