Guitar Hero 360 X-plorer playing up

360 News | Whammy bars faulty; RedOctane responds.

For those about to rock, we... Would like to pass on a friendly word of caution. It turns out that a good number of the X-plorer guitars currently bundled with the Xbox 360 version of Guitar Hero II are suffering from non-responsive whammy bars. The peripheral-based rhythm game was released on Microsoft's console globally last week to precisely the sort of critical acclaim it enjoyed on the PlayStation 2. However, publisher RedOctane has now had to release a statement concerning the wonky whammys.

"In regards to the controller, we’re currently in the process of having our internal QA and production teams look into this possible issue, and are working to quickly isolate this if there is one," reads the statement. "In the meantime, we suggest our fans try to replug in their guitars without holding down any buttons or the whammy bar, and that may help immediately resolve the issue."

We took that advice and carried out a quick test with our own X-plorer (which seems to be affected by the problem), yet no luck. Anyone else having whammy bar tribulations? Share them with us in the comments thread.

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20 Comments

armageddon12

4 years ago

I was experiencing problems with the whammy bar. Just took it straight back and got a replacement. New one seems to be working fine.

According to kotaku it depends on the location of the external port, if it's next to the headset port it should function fine, otherwise you may experience problems, the two model numbers which experience faults being: 95055, and 95065.

Both guitars I've had were from the faulty batch.

GroovySamurai

4 years ago

Crap for real? Man I was going to get the game this Thursday. I dont want to have to send it away and wait weeks for replacements if I get a faulty controller though..

Sunrider

4 years ago

I know I have this issue, but the second time I played it the whammy seemed to have loosened up or something as it was working correctly, or at least closer to corrrectly.

Bitchacho

4 years ago

My friend had 2 of the wireless PS2 guitars which didn't work. I'm wondering if anyone else has any troubles with this guitar?

You'd think they would test each batch they would send out in case of something like this. Hell, I'd do it. Playing GH for a living

seany

4 years ago

I have got one from the faulty batch model 95055. Why would they bring out two models?

So far no problems with the whammy bar on mine. The only problem is my coordination. lol

B3NBO

4 years ago

i got power cord next to pedal port..works fine.barely use whammy tho, so its not really a big deal if yours is sometimes unresponsive...

Djfuzz

4 years ago

Mine's in the faulty batch, but I've got no idea how to work out if it actually is faulty - the whammy bar does respond sometimes, but not all the time - I don't know if that's because there are certain notes in the game where it's supposed to work, and others where it's not.

Further, I'm not clear on how to go about returning it - this 'recall' seems pretty unofficial in Australia at the moment, and I'm not sure if simply returning the whole box to JB is really going to result in any satisfaction (particularly if they don't have any unaffected-batch guitars in stock - it seems on our packaging you can't tell the batch without looking at the back of the guitar itself).

ret the roman

4 years ago

I dont mean to sound like a N00B but what is the whammy bar for?

Bitchacho

4 years ago

retroman wrote

I dont mean to sound like a N00B but what is the whammy bar for?

THIS:

...Rocking out. It's next to my right hand on the red guitar. Basically you twist it around on a guitar to make bendy noises. You use it to gain Star Power on hold notes. You'll see what I mean when you get it.

ultrasinc

4 years ago

Dissapointed... I also have a 95055 batch...

Also figured that whenever whammy doesn't respond, pushing it back up the to neutral position then re-whammying made it respond again.

Its a temporary fix, but irratating as hell when doing so causes you to lose concentration and screw up the next few keys...

Karai Pantsu

4 years ago

I'm a part of the 95055 crew as well, but mine has mostly been fine. Sometimes it won't respond, but from the limited amount of attention that I've paid to it - it seems that the direction that the whammy bar is in plays a part in whether or not it'll respond. Perhaps.

I need to go and play GH now.

GroovySamurai

4 years ago

If I buy it on Thursday where should I get it from? Like will any shops have corrected versions by then?

ret the roman

4 years ago

There bound to sell working guitars by them selves soon so we dont have to buy the game again.

GroovySamurai

4 years ago

^ But your paying 130 dollars for a faulty guitar and your just going to buy another? Man I would be doing something about it..

ret the roman

4 years ago

^
I never said i will go out and buy another guitar if mines faulty.

Once the new guitars come out microsoft should make a deal where you can exchange your faulty one for a new working one.

GroovySamurai

4 years ago

Microsoft wouldnt do that though. They have to respond to the faults straight away or its very bad service on their behalf. Im just saying im not going to buy it knowning theres a chance ill get a faulty controller. I remember how long it took to get my 360 back off them... Im just curious how quickly they will get new working stock out?

thylacine

4 years ago

Yup, noticed this problem - sometimes it works ok, other times I really have to bend the thing fully in and out to extremities of its range before it responds properly.

Not THAT worried though; does the whammy make THAT much difference to points??

Yeah sure it's fun, but the other day I played Monkey Wrench on easy (I go through all difficulties, esp now there's Achievements involved), got 100% and 120,000 I think it was (don't flame if that's way off, can't remember score exactly, but for sake of demonstration), USING NO WHAMMY WHATSOEVER, then replayed using whammy wherever possible, got 99% and 119,000 (again unsure if that was the actual score, but still demonstrates the point).

I did it fully intending it as a test of the whammy's importance, and now I seriously wonder if it makes that much difference (also because it 'distracts' from playing the notes to some extent, so may result in more mistakes at higher levels). Is it ONLY for getting that little bit more star power on hold notes as Mitchacho mentions above? I didn't notice points increasing any faster when using it on holds, so I assume it's JUST for more SP?

I used it frequently on PS2 versions of GH and GH2, but wondering if I'll even bother now on 360 GH2. Also can't be bothered going back to the shop I got it from, as it was not my usual store; was just on the way home from where I was on the day.

Unless (does anyone know?) EB take returns at any branch as long as you have receipt?

Djfuzz

4 years ago

I thought EB had a 7 day game guarantee? In any case, I'm still not really clear on how this informal 'recall' works outside the US.

If anyone is interested in a wee bit of disassembly, this forum seems to have two solutions: either take the back of the guitar, loosen the whammy pot and rotate it a wee bit clockwise, or simply use a strong rubber band between the whammy and the strap. Seems to work, although of course you risk voiding the warranty (though that currently looks pretty useless anyway). That saves you returning an otherwise perfectyly functioning game and enduring an uncertain wait for a replacement.

As for its usefulness, I have to agree with Mitchacho - its not about points or percentage, and all aout being a guitar hero, which makes it damn important

thylacine

4 years ago

Yup just discovered both of those methods; will try 'em out tonight, as really couldn't be bothered taking back to shop.

Shots on there aren't great - http://www.allaboutthegames.net/feature_story.php?article_id=7714 has clearer photos.

GroovySamurai

4 years ago

Does anyone know if there are any other models than the 95065 and 95055 currently available?

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