Consumer check: Make sure Wal-Mart's Guitar Hero 3 bundle is one you want

by Alexander Sliwinski { Oct 28th 2007 at 11:45AM }

As many prepare to rock with Guitar Hero III today, we've received a few tips about consumers accidentally getting wired Xbox 360 controllers at Wal-Mart instead of the much ballyhooed wireless guitars. According to Wal-Mart's website, they are currently carrying several bundles of Guitar Hero III -- including ones with a wired x-plorer guitar for Xbox 360 (pictured) and SG controller for PS2. Target also has a similar bundle currently. The only reason we haven't started our voodoo to punish Activision and Red Octane for this trickery is that there actually is a price adjustment for these bundles. The Xbox 360 bundle and PS2 wired bundles are both $10 less than their wireless counterparts.

The basic thing to do in this situation is to make sure you go to the store and read the box. If they don't have the one you want, it's your right as a free consumer to go shopping someplace else. We've been informed that some Wal-Marts only have one version of the bundle -- it may not be fair, but all we can do is let you know to check the box before you buy. Oh, but if they are selling the wired bundles for the same price as the wireless ones, then we'll call our voodoo priestess and start the incantations.

[Thanks Nick and everyone else who sent this in]

Tags: gh3, ghIII, guitars, wired

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Neebs @ Oct 28th 2007 11:57AM

That shirt is awesome.

Oh and Guitar Hero 3...yeah. I've been reading about reports (read: GameFAQs message board) where people say their new bundled Guitars are messed up.

F. Rocker or Fernando R.? @ Oct 28th 2007 12:00PM

"That shirt is awesome."

Definitely, Joystiq readers we are very geeks. And I like to be a geek =)

Guy @ Oct 28th 2007 1:52PM

That shirt is actually from Shirt.Woot! Kinda rare to see in the wild. You can still buy it here:

http://shirt.woot.com/Friends.aspx?k=3778

Neebs @ Oct 28th 2007 3:08PM

I KNEW! I recognized it from Shirt.Woot!

ltgeneralkasty @ Oct 29th 2007 11:08AM

I HAVE THAT SHIRT!!!

it freakin awesome!!

F. Rocker or Fernando R.? @ Oct 28th 2007 11:57AM

I guess that they are trying to get rid of the old guitars.

capt_carl @ Oct 28th 2007 12:23PM

Because the X-plorer sucks?

Matt B @ Oct 28th 2007 8:10PM

I prefer an explorer to and SG any day.

Exo @ Oct 28th 2007 11:57AM

Real Gamers don't shop at Walmart.

F. Rocker or Fernando R.? @ Oct 28th 2007 12:04PM

Wrong. Real gamers don't shop at Gamestop, the biggest videogames pawn store.

I prefer to buy at Wal Mart than give my money to Gamestop. Plus, you can buy some games even at 2 a.m.

ikiryou @ Oct 28th 2007 7:03PM

Real gamers play games instead of arguing over where to buy games for status purposes.

Children, behave yourselves.

Geist @ Oct 28th 2007 11:04PM

Real gamers materialize games out of thin air with the sheer power of their uber gaming skillz.

playwhutyalike @ Oct 28th 2007 12:04PM

You only shop at Wal-mart when Gamestop doesn't have the game ready for sale on its release date.

Which, in my area, is like everytime a new game comes out.

Kido1986 @ Oct 28th 2007 12:23PM

I went to Walmart for Midnight release. First, they took forever to find the 360 version, all they coul-d find was PS2, then they found Wii, then PS3, THEN 360.

As I swiped my debit card, I realized the guitar on the box was white. It took me a while, but I found the customer service manager and made her give me a refund even though she was confused why I was agitated...
Damn Orlando Walmart's retarded staff

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Oct 29th 2007 2:22PM

All wal-mart staff is retarded.

Kido1986 @ Oct 28th 2007 12:26PM

And yes, real gamers don't buy at Gamestop. Especially since they fucked over Rhino, the best gamestore ever. I have only bought 1 game from Gamestop in the past few years, and that was only because I was already near a gamestop on the night Halo 3 came out and that GS had no line and plenty of copies (there are about 5 GSs within a 5 mile radius here and its the smallest one).

chris @ Oct 28th 2007 12:43PM

Yep, lined up at noon today to buy GHIII at Walmart. Everyone rushed to the electronics department, happily picking up both the PS2 and XBOX 360 bundles off the display... but within moments the joy was shattered as we all realized they weren't the right guitars. People then starting putting the bundles back on the display, totally disillusioned. Our Walmart apparently received zero wireless bundles for the XBOX 360.

