PlayStation 3 Rock Band Wireless Guitar | Excellent controller with a bad reputation.

PlayStation 3 Rock Band Wireless Guitar | The next generation of guitar hero

pc & video games:

PlayStation 3 Rock...

	PlayStation 3 Rock Band Wireless Guitar PLAYSTATION 3, PlayStation2 \| Electronic Arts, 2008 average customer review:based on 19 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Excellent controller with a bad reputation.

When Rock Band rolled out last November, Harmonix/EA had some quality control problems with the first wave or two of guitar controllers. Being an early adopter, I lived through these issues and was rather frustrated that this much-anticipated game couldn't deliver on its promise.

It's April, now, and the separate guitar controller is finally available.

So, should you get it, or will you end up sending it off for repair, or returning it, or just plain smashing it out of frustration?

The first thing to address is the quality of the controller. It gets bashed a lot for the one serious defect the first batch of controllers had: the strum bar on many, many of them broke after just a few hours use.

Obviously, that's unacceptable, and Harmonix and EA both knew that. They jumped on the problem with both feet and by the end of January, virtually everyone who had problems finally had a controller in hand that wasn't defective.

So let's put that on the shelf. It's in the past now: I have two of these controllers and they both work as well as or better than any GH controller I ever had.

Let's address the real question: is this a controller you want to play with?

It's decidedly different from every Red Octane GH controller, to be sure, so if you're a big fan of the GH controllers, you will almost certainly not like this controller the first time you pick it up. Unless you're an absolute creature of habit, my suggestion is to give it some time: play with it for a few weeks, recognizing that your performance may actually degrade a bit while you get accustomed to the controller.

* * *

Here are the most obvious differences that affect performance:

1. The neck of the Rock Band controller is longer and thinner than the GH controllers. It feels more like a real guitar, which encourages you to position your hand more like you would on a real guitar. For me, this was a big plus, but I have a friend who much preferred the thicker neck of the more toy-like GH controller.

2. The fret buttons are flush with the neck and nestled directly next to one another, with each button being as wide as the distance between two frets on an actual guitar. The result, again, is that your hand is positioned more like it would be on a real guitar. The touch of the buttons is as good or better than the best of the GH controllers, but on some units, they produce a loud clacking sound. I've played with some that are loud and some that are quiet, and while it's a bit annoying, it's not a game-breaker.

When playing last night, I really felt the smoothness that the fret button design allows: I barely felt my fingers pressing the buttons, yet I was flying through song after song on Expert with better scores than I could ever have imagined getting when I played Guitar Hero.

3. This is the biggie, the game-breaker for most GH players: the strum bar. It all comes down to whether you like the click of the GH controllers or not. A working strum bar on the RB controller is a wonderful thing, frankly. Again, it was designed to feel more like playing a guitar or bass, and as a bass player myself, I'm impressed with the feel...you can really "twang" the bar like a string. The strum bar has a lot more touch than most people realize. Sure, in the end, it's still a switch that either connects or doesn't, but it doesn't have that "all-or-nothing" feel of the GH strum. I love this softer touch...it really allows for that casual/careless rock star feel that comes when you only have a few notes to play during an extended drum solo.

Yes, it feels very different from the GH bar. Learning to alt-strum (that is, alternating between up-strum and down-strum) with this controller is trickier and takes some patience, but once you've got it down, it's every bit as precise as it is with the GH strum bar.

Of course, a huge complaint is that this strum bar doesn't have the click that some people need as a reassurance that they've actually strummed.

I hate the click, myself. It destroys the illusion that I'm playing an instrument rather than a video game. "Match the clicking of your controller to the brightly colored dots!" No thanks.

* * *

I'll admit that moving from a Red Octane GH controller to the Rock Band Strat takes some getting used to, but it's absolutely worth the effort.

If you've never played a GH game before and you're interested in Rock Band, I'd ignore what anyone says about the comparisons between the two controllers: one is not objectively better than the other, and if you learn on the Strat, you'll probably find the GH controllers to be the annoying ones.

For me, games like this are all about feeling like you're actually playing a song, even though you know you're not. The more they can make me feel like this plastic thing is a real guitar, the happier I'll be.

The real measure of this controller for me is how much more I enjoy playing guitar-based games with it than I did with the GH controllers. As a result, my game has improved tremendously over what it was after months of Guitar Hero.

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The next generation of guitar hero

What can I say? I am blown away by Rock band. People often use the phrase "fun as heck", well my best friend and I agree this game is FUNNER than heck. My best friend, his brother, and I played this and 7 hours just went by. But anyway, about the wireless guitar. It's different from the guitar hero guitars in a few ways. 1. It's a Fender and not a Gibson. 2. It has buttons on the lower neck near the guitar body which you can use to fingertap your way through solos without strumming. 3. It has an effects lever that can change what kind of effect you want in game. 4. The lever used for strumming doesn't click like guitar hero controller, which takes some getting used to. But once you've adjusted completely and said goodbye to the old, trust me you'll love the new. The title of my review was somewhat misleading. I said Rockband is the next generation of guitar hero. Guitar Hero doesn't have anything on Rockband. Rockband is its own generation. 4 people can play: Singer, Guitar, Bass, Drums (my personal favorite). This brings co op to a whole new level. Invite your friends and start a rockband!

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Finally, a 2nd PS3 guitar for "whole band" play

Exactly what I've been waiting for in order to enjoy the game as it was intended to be played. The guitar controller compatibility issues that PS3 owners have been suffering through are finally over.

guitar review

the game is fun but the guitar is not durable. wammy bar broke a month after purchase. had to buy another guitar.

reviews: 1, 2, 3, page 4

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