You know those faulty Rock Band guitar reports? Unfortunately, I can confirm them on both the PS3 and Xbox 360… Two guitars have up and died in the last week.
At our company holiday party, Blake and I attempted a Rock Band guitar duet on the PS3 when he claimed his guitar stopped working. Yah, right. I’m fearsome on the plastic axe and he was just intimidated (ha!). After all, that particular guitar was working fine for me. As it turns out, the guitar functioned properly strumming in the downward direction (as I do), but the guitar had stopped responding to up-strumming (as he does).
After exchanging my first Xbox 360 Rock Band set due to a sticking blue drum pad, the replacement sat unopened for several weeks until yesterday. About half a dozen guitar solos in last night, the strum bar stopped working (in both directions). I’ve found that if I really hammer it, it’ll work for another few notes before dying again. That’s obviously unsustainable (and un-fun) — fortunately I had a Guitar Hero III controller handy to satisfy those Metallica Song Pack urges.
I wasn’t looking forward to a support phone call today, and was pleased to discover EA’s automated Rock Band hardware replacement webpage. In under ten minutes, the site verified my credit card is good for a $125 charge and scheduled a replacement guitar to be shipped via two day air – they even provided the UPS tracking number. EA will include a shippingfor the faulty guitar that I need return within 28 days (before being charged that $125). Let’s hope the process really is that efficient. And that I receive a more reliable unit.