Rob Accomando @ Oct 28th 2007 12:44PM

Just picked mine up from Ebgames. Everything is perfect.

I AM A GUITAR HEEEERO!

License to ill @ Oct 28th 2007 1:35PM

Picked up 360 wireless version midnight at gamestop...

Kido1986 @ Oct 28th 2007 2:13PM

Anyone else having 360 wireless guitar problems with the red fret?

icicle0424 @ Oct 29th 2007 8:04AM

I am, but mine's Wii version...

Synner @ Oct 28th 2007 2:19PM

Imagine my wife's mood when I made her hang around walmart for an hour last night, got out to the car and then said, fuck this, and turned around and returned the game...

I ordered teh game only from BB and will pick it up tomorrow. I already have 2 explorers, and I want the special rock band guitar anyway...

Ed @ Oct 28th 2007 2:54PM

At least I know what I'm getting with Rock Band. Honestly, why didn't Activision mention this before the game's release?

gonk @ Oct 28th 2007 3:36PM

got mine from best buy at midnight, i had to turn the guitar/360 on/off a couple times before they could sync, but now it works great

if you're having trouble with some buttons not working, try pressing the neck into the base a bit more. The connectors are spring-loaded, but I'm guessing some springs don't work too well and it doesn't make a good connection.

Dan F @ Oct 28th 2007 4:19PM

It's not just Wal-Mart. Many stores are getting these bundles as there's an initial shortage on the les paul guitars.

llama_man2 @ Oct 28th 2007 4:21PM

Yea, I showed up at Wal-mart last night at Midnight to buy the cheap old $50 game only to find that my Wal-mart ONLY had the bundle packs. I was so pissed.

Mr Khan @ Oct 28th 2007 4:58PM

feh, i have to shop at GameStop. WalMart is very hit-and-miss, especially on rare or obscure new titles, Wii is virtually a non-presence at my K-Mart, and any other electronics store is a good 30 min away

Sieged Eagle @ Oct 28th 2007 6:26PM

Well, unlike all you guys here, I have to buy my games either at Costco or in one of those game stores scattered over my city, because I live in Mexico. Although I buy my games mostly at Costco because the games those stores sell are expensive as hell.

Not to mention the delay. I've to wait about 1-3 days so the game arrives there. Sometimes I've to wait weeks, but it's pretty rare.

Hopefully, they'll bring the wireless Les Paul bundles. I'll pray to God so they bring those bundles.

David @ Oct 28th 2007 6:34PM

Are the newer guitars better than the old style? or is it just cosmetic?

baby sea tuna @ Oct 29th 2007 8:38AM

Yeah, it's more comfortable to use...and wireless!

Matt Z @ Oct 28th 2007 8:06PM

My wal-mart said they had 10 people return copies of teh game because of the lact of wireless controller and were actively telling people when they asked for their copy that it didn't have a wireless controller.

It's kinda pathetic that my wal-mart didn't get any of the wireless 360 bundles

Shibathedog @ Oct 28th 2007 8:21PM

All to save a measly 10 bucks? Who would rather save 10 bucks than have a wireless controller? This confuses me.

Hendextall @ Oct 28th 2007 8:30PM

Happened to me last night, waited in line for an hour and half before midnight, to only end up finding out that all they had was wired bundles. I only ended up buying the game instead of a bundle. A lot of people were very unhappy. Now the real problem is when are they going to have extra guitar controllers at the stores. Here in London, Ontario, I never saw any separate Xplorer controllers for purchase until this month. The same better not happen, I want a wireless guitar and I'm not paying for another game just to get it. I already fired off some emails to Red Octane and Activision, hopefully I'll at least get an apology from one of them.

On the bright side, it was very funny when the little kid ahead of me refused to buy the game, and his mom got pissed at him for making her wait an hour and a half for nothing.

Geist @ Oct 28th 2007 11:07PM

Haha I laugh at your London-esness. Here in Ottawa we have valleys of wireless GH3 bundles!

I think.

Alan @ Oct 28th 2007 8:34PM

I went to wal-mart this morning. After waiting about 10 minutes for them to bring their GH3 stock out, I found out they only had the wired bundle. I quickly headed to Target and got a wireless version. I'm loving the les paul.

Khamikazi @ Oct 28th 2007 8:43PM

Friend of mine bought the PS3 version of the game, and I must say that the new guitar feels like its made cheaper than any of the previous. Its smaller it seems, and it already has broken pieces. Whammy bar spring is broken, the neck doesnt connect that well so the green button stop working at times, and it has a rattling noise inside of it which may be the whammy bar spring but who knows?

Tried to return it to Gamestop and they dont have any right now. So....he cant play for now it seems. Still need to go pick up my own copy for my 360. We already have 2 guitars, so I just need to get the game.

Shattercross @ Oct 28th 2007 9:17PM

I wouldn't mind using a wired guitar,

because...

you know....

real guitars have a cord anyway.

David @ Oct 28th 2007 11:25PM

Jesus Christ, please don't bring this up again.

Brandon @ Oct 28th 2007 9:31PM

I did notice that it didn't say Wireless on the 360 bundle as I was looking at them today. Incedently they sold out of their Wii Guitar Hero 3 bundles.

ColossalHat @ Oct 28th 2007 9:51PM

And this is the ONLY brught side to buying it for the PS3, no confusion.

Damn near $100 down the tube for that, and I'm in the last set, I got it at 11:00 ish.

ColossalHat @ Oct 28th 2007 9:52PM

hmm, what a strange typo, guess that reflects I'm none too bright for speaking up...

Kasei @ Oct 28th 2007 10:04PM

I pre-ordered mine from RedOctane. I arrived on Friday and I have been playing it since. Make sure you calibrate the fret buttons before you start playing.

Zack @ Oct 28th 2007 10:15PM

Yes, thank god my store isn't the only one.

I didn't even know about these bundles untill I went in the back room (expecting to find the Les Pauls) and found them.

jc @ Oct 28th 2007 10:56PM

Well, I cant find GH3 for Xbox 360 anywhere. Tried about 4 stores. Every one had piles and piles of them for other systems (Wii, PS2, and PS3) but nothing for Xbox3 360. I even talked to a manager who said they got way more boxes for 360 than the other systems, but they sold out pretty fast.

I'm guessing the NPD numbers for GH3 on Xbox 360 are going to be dwarf all other systems. It's definitely the new console leader this generation.

ryan @ Oct 28th 2007 11:04PM

yea i was pretty upset after getting my xbox 360 wireless bundle and come to find out three of the buttons would hardly work and sensor was all jacked up.. immediately got a replacement that worked perfectly. First time I've bought a hardware purchase that didn't work. Anyone else have problems?

gonk @ Oct 29th 2007 12:48AM

seemingly a decent number of people have had problems with the 360 and ps3 guitars, mostly stemming from the removable neck

trickylove @ Oct 29th 2007 1:25AM

My friends and I would of LOVED to get the old guitar for PS2, since we can't get the freaking wireless one to connect and work... We spent the whole night disappointed we couldn't play some Co-op Story mode.

karmaghost @ Oct 29th 2007 1:39AM

Yeah, this is strange, I had the same experience when I went to my local Wal-Mart. They had absolutely no Wireless Gibsons on the 360 and I almost questioned my sanity for a second there. Of course, the guys working the electronics department had absolutely no clue what was going on. So I left and went to Circuit City and got a free guitar stand out of the deal. Not too shabby.

TheDave @ Oct 29th 2007 3:27AM

Amazingly enough when I went to Wal-Mart tonight at like 6:30pm tonight, they actually had ONE Wii bundle left, so I got it. 1st time playing, and it is awesome!

Went by Circuit City at next door, and they had a few bundled versions left for other consoles (bunch of PS2 ones). They said they only got 4 Wii ones total...
I was amazed at that tiny #. The best selling next gen console, and they only got 4 copies for it!
What a bunch of morons!

JohnHeist @ Oct 29th 2007 4:18AM

I work at Musician's Friend.

We received in about 1200 copies of the Wired X-Plorer version. I noticed it on our webpage the other day, then checked the system.

Yep...only the wired version.
We don't even have a LISTING for the Les Paul version, or any of the other systems besides the PS2.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/lifestyle

^^ See the picture there?
Les Paul.
Click on it;
Explorer and Kramer only